Buying 25lbs of mystery cameras for $78 (Can I make a profit?)

[@snappiness]

Different kind of video! Not super photography related, but finding camera deals is a little side hobby I have and I have a hunch it's some of yours as well... Love "rescuing" old forgotten cameras and finding them homes.

[@Shibes770]

This format is like when Dankpods does a lucky Nugg dip. Love this format.

[@bcostin]

For the Canon T50, it might be possible to carefully nudge the shutter blades back into alignment. Use a toothpick. Then put in some batteries and try to cycle the shutter. Surprising how often this works. The T50 doesn't get a lot of respect nowdays but I've always liked that Knight Rider era styling.

[@thelemon5069]

My pentax super program has jammed before I kinda just slowly brushed my finger along the shutter blades and it released the jam so yeah I'd try it.

[@dakotadriggers8838]

I like that styling too, I've been trying to hunt down a Maxxum 7000 just because it looks cool lmao

[@okaro6595]

Well I recall when it was launched. It was really a disappointment being fully automatic. The T70 then was different.

[@andrewpreston4127]

Yes, I also like that styling..., I call it '1980's Angular'. You can also see it in car design of that period. For example... Mitsubishi/Colt Starion, Nissan Silvia, Morris Ital (UK), Austin Ambassador (UK). i bought a Canon T70 almost immediately on its first release in 1983/4. Still love the design of these.

[@JayFAE12]

Iv got one myself with a larger lens, under appreciated film camera for sure

[@mayl.3005]

The pink Sony cyber shot goes for a lot of money due to its color people for some reason pay more for digicams when they come in pink lol Edit: I saw the same model go for over 50 dollars in an auction

[@snappiness]

Good tip! I'm ordering a charger for it since it's the same as the other Sony. Hopefully one of them works 👍

[@geoffreypiltz271]

Can't sell pink cameras in the UK. Girly.

[@TruckFan542]

I have a pink Sony Cybershot DSC-W230 that i grabbed off the scrap pile.

[@arthurgphotography]

Yes I've seen them for 200 bucks in working condition

[@StephenStrangways]

Tip: you can get a universal charger that clamps different size batteries, and has adjustable + and - terminals you can slide to make contact with any Li-ion battery. They detect the voltage - some only work with low-voltage batteries, bigger and better ones also support higher-voltage batteries, and charge them. It's a great way to test batteries before buying a specific charger. Just beware: those, or even battery-specific aftermarket chargers that only have two contacts, can be quite dangerous. They have no way of monitoring battery temperature, and they often use the wrong charging method. At best they will drastically shorten the life of your battery, at worst they can cause them to swell, explode, catch fire, and shoot jets of flame several feet in the air. Only use them to put a bit of charge in a battery, not a full charge, and do so away from anything flammable, like next to concrete in a basement or garage, and always monitor it - never charge overnight while sleeping. The original OEM chargers and batteries are always safer!

[@snappiness]

Those are good tips - I hadn't heard of a universal charger before. Would be super helpful!

[@geoffreypiltz271]

I have a Hama universal charger and I find it shuts off before the battery is fully charged so I have to let the battery cool for 15 minutes and put it on charge again. I might need to do this 2 or 3 times.

[@StephenStrangways]

@@geoffreypiltz271 this is because it has no way of monitoring the temperature of the battery that would rise towards the end of the charging cycle as internal resistance increases. It only has a single charging phase, rather than two distinct phases as you'd have with an OEM charger. What you're doing to let it cool and put it back on will get more power into the battery, but it is also extremely dangerous - if you don't notice the temperature rising too high and take it off charge, the battery could swell, making it unusable at best, and at worst, causing it to burst and catch fire.

[@YoSpiff]

I bought one of those. It was awkward to use and a dedicated charger is best. But if you can no longer get a charger, it is a good solution.

[@seanb480]

That Canon Powershot SD950 IS. Keep that and grab some cheap batteries and charger online, then add CHDK to it! That's a superb shooter.

[@snappiness]

I haven't shot with CHDK in a long time, great idea! Already waiting on a charger for it. Seemed worth the chance.

[@seanb480]

@@snappiness I have a collection of the Powershot ultracompacts, and the titanium build with OVF, 1/1.7" sensor, IS, and a decent resolution gives this one a head above the rest imho. Then shooting raw with CHDK and its a golden experience! Btw, I wrote a full article in June on chdk if you need a refresher with installation in 35mmc. Enjoy!

[@binarytrash]

Funny story, that Kodak c613 was my first camera ever. My parents got it for me as a Christmas present when I was 10 and I carried that thing everywhere with me (yes even to school, I have photos from class and with my classmates during brakes) until I tossed it in a bag with my keys and broke the lcd screen. I went through at least 4 of those point and shoot cameras before i finally got a DSLR but they were origin story character building for me and that little dingy thing is basically the reason why I’m still spending so much money on a hobby 😅

[@alfepalfe]

You may be able to gently just push that jammed shutter into position. Yes as a general rule of thumb you should *never* touch the shutter but if it's broken either way, why not try, it may work.

[@leehaze1]

Nice haul! Some of the Minolta Dimage series are nice cameras. I think you would enjoy shooting with them. Keep up the good work.

[@snappiness]

I plan to! Thanks

[@AndrewSowerby]

There's something for everyone in there, but the Konica Minolta got me buzzing. My first digital was the later model Konica Minolta Z3, and to say it served me well would be an understatement. It still works well (17 years on) and only has a loose battery door. Nothing that a bit of duct tape can't fix.

[@snappiness]

Awesome! Good to hear. I've held onto it to try and shoot. You were happy with the lens and everything?

[@AndrewSowerby]

the Z3 had a very good Minolta GT APO lens. It only has a 1/2.5" sensor, so chromatic aberration esp. purple fringing should be abysmal, but thanks to the apochromatic coating, it's well controlled. It's sharp enough, rendering is nice and I find the colours beautiful. The zoom range was 35mm-420mm, so 12x rather than the 10x of the Z2, and it has the benefit of Minolta's AS anti-shake system (sensor not lens based), and as far as I remember the Z2 didn't have that, but otherwise, they should be very similar. At release, some said the Z2 had better image quality, but after firmware releases, the Z3 maybe achieved parity. It's not fast but today's standards, but general operational speed was good at the time. The EVF was a huge benefit over the dim screens on the back of most compacts or bridge cameras, but I think it was only 96k dots! Still, 100% better than not having an EVF at all. I used bracketing to deal with the low dynamic range when I needed a few more EV - it was great to have that back then. In general, casting the mind back to the early to mid 2000s, and looking at it in that context, it was a bit of a rocketship.

[@flickeringgreenflame8493]

"It doesn't say the model" -- it nearly always says on the plate on the bottom. :)

[@s8wc3]

Easyshares were actually a half decent camera, and often came with a proper 4x6 dye sub photo printer!

[@snappiness]

I didn't show it in the video, but I did get a little docking station they connect to, which looks like it has ports for the computer/charging/printer. I think it was a solid idea on Kodaks part to make that whole process an easy home process.

[@kcphotogeek6207]

Love these old camera lot unboxing videos. That Pentax IQZoom is a nice looking camera. The trend towards compact film this last couple of year has lead to some capable film slrs being greatly undervalued I got a Pentax ZP10 for 10USD. It’s a simple camera sure but still gives better creative control than an Espio would for example, I own and like my Espio but SLRs just give you more options generally.

[@snappiness]

I agree! There are loads of great SLRs for cheap with great cheap optics as well. Just gotta look past what the crowd seems to be chasing at any given time..

[@shirakawanaoya]

Where can people find these types of mystery boxes??

[@ibexyablonski2321]

I'd like to know as well!

[@Kneedeepinstock]

Nobody wants a bunch of bunk old digital cameras with 4megapixels or a broken canon. U gotta sell em first. Plus drive to post office to ship them. then what’s ur “profit” more importantly what’s your time “worth”

[@snappiness]

You gotta understand your market if you want to succeed flipping things! There is definitely a market for some of these cameras, but some are not worth anything still. It helps that old digital cameras is a hobby community I'm a part of, so I can spot the good ones. The fuji 6mp camera? I sold for $50 in one day. The Polaroid? Have to bundle it with a few others, no one wants it by itself. Also the postman picks up packages from my house, I don't drive to the post office. You have to be efficient with these things :) Same with listing things quickly, I have a photobooth and shipping station, etc. It's very quick.

[@aerialfilm1]

Looks like a lost and found clearing out unclaimed finds. There’s a charity organization in central Florida who’s connected with the theme parks for their unclaimed camera finds.

[@snappiness]

Could very well be! I was excited that they all work so far. There's a few left I am waiting on getting chargers for. I assumed most of them would be dead and maybe a few would work. Got pretty lucky there.

[@mersea.714]

I’m my opinion, you saved the best for last: the Pentax 835 is an amazing camera. I bought mine new back in the day and took hundreds of rolls through it. I love that it has a bulb mode. I captured the 90’s club scene and much more with that gem.

[@ahoyhere8113]

funnn! i have a few of the easyshares, some of them have quite nice ccd colors, you should try ‘em if they work!

[@snappiness]

Might as well! :D

[@stowgood]

5:22 worth nothing on ebay - adds $5 anyway

[@bcostin]

That Fuji F11 is very nice and a rather uncommon model. It's a FinePix F10 upgraded with additional manual control modes, and was only sold new in Japan and Hawaii. The sensor is very similar to the one used in the later FinePix F30 model. There's probably an external charger available now, but mine came with an external charger that also acts as a video out adapter.

[@snappiness]

I'm enjoying it so far! The lens is very sharp, colors are nice, and it's very quick and snappy for it's age.

[@cameraprepper7938]

I have the F30, I do not use it anymore, but recently I have revisited some some of my old images from the F30, when I had them through new software the images look great, later I will go and resize them in Gigapixel for large prints. The F10 to F31d has a very good sensor, the Lens are very good though not wide enough for my taste and the screen are difficult to see in bright sunlight. When F30 was new it was the best compact digital Camera you could get !

[@shyzocas2381]

i have the canon t50 and i love it, if u fix it its definitly a keeper

[@northof-62]

I reember those Kodak EasyShares putting out som really good images. Didn't they use Zeiss lenses? No it was Schneider. Another good German optical company.

[@karim2k]

A real Pentax guy would test the new BLack and white DSLR, just saying 😅

[@flickeringgreenflame8493]

Fun video! :) FWIW, you'll sell the older digital cameras more easily if you include the small-capacity SD cards, and XD cards, with them -- so that they're immediately useful: as a "user", It's a nuisance having to track down sub-1 GB cards. ;)

[@snappiness]

I've noticed this as well! Annoying to order the old SD non sdhc cards separately and pay all that extra for a little thing. Same with xD and those Sony duos.

[@Lets-Take-Pictures]

Nice finds! That APS flash is hilarious, love it. I feel like the early Kodak and Polaroid p&s cameras get overlooked but I want to believe that they’re actually cool little cameras. Everything is better with a sprinkling of nostalgia, right?

[@borderlands6606]

Weirdly, I've seen other Canon T50 cameras with the same shutter collapse. The preceding A-series cameras had horizontal cloth shutters, which were seen as outdated, as cameras like the Nikkormat had Copal square metal shutters for many years. Old digital cameras elicit mixed emotions, because the lenses on some are brilliant modern optics, but the speed of technical evolution quickly rendered them obsolete. Unlike interchangeable lens cameras, compact glass had no residual value which was good for business but not the planet. Literally millions must have gone to landfill.

[@DoubleMonoLR]

I had the earlier Minolta Z1, I loved that camera for the time. Big optical zoom, very unique design, nice to use.

[@schwipsy]

Oh yeah please do shoot with that Polaroid, being limited makes you take awesome shots

[@snappiness]

I plan to for that exact reason :) plus, it's not even worth paying the shipping to send to someone, haha.

[@williambuford6136]

Loved that Sony S85. It started my Sony Digicam journey into digital photography! Sadly it was stolen. It led to a Sony V1 then a Sony V5. I always wanted the Sony F828.

[@Dahrenhorst]

Calculating all the cost with time invested in testing and cleaning, listing and shipping, materials for cleaning and shipping and maybe completing the camera (batteries, loaders, memory cards, caps, etc.), fees and taxes for selling them - you most likely will not make any profit on that lot, unless you work for free.

[@OneMonthTwoCameras]

Nice scoop!

[@snappiness]

So many fun ones, and sent the rest to good homes!

[@dominicwroblewski5832]

1) Use vinegar to clean the battery contacts. 2) Those flash units are not that bad. Even if they are dedicated they can be put in AUTO mode and used with any camera. I have a Vivitar that is dedicated for Pentax film cameras and I use it with a Nikon. Auto flash is just as good or better than TTL.

[@paologiordano.photos]

be careful about the mz-m. The MZ line had a fatal flaw in the mirror mechanism, one of the plastic gears tends to melt with time

[@snappiness]

That's what I've heard. Not too worried since I essentially got it for free. Will still be fun to play with.

[@matchc0635]

There are people pushing CCD cameras as the next trend after the film, not sure how that's gonna work but it might be something worth noting if they somehow gone up in price due to the fad.

[@itzbakconhairitzbakconhair8276]

could you imagine it was a box with a single camera

[@christiankirkenes5922]

I had that same model sony cybershot. It was my first digital camera. Ah memories. It really sucked !

[@wrenchmonkey3920]

ok I admit I bought an SF10 just for a Pentax F series lens. then chucked the body. Saved the bayonet for lens board project.

[@Satoscio]

8:08 this was my family's first ever digital camera, brings back memories seeing it here :)

[@David_Quinn_Photography]

the cheap working point and shoots are great for giving to the kids in your family so they can take photos with you with out needing to use your camera, they can drop them. scratch them, mess with settings and you don't have to worry.

[@randelcooprider6013]

I have the Sony W120 and I used it on a trip to Folly Beach. Pictures were good and one was made into a 24"x20" family group shot that hangs in our hallway. Worked well up to 400ISO very compact for edc and the optical view finder works in bright sunlight and allows bracing the camera against the forehead. Battery lasts pretty well also.

[@snappiness]

Cool! I am waiting for the charger to come for it - hopefully it turns out like most of the rest have so far!

[@Hey_Beau]

Nicely Done! Looking at a lot of Pentax lenses that I could possibly profit $50 on... the problem is I would want to keep one or two 😅

[@roganmitchell1633]

You said you were a Pentax guy I have a Pentax k2000 and it’s in great shape I got it for 20$ and it have a 70-300mm sigma lens with it and the original lens with no scratches and am wondering if it’s a good camera and aswell as if you think it’s worth more

[@DRGBTL23]

That Canon A85 reminded me of my first digital camera, a Canon A95 back in 2004/2005. Solid little camera.

[@koobs4549]

The Canon ELPH model’s are supposed to be pronounced Elf, as in diminutive in size.

[@sharpskilz]

Interesting video, had to mute and put it on subtitles though because the audio was too sibilant and claggy on the mouth sounds and c and s letters. Nonetheless good.

[@marioarias9942]

I might be wrong but I’ve seen most of these at flea markets and they’re not selling because they’re obsolete lol

[@lghjsdtugfkgfjgtru]

that was very interesting! personally I would keep them all haha 😅 I would love to collect all of them and use the ones that work. It would be a blast for me haha keep up the good content!

[@frankartale1026]

The F11 and sd950is are the best ones. The 950 is actually a great one with the 1/1.7 ccd and the fuji is a 1/1,7 super ccd. I have a charger if u need

[@snappiness]

Thanks Frank, I bought chargers for all the ones that were missing. So far everything is working! I've been shooting the F11 on and off the past few weeks and have been really loving it.

[@frankartale1026]

@@snappiness the f11 is capable of really good pictures. Iso 200 for everything with -1/3 exp works best all around even with flash. The f10/11 have a stronger flash than f30 but fuji dropped the s/s from 1/100 on f10 to 1/60 on f11 so you dont get the extra power its capable of. Even in shutter priority at 1/100 its not as bright as f10. I think that was a mistake

[@wullieg7269]

flash with 2 auto stops beats TTL always vivitar never die

[@jenmccloud3323]

E-L-P-H = elf. I remember selling some of these at Ritz Camera at the Galleria Mall

[@lim9571]

Would you do an update in a few months showing going through the profit you have made?

[@iancurrie8844]

As someone old enough to vividly remember the first ELPH camera coming out on the APS film format, I’ve always known it to be pronounced as the Canon Elf (then model number). Never have I ever heard anyone pronounce is E-L-P-H. That seems so strange to me. It’s elph - elf - as in small.

[@snappiness]

Haha - I never even thought of pronouncing it 'elf'. I like that way better :)

[@iancurrie8844]

​@@snappiness Here's another one for you: The term "digicam" is something that is completely made up by very young people. When these cameras were in common use they were called "cameras" or, if you wanted to be oddly specific, "digital cameras". The shorthand "digicam" didn't exist. It wasn't used. It's a made up term that very young people have applied retroactively. People might have called them by their branded names such as "powershot", "cybershot", "coolpix" etc It's a bit like kids in the future referring to an iphone 13 as a "digicell" or something equally silly. It's a made up retroactive term. When I search google books for "digicam" the only reference I find is from the 1970s in releation to a film camera from Italy. Otherwise, it's a completely unknown made up term.

[@diegoscopia]

@@iancurrie8844 Sorry but that's not true. The website "Steve's digicams" was actually one the early reviewers of digital cameras back in the late 90s early 2000s. So hardly a new word.

[@horsebydayartbynight]

Manayunk Brewery is here in Philadelphia! I've been there! Lol.

[@gavinjenkins899]

How did you not show what was on the film and cards? The heck, that's not cool

[@bullshitter905]

where did you buy it

[@giorgipipia9873]

I wanna know that to

[@kabaottoemulsion1869]

I love a mystery box! It looks like there weren't any gem but always interesting to see what other people are doing! Thanks for share!

[@dontu_knoware]

I bought a set of vintage cameras for over 100 dollars

[@wang_.]

I bought a sony hdv camera for 40 bucks at a thrift stroe lol

[@VapidSquare]

Imagine this video, but in uk. Not nearly as interesting

[@LaTigerGenesis]

Manayunk Brewery is a neat place in Philadelphia :)

[@andygamer5585]

Hey just some advice, if you want to check if a film camera has film in it witouth opening it, try tugging on the rewind crank, if it doesent efortlessly spin it has film inside

[@snappiness]

That's a good tip!

[@shadow_playz6351]

i really want to have a digi cam but i dont have the money

[@johnoutdoorvideos]

Minolta Dimage looks like it's from Futurama

[@nk__]

6:55 That looks like a canon Ixus model

[@marcisroaming]

You do know that the E. L. P. H. is meant to be pronounced Elf, right? Just a heads up, love your channel!

[@snappiness]

Someone told me that earlier 🤣 I don't know why I had never heard that/thought of that.

[@mohansuswaram4154]

Whether you make profit or not, videos from people like you are going to increase the prices of even thrift shop cameras.

[@CRS204]

“Videos from people like you are going to increase the prices” That’s just the unfortunate part of humanity when information is spread. As demand goes up, so does price. It’s not his fault we work that way with the info he gives.

[@TheChosenOne_]

I love these kind of videos. Only little suggestion i have would be to make it more clear how much the current item was worth so i dont have to keep the previous total in mind, but that’s nitpicking ofc

[@snappiness]

That's really helpful feedback, thank you! And thanks for watching :)

[@cullenchase9161]

@@snappiness I would also appreciate it! You could probably put it next to the camera name or do a little +$10 under the total before you go to the next camera. This was a fun video and it was interesting seeing how much some of those older digital cameras are actually worth. I wonder who buys some of them though, like what are they using a $15 digital camera from 2004 for??

[@sdhute]

Interesting to know the history behind those cameras. I’m sure you can sell the broken ones for parts. Some of that damage comes most likely from stacking tubs of cameras on top of another. Very interesting video

[@Audimann]

No Nikon D850? Bummer😬😬

[@yugen3976]

My left ear enjoyed this video.

[@PewPewPark]

First real camera I ever bought was a Kodak Easy Share C183. Got it for Black Friday ages ago. Actually still have it somewhere.

[@MillAppartments-kb5vd]

An interesting thing about old cameras is when the date year rolls over back to around 2000 . I started seeing it in 2019, then I have multiple still/vid cameras that only go up to any of 2023, 2024, 2037 2050.or 2099. Does this affect value ?

[@thirdpedalnirvana]

My Finepix F700 was the best point and shoot digital camera I ever had. It not only had Super CCD tech but also HDSR... that mean a checkerboard of high vs low sensitivity pixels on the CCD. It's HDR before HDR... except HDR takes 2 pictures with 2 different exposures and digitally stitches them.... but 2 pictures aren't identically framed due to hand shake. HDSR was HDR built into hardware, one snap, high dynamic range.

[@quazisanjeed6395]

I follow your videos. Could you review some of the old DSLRs like Canon 300D or Nikon D40!

[@gabesphoto]

That T50 from canon is a great little camera. I shot some of the Americas Cup sailing regattas here in San Diego with a T70. Very nifty. You might be surprised of the image quality of those Canon FD Lenses.

[@NismoJoeB13]

The Nikon S52 is a great camera! I have the S51 and have had a S52c in the past, great image quality and the VR is excellent!

[@shirakawanaoya]

Omg I had a couple Monica's growing up. I had the Z3 and I was in life with that design!!! The memories you just brought! Pd. Btw the camera picture quality was awful

[@vyrnmn]

The Canon A85 was the first camera I bought for myself back in 2005. It served me very well for a year or two until I upgraded to a Nikon D50.

[@mghJD]

The Manayunk Brewery & Co. is a bar and restaurant on main st in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia PA. Kudos for saying Manayunk fairly well, full Philly style would be man-e-hunk lol.

[@Joypoky]

The T50 is an excellent camera for beginners who want's to shoot argentic without learning how to shoot manual, because it's fully automatic and you can use great canon lenses.. It was a great gift for my dumb ex girlfriend !

[@stevenmann1614]

I still have a fujifilm F11. It gave great images but needs the sensor cleaning. This is hard to do on a compact camera.

[@tns5044]

Sony DSC-F505 was my first decent digital camera after an Apple QuickTake II. I actually used it for work once to shoot for a brochure. 2.1 MP needed some serious upscaling but they were quality shots

[@bdilla225]

If you put your palm to the back of the camera, when you are pointing towards your camera, you are recording on. It will focus on it faster.

[@darthjump]

It is super interesting to see these. I have several in the basement, i even shot my very first "films" if you can call them that on an even smaller cheap camera when i was like 13 with my friends. It is cool to see these but at the same time they are the perfect representation of old tech that is just not worth to use anymore. They have zero value beside the interesting designs and features developers jammed in them. On the other hand some older point and shoots and camcorders have crazy good Zeiss optical zoom. We had one that was way to good for it´s time. It used small cassettes though.

[@randallstewart175]

Digital technology used to advance significantly every year or so, leading to large quantities of these small pocket digitals being put aside in exchange for the next and fancier model (sort of like an I-Phone). I used to wonder where all of those "over the hill" cameras went. Now I know - they get sold by the pound.

[@codiecrieg2480]

Hello i have watch your old video and in my country prices are a lil bit different. I hope i will learn more from your video how to get good price. Cheers

[@erikswenson2659]

Real surprised to see that you believe it is possible to resell cameras with less than 10 megapixels in today's world.

[@EnricoEngelmann]

Those old automatic flashes are precious, because they allow to work in a different way than modern ttl flashes, since you can rapidly regulate the exposition through the aperture, which is much faster and comfortable than through the dial on the flash!

[@TruckFan542]

I just picked up a couple Pentax cameras. An E35 and an E90. Both work.

[@dgutie8]

What a cool idea…it was fun!

[@snappiness]

Glad you enjoyed it! 😀

[@eloreneloreneloreneloreneloren]

In my country a single lens from Canon T50 cost more that this whole pack 😄

[@NitroVII]

DSC-S85 is a great camera! It takes surprisingly good photos.

[@TJH1]

That was super fun, I hope you do some more of these style videos! I would have been pretty thrilled with just the Panasonic ZS8.

[@caesar8955]

Hey man. What shelf you got in the background. I wanna get it!!! Also great videos

[@Vibrance_Visuals]

Did u actually sell these or is it just the value of the item

[@snappiness]

Actually sold them, kept a few but still ended up over $200 after fees. Flipping is how I pay for my hobbies :)

[@PirataDeBoriquen]

I love the video!!! Where can I buy a camera mystery box like that one?

[@josephnevin]

My first proper digital camera was a Sony cyber shot W120. Still have it with me

[@ItaWildLife]

8:54 strangest looking camera i've evere seen. It has that late 90' earliest 2000 look. I love it

[@alfredsa-onoy3287]

HI! Just wondering how did you find these bundles? thanks!

[@mrpedroleal90]

I live near Manayunk Brewery, that’s pretty cool.

[@shebadoge]

This is why you don’t sell stuff you don’t know the value of.