Ebay Watch: Leica Prototypes, 2000mm Lenses, Photo Booths and More
The wildest photography gear up for auction this week.
What better way to celebrate yesterday’s final launch of the spaceship Discovery, than by buying yourself this previously NASA-owned Hasselblad that may or may not have actually gone to space? Ebay seller PrettyKittyChloe, acquired this rather beat-up 500 El from NASA some time last year. And while it may not be bright yellow, like some of the other NASA ‘blads we’ve seen, the fact that it is fairly dinged-up, gives us high hopes that this may actually be the real deal.
This massive “beer barrel” of a lens first made its debut at the Photokina tradeshow in Germany back in 1970. According to Ebay seller SHPhoto-gmbh, Nikon only ever manufactured a few of them. The lens contains a series of mirrors, two in the back and one in the front, that are used to bounce light around, effectively maximizing the lens’ focal length, without adding to its physical length. The result is an extremely stocky lens. Just incase you are wondering, the minimum focusing distant of this lens is 20 meters away. It also weighs 55 pounds.
Looking for an orange Rolleiflex 2.8 FX camera? How about a red, green, black, grey, blue, brown, white, purple or pink one? Well here is your chance to own them all! According to Ebay Seller BreguetCamera, the same seller who brought us the M9 prototype, these 10 cameras were used as a display/sample piece at last year’s Photokina show in Germany. Each comes in its own separate box with a two year warranty as well as accessories. And just in case you have no need for 10 TLR cameras, BreguetCamera is willing to break up the auction and sell you just one, in your favorite color, for $6000.
This is a really neat and fairly reasonably priced auction for anybody who is a Leica nut. The lot includes one Leica M7 in black, two Leica MP’s, one in black and one in red, a neat wooden collectible box to house them in and various Leica salesmen literature. While we can’t say for certain whether or not Ebay seller TheShutterBug was the salesman who once owned and peddled these, from his lengthy and thorough description of the items, we are going to assume he was. It should also be noted that according to the seller, all of the cameras are currently being cleaned and tested by a service technician.
Sorry Leica and Hasselblad, this Alpa medium format camera has got to be one of the most beautiful looking things we have ever seen. The rosewood trim is almost as pretty as the Phase One back that comes attached. For those of you not familiar with Alpa cameras, they are a Swiss-owned medium format camera company known for their minimalistic designs, like the one seen here. Included in Ebay seller BreguetCamera’s auction is the camera body, lens, viewfinder, wooden grip, P21+ digital back, adapter ring, cable, manual, and a case to carry it all in.
This portable photo booth fits up to eight people and is wheelchair accessible, which would actually probably make it a cool and unique prop for a wedding or party photographer. The physical camera inside the booth shoots what Ebay seller Sharby1 refers to as “professional quality” photo and prints using a “professional photo printer.” Guests can even choose between having their images printed in either black and white or color.