What do you, would you collect?

[jstuedle]

Do you have a collection, or if not what would you collect? I have collected Nikon SLR's and Nikkor glass for the better part of 35 years. Share your love of cameras either collected or desired.

[Mitica100]

Do you have a collection, or if not what would you collect? I have collected Nikon SLR's and Nikkor glass for the better part of 35 years. Share your love of cameras either collected or desired.

Aww... Man, I had so many and wish I had many more!

Some of the rarer cameras I had:

*Complete Kodak Ektra kit (only about 2,000 made)
*Contax I (F) "Made for China"
*Kodak String Set (number?)
*Nicca
*Kodak Vanity (Art Deco) set

...and many more.

Some that I still have:

*Leica IIIf RD
*Leica IIIa
*Leica IIIc
*Contax III (Kriegsmarine issue)
*Super Ikonta A1 (531/16)
*Super Ikonta B
*Canon SBIV
*Canon SII
*Minox B
*Steky B

...and many more.

Since I can't remember at this hour my entire list, there is a post somewhere on TPF with most that I and ksmattfish collected or collect.

Have not had the chance to owning a Nikon S2 (yet) but who knows... :drool:

I wouldn't mind a Tessina or a Compass some day.

[terri]

I'm just starting a collection of vintage cams - don't have many yet. I seem to be drawn to old folders - love 'em. My husband is a Rollei freak and plans on collecting several. :thumbup:

And yes, between the two of us we're lucky we even eat. :lol:

[usayit]

When I was looking for an "older" manual SLR several years back, Pentax really won my interests. I ended up with a Spotmatic but I"ve acquired several pentax's since. So far the original waist level SLR Asahiflex has been most difficult to find.

Wouldn't mind starting a collection of Leica copies from around the world.... oh yeh.. actual Leica's would be nice too.....

[Mitica100]

Wouldn't mind starting a collection of Leica copies from around the world.... oh yeh.. actual Leica's would be nice too.....

You can always start with the Russian Leica copies, they're very cheap and always to be found on E-bay. :wink:

[usayit]

Yeh... all those up for grabs on ebay have been extremely tempting. What is difficult is researching and tracking down the copies that are of good to high quality. For now... I'm kept happy trying to track down good examples of early pentax slr's and the screw mount takumar lenses....

For those who also might be interested in russian copies:

http://www.btinternet.com/~stowupland/index.htm

Very well documented site....

[photogoddess]

Since I'm not a brand specific kinda gal and consider myself to be somewhat of a camera whore, I several different brands of cameras. :lol: However, my "pride and joy" is a German built Rolleiflex SL35 with several lenses. Including some Zeiss glass. :drool:

[Don Simon]

I realised a while back that I can never justify the cost of a truly high-end SLR (either film or digital) so instead I've been building up a collection of used cameras. I say used rather than vintage because while they're all pre-owned, they're not all 'old'. My main criteria for buying a camera is, er, if I think it looks cool. I know it's a stupid reason, but when I look at a camera my first reaction is likely to be based on its aesthetic qualities, and sometimes the first thought to pop into my head is that one word - "cool". When that happens, I want that camera :)

Because of this I'm particularly interested in the Olympus XA series of cameras - though this is currently limited to 3 Olympus XA2s (one broken, one in mint condition and therefore never out the box) and one XA3. At some point I'd like to add the XA and XA4 to that collection, though I could easily live without ever aquiring the ugly-looking XA1.

Of course I don't just make decisions based on what the camera looks like; I tend to look at web pages and sites dedicated to specific camera types or brands. This doesn't just mean cameras with a "cult" following - I have no interest in ever owning a Lomo - but when people go to the effort of setting up and maintaining a webpage to extol the virtues of a particular camera for no reason other than that they admire its design and technical qualities (as opposed to because they have a vested interest in selling more) then you can usually tell it's a camera worth owning. Of course it helps to do proper research and discover the "small print". I bought an Olympus Mju II (Stylus Epic) cheap on Ebay after reading overwhelmingly positive reviews; one roll of film later and I practically had nervous twitches as a result of the number of pictures ruined by forgetting that the flash must be turned off every time you open the lens cover! :x

The novelty of aesthetically impressive P&S cameras is starting to wear off now (with the exception of the XA range) and I'm now more interested in SLRs and the occasional rangefinder. My "collection" of the latter so far only includes a Voigtlander Vito which I didn't exactly collect (it was my father's) but the quality of the camera and the photos mean I'll be on the lookout for more. SLRs are my main area of interest, and I'm mainly looking for manual focus ones. The first SLR I bought was a Minolta Dynax 404si, which is fully automatic but can be used with shutter or aperture priority, five programmed modes or fully manual. It has some impressive features, but for the everyday business of taking good quality photos it's not very good - the autofocus is quite slow and easily confused, but much worse is the fact that the viewfinder is very, very dark, so composing night-time photos is pretty much impossible. Slow autofocus is acceptable for an entry-level SLR, but having a viewfinder that dark - leaving you with a camera that can only really be used in bright natural light - is unforgiveable. After this started to bother me I turned to a manual focus Pentax P30 which I'd bought for next to nothing at an auction but forgotten about, and I soon realised it was a significantly better camera - the image in the viewfinder was no darker than the scene outside (and why should it be?), and... well yeah, it looks cool. For a start, it's all black. It's also smaller. Unlike the Minolta, it even sounds cool - it has that "clunk" which somehow just sounds right. It has only one fault, however it's a big one - no cable release! In most situations this wouldn't be a problem, but after spending ages trying to hold the camera still with a 500mm lens attached, my sanity has been stretched to breaking point.

Wow, that was an unnecessarily long post. Essentially I would collect anything that looks good, feels good and produces good results. Ideally I'd collect high-end digital and film SLRs by all the big names - Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Fuji and Olympus (maybe even Minolta if I could forgive them for the 404's viewfinder!) as well as Olympus digital P&S and various Leicas and Voigtlanders. Unfortunately however I can't afford any of that, so realistically I would (and do) continue to look for manual SLRs similar to the Pentax P30, for example the P30T, P30N and a few Vivitars. If I can pick up a better "entry-level" AF SLR I will - perhaps a Nikon F75 if I can pick one up cheap - otherwise I'm sticking with the Pentax and cameras with the same lens mount. Of course if I thought this through I would realise that with all the money I spend on cheapers cameras and lenses, I could probably buy a really good SLR like a Nikon F6 - but by spending the money in small amounts over a long period of time I can delude myself into thinking that I'm not really wasting the student loan :D

[Mitica100]

Because of this I'm particularly interested in the Olympus XA series of cameras - though this is currently limited to 3 Olympus XA2s (one broken, one in mint condition and therefore never out the box) and one XA3. At some point I'd like to add the XA and XA4 to that collection, though I could easily live without ever aquiring the ugly-looking XA1.


They are all awesome! I love their compact sizes and aesthetics. I have an XA with the flash unit that I bought at a garage sale for $2.00, it was sold to me as non-functioning. I took it home, cleaned the battery contacts, threw new batteries and voila!... a beauty. I like the XA2 very much, a nifty little cam that rivals some of the miniature German cameras like Rollie and Minox. I think of it as a sturdier machine than the German ones.

[Don Simon]

Yeah, in particular I like how comparatively easy it is to take them apart for maintenance and repair. That is until you drop the cover's ball-bearing on the carpet and it bounces (presumably into an alternate dimension)... I've been round the room several times on my knees; if someone saw they'd think I'd got religion (not sure which one though :D)

[Mitica100]

Yeah, in particular I like how comparatively easy it is to take them apart for maintenance and repair. That is until you drop the cover's ball-bearing on the carpet and it bounces (presumably into an alternate dimension)... I've been round the room several times on my knees; if someone saw they'd think I'd got religion (not sure which one though :D)

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I know it too well! I've learned to put a white towel on the table so things don't bounce out of sight anymore. Also, a strong magnet will do the retrieving job for me if for some reason I drop a small thingie or two.

[Don Simon]

Well I now know what I definitely wouldn't collect - Canon Sure Shot point-'n'-shoots. Was given one yesterday; I think you need a magnifying glass to find the viewfinder. I'm sure it's there somewhere, but in the time it would take to look through it I could probably have a Large Format up and shooting...

[Mitica100]

Well I now know what I definitely wouldn't collect - Canon Sure Shot point-'n'-shoots. Was given one yesterday; I think you need a magnifying glass to find the viewfinder. I'm sure it's there somewhere, but in the time it would take to look through it I could probably have a Large Format up and shooting...

:lmao: :lmao: :lol: :lol: :lmao: :lmao:

[STILLALIVE]

Yeah those sure shots are something else your not so sure youll get the shot with out a viewfinder

[LWW]

Nikon.

LWW

[GerryDavid]

I dont really have a collection yet, but I just got an old video camera today in a yard sale. Its a Cine-Kodak Reliant video camera, I believe from 1949. No idea if it works or not, but it does wind and when I press a button it rotats the one part inside to spin the film.

[darin3200]

You can always start with the Russian Leica copies, they're very cheap and always to be found on E-bay. :wink:
Are the russian copies any good?

EDIT: Oh, this is nice
The serial production of the Soviet FED camera started in 1934 at a plant in a children labor commune in the city of Kharkov

[usayit]

russian copies are easy to find.... finding the good ones in good condition is a completely different story. Quality control was a problem. Leica and contax copies are especially popular to collectors. Some of the Leica copies have the same thread mount as true leicas which opens up a world to excellent Leica lenses. The url I posted has tons of info to get you started.

Oh btw... during that time, most if not all the feds and keivs were made with child labor. There were many products throughout the world made with child labor... US products included.

[Don Simon]

If you're looking for older cameras, all I'll say is this - do not look on Ebay. Actually do, if you have lots of money, lots of storage space, and a very patient family. :mrgreen: There is an infinite number of old cameras on Ebay selling for less than the cost of developing one roll of film. Many of these look really nice, and take great photos - but after you've collected more German (East and West), Russian and Kyrgyzstani classics than you'll ever use, you'll realise you don't have anywhere to keep them, and the cost has run surprisingly high (mainly thanks to postage costs) when you realise just how many you've got.

The question to ask when collecting is probably this - will you ever use it? If the camera is so aesthetically impressive that you just want to display it, then it probably doesn't matter. If on the other hand you're buying an old camera for no reason other than it's cheap, ask yourself what that camera offers that will cause you to pack that in your bag rather than any of your other cameras. I've learned this the hard way, having bought a "Minolta Hi-Matic AF" which turned out not to be a quality rangefinder but a plastic p&s the size of a brick. It's still sitting in the box, a complete waste of £10. Ditto the Olympus Trip 35, which is nice enough to look at but does nothing the smaller and even nicer XA2 can't do - in fact, sometimes it just does nothing; refusing to shoot when it decides there's not enough available light (of which it wants an unreasonable amount). Another £10 of my not-especially-hard-earned cash gone. I tell myself that the seller used the money to help pay for a vital operation; it makes me feel better about the whole thing :lol:.

[usayit]

What ZaphodB refers to is true with when collecting anything.. .not just cameras. My advise is to really decide what appeals to your interests and why do you want to collect those particular cameras. Define "rules". They can be as specific as "Pentax, Screwmounts, bodies costing less than $100" or loosely defined as "Any camera that has film readily available". By defining your collection prior, you will have focus and more attractive collection. This will also give you a reason not to buy every good deal on all makes of cameras on ebay... :-P

I did break my own rules though.... "Pentax screwmount only" turned into Pentax/Asahi K and screwmount, must be in working condition, under $200 ( most are under 150 ), all lenses must be of Pentax or Takumar. You can tell I broke my own rules just by looking at my display cabinet. I have a couple canon A-1's and about 5 canonet rangefinders.... oh well...

[Xmetal]

ksmattfish hasn't discovered this thread....yet. :lol:

I'm not really a collector as such but i've got 2 other cameras in my 'stash', one is my Dad's old Pentax ME Super 35mm SLR with 3 lenses, a speedlite, 'Paprazzi' flash (I call it that because of its size and resemblence to Paparazzo equipment) and heaps of other things

One camera that I love and someday hope to have back in a working state is my little Kodak Box Brownie that was passed down from my grandparents. I've got no idea of what kind of film it takes but i've got a good grasp of how it works. :)