UKC

I have a couple of old SLR film cameras and live in an area where second hand camera shops are thin on the ground. So before I go to the trouble of embarassing myself by taking them miles to a professional dealer can anyone give me a steer on whether it is even worth doing so please?.
1. Nikon FM2 which I have had for well over 20 years. It worked fine last time I used it - probably ten years ago at least. There are also a couple of lenses with it (A Tokina AT-X 28-70 and another 28-70 with no brasnd name I can see)
2.Minolta Dynax 404 si with two lenses, 28-80 zoom and a 70-210 zoom. Given to me as a kit about ten years ago.
I have switched to Canon digital so even the lenses are not much use to me.

In reply to Wiley Coyote:

A professional dealer would not give you much for either camera I'm afraid. The FM2 body is worth about £30 to the end buyer. What's that - £8-10 to you from a dealer. Tokina AT-X was a respected designation like the original Vivitar Series 1, IN THE EARLY 1980s.

The Dynax 404si goes for embarrassingly little money even to the end user - tenner for the body. Shame because it's not as if they are bad cameras, and they are very light, and I know that that 28-80 is not a bad lens for what it is (I had a Dynax 5 with that lens for a bit before giving it to my Dad. I had bought the kit for £20 in a charity shop...should maybe have been £40 at the time but what that means in terms of you selling to a pro dealer is still "peanuts" )

I did a part-ex of an original old 70s Olympus Trip in perfect nick, and an Olympus OM-20 body (intermittent unwanted mirror lock but I didn't point that out!) to London Camera exchange when buying my Sony Cybershot F717 in 2009. They gave me £5 for the Trip and £10 for the OM-20, as credit against the F717. God knows how little it would have been if I'd just tried to sell them direct.
Sorry for the bad news.

I think the Dynax 404si with the 28-80 makes a nice film SLR for climbing as it's light and compact, maybe punt it on here?

In reply to Blue Straggler:


No worries. It's pretty much what I expected. TBH I'm amazed there's any market for film cameras these days. The planet must be awash with them. Thanks very much for the info and advice.

In reply to Wiley Coyote:

Go on flickr and do a search for 35mm or a specific camera or even a specific type of film. You will find groups devoted to such faff. The analogy I draw is with classic cars. They are uneconomical, high-maintenance, and probably outperformed by a mid-90s Ford Escort that you can get for peanuts, but people still love them.

This sort of thing
http://www.flickr.com/groups/14411702@N00/pool/

In reply to Wiley Coyote: You might not get much for them, but there will be plenty of film enthuisiasts out there willing wo give them a loving home. The FM2 is a great camera, I was tempted to offer you something for it until I remembered I don't have any facilties for film developing. Some hard-up art student or camera enthusiast with access to such facilities will treasure your unwanted kit!

In reply to Wiley Coyote: From my own experience a little while ago old manual camera stuff can be very popular at car boot sales. Go there with a price in mind, and make sure it doesn't get lifted as soon as you open up the boot and everyone swarms on you to get first dibs on whatever treasures you might have tucked away there.

In reply to What Goes Up:
I'd say the FM2 is still worth a bit; having a quick scan around and FMs are selling for £80+ and FM2Ns up to £200, so it might be worth phoning one or two dealers or sticking it on an auction site.

The Minolta I suspect won't be worth quite so much.

In reply to majortom:


Happy to stand corrected!
Yes, I think Richard Carter of this parish covets his FM2s and they are worth about £100 a pop, now that you mention it.