Watch out for that huge camera swap meet in Portland next weekend

Last Saturday my friend and I went to the big camera swap at the Expo Center and I saw two guys swapping a dirty shutter curtain on a beat up Nikon F2 right on a cardboard table. They used a random screwdriver and some tweezers from a first aid kit, and then sold it to a kid for $150. Has anyone else seen this kind of shady repair work happening at these events?

2 comments

2 Comments

terry_wood5115d ago

That F2 from the swap meet probably did work for a while, but idk, I gotta disagree with @danielb43. I mean, I've been going to camera swaps in Portland for like eight years and I've seen some real horror stories. Last spring there was a guy selling a Leica M3 with a "CLA'd" shutter that had literally been regreased with Vaseline. The shutter curtains stuck open after like ten rolls. It's not just about buying gear from guys with tweezers on a cardboard box, it's that these events are supposed to have some kind of shared respect for the gear. I'm not saying it needs warning labels but maybe it's just me, I think we should call out the bad apples when we see them. Caveat emptor is fine until you're out $150 for a camera that's gonna fail in a month.

danielb4315d ago

A cardboard table and a first aid kit, that's about standard for any swap meet I've ever been to. Half the fun is watching people try to fix stuff with whatever's lying around. That F2 probably worked fine for the kid, those cameras are tanks. If it broke a week later, he learned a lesson about buying gear from guys with tweezers on a cardboard box. Really doubt this is some epidemic that needs a warning label, it's just how these events work. Caveat emptor and all that.