Do you yearn for days gone by.

Archiver said:
My two favourite camera shops, Camera Exchange and Camera Lane, have been around for many, many years. Camera Lane has been in business for over 30 years, with owner Alan in semi-retirement after they moved from the city in Melbourne to an industrial/office building in the suburbs over a year ago. Camera Exchange also left the city a few years ago for an industrial/business area in the suburbs. They both give the experience of going to a camera store of old, perhaps not with film in abundance, but with display cabinets full of film gear, and more tripods than War of the Worlds.

As a kid in the 70s and 80s, I don't recall ever going to a camera shop, but Dad's Pentax and Minolta were mainstays of the house, along with his collection of You And Your Camera partwork magazines.

In the very late 1990s, the department store I worked at began to sell digital cameras like the Sony Mavica floppy disc camera, but the earliest I visited a camera shop was in 2002, when digital was just coming into a semblance of usefulness. DSLR's were still fairly low resolution and the mirrorless revolution was still a good few years away. People still shot with film compacts and disposable cameras, and Konica-Minolta had not yet been acquired by Sony. Casio was a prominent brand, Pentax had a range of nice compact digitals, as did Ricoh. For digital, things seemed so fresh and fast paced, and film began to wane even further.

In 2008, I was in Hong Kong, and drooling over the Leica gear in the cabinets. Little did I think that I'd own some, only a couple of years later.

F30 - Leica Gear by Archiver, on Flickr

By 2010, I had a 5D Mark II and M9, which I still use for personal and paid work even now. On my 2010 trip to Japan, I was enthralled by the gear at Yodobashi Camera and LAOX.

GRD3 - GRD and GXR by Archiver, on Flickr

I don't yearn for the days of 1999 because digital cameras were still pretty awful, and I had no emotional connection with film cameras at that time. I greatly enjoy the sense of nostalgia and quality when I pick up a SLR from the 70s, , and remember the days when I would leaf through Dad's camera magazines in the early 80s, and then the early 90s.
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Yodobashi Camera looks amazing by the way, thanks for sharing
 
shawn said:
In the late 80s, early 90s I worked at a local camera store called EG Photo. Shared a tiny single story building with a hair stylist when I started there. On the main floor was bags, accessories, chemistry with camera gear behind the counter. Also had a nook for passport/id photos and the C41 processing was tucked into a corner. Studio down in the basement along with a darkroom for B&W. Eventually it grew to the point of buying the building and taking over both sides of the building and expanded it greatly including building a second floor to make a very nice studio. The C41 lab moved over to the second half of the first floor and expanded in capacity and was by far the major money maker along with the studio/photo shoots. Think the record for film processing in one day was around 470 rolls and it was either after a prom or graduation. Either day was nuts in the lab and never a time to get film developed as QC was basically ignored on those days. Employees got film processed/printed at 75% off, a roll of 36 exp. processed and printed was around $3 with the discount. When I started I made $3.50 an hour. I worked in the lab, studio and on shoots.

They were still around in 2000 (had them shoot my wedding) but ended up downsizing over time and digital eventually killed them due to the dramatic loss of film processing. Building is still there (and looks the same) but is now an apparel shop and insurance company.


Shawn
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Its a great looking building, some of the camera stores in my area are knocked down now
 
Godfrey said:
When I was growing up, the only camera shop I knew about was a place named "Camera Craft" on North Avenue in New Rochelle, NY. I have no photos of it. But it was a magical place for me, everything from Kodak's simple cameras to Leica, Alpa, and other exotica on the shelves. My father would take me there every so often just to walk around and ogle the equipment. It's where I first saw a Leicaflex and an Alpa 9d, then a 10d.

Later, on my own, I discovered many other camera shops—from White Plains down into Manhattan, New York—and I often visited to ogle the equipment and ask questions, occasionally to buy things. And even here in the San Francisco Bay Area over the past thirty years...

All gone now, with few exceptions. And most of those exceptions are simple consumer electronics stores now. It's not so much the lack of the stores or the change from film to digital that makes me miss anything; it's the fact that there are few places where people knowledgeable, and willing to talk, about cameras and making photographs gather. My digital cameras are in many ways simply better cameras than my film cameras are, but that doesn't matter much. I make photos that I like with all of them, and I don't need so many things from the shops that I once did now. But there aren't many people to visit and discuss how to use various bits and pieces properly other than on the forums like this one, and I miss the in-person moments.

G
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'I miss the in person moments', well put thats exactly what I miss, years ago before the internet you had to rely on the minefield of local private sales, (in the yellow paper), or camera stores or the small ads in the back of camera magazines. One day my land line rang, Mark from Bonsers in Newcastle upon Tyne was on the other end, a second hand Pentax Mx had just come in the store , 'did I want first refusal', he asked............I ran to the store! I miss the face to face aspects of the camera store.
 
JeffS7444 said:
2005 Narita Airport, Japan. If you've got to spend a few hours at an airport, there are worse airports to be stuck in than NRT. Looking at photos of tech gadgets when they were new reminds me that today's thrift-store finds were once costly objects of desire! Not too long after this trip, I treated myself to a 32", 1080p Sharp Aquos TV, and thought I had gotten a pretty good deal at 1200 USD! Photographed with new-to-me Panasonic DMC-LC1. I was thrilled to have that camera with it's EVF and Leica Vario-Summicron lens. But the tiny Sony RX100 that I've now owned for years would handily outperform it.

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I wonder how many people miss their flights distracted by the cameras in the window, I would.
 
Franko said:
The early 70s used to find me passing through Chicago quite regularly with a little time to spend. Visits to Altmans and Central Camera were always good for a pleasant afternoon. If you couldn't find what you needed there, it probably didn't exist. Sadly, a Nikon F today feels twice as big and heavy as it did then and possessing the gear that got us through the "good old days" won't take us back there.
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if only we had time machines to go back, possessing what we had does not always take you back
 
zuiko85 said:
Sure, I miss the real camera store. Durning my formative early twenties (1970-1975) I lived in Chicago and a lazy trip down to the loop on the Ravenswood L was at least a monthly activity. There, within perhaps a square mile were at least 7 or 8 camera stores. Altman's was the most complete and a wonderland for a camera addled but poor hobby photographer. From the getgo I was taught how to develop and print B&W by a friend. He had a Miranda so I had to get a Miranda (Although I lusted for a new Minolta SRT101.) No matter, a used Miranda D with a 50mm f1.9 Soligor was half the Minolta's new price. And, the 'D' model had interchangeable finders and screens, allowing me to form a lifelong strong preference for plain matte screens, no stinken split wedge or micro-prism messing up my view!
What I really miss was walking into Altman's with a sawbuck and walking out with 100feet of Tri-X bulk. A box of 10 Kodak snap-caps was just north of $1....ah but life was sweet.

Oh yes, Diafine of course. Best developer ever for the lazy soul.

Now what, a burned out Central Camera that may never really come back, I doubt they had near enough insurance for that event.
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7 or 8 stores , woah those were the days and your eyes must have been better than mine, I always struggled a bit with the plain matte screens, the 100 feet reels of film takes me back to a store called MPS.
 
Dralowid said:
Remember Olden in NY 1265 Broadway at 32nd?

At the time I was coming over from the UK monthly and normally had a space in my luggage for something on the return trip. I imagine they are long gone?
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You should always leave a space in the luggage, its the way things should be done! I like that idea.
 
By the time I discovered photography I was already in my early 20's so there are no childhood memories to recall. However, I do remember feeling like a kid with the wonder of discovery when I was starting out. There were no camera stores in the town where I was living at the time but there were a couple in the nearby city. I remember seeing the displays of Canons, Nikons, Minoltas, Mirandas, etc., and being a wide-eyed kid again. Impressive stuff for someone who was only familiar with Brownie Hawkeye cameras.

What I really miss are the general interest photo magazines. Popular, Modern, Camera 35, Peterson's and others. I learned most of what I knew at the time from the columns and advertisements. And the NY store's had prices no one else could match. There was no internet commerce, of course, so I ordered gear by mail with postal money orders. I was so very impressed when I ordered a 35mm lens for my Nikon F from Olden's and Mr. Olden sent a follow up letter, hoping I was pleased with the transaction. Those were the days!
 
I dunno. Seemed I was way too broke to “shop” in real camera stores. Stuff was expensive! The sales people always seemed arrogant, or clueless. .....I sit on my arse and buy stuff off eBay....
 
Godfrey said:
It's not so much the lack of the stores or the change from film to digital that makes me miss anything; it's the fact that there are few places where people knowledgeable, and willing to talk, about cameras and making photographs gather.
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This is a great point and it applies to numerous other things besides camera stores.
 
Sure, I miss being able to go into camera stores and handling the latest film cameras.
More than that though I miss being able to buy a roll of 35mm film at any local variety store.

Chris
 
I'm missing the local camera swap meets...Pasadena & Buena Park back when they were pretty big events...
I also miss this one store that had a decent size showcase with used gear...did some sweet trading there.
KEH had a monthly catalog...I would spend hours going through that...
 
nikon_sam said:
I'm missing the local camera swap meets...Pasadena & Buena Park back when they were pretty big events...
I also miss this one store that had a decent size showcase with used gear...did some sweet trading there.
KEH had a monthly catalog...I would spend hours going through that...
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Yes ib the Uk Jessop's had a monthly 'classic' catalogue, full of expensive Leicas
 
Ambro51 said:
I dunno. Seemed I was way too broke to “shop” in real camera stores. Stuff was expensive! The sales people always seemed arrogant, or clueless. .....I sit on my arse and buy stuff off eBay....
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A certain shop near Worswick street bus station , Newcastle, used to have lets say, ''overly confident'' and their cameras were alway the most overpriced in Tyneside.
 
Dralowid said:
Another memory is Michael's in Melbourne with a Leica museum upstairs. Is it still there?
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Sadly, no. Michaels closed its doors to retail over a year ago in the midst of lockdown. They have been doing business online since then. The camera museum wasn't just Leica, it was a huge display with multiple cabinets of almost every kind of film camera you could think of, plus some early digital cameras that showed the transition from film to digital. I used to do an annual trip to the upstairs camera museum, often seeing things I had missed even in years gone by. Here's one of many photos I took at Michaels over the years, this one showing their display of the range of Olympus XA and Pen F cameras. Imagine this repeated over at least ten or twelve wall cabinets, with about four large standalone glass display cabinets in the middle of the space, filled with gear.

F30 - Michael's Camera Museum by Archiver, on Flickr

It appears that Michael's owner intends to sell off the entire camera museum contents, breaking up the collection. I'm just glad to have numerous photos of the place before it closed.

This album by Patrick Chen on flickr shows the camera museum really well:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ptintk...57631637016664

Another flickr album of images:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/s13n1/albums/72157633430406761
 
What I miss about old camera stores in particular was that those that had been around for some years (and in fact most of them) would have a proper bargain bin or chest of drawers where obscure lens hoods, filters, adapters and so forth could be found and often picked up for a song. There were a couple in the CBD of my home city and when I had the time at lunch time I would visit one or other of them to see what curiosities I could pick up. Hell that was fun - like a treasure hut. I recall visiting Europe in 1997 and in the course of that visiting camera stores in London CBD and in Frankfurt and Vienna. Plenty of Leica stuff on offer- though (allowing for exchange rates) at prices much more than I was used to paying. Never the less is was a dream to spend time in them and I still managed to pick up a few trifles that I wanted.
 
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