special Edition Cameras ?

dee

dee

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Remember those hugely expensive special edition cameras , lovely , but not worth the extra ? Just for the ridiculously rich .... such as a cream Contax with matching lens ?

Well , I guess I must have longed for such an exclusive toy , so now I am having a Kiev III made in Metallic Silver Blue with matching Blue lens .
Not cheap , but a fraction of the cost of one of those exclusive treasures . ..
and less than a proper collector's item .

Sheer indulgence , sheer Art Deco indulgence , sheer ... stupidity ! LOL .

But have you not , secretly , wanted something special ?
 
I once owned the Leica M4-P 50th Anniversary model with a matching 50mm Summicron lens. It was nice, but know what? It shot just the same as my other Leica M's. Mine is now for sale on eBay.
 
Hi Chippy .
I sold a lot of 1950s Dinky Toys at silly prices , on e-bay to fund a few Contax / Kiev specials ... well , 6 actually ...
I have been buying up rough Contax / Kiev cameras to re-imagine .

I had almost given up trying to find someone to make one Black pretend Contax , based on a Kiev III [ not Kiev 4a ] with Kiev 4 top ... combining the classic body with more compact meter .

Then I found Mike Hayley in Ukraine who has contacts in the Arsensal Factory and the original Techs who can repair Kievs and pre-war Contax . I now have a '' genuine '' LOL Contax IV being made with early Kiev 4 top .

They have also restored a Contax III as original , using the C IV meter as spares - so I have a fully functioning Contax III including the meter .

I even bought the paint for the cameras , but could not send it - so Mike has sourced in Ukraine .
I scrounged some leather samples and had then had then thinned and sent over - so it has been quite intensive .
Another blue camera is a very rough Contax II which has been repaired [ I just wanted the face plate ] Mike is having a 1947 Script face plate - which appeared only on the very 1st Jena Kievs - made for this Camera - saving having to get it chromed !

It's just amazing having cameras tuned to my spec - one parts Contax II now has a Kiev shutter . silver paint , instead of black and tan leather - with a silver faced Jupiter 8 to match - cool !

dee
 
chippy said:
you once owned? if it 'is now' for sale, dont you still actually own it 😉

50th Anniversary? i thought they M4-P were 70th


gota see this metallic blue camera, like to hear more about what you have done to make it happen and what it cost you, did you strip it down yourself and send it off to some metal plating workshop..not that i want to do it but it sounds interesting
Click to expand...

It's on consignment, so I don't consider myself owning it anymore, although technically I guess I do. I really like the M4-P, but I just don't shoot film any more. I like the idea of film better than actually using film. I may not be remembering correctly, but I'm pretty sure it was a 50th anniversary set.

/T
 
I would consider a special edition only if...it was done for me. Who was the photojournalist working at the White House who got two white Nikon F specially built by Nikon for him? Something like that... But I doubt it will ever exists a Sinar GLF edition with -- mmmmh what could that be? -- leopard skin imitation paint on the monorail? 😀
More seriously, since we speak of this, who had special editions camera made for them? The white F guy (somebody here remember his name?), NASA, maybe the guys of Calypso for underwater (is it true?), and?

GLF
 
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Canon Special Edition "Year of the Wombat" new F-1 commemorating the 35th anniversary of the invention of the Atomic Powered Manure Spreader.
Came complete with the Secret Decoder Ring and numbered Membership card in the Junior Wombat Club.
As long as people insist on collecting these, the camera companies will gladly oblige and continue to crank them out.
It's like a Franklin Mint for Collectors!
 
Something makes me think that some are not taking this seriously - thank goodness !
The entire thing of Frankly Manky [ sorry Franklin Mint ] is wierd - but irresistable sometimes !
I could never imagine taking all of this seriously - it's just a wonderfull giggle -
but hopefully ending up with a deelightful toy camera !
 
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