Hi Jason,
As a budding photographer back in the 60' and 70's I would devour each issue of Modern and Popular Photography, waiting impatiently for it to arrive I would drop all other activities and read it cover to cover same day. Thank you for such great memories and information . Similar to you I miss Herbert Kepler (Kepler on the SLR), having never met him personally his writing style conveyed so much to be admired. I am not a serious collector, more a user, my favorite collectibles were from the height of (imho) mechanical manufacturing, the 50's, 60's and 70's, some Leica, Alpa many Japanese cameras, Canon F1, Minolta SRt-101, Topcon RE. Zeiss, my beloved Contaflex Beta, my first slr, who can ever forget their first. Now in my 60's I am happy to find new homes for the most usable and collectible, including a Kodak Ektra rangefinder. I would be interested to hear what you have to say about the phenomenon of ebay and online selling that opened the world to collecting and purchasing difficult sourced items. I remember many of my collectibles plummeting in value in the late 90's and just now rebounding in value. At the same time lenses became more valuable than the bodies they were purchased with. Lastly, can you provide links to your recent camera evaluations, reviews, tests? Thank you