Free camera, lens & optics pickup in Albuquerque — film or digital, working or not

Cameras, lenses & optics I pick up free — working or not

• Film: 35mm SLRs (Nikon F-series, Canon AE-1 and F-1, Pentax K1000 and Spotmatic, Minolta, Olympus OM); rangefinders (Leica, Canonet, Yashica Electro); medium format (Hasselblad, Mamiya, Rolleiflex, Yashica-Mat); compact point-and-shoots; Polaroid SX-70 and Land cameras; folding and box cameras; view cameras.
• Digital: DSLRs and mirrorless bodies; early point-and-shoots (Canon PowerShot, Sony Cyber-shot, Nikon Coolpix); camcorders (Hi8, MiniDV, VHS-C) with their chargers.
• Lenses: Nikon, Canon FD and EF, Pentax Takumar, Minolta Rokkor, Olympus Zuiko, Zeiss, Leica; enlarger lenses (El-Nikkor, Rodenstock, Schneider).
• Flashes, meters & support: Vivitar and Metz flashes; Sekonic, Gossen and Weston meters; tripods and heads; bags and straps (Domke, Tamrac, Lowepro).
• Movie & projection: Super 8 and 16mm cameras and projectors, slide projectors and viewers, film editors.
• Darkroom: enlargers (Beseler, Omega — heavy, photo first), timers, safelights, tanks and reels, easels, print washers; sealed or expired film in quantity. No open chemistry.
• Studio: strobes, stands and softboxes.
• Optics & instruments: binoculars (Zeiss, Leitz, Nikon, Bushnell, military); spotting scopes; telescopes and mounts (Celestron, Meade, Questar, Unitron); microscopes (Bausch & Lomb, American Optical, Nikon, Olympus, Leitz, gemological); loupes; surveying instruments — they go with the drafting room.

What cameras and optics have turned into

• Old electronics and audio: a 1940 Stromberg-Carlson tube radio, a Roland MT-32 sound module, a Shure microphone, a MacBook Pro, a first-generation iPod nano, a Kindle Paperwhite, Canon PowerShot cameras.
• Scientific and technical: a gemological binocular microscope, a K+E slide rule, an industrial time-delay relay and contactor, a VoIP network gateway.

Real item types from my recent eBay sales (list checked September 2026) — no prices, no buyer details. eBay seller since 2003 — currently an eBay Top Rated Seller, 99.8% positive feedback (1,800+ feedback score, 3,800+ items sold).

I’ll usually pass on

• Disposable and plastic 110 cameras.
• VHS tapes.
• Cameras that were crushed, soaked or full of battery corrosion.
• Open darkroom chemicals — households take photo chemicals to the City’s Household Hazardous Waste Collection Center.
• Family photos, negatives, slides and home movies — keep those with the family.

What to photograph

1. The name ring on each lens (the maker, focal length and aperture are printed around the front).
2. The top plate of each body.
3. Whether the digital ones power on — and whether the chargers are there.
4. A flashlight shone through each lens, to show any haze or fungus.
5. The prism-plate stamp on binoculars (maker, power, serial).
6. The maker on a microscope’s arm, and its objectives.
7. One doorway shot of the shelf or the darkroom.

Batteries left in old cameras leak, so pull them if you can. Text the photos to (505) 250-3804.

The camera shelf, the darkroom, and a deadline

Camera gear tends to come as a lifetime’s worth: a retiring photographer, a studio closing, a parent’s house, a move, a storage unit. Need it out of the way? Text a photo — I come get the good stuff and tell you who takes the rest. Tell me your deadline and I’ll say honestly whether I can make it. Enlargers and big studio stands: tell me where it sits and how it’d come out.

Clearing the house or studio around it? See the living-room and den plan in my parents-house guide, moving clear-outs, estate-sale leftovers, a studio or business closing, storage units and downsizing pickup. I take the resale-worthy share free and tell you exactly who takes the rest — a plan, not just a truck.

Worth selling yourself

A Leica, a Hasselblad kit or a recent mirrorless body is worth that trip.

• Camera & Darkroom, 2123 San Mateo NE, (505) 255-1133 — its website says it buys vintage cameras and invites you to bring in what you have. Call to confirm first.
• MPB (online) — an instant quote for your gear, free insured FedEx shipping, and payment once they’ve received and inspected it.

Everything else — the shelf, the bag, the broken bodies, the projector nobody has threaded in decades — text me a photo.

Who takes the rest

The city of Albuquerque is my usual area. Rio Rancho, Corrales, Los Ranchos, Tijeras and the East Mountains are case by case, and Bernalillo, Placitas, Algodones, Los Lunas, Bosque Farms, Peralta, Belen and Edgewood are usually out of range — text a photo with your ZIP.

Computers, phones and the rest of the electronics drawer: electronics pickup, working or not. Typewriters, toys and other old things: vintage & collectibles. Afterward you get a Reclaim Receipt saying where things went.

Text me a photo → Or use the request form