I am just starting and am in need of a decent camera, I have been told AE1's are good and need to know prices, thanks.

-- James Henry O'Dwyer (h@imagestar.freeserve.co.uk), November 02, 2001

Answers

For an average AE1 with a 50/1.8 lens a camera shop would ask about £120 (but smile sweetly and ask for a discount), less if it's tatty more if it's mint in its box. So, for a private sale about two thirds this, less if you're buying unseen off eBay etc. If the shutter is squeaky/wheezy, the fix will probably be at least £60 i.e. don't buy a squeaky one unless the price is extremely low. Online camera retailers you may wish to look at (haven't used them myself but have heard positive things about them from others)

www.mxv.co.uk www.mifsuds.com www.solophoto.co.uk

plus lots of others, of course, but these three have a fairly large selections.

-- Jeremy (bmjb@hotmail.com), November 03, 2001.

If you're looking for a used camera in the UK, there is a list of camera shops and a basic search engine for the smaller sites at: http://www.ukcamera.com/. You will have to search bigger sites personally.

You can sometimes pick up real bargains in pawn shops and similar cash-for-goods places, as they often don't know much about cameras, or even at car boot sales if you're lucky.

Good luck!

Roger

-- Roger Broadbent (roger_broadbent@yahoo.co.uk), November 04, 2001.