Watch out for that camera fair in Portland next weekend

I went to the big vintage camera swap meet at the Portland Expo Center last Saturday. Place was packed, but half the stuff had fungus in the lenses or sticky shutters they didn't mention. I grabbed a Pentax Spotmatic that looked clean from the outside, got home, and the mirror lockup was completely seized. A buddy told me the sellers there know their gear is busted and just hope you don't check closely in the bad lighting. Cost me $45 and a lot of frustration. Anyone else ever get burned at one of these big fairs?

3 comments

3 Comments

patricia55827d agoTop Commenter

Oh yeah, that sounds about right for those big swap meet type things. It's like the Wild West of camera gear, where everyone's hoping you'll be too dazzled by the vintage vibes to notice their lens is basically a science experiment. $45 for a seized Spotmatic is rough, but at least you didn't pay a hundred bucks for a Leica that's just a paperweight with a red dot. Always bring a tiny flashlight and a test battery next time, friends don't let friends buy fungus in bad lighting.

murphy.abby27d ago

I once bought a "mint" Zenit-E for $20 only to find out the shutter was basically two pieces of cardboard held together with hope. It sat on my shelf for a year before I finally admitted defeat and used it as a paperweight. Your flashlight tip is gold though, I learned that one the hard way after getting home and finding what looked like a tiny mold farm inside a lens I bought at dusk.

claire_gibson27d ago

Oh man, the dusk swap meet trap is so real. I read somewhere that some sellers actually time their setups for late afternoon specifically to hide flaws in the glass. It's like they're banking on you getting home and finding a whole ecosystem living inside your new "bargain.