Being noticed with your 'antique' camera

[Rich Silfver]

I'm sure we've all gotten questions, comments and questioning looks when we take out our classic/vintage rangefinders out to the streets.

Anyone have any funny/memorably moments to share?

I can't remember any fun ones myself but what triggered this post was comments I received today when walking around with my M3;
"What kind of camera is that?"
"That's an old one right?"

And a couple behind me 'discussing' my camera - I think the girl was the one that guessed 'It's a Leica".

🙂

 

[back alley]

it happens.

i photographed the local folk music festival here for almost 20 years. i left the volunteer position about 3 years. since then, i have sold my medium format and no longer have an slr with those really big lenses.
occasionally i will run into someone who knows me as the guy with the big lens and i get some funny looks and comments when they stare at my oly 35 rc or even the bessa with the tiny 35mm on it.
i think they take me less seriously now.
i am no longer a 'real' photographer.

joe

 

[Laika]

I've had a few... "is that a digital?" .. when I've been out with my FEDs and Zorkis 🙄

 

[Peter]

I've had a few... "is that a digital?" .. when I've been out with my FEDs and Zorkis 🙄

That is exactly the question I got when I use my green Bessa R2! 🙄

 

[mourges]

I was once asked 'Is that digital??' when using my Bessa L and Pinhole cap! About as far from digital as possible!

 

[rover]

I was at a local road race with my tiny bit Konica Auto S3 when I came across a newspaper photographer with an EOS 1Ds, EF 100-400 L IS, 1.4 teleconverter, and 40 lb. camera bag. He looked at me and said "Put that toy away and go digital."

Yeah, right.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

While at a local festival, the Scotsman (about ~60yrs of age) in full kilt and playing bag-pipes for the audience stopped playing, walked up to be and asked "Is that a Leica, My Father always wanted one of those". Well, I guess my M3 came out when He was a kid.

I was using a Retina IIa with its f2 lens to take some pictures of Nikki at the Orlando Airport about 3 years ago. A group of Japanese businessmen in suits surrounded the elder of the bunch, about 75yrs or so. He was pointing at me and telling them something at length; I presume about the camera.

I should add that the Canon 7 with the F0.95 lens mounted always gets some bewildered looks.

But of course the comment that counts is when someone looks at the picture and asks what kind of camera did you use.

 

[Huck Finn]

We took my mother out dinner to celebrate her 89th birthday. I asked a waiter to snap a family photo with my Canonet. After using it nis comment: "That is really cool!" I agree.

 

[Pherdinand]

"Man, that's the biggest LCD I've ever seen on a camera!" (a guy on the street, looking into the chimney of my Yashica TLR🙄 . Sorry, no rangefinder stories (yet). )

 

[rovnguy]

Two years ago in Yokohama I was repeatedly asked about the XA and IS-3 I was using. The young Japanese crowd did not even know that these two cameras were produced in their own country and designed by one of the geniuses of their own country. To them, a camera was digital either with or without a telephone built into it.

 

[wlewisiii]

Pherdinand, I know the feeling. I did get some appreciative comments from a Nikon D70 user the other day at the University while doing some landscapes of a stormy lake with my Mamiya. At least he'd _heard_ of MF... I hope to spend some time downtown this week watching all the lost freshmen (it's a college town) with the Iskra I imagine that will be noticed. 😀

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Heard when carrying my Canonet:
"That was the first camera I ever owned!" (bakery shop in Geneva IL)
"Is that a digital?" (a number of times)
"Do you want a zoom lens for your camera?" (in a store in NY)
"That's a really cute camera!" (from a very friendly waitress in NY; she got a big tip from me)

When carrying my Mamiya C220:
"Nice to see someone carrying a real camera for a change!" (man walking by in Sycamore IL)
"Nice old-fashioned camera! Does it work?" (waitress in Chicago IL; didn't earn her a nice tip though...)
"That's a nice antique camera!" (also in Chicago IL)

With a Leica around my neck,
"What kind of camera is that?" (same question asked with unexpected directness, by two young women who couldn't help it when they saw my Leica with the old 1936 Elmar 90/4 on)
"Is that a manual camera?" (girl in Chicago Blues Fest, after having observed it for a while, trying to figure out why I was turning knobs and rings)

My wife came out one day with an idea: the next person uttering some comment about my stuff gets his/her photo taken on the spot. Nobody asked questions anymore after I decided to do that... 🙁

 

[Flinor]

While visiting my kids in San Francisco, we were at one of the piers, I can't remember which, but it has a number of old ships moored. I volunteered take a picture of a young couiple using their digital point and shoot camera. The man looked at my camera and said ,"Thanks, but this is a new digital. They are a lot harder to use than your old camera." Leica M5 with C/V 15 and viewfinder attached. I didn't laugh but just agreed with him and went on my way.

Gerry

 

[Designer]

That is exactly the question I got when I use my green Bessa R2! 🙄

I got exactly the same experience!😀

 

[SolaresLarrave]

One day, a young man who had been taking digital shots of Daley Plaza through his LCD screen, asked me to take his photo. I made a big point out of looking through the (very small) viewfinder of his camera when I snapped his photo.

He didn't get the irony.

 

[GeneW]

Franciso, that's downright nasty. I love it 😀

I don't get many comments on any of my 35mm gear. But the other day when I was test driving my GIII one of the servers at Starbucks stopped at my table and asked if it was a new camera? I just smiled and said yes (well, it was new to me)

I get comments though when I work with my Rolleiflex TLR. Usually "What kind of camera is that?" One teenage girl said "Oh, i LOVE those cameras" ???

Gene

 

[jdos2]

I get "Is that digital" often with the rangefinders.

I've gotten the "nice antique" a couple times before (to which I respond "It's only 20 years old!") with the Mamiya Universal...

I will say; if someone sees you taking a picture of them with a camera they think of as non-threatening, they don't get as nervous or confrontive. With 135 SLR's, people often try to "get out of my way" when I focus on them, but with the Leica, G2, or even the Universal (especially if I offer them a Polaroid) I have a much greater involvement with them.

Nice. It's one of the reasons I so like these cameras. "Disarming," in a way.

 

[pshinkaw]

One member of a couple with European accented English at Hanauma Bay in Hawaii when they saw me with a Moskva-5, "Is that a Hasselblad?"

-Paul

 

[Designer]

I get "Is that digital" often with the rangefinders.

I've gotten the "nice antique" a couple times before (to which I respond "It's only 20 years old!") with the Mamiya Universal...

I will say; if someone sees you taking a picture of them with a camera they think of as non-threatening, they don't get as nervous or confrontive. With 135 SLR's, people often try to "get out of my way" when I focus on them, but with the Leica, G2, or even the Universal (especially if I offer them a Polaroid) I have a much greater involvement with them.

Nice. It's one of the reasons I so like these cameras. "Disarming," in a way.

Maybe holding a SLR look more like a reporter!😀

 

[vladhed]

I will say; if someone sees you taking a picture of them with a camera they think of as non-threatening, they don't get as nervous or confrontive.

I've noticed the kid pictures I take with the old Zorki are more natural because they are watching to see the shutterspeed dial spin 😀