Would you pay £10 for a camera that the shop itself labeled junk? A British traveler named Matt did exactly that in Japan, and he had to sign a piece of paper before they would let him walk out the door with it.
Matt, who films as @soul-spec, shared the whole gamble on his channel, from the dusty shelf to the final photos. The ending is not what he hoped for, but his reaction is the best part.
A Tiny Lift To The Fifth Floor Leads To A Shelf Marked Junk
Matt is spending a few months traveling around Japan with his girlfriend, Alexa. Back home in England, he says, life revolves around old things, whether that means old cars, old motorcycles or old cameras, and a slightly old-fashioned way of living.
While out exploring one day, he stumbled on one of Japan’s many secondhand camera stores in an obscure little spot. After a ride in a tiny lift up to the fifth floor, he and Alexa found what he calls a treasure trove, with hundreds of old digital cameras from the early 2000s, tripods, camera bags and more.
Then came the shelf that stopped him in his tracks. It was set aside for what the store called “junk” items, and hundreds of cameras were piled on top of one another in a haphazard heap.
The 1960s Camera He Couldn’t Put Down Cost 2,100 Yen
One camera kept pulling him back. It was a little 1960s Yashica, and he says something about its design and size got under his skin. Every time he put it down, he picked it up again.
The price tag said 2,100 yen, which works out to about £10. He decided to take the plunge.
“I Know That It Might Not Be Working” Reads The Paper He Had To Sign
At the desk, the staff made him sign a form acknowledging that the camera might not work. Matt calls it a slightly discouraging piece of paper, and you can see why. The store was essentially saying it would not stand behind the thing.
He signed anyway. He also bought a roll of Kodak Gold 200 film, popped it in and headed out onto the streets to see what would happen.
His first impression was good. The camera is small enough to slip into a pocket or a bag, which made it easy to grab shots on the go. The tricky part is that it has no focus meter, so he had to judge the distance by eye and guess. “I’m guessing a lot of these shots are going to be quite blurry,” he says, “but no matter.”
He compares it with the 35 mm camera he has at home, which is about twice the size and weighs, in his words, “the same as a brick.” Next to that, the little Yashica felt far more comfortable to carry.
72 Shots Later, A Trip To A 1,300-Year-Old Temple
After shooting around town, Matt wanted somewhere quieter and more natural. He headed to a very old Buddhist temple tucked in the mountains north of the city, a place with a history that stretches back nearly 1,300 years.
The temple was founded by two Buddhist monks and became known as the temple of victory, where people come to pray for good fortune, success and the strength to overcome life’s challenges. Its hallmark is thousands of little red daruma dolls, which he found hidden in trees, behind rocks and between the bricks of a building.
The dolls, he explains, stand for your goals and wishes for the coming year. Tradition says you write your goal on the doll, fill in one eye, and fill in the other only when you have achieved it. Matt bought one of his own, wrote his goals on the back and filled in the eye.
By the end of the day, the roll was used up. He had taken 72 shots in all. Half-frame cameras like this type are designed to squeeze two pictures into the space of one, which is how a single roll can stretch so far.
The Verdict Came With A QR Code, And It Was Not Pretty
Back in the city, he dropped off the film and waited about an hour for it to be developed. The shop handed him a QR code to view the results online, and he was ready for the worst.
The answer, he says, was “very little.” A few shots from early in the day turned out, but after that the pictures were blurry, with weird light leaking across them. His best guess is that the lens jammed or was not opening properly.
“Technically a success, but not really,” he laughs. A part of him had hoped for 72 beautiful shots of everything he saw in Japan. “Not this time.”
Why He Says It Was Still A Good Deal
Here is where the story turns warm. Matt says he is fine with the outcome, because the camera reminded him of everything he loves at home. His 60-year-old car, he says, is not guaranteed to get him home every time, as he found out when he broke down in Switzerland.
There is a weird, twisted enjoyment in that, he says. Old machines have personality and a human quality, which he struggles to find in newer objects.
Even without great pictures, he got two days of curiosity and anticipation exploring Japan with this camera in hand. “And for £10,” he says, “I think that’s a good deal.”
What To Know Before You Gamble On A Junk Camera
If Matt’s story tempts you to try a thrift-shop camera, keep your expectations modest. Old film cameras can suffer from stuck shutters, worn light seals and sticky lenses, and a bargain price often reflects that risk. Light leaks like the ones he saw can come from worn seals.
A few simple habits help. Work the shutter and the film advance before you pay, look through the lens for haze or fungus, and shoot a cheap roll first. Keep the stakes low, so a dud costs you a few pounds and a good story rather than a family trip’s worth of memories.
And remember the bigger lesson. Sometimes the fun is in the gamble itself, the waiting, the hoping and the surprise. Matt did not walk away with a masterpiece, but he walked away smiling, and that is worth more than most things sold on a junk shelf.
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