Pasadena, California - Camera show and Sale.

Hi Pentaxian friends,

This past Sunday, (Dec 21, 2008) I attended the monthly Pasadena Camera Show and Sale. I pretty much go every Month. These camera shows are not as popular as they were years ago, when photography was mostly dominated by film cameras. In the digital world, there isn't much that you can purchase used. The new DSLR cameras change model so often that it would be hard to keep up. There wouldn't be much money to be made with used DSLRs.

However, lenses and equipment such as tripods, lighting, adapters, caps, filters, etc, are still selling well. It seems that most vendors are from the film era and some still think that the world at large still use film cameras. They all hate EBay, and you can imagine why. I rarely purchase anything of great value. This weekend, I purchased an older 500mm mirror lens, several genuine Pentax lens hoods, body and lens caps, two camera stands (which I will convert to vehicle remote shooting stands) and an older "Like new" Pentax 3Deg/21mm spot meter.

I probably need any of the above like I need a hole in the head, but it's fun to get that stuff. I have boxes of that kind of stuff, and sometimes they come in handy. You can never get too much camera "Stuff"!

This is one end of the hall. It is "L" shaped and the overall show occupies about twice of what's pictures here. The best vendors are in the other section, near the entrance.

This vendor also has a camera store somewhere in California. I purchased all of my tripod equipment from him, little by little each Month. All my tripods are Giottos and I really think they are superior, and is priced about 20% less than B&H from this vendor. He and his wife are from the digital era and they have really good stuff. I purchase from them often.

I bought a 500mm mirror lens from this vendor. His prices were very reasonable.

This man had a lot of Pentax Equipment, but his prices were more than what I would consider reasonable. He wanted about 90% of MSRP. For that, he gets to keep his equipment to himself. Who could resist that smile!

People also trade their equipment with vendors or sell their equipment outright. The vendors' equipment is always "pristine" and your equipment for sale or trade is always in very bad shape or not in much demand. Sure!

Sometimes, it's not the big stuff that you need. Lens caps, filters, adapters, there's always plenty of those and cheap. I always find something in these treasure bins.


Thank you for reading,

Yvon Bourque