Film Friday: Buying Film Cameras on eBay from the USA

by | Nov 26, 2021

Today’s Post by Joe Farace

“I’ve lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”—Mark Twain

 

Correction: The official definition of Good condition from UsedPhotoPro.com is “That means that this item is between 75-89% of original” not “79-89 percent” as I mention in the video.

One of the things that I forgot to mention in this vlog is the impact that shipping costs can have. Some individual sellers add really high shipping costs just in case you use my “low bid” technique to get a bargain. Always, always check the shipping costs before bidding; I avoid items with high shipping costs because, once again, their use tells you a lot about the seller—to not bother with them. Some, but not all, camera store sellers offer free shipping. Obviously that is a good deal, so always check the shipping costs before bidding.

Here are links to some of the camera stores that are mentioned in today’s Vlog. I’ve also included links for, although I didn’t mention, KEH Camera because I’ve had great experiences with them over the past 25 or so years as well. In addition to the linked post about my purchase of a lens for a mirrorless camera, I also purchased a Yashica 50mm f/2 lens from them to use with my new (old) Contax 167MT.

Upcoming videos: I received a couple of emails asking for me to make a video showing all of my film cameras and while I’ve mentioned all of them (I think) in various posts a few people would like to see and have me talk about each one. I hesitate to do a video like this because, to me, it seems like I’d be bragging and I’m not comfortable doing that. However if enough of want me to do it, tell me by clicking CONTACT and letting me know. If you have other Film Friday topics you would like to see in an upcoming video, let me know what as well.

In tomorrow’s post I will be answering reader questions about my recent film photography posts, including an answer to one of the most asked questions: Why do I do it when it’s so expensive?

Why is this video in Black and White? It’s Black Friday. Not really, but here are the real reasons: First, most of my initial film photography has been in black and white, so it felt right to shoot the video in black and white too. My one outing with color film so far was shooting long-expired Kodak 35mm color negative film; you can read about that here. Right now I’m waiting for processing to be completed for the 120 Tri-X film that was shot in my Holga and a roll of Fujifilm Neopan 400 that was shot in the Canon A-1 that’s mentioned in today’s video. Look for a blog post about my experience with that camera, film and 50mm f/3.5 macro lens next Film Friday. Second, I wanted to visually differentiate the series of Film Friday vlogs from the oft-colorful Joe and Cliff Go To Cars and Coffee videos that appear on my car photography blog as well as on my YouTube channel Joe Farace’s videos, which is also a good place to get caught up on any my videos you might have missed.


If you enjoyed today’s vlog and would like to support this blog allowing me to increase coverage of film photography, please consider making a monthly contribution via Patreon. Memberships start at just $2.50 a month, with other levels support of $5 and $10 that include special benefits. If subscriptions are not for you, that same linked page lets you to make a one-time contribution. I also recognize that the pandemic has had an adverse effect on many people’s incomes, so if you would prefer to just send some good thoughts my way, that’s appreciated too.