Cameras etc sells all manner of vintage camera equipment, mostly as an excuse to avoid it piling up in my house, inside Jacob's Antiques Market in Cardiff.
Yes, there's a horrifying amount of stuff.
Stock and general info
I stock cameras, lenses, and accessories of a wide variety from pretty much any point in photographic history. The previous stall owner had a great taste in Victorian cameras and I have a particular appreciation for solid, reasonably-priced cameras from the 60s/70s/80s that haven't taken off in the plaid-shirt community yet.
I try to ensure my prices are very reasonable and I can provide detailed information about the condition of each item. If you're visiting from London the price difference may cause you to go into shock.
I don't tend to sell online currently, due to the awkwardness of handling stock when the market is only open 3 days a week and I might not be in to put stuff aside. For that reason this is very much an analogue experience (i.e. come visit in person).
Looking to sell some camera gear? Find out more about what I buy.
Assessment and repairs
I perform some minor repairs on gear I buy in quiet moments at the market, and can offer some repair services to customers, but these vary by whether I have experience with the item and how likely it is to be viable. I do repair quite a lot of small manual focus prime lenses, including removing fungus and regreasing helicoids, but this isn’t really cost-effective to offer for most cheaper lenses unfortunately.
I do offer light seal replacement on many camera models. This costs £20 and includes the film bay door seals and the bumper for the mirror. Some cameras (like Olympus bodies) require more work as the pads around the prism need replacing as well, or Minolta SRTs where you need to remove half the camera to replace the seals around the focus screen. These more intensive jobs are something I need to see the camera to estimate, so drop me an email or bring it along to the stall.
Location
You can find the stall on the first floor in Jacob's Antiques Market in Cardiff, just behind Cardiff Central train station, at the following address:
Jacobs Antiques Centre
West Canal Wharf
Cardiff
Wales
CF10 5DB
If you're visiting from the town centre, the market is a 5 minute walk up St Mary Street and under the railway bridge.
As you exit the stairs onto the first floor, go left and then right - you'll run into the cameras opposite the medals pitch. Do bear in mind that there's usually a dog in the medal stall and she likes to jumpscare people by waiting until they're right next to her before barking, but she's a fusspot who loves a pet when the gate is opened.
There's an excellent café in the basement and, on sunnier days, a rooftop bar.
Availability and opening hours
The market is only open Thursday to Saturday (9:30am to 5pm) and the stall is open all 3 days, though I'm not always there - if you'd like to purchase something when I'm not, please talk to any of the other stall holders. Do bear in mind that although I take card payments, many of the others do not.
I'm usually in from 10:30am to 5pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and Thursdays by prior arrangement.
Get in touch
You can email me at shop@camerasetc.wales and I'll usually reply very quickly.
Updates
If you'd like to be kept up-to-date about the latest stock, visit the news section or subscribe to receive updates.
Who am I?
I'm Rob and I look forward to meeting you in the market and talking your ears off about cameras. I'm an experienced photographer across a wide variety of disciplines, and you can check out my personal photography site if you're interested.
Looking for a professional photographer to hire? Have a look at my professional work instead.