[owenhu]

Japaneses ebay sellers seem to be generous with the ‘Mint description’. I don’t think they fully understand the english meaning of this word. I usually ignore the written description and look for detailed photographs and a seller with 100% rating.

I think an LX from Japan is a risky proposition. There are too many possible issues with these old cameras now. I would only buy one from a local camera dealer with a return policy.

Also bought an LX recently from a Japanese ebay seller with 100% rating, rated as NM. It was in rougher shape than NM but acceptable, although turned out it had shutter issue with electronically controlled speeds and I had to send my camera out for repair. Fortunately the repairer was very experienced and did an overhaul with 6-month warranty, and the seller refunded me the repair cost ($250 CAD). So yeah, definitely buy the LX from reputable sellers with return policy.

However, I would not attribute this to them not having a full understanding of the word, it's something a lot of sellers of second hand market do across different hobbies. Anyone into record collecting knows how few NM records are actually NM... If anything, Japanese record sellers tend to grade conservatively, their "VG+ (very good+)" are usually NM for the rest of the world.

[tocster]

I have two LX's...

The first one developed the sticky mirror issue after a few months, and I had to pay about the cost of the camera to get it fixed. They gave it a complete overhaul though. I got another one that was much newer and its been very nice so far. I did find out later that the first one has a faulty hotshoe flash contact, but I dont shoot flash a lot so I have not bothered to get it fixed.

To be honest the most reliable model for me has been the spotmatics - the meter's always seem to go, but all 4 have never had a problem mechanically.

Ive had a bunch of Super A's because I really like how they work, but they have been the most mechanically unreliable of the models I've used.