I belong to many Facebook photography groups and frequently feel left out when members display their recent finds in flee-markets and charity shops as we have nothing like that in Corfu. I usually resort to auction sites and Facebook Marketplace to enlarge my collection of vintage camera gear.
However I think I struck lucky when my daughter, Corinna (now my UK dispatch manager 🙂) informed me of a collection of gear being offered for the princely sum of … NOTHING on a local website! This had been spotted by her eagle-eyed sister-in-law, Catherine (now my acquisitions manager 🙂) There was no description of what was on offer. A sixth sense told me that this was worthy of investigation.
Corinna was asked to collect said gear which as a good daughter, she did – all three dustbin bags full! There were several items that were immediately destined for a local charity shop. These included a VHS video camera, a few nondescript digital point and shoot cameras and a Diskman amongst other things.
The remainder was dispatched to me in Greece using the services of a local transport company that have a depot near my daughter and another here in Corfu. They sorted everything including Customs duty for me.
Customs duty is a big issue for me with regards items from outside the EU. (Thank you Brexit!) I have previously shipped an item from the UK and by the time duty was added, the cost almost doubled. I was concerned as this parcel weighed 11.5Kg and I had no idea of the overall condition of this gear. It ended up costing me £110 (including duty) to ship this lot.
The attached photo is what I ended up with which doesn’t include things like ever-ready cases, a Minolta carrying bag and a few filters. There is only one dud that I can find and that is the Rank Mamiya at the back of the photo. The lens is loose and I doubt that it is repairable at a reasonable cost.
The cream of the crop are the Minolta 9000 and 500si Super plus associated autofocus lenses, the Nikon EM and lenses and the 500mm Tamron mirror lens. Now the testing begins! There is also a quirky digital camera included – a Nikon Coolpix 995 which originally was marketed at around $900 US when released in 2001. It is very low spec by today’s standards but has so many features that I might just see what I can get out of it!
I would be interested to hear what others have considered to be their best ‘score’ whether found online, from a charity shop or even a gift from a family member or friend.
Such fun!
