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Frugal Photo Friends Newsletter (Edition 1, 17 October 2017)

Just wanted to let you all know of a fun resource for creative stuff including photo related items.....

In Oakland there's a place called the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse. There's usually a little bit of photo related sludge in a designated area, but also interspersed throughout the jumbles of junk  treasures. On my last visit I picked up:

  • a mostly full case (500x) of those old airmail envelopes 
  • a few dozen sheets of letraset
  • a bunch of 35mm and 4x5 negative sleeves (ca. 50-100)
  • various laser labels
  • a seemingly unused cable release (for conventional film cameras)
  • a couple of old maps
  • a roll of old Kodachrome (I know I can't develop it!) 
  • multi-colored sheet feed paper for impact printer (dot matrix)
  • and some other miscellany. 
Box of Misc Crap in the "Camera Corner" (not really in a corner, and not all cameras)

In the end it  all fit in a medium size moving box and cost about $28 out the door.

There were a few 35mm SLRs with various issues including three Canon EOS cameras ranging from $5 to $13. I noticed a few Polaroid cameras behind the glass at the front counter as well. In the "camera corner" there were also a few point and shoots, including a Samsung with a fancy shmancy Schneider lens.

There was some form of an enlarger in a box that didn't look like anything too useful as well.

What might also interest my frugal photo friends, there were also some vintage lenses, several in those cute little faux leather cases. I seem to recall one was a 35mm Petri lens, forgot what the other was.

Other cool stuff they have include:

  • Lots of paper in various forms, from labels, to envelopes, to roll paper
  • Tapes in most forms: standard audio cassettes (complete with old custom mix tapes), reel to reel, VHS
  • Records
  • Cloth
  • Frames
  • Books
  • Magazines
  • Other crap
So, dear frugal photo friends.... should you find yourselves with a little time and money on your hands and feel like sifting through other peoples trash, you may just find your own treasure at the Depot.


(please note, this is just for folks in the San Francisco Bay Area.)







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