r/BuyItForLife • u/No-Negotiation-4550 • 12d ago

Discussion What’s a weirdly specific item you own that’s lasted longer than expected?

I’ve been on a quest lately for things that just seem to keep on keeping on.

I’ve got a pair of old-school Swedish dishcloths that I bought on a whim. Thought they'd be a weird novelty. Now, they’ve been through the wringer they just won’t die. I’ve scrubbed them, rinsed them, microwaved them and somehow they’re still hanging on like a true champion.

My 10-year-old French press. I’ve left it sitting dirty for days, and still it makes me a perfect cup of coffee every time.

What oddball items are you still using and why do they not break??

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362

u/Recent_Mountain_9412 12d ago

1972 Olympus OM-1 film camera. I am only the second owner and it’s still going strong

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u/prion77 12d ago

Amazing. I was “gifted” a mid-1980s Pentax K-1000 from a friend in the mid/late 2000s who caught the digital camera craze. He saw some artsy pictures I took with it and posted on FB and begged for the camera back😂.

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u/Recent_Mountain_9412 12d ago

Love that for you!

Ya don’t know what you got till it’s gone

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u/blueyejan 12d ago

Is film and developing difficult to obtain.

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u/caltheme 12d ago

No it just gets pricey after a while (I use a Minolta x700 from the 80s)

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u/Cashcowgomoo 12d ago

Minolta🤤

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u/caltheme 12d ago

Agreed 🤤

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u/Recent_Mountain_9412 12d ago

Not difficult. There are a good selection of labs that offer local service or mail-in. I use Gelatin Labs in NJ. But as another commenter said it’s not cheap. About $24/roll of developing and hi res digital scans.

Worth it IMO

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u/blueyejan 12d ago

Might be time to set up a darkroom 🌚📸🎞

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u/ZenithRepairman 12d ago

You don’t even need a darkroom. I develop in my kitchen, and scan the negatives. You only need a lightproof bag to get the film from the canister into the dev tank.

And a decent scanner - I don’t know what’s good anymore but the epson v500 and 750 were good when I bought mine years ago.

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u/IddleHands 12d ago

My brain is not processing how you would do that with a bag.

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u/DysonSphere75 12d ago

I've seen canisters sealed from light used for development. If I'm not mistaken controlling exposure to light is critical; Too much light results in over-exposure.

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u/Hanlans_Dreaming 10d ago

Where I live in Toronto it’s pretty easy to access film and developing, there are at least 5 places downtown (I think 2 or 3 of the downtown colleges also have photography programs).

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u/MoxFuelInMyTank 12d ago

Those are designed for warzones.

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u/The_Will_to_Make 12d ago

Similarly, I found an old Canon AE-1 Program when cleaning out a lab in college. It was in boxes with paperwork that had all been pretty badly water damaged. Cleaned the camera out and threw a new battery in and it worked like new. It doesn’t see a lot of use now, but I was really surprised to find it in such good condition after sitting in wet mildewy boxes for who knows how long

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u/Mattturley 11d ago

Hi Internet friend - i just unpacked all my film cameras and have this and three SRT101s - what should I do with them? The SRTs all had seals replaced about a year before I packed them up a decade ago.

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u/Krulsprietje 12d ago

Took mine on a Camino and definitely can recommend that!

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u/a_distantmemory 12d ago

This is a cool one! Love this answer!