Give Goodwill what you don’t need and get camera gear for dirt cheap
May 12, 2024
David Prochnow
Our resident “how-to” project editor, David Prochnow, lives on the Gulf Coast of the United States in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. He brings his expertise at making our photography projects accessible to everyone, from a lengthy stint acting as the Contributing How-To Editor with Popular Science magazine. While you don’t have to actually build each of his projects, reading about these adventures will contribute to your continued overall appreciation of do-it-yourself photography. A collection of David’s best Popular Science projects can be found in the book, “The Big Book of Hacks,” Edited by Doug Cantor.
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It’s a win, win, win concept. Goodwill Industries, a community-based nonprofit counseling and career services organization, receives donated products from a recycling-conscience public. These donations are then sold and, in turn, support over 2 million people (as reported in 2022) seeking assistance in job advancement. The final leg in this triple play is the customers buying the donated goods. Granted, not every purchase is a treasure, but the chances of finding a precious gem at a ridiculously good price are very, very high.
Shopping for camera gear at Goodwill
Begin your own charity camera buying journey at Goodwill Industries’ online shop, GoodwillFinds.com. According to Goodwill, the products offered on this online venue are a “curated selection of hundreds of thousands of unique items.” But that’s not all. Clearance pricing, sales, and 50% discounts are periodically offered for many of these items.
Trying to locate the photography equipment section is as easy as using this menu selection: select Electronics -> Cameras & Photography. Within this sub-menu, there are four options: Accessories, Digital Cameras, Film & Polaroid Cameras, and Shop All Cameras & Photography. Optionally, you can enter a search term for focusing your selection list on a particular brand, model, format, etc.
Alternatively, browsing through the 1,000s of photography items might sound painfully slow, but this old-school technique can yield an unexpected bargain. Here’s the tale of one such incredible purchase:
Similar to locating a vintage automobile hidden underneath decades of neglect, commonly called a “barn find,” Goodwill Industries has a large sampling of photographic equipment that is silently waiting to be found.
The description was innocuous enough: “Assorted bundle of vintage cameras.” After studying the accompanying product photographs, however, there was something in the background that was barely visible but had a unique and characteristic shape. It looked like an Olympus XA 35mm film camera.
As it turned out, it was an Olympus XA. On today’s used market, this Olympus in “excellent” condition is priced at about $150 – $330. Unfortunately, the example discovered in this purchased bundle of cameras was equivalent to “fair” condition, as shown in Figure 4. Regardless, here’s a complete listing of a recent, real example purchase of photographic equipment from Goodwill Industries.
Before you read this listing, however, here are two important caveats regarding ALL GoodwillFinds.com purchases: everything for sale on the website is listed in “as-is” condition. Occasionally, the description will include some of the basic testing performed by Goodwill Industries’ personnel, just keep in mind that the equipment might not be 100% functional. Likewise, your gear will need a reasonable amount of cleaning before use.
The second reminder about this photographic gear is that it has been donated by people just like you. Reading between the lines of these donations could mean that the former owner saw “no value” in either selling or trading this equipment. Instead, they elected to make a donation to Goodwill Industries. Ironically, your “donation” will help recover and recycle this secondhand find. Good luck.
The contents of a recent purchase from GoodwillFinds.com:
Assorted bundle of vintage cameras:
- Agfa Isoflash-Rapid and case
- Ansco Cadet II
- Canon Sure Shot Owl
- Olympus Infinity SuperZoom 3000
- Olympus XA
- Pentax Zoom 70-R
- Vintage Argus film camera and case
- Gossen Pilot 2 exposure meter with original box, case, manual
- Ranging Company green rangefinder 200
The purchase price was $70 plus an additional $20 for postage and handling, resulting in a total price of $90 for 9 items. All-in-all a very worthwhile conclusion to a donation for “free” camera gear.
Oh, and by the way, at the time of publication, these “treasures” were still for sale:
- Mamiya Super 23 film camera w/6×9 film adapter 100mm lens $299.99
- Vntg Graflex Auto Graflex 4×5 SLR film camera w/extra film cartridge $299.99
- Paillard-Bolex B8 8mm movie camera w/dual lenses $79.99
Conclusion
Who knows what kind of gear you may find on GoodwillFinds.com. You may get lucky when looking at film cameras and find something like a Mamiya M645 or a Leica rangefinder camera for dirt cheap. You may also find a nice deal on a digital camera, although that’s quite a bit rarer.
David Prochnow
Our resident “how-to” project editor, David Prochnow, lives on the Gulf Coast of the United States in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. He brings his expertise at making our photography projects accessible to everyone, from a lengthy stint acting as the Contributing How-To Editor with Popular Science magazine. While you don’t have to actually build each of his projects, reading about these adventures will contribute to your continued overall appreciation of do-it-yourself photography. A collection of David’s best Popular Science projects can be found in the book, “The Big Book of Hacks,” Edited by Doug Cantor.
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2 responses to “Give Goodwill what you don’t need and get camera gear for dirt cheap”
Screw goodwill, Goodwill is the biggest scam on the planet
Donate the stuff you don’t need anymore to local schools, repair cafes, adult education centers, fellow/aspiring photographers, sell it for cheap at classified ads or put it in the “known good” container some if not most recycling yards have nowadays.
And then think twice, better three times if you think you need a new smartphone, camera, lens, flash, LCD-TV/monitor washing machine, tumble dryer, refrigerator. Most likely the claim “saves energy” is a round lie if the device you’re going to replace is less than a decade old. And even if it saves a couple Wh during it’s lifespan, that is negligible in comparison to the environmental footprint caused by manuacturing. If you absolutely HAVE to buy something (GAS is not a valid justification), check if you can get what you need used or at least from a (local) manufacturer who cares about repairability,
Remember the many Rs of sustainability, among them: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle.