For the love of old cameras

[Frontman]

I have been collecting cameras for a while, and have managed to find some interesting examples. Collecting cameras can be an expensive hobby, especially if you are looking for minty cameras to add to your collection.

But as time has gone by, I seem to have taken a fancy to well-used cameras. The dents, scratches, and wear marks are like old battle scars, and they seem to tell a story about the life they have seen, and perhaps a little bit about the photographer who once used them.

I picked up these two cameras recently, and I have to wonder how many images they have captured, and the different places they have been to.

Is anyone else a fan of old, beat-up cameras?

 

[FrankS]

Yes, but I prefer cosmetically nicer examples.

 

[Contarama]

I like the "used" ones myself but they must be fully functional is my only caveat. Whenever I get a "minty" one in my hands I devirginize them right away...cameras that come into my possession I put to use. No shelf queens for me. I am the same way about hot rod cars. Yes I like nice clean show quality rides but I drive mine and hot rod the crap out of them too.

Use stuff or pass it along to someone else who will or start a museum and charge admission...

 

[Frontman]

The Rolleiflex looks ugly, but the lens is perfect, and the shutter is a brand new, old-stock part. The mirror and focusing screen are also new. I like old cameras, but I want to use them, so they must work. Beat up as the old SP looks, inside it is clean, and it works beautifully. The camera came with a 28mm f/3.5 lens, and the 35mm f/1.8. The lenses have some wear to their bodies, but they have beautifully clear glass.

 

[Moto-Uno]

I'm finding myself of late with a number of cameras that are making me appear rather
younger!! And that's not nearly as easy as it used to be. As a side note,the film available today can really let some of them shine again.
Regards,Peter

 

[noisycheese]

JMHO, but collecting classic film cameras is similar to collecting classic automobiles. Classic cars have their own look; my Toyota Corolla looks almost the same as half a dozen or more other current models.

It's the same with cameras: A NikonS2, a Leica M3, M4, M4-2 or M4-P or a Nikon FM2n or F3hp have distinctive, classic visages. Nikon digital SLRs look like they all came out of the same cookie cutter; it's the same for Canon DSLRs.

If my Nikon F3hp were an automobile, it would be a 1960s muscle car along the lines of this: http://www.google.com/search?q=1969...tures-1969-dodge-charger-picture%2F;1920;1440

Since I am unable to collect classic muscle cars, I am content to collect classic film cameras instead.