Your Leica bargain stories

[luigi bertolotti]

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By sure all of those interesting "bargain stories" do pale in comparision with the recent find by Tony... 😎 (see "auction Find" thread)

Edited August 2, 2020 by luigi bertolotti

[cary]

On 8/1/2020 at 9:07 AM, cary said:

Picked up a black Leicaflex body last month on eBay. Meter works and clean viewfinder. I will be sending it to DAG soon.

Forgot to mention it was $66.

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[mmx_2]

Bought this kit about 3 years ago for 40€. BEOON in like new condition with box, Visoflex III with Bellows II and Elmar 65, all in very good condition. One of the better Leica "deals" I have got.

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[mmx_2]

On 8/2/2020 at 11:55 PM, luigi bertolotti said:

By sure all of those interesting "bargain stories" do pale in comparision with the recent find by Tony... 😎 (see "auction Find" thread)

I'd rate that find at the same level as the very famous Leica II luxus found on Antique Roadshow many years ago. Very interesting find, and it's gonna be even more interesting to see what it goes for at the next Wetlar auction.

[Al Brown]

Time to revive this awesome thread.
A fully working R4 with fully working data back in beautiful condition sold inexplicably "for parts or not working" for $40.
The year on the data back only goes to 2002 lol.

Edited January 12, 2022 by Al Brown

[sandro]

A few years ago I found a Leica filter turret for € 100,-, including three matching E43 filters. When the dark room at my work was dismantled twelve years ago I asked if by any chance there was any Leitz/Leica material there. A cupboard was opened and I went home with an MDa, MD-2, M4-P, Visoflex III with Bellows II, Elmar 65mm, Summicron 50mm rigid, Elmarit 28mm and Elmarit 90mm. Since they were already written off years before they were all for free, and I had been helping to clean out that space.

Lex

[wlaidlaw]

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2 hours ago, Al Brown said:

Time to revive this awesome thread.
A fully working R4 with fully working data back in beautiful condition sold inexplicably "for parts or not working" for $40.
The year on the data back only goes to 2002 lol.

When I got my 500 MR-Telyt, it came with an R4-MOT (with winder) also described as not working. All that needed doing was the top cover removing and the mode and ISO switch contacts cleaning with Servisol, at which point everything sprang to life, including to my surprise a working and fully accurate meter. 

Wilson

[Ambro51]

I had a surprise winning  (fairly low) high bid on a black model II........the guy put the ending time during the tail end of the super bowl. 

[box86rowh]

Bought a M3 with a 50mm Summilux lens for $1250 mostly unseen from an estate sale as the lens hood was on the lens and reversed so I only knew it was a summilux. Ended up being a black paint Summilux and a "C" seal M3.

Edited January 13, 2022 by box86rowh

[Ambro51]

5 hours ago, Al Brown said:

Time to revive this awesome thread.
A fully working R4 with fully working data back in beautiful condition sold inexplicably "for parts or not working" for $40.
The year on the data back only goes to 2002 lol.

....sold by someone who could predict the future 🙂

[octo]

In a small village in France a camera shop owner was thinking of selling out and retiring: for 700€ I got an M3 + 3 lenses (Collapsible Elmar 3.5/50, a 35, forgot which one, now, and a beautiful Canon 3.5/135). That was in 2005.

That same year, Leica lost a second-hand M6 that I had sent to be checked as the metering system was giving crazy combinations; Lo and behold: they replaced it with a brand new black MP! I was levitating when I opened the box, thinking it was another M6...

Those were the days, my friend!

[84bravo]

Thirty years ago I found a 280mm Telyt lens at a flea market for $150. I had no use for it, but it seemed a bargain so I bought it. A couple of months later I took it to a camera show and traded it even for a brassy black paint M4. I used it professionally for years until we all went digital. I still have that camera.

[Doug A]

In 1965 or 1966 I bought a mint condition 8.5cm SGOOD viewfinder in the original box for $1 at a stoop sale (urban version of a garage sale). It was in a $1 each box of things like vacuum tubes and a broken Swiss Army knife. I must have asked if they had any other photography gear but I don't remember buying anything else that day.

I owned a IIIf with just a 50/3.5 Elmar lens so the SGOOD just sat in a drawer. Many years later I bought a 90/4 Elmar and started using the SGOOD with it. And just recently I bought an 85/1.9 LTM Canon lens so it is finally being used with a "correct" focal length lens. 

[bobkatz]

Leica hektor 7.3 cm f 1.9 for 250 USD…

right now with DAG …

[Mech-Dragon]

I was perusing a local automotive and antique swap meet with the boyfriend one weekend earlier this year. Both of us own classic cars, so even if we don't buy anything it's a fun way to spend an afternoon peering at all of the rusty junk. We finally get inside of the pavilion where there a few antique booths are set up amongst the car parts and restored vehicles for sale. At this time, it's been a few hours since we've been there. We come up to a booth where the gentleman has a variety of vintage items and car parts for sale. Right on the edge of his table was a glass case, and I immediately spotted a Leica IIIc in the case, with a few other lenses. Giving it a closer look, the largest lens caught my eye along with it's massive hood. I ask if I could take a closer look and I grabbed the large lens: a 8.5cm Summarex. With the accompanying hood!

This thing was very dusty, but to my amazement the glass was clear inside. Aperture ring was very smooth with nice clicks, and the blades looked pristine. It even focused smoothly! I keep my hands on this one while I look at the rest of the glass cabinet. The IIIc was pretty beat up and missing the knob advance. There was a screwmount 1.5 Summarit, but it's front element was marred heavily with fungus and scratches. Somehow, the Summarex was the cleanest by far. I approach the guy and asked what he wanted for it. He begins to tell me he looked it up online and saw this and that lens for this much....but he doesn't want to deal with online so he'd let it go for $500. He also asked me why I wanted it, and I told him I use these old lenses and even film cameras! (I'm a younger person for reference). He seemed surprised.

Feeling cheeky, I ask if he'd take $375 for it, telling him I'd be using and enjoying the lens. To my surprise, he accepted that offer! So from an automotive swap meet, I find probably the best Leica deal I've found (yet!). Once I gently cleaned off the dust, the giant front element was perfect. I just recently had it CLA'd (there was a spot of fungus in the rear element I wanted gone so it wouldn't spread). I very much do enjoy the lens, and use it often! 

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A smaller deal note, I stopped by a local camera shop and was taking a peek at what they had. I noticed they had a SBOOI in the bottom of the cabinet and I asked to take a look. It had an impact on the top at one point, but the glass and framelines were clear. I didn't see a price so I asked how much it was. The shop owner took a look at it, shrugged and went, "$30?". Needless to say I bought it and it lives on my IIIa. 

[jc_braconi]

Got some years ago, in a large fleas market, a Pradovit P2000 for 5 euros...it made my day for sure.

[Mute-on]

My first Leica lens, a 35/2.8 Summaron with IROOA, for $350 AUD. Of course that was around 20 years ago. A few years after that a 0.58 MP Chrom for $3,500 AUD brand new. I still use both today, although they seem to have gone up substantially in value since … 

[pebbles]

In 1981 a friend of my wife's husband passed away. He had been a keen photographer and his widow asked me what his Leica III was worth as she wished to sell it. I offered to take it to three Leica dealers and she could decide which should buy it. The camera was absolutely mint with a pristine 50mm Summar. He had bought it in 1936 and it was still in its original tissue paper and red box, all immaculate. The best price was offered by Hove Camera, £85, so she decided to sell it to them. I had never had a Leica so I said I would match the Hove price if she would sell it to me. So I acquired the camera. A week later she telephoned to ask whether I could collect the remaining things to do with the camera. She said she didn't want any further payment. Whereupon she handed me a a mint 90mm Elmar, a mint 135 Hektor, a mint 35mm Elmar, a Ficus hood, a Vidom, a Valoy enlarger with Varom enlarger lens similarly all mint. Also  every copy of Leica News since the first issue in 1935 all in Leica binders. and finally a copy of My Leica and I. I have sold the Valoy enlarger but have retained all the rest.Sadly in a burglary the red box for the Leica III was stolen. I have not been able to trace it so if anyone has acquired a Leica III red box with the the camera number 203267 on the underside I should be happy to buy it.