F-STOP SWAP

  F-Stop Swap is a Used Camera Equipment and

Collectable Image Show

612-866-5811

Granger Board of Directors, from top to bottom (Myself  Gordy, my daughter Leah,  my son Eddie, my wife Beth, my sons Steven and Lewis

LOCATION CHANGE THE Next Show, is still on April 18th and 19th, but now it's  at the Inver Grove Heights Community Center  10-3pmDUE TO THE UPCOMING DEPLOYMENT OF THE BROOKLYN PARK RESERVE UNIT WE NEEDED TO FIND A DIFFERENT SITE THEN WHAT WAS PLANNED. THANKFULLY THE INVER GROVE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTER WAS AVAILABLE FOR THE 18TH AND 19TH.  I SINCERELY APOLOGIZED FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE THAT THIS CHANGE MAY CAUSE.

Renting a table at the show or bringing your equipment to the show, gives you a chance to get a higher price for your equipment, it allows you to present your items to a large number of photographic buyers. But, if you need or want to sell your equipment before the show, please feel free to contact Gordy at Village Camera.

WHAT IS F-STOP SWAP   

F-Stop Swap is a used camera equipment and collectable photographic images, held two times a year in the greater Minneapolis area. At the F-Stop Swap you can find anything from Alpa to Zeiss --collectables to professional equipment -- large format to digital. If your looking for collectable images you can find daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, stereoviews and more.  So, if you looking to buy, sell or trade almost anything in the way of photo equipment, movie, or special brands of gear, come check out our next show.

     The F-Stop Swap traces it's roots back to 1987, when the Doug Erickson, had his first show at the Knollwood Shopping center. Originally the shows were called  P.W.U.C (People Who Use Cameras), but some people started to refer to it as the "PUKE" show. So, a contest was held, for a new show name. Walter Freugel was the winning of the naming contest. His idea of the F-Stop Swap has been used ever since.   Now, in 2006 the show draws several hundred people, who can browse over 70 tables of New and Used Photo items.  Sellers come from all over the US to buy, sell and trade equipment. Sellers range from the hobbyist to some of the largest used camera equipment dealers in the Midwest.

     As of May 1st, 2006 Doug Erickson, has retired from promoting the show but will continue to be part of the show as a seller, selling a broad range of photo and tech equipment. Doug has sold to show to me.

     I hope  that I am a familiar face to many at the shows.  I have been selling at the F-Stop Swap since 1990. I have been involved the camera business off and on for close to forty years.  I started helping my father, Gordon Granger, who owned Village Camera Shop, in the stadium village area of the University of Minnesota. After my father closed his store in the early 80's, I continued to sell equipment on a small scale. In the mid 90's I closed my secretarial business to concentrate on kids and cameras. My wife Beth and I have been blessed to have parented 11 children over the last 20 years --mostly either foster or adopted children, staying anywhere from a year to going on twenty years. So, I would be a "stay-at-home" dad during the weekdays, and on many weekends would travel all over the Midwest, selling cameras at Photo Equipment shows. When our youngest child was born, 7 years ago,  I started selling equipment, almost exclusively on the Internet, which allowed me to be at home more. For the last couple of years, attended the F-Stop Swap just as a buyer, as well as traveling around the United States buying Photo Equipment.