I went to the monthly local camera swap meet yesterday looking for a used camera I can get to shoot 120 film. I didn't find any that were priced reasonably. But tossed into a bin of old cameras I did find this old Sears 500 MX. I was excited because it's the first 35mm camera I got as a young teenager to shoot with. And on top of that, it only cost me $5 and it appears to be working fine. Now that was for the body only. I did have to pay $25 to get a matching Sears lens from another vendor, but still for $30 for some nostalgia that can actually still work felt like a good deal.
Looking down on the shutter speed dial you quickly see it's greatest limitation. Nope, no the max 1/500th of a sec, but that it's slower shutter speeds got skipped. It's Bulb, then 1/30th, then 1/60th. There is no 1/5th, 1/2, etc to help fill in the exposure gaps. So I only used mine for a couple of years if I remember right before getting a Minolta film body.
Oh also, this uses the old screw mount. There are not a lot of those left around either. Almost all of old lenses at the swap meet are old bayonet mounts.
I did pick up one other 35mm film body/lens but I will share that later. For now, I was just super excited to have found this one, it's a pretty rare find. And who knows, maybe it was actually mine at one time. I still have no idea what my mom had done with mine, whether it was off to Goodwill, garage sale or trash can.
Looking down on the shutter speed dial you quickly see it's greatest limitation. Nope, no the max 1/500th of a sec, but that it's slower shutter speeds got skipped. It's Bulb, then 1/30th, then 1/60th. There is no 1/5th, 1/2, etc to help fill in the exposure gaps. So I only used mine for a couple of years if I remember right before getting a Minolta film body.
Oh also, this uses the old screw mount. There are not a lot of those left around either. Almost all of old lenses at the swap meet are old bayonet mounts.
I did pick up one other 35mm film body/lens but I will share that later. For now, I was just super excited to have found this one, it's a pretty rare find. And who knows, maybe it was actually mine at one time. I still have no idea what my mom had done with mine, whether it was off to Goodwill, garage sale or trash can.
