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I know that older film cameras aren’t that expensive, but for many in these lean times, money is very tight. If you’d like to get a film camera system or darkroom setup without laying down your hard earned money, what can you do?

Barter.

One place you will often see some pretty nice photography equipment is craigslist. Most of the people are looking for cash. However, these people will often express a desire to trade if they can’t sell their gear.

Or if you just want to have people come to you with their trades, then put an ad in the barter section and offer something of value for cash or trade for an SLR.

Here’s an example.

A few years ago, I bought a compound bow like you’d use for hunting. I just wanted to play with it. I’m not a hunter at all. So a couple of weeks ago I got tired of seeing the thing in my house. I offered it on craigslist for $75 or an SLR camera. I specified that I wasn’t interested in plastic point and shoot cameras. I was contacted by someone with a Pentax system and a Konica. My choice.

So I get to clean out the house and get a new (to me) camera. What’s not to love? And if you get good at this, maybe you can even create a second income by buying and selling cameras.

Just make sure when dealing with people that you keep your safety as your top priority and that you’re getting a good value for your trade.

Shhhh. Here’s a secret we don’t want everyone to know.

You can use inexpensive older lenses with new cameras. Maybe even lenses and cameras from different manufacturers.

Yep. Just get an adapter.

Here’s a video with someone adapting a beautiful old Minolta Rokkor 50mm 1.4 lens to a Canon EOS 5D. There’s no sound. But there doesn’t really need to be.

You can also find adapters that will allow you to use old screw mount lenses with most cameras. How beautiful is that? Got a beautiful old Super Takumar SMC that you want to use on an old school Minolta XD-11 or the upcoming Canon EOS 7D or a Nikon D700? Get an adapter.

Here’s one of a Jupiter M42 screw mount lens being used with a Pentax K Mount camera.

Since new digital camera bodies may be bank busters for you, and you might have thought you couldn’t afford a camera system, now you can get some good old glass or use the camera lenses you already have with your new body.

Caveats, well, yeah, of course. So some adapters might not allow focus to infinity. You might need 42mm for Pentax and 39mm for Leica, but that’s not that hard to figure out. Some lenses might run too deep and hit your mirror. That would be a no-no. Oh and worst yet for the modern picture taker, your auto everything mode probably won’t work so you might have to use that thinking thing that’s on top of your neck and use it in manual mode. Oh the horrors.

In any case, there are some wonderful old lenses in most people’s houses that aren’t being used. Just don’t tell everyone our secret. I like buying old lenses cheap. Then again, I’ll probably use the film camera that goes with it.

Here are some searches that will get you started.

M39 Adapters on ebay

M42 Adapters on ebay

Canon Adapters on ebay

Leica Adapters on ebay

Minolta Adapters on ebay

Nikon Adapters on ebay

Olympus Adapters on ebay

Pentax Adapters on ebay

I’ve never mentioned it here. It never came up before, but I’m a Minolta lover.

The Minolta X-700 was the first camera I purchased once I got out of high school and didn’t have access to the Pentax cameras I first used. It was a beauty. It had a very nice, bright Acute-Matte screen. Good feel. Very nice glass. It wasn’t long before I just instinctively knew how to spin the f-stop ring and the shutter speed dial. It was and is still a part of me.

I still have that X-700 and I still love it. I’ve taken untold thousands of pictures on it without really any problems. I think I finally may have a scratch on my pressure plate and I don’t know how I did it. So, I’m checking out brand new (to me) 20-30 year old Minolta bodies to add to the collection. My local photo store doesn’t have these very often. Of course, I’ve been to ebay. What an amazing place to shop.

Anyway, to make a long story longer, I had to spend a few hours reading Minolta information a couple nights ago. I ended up on The Rokkor Files, www.rokkorfiles.com and realized I had never written about it. I love this site.

So what’s so great about it. First, it was built by someone with a love for Minolta. (Sadly, it seems he converted most of his gear to digital for his wedding photography business, but that’s another matter.)

Secondly, it is a fantastic resource. It has a guide to all the manual focus Minolta cameras, the lenses, accessories, advertising, and technical reports. There are links to purchase manuals for most Minolta photography equipment. It also has a brief but good links page. There are articles from Dick Sullivan’s SRT Resources. And if that isn’t enough, there is even a downloadable Minolta font.

So if you have a Minolta manual focus film camera, this is a great resource. If you don’t have a Minolta camera, why not? Get one. Like all film cameras these days, prices are down. Quality is extremely high. This is a great time to be picking up cameras you might have never owned. I have my eye on that cute little number over there. No her size isn’t 36-24-36. It’s XD11. And I think she’s looking at me.

Classic Minolta 35mm SLRs

Minolta 35mm SLR Lenses

Minolta Rangefinders