Would you ever buy a 16mm camera on Ebay?

[Guest Christopher Sheneman]

Or 35mm? I'm seeing more 16mm/35mm cameras, lens, etc than ever on Ebay and it's exciting..I think a lot of baby boomer DP's all over America are beginning to retire (TV commericial guys, indie filmmakers, etc..outside the Los Angeles area) and I'm seeing a lot of CP's, Eclairs, Arris, etc- really nice.. full packages offered for under $2,000 (great for filmmakers that love film, huh?!). HD is knocking a lot of those cameras down in price, making them affordable for the first time to buy for no-budgets.

 

I'm tempted to bid on a camera or two (three?) but again these are 25-35 yo cameras in various conditions (I can't hold them, touch etc..only pictures and sometimes very small pictures at that). I'd just hate to get into a situtation where I buy a camera that needed a lot of work (if it worked at all!) or ended up being a really nice paperweight. Many of these cameras are being auctioned by people who don't know what they are..how to communicate with them seems like an issue.

 

I'd like the seller to make a video showing the camera being operated (if it did- I guess), with film that is then delievered to a lab, devolped and then the lab guy vouches for the camera on camera - is that reasonable?

 

Would any of you buy a camera sight-unseen off Ebay or have you already? Is it pretty risky?

[Mark Dunn]

In the UK, yes, because we have a right of rejection when buying sight unseen from a business. I don't know if you have this in the US but I probably wouldn't buy without it.

[Chris Millar]

Bought off ebay, and yes, it had issues - something that if the seller said he was all that he was (camera knowledgeable) he should have noticed the fault. Eventually got a partial refund as the return shipping would have bitten him the same. Seller didn't like me very much, his late feedback was very dry probably out of fear of return negative reply from yours truly.

 

Some great bargains, some people with different ideals when it comes to duty of care, and if reading about the many fraud/stolen alerts in this very forum there certainly are some snakes.

[Gary Lemson]

Ebay purchases for this type of gear can be tricky. I finally decided to just spend the extra $ up front, and go with a known entity that will include a warranty.