I was out yesterday running around the city doing little errands and dropped into one of the local Salvation Army thrift shops that is close to my bank. I was on the search for some cheap speakers for my studio. I actually found a little set and was walking up to the cash when I noticed a little point and shoot camera in the display case for their in house auction, however since Covid has washed over the world it is now just higher priced items to buy.
I asked to check out the camera that caught my eye and the cashier informed me that it was one price for the whole lot of camera gear, 4 cameras, some lenses and flashes for $150 CAD. I looked at the little point and shoot and took a quick look at the rest of the cameras, snapped a quick picture of it and went on with my errands.
I couldn’t stop thinking about it so I googled the cameras and it seemed like an interesting collection of gear so I went back and took a closer look.
There was the point and shoot camera that caught my eye. A Sears branded MW35E which looks like a rebranded Halina MW35E most likely for the Canadian Market. There was an almost brand new looking Lomo Smena Symbol. A Minolta XG-1 that looked mint. The last camera was a beat up dusty Ricoh Singlex that still has a roll of film in it! This last camera looks like a bit of an oddity. Made by Mamiya for Ricoh but is some sort of Nikon with a Nikon lens mount? I was curious enough to buy the lot.
There were 2 Minolta mount lenses, a 28mm wide angle and a 70-200mm macro zoom both made by Hanimex. Too my surprise there were 2 Nikon mount lenses, again a 28mm and a 70-200mm macro zoom. These were made by Makinon. I was happy for the 28mm as I have been looking for one for my Nikon 35mm cameras! There was still a few more surprises in the box. 2 Flashes, 1 Minolta and one Vivitar. Both a bit primitive but cool nonetheless. The Sears MW35E and the Ricoh both had some funky retro camera straps. There was also a little bag for the extra lenses. Not a bad haul at all.
I will be testing out all of these cameras over the next while starting with the Minolta. I put in some new batteries for the light meter and it seems to be working which is a nice bonus. One of my very first SLR cameras was a Minolta so it felt immediately familiar to hold and use.
After that I am going to dust off and clean up that Ricoh/Mamiya/Nikon ancient beast and shoot the roll of film that is in it and see what if anything comes of it.
That’s it for now, take care out there!
Jeremy
Dusty Negatives 