mkvrnn
Established
Like a lot of people on here, I seem to have been taken over by a camera collecting obsession. It started 4 years ago when I was struck by a whim to get hold of a Rolleiflex because I had wanted one many years ago when I was 14 but could never afford one. So I found an Automat model for £65 but it didn't have a Planar lens, and a broken 3.5F soon followed. That was very nice indeed after the shutter was fixed, but a 2.8E looked even sexier and I couldn't resist. I was so pleased with the light grey Rolleiflex T which I bought next that I bought 3 more in quick succession. Then I felt that I should try the competitors, and I was pleasantly surprised by my first Yashicamat so a selection of Yashicas soon followed, along with a few Autocords and Flexarets, all of which had some charm. I dabbled with some oddballs such as Fothflex and obscure Japanese TLRs. In the meantime the lovely Mamiya 33F had given me the taste for heavy cameras, and a magnificent Zenza Bronica S2a came next. At the age of 14 the name Zenza Bronica had sounded as exotic as Frazer Nash, Hispano Suiza and Isotta Fraschini, and I wasn't disappointed when I finally bought one almost 50 years later.
I won't bore you with the rest of the story, but I've tried unsuccessfully to resist those temptingly cheap but superb late 1960s 35mm SLRs such as Pentax SV, Olympus OM etc.
I'd always had a soft spot for Olympus 1/2 frame cameras since I bought a secondhand Pen S in 1966, so it was an easy decision to buy a Pen FT.......and a Pen D2 and another Pen S and an Agfa Optima Parat.
Leicas had never really appealed to me back in the mid 1960s, seeming very outdated, but I thought I was now old enough to try one so I found a pre-war Leica II which didn't really impress me. The M3 seems to be regarded as such an iconic camera that I felt I had no choice but to try one, and yes it's a lovely thing to own. More Barnacks soon followed, and Barnack copies are my latest obsession.
Sorry, I'm rambling...... The upshot is that I probably have around 200 cameras now, and the point of this post is that they're scattered around the house on shelves, in boxes, under the bed, on the floor by the bed, in drawers and in cupboards. I need to do something with them. I need to put them all in one place, organise them, catalogue them, maybe even display them. But how? Glass shelves, some Ikea shelving units, old fashioned display cabinets with doors? I want something very simple and elegant, nothing ornate. Maybe a series of tall CD storage units with one camera in each compartment?
Please give me some ideas. What do other people do with their collections?
I won't bore you with the rest of the story, but I've tried unsuccessfully to resist those temptingly cheap but superb late 1960s 35mm SLRs such as Pentax SV, Olympus OM etc.
I'd always had a soft spot for Olympus 1/2 frame cameras since I bought a secondhand Pen S in 1966, so it was an easy decision to buy a Pen FT.......and a Pen D2 and another Pen S and an Agfa Optima Parat.
Leicas had never really appealed to me back in the mid 1960s, seeming very outdated, but I thought I was now old enough to try one so I found a pre-war Leica II which didn't really impress me. The M3 seems to be regarded as such an iconic camera that I felt I had no choice but to try one, and yes it's a lovely thing to own. More Barnacks soon followed, and Barnack copies are my latest obsession.
Sorry, I'm rambling...... The upshot is that I probably have around 200 cameras now, and the point of this post is that they're scattered around the house on shelves, in boxes, under the bed, on the floor by the bed, in drawers and in cupboards. I need to do something with them. I need to put them all in one place, organise them, catalogue them, maybe even display them. But how? Glass shelves, some Ikea shelving units, old fashioned display cabinets with doors? I want something very simple and elegant, nothing ornate. Maybe a series of tall CD storage units with one camera in each compartment?
Please give me some ideas. What do other people do with their collections?
