In reply to A Random Climber:
in the 90's a know a couple of people who went to the states to buy a new mountain bike as the $ "number" was similar to the £ "number" so when you added local sales tax and did the conversion there was enough of a saving if the bike was expensive enough to make it work.
as time went on customs got wise so did the shoppers
buying a black mountain bike in California? scour the classifieds for a black mountain bike for £50, take a dirt black mountain bike with you. give it to charity, get your new bike and ride it for a week in the dirt over there, bring a dirty black mountain bike back with you. job done.
could a similar tactic be deployed here with a really old SLR? i think the key is to make it look used (fitting a battered old lens on it might be enough?)
to be fair i took my bike to the states twice (and yes, i brought exactly the same one back, i liked my bike and couldn't afford a new one anyway) once customs saw the bike was used they completely lost interest in it.
of course not paying the government the duty you should is a deplorable attitude, and people should be ashamed of themselves
Post edited at 16:05