Your "Old" Cameras - post an image of yours

G.K.Jnr. said:
Weren't those and the Zorki's the Russian attempt at copying a Leica? I once tried a "Zorki 4" and it always felt as if the wind-on mechanism had gravel in it compared to my old "Leica 3G" which I wish I'd never got rid of.
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I think that they were George - but they were very "cheap" and I reckon most of them are still around - I've got fed up of trying to copy/scan my old negatives/slides - and even when I put a film in a camera, it now takes me weeks to finish the roll - I always just used my digital - but I'm going to try this year

I've got a few old Leica's which I bought probably in the 1980's 90's - never used the cameras but did use the old lenses on M4/3 bodies

I think that this is a IIIf

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delb0y said:
I've just inherited these - the Minolta was my dad's, the Canon, my uncle's. Currently have some B&W film in the Canon, but all I've done with the Minolta is put some batteries in. Will be treading very slowly back into the world of film.

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The A1 is one of the best cameras that I have had, (surprise - I've still got it) - I bought it new in 1979 and it's still in great condition, but it does need the light seals replacing - a DIY job that can be done for a few £'s
 
I've never suffered with GAS but this thread has had me looking at old cameras today. That in itself is a pleasure. There may be a purchase on the horizon, we'll see.

Sorry, I digress a little, back to it.

This little camera is the one that started it all for me. I had dabbled with some film cameras as a kid, Kodak 110s etc but the bug never bit me.......... until 2003.

My Brother In law had bought a compact, that he loaned me for a day. I took a few snaps of some flowers in my dad's garden and of my dog at the time. I decided that I wanted my own camera after this but I was absolutely clueless, I had no idea what, or had even heared of a DSLR. This was 2003 mind you, so they were a fairly new concept but compacts were much more mainstream.

Anyway, I ended up with this little beauty, it's a Canon Powershot A40. This is the very camera that I bought in 2003, it still works and it's in near mint condition. All 2mp of it. This is the very camera that started me properly on my photography journey.

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Dale. said:
I've never suffered with GAS but this thread has had me looking at old cameras today. That in itself is a pleasure. There may be a purchase on the horizon, we'll see.

Sorry, I digress a little, back to it.

This little camera is the one that started it all for me. I had dabbled with some film cameras as a kid, Kodak 110s etc but the bug never bit me.......... until 2003.

My Brother In law had bought a compact, that he loaned me for a day. I took a few snaps of some flowers in my dad's garden and of my dog at the time. I decided that I wanted my own camera after this but I was absolutely clueless, I had no idea what, or had even heared of a DSLR. This was 2003 mind you, so they were a fairly new concept but compacts were much more mainstream.

Anyway, I ended up with this little beauty, it's a Canon Powershot A40. This is the very camera that I bought in 2003, it still works and it's in near mint condition. All 2mp of it. This is the very camera that started me properly on my photography journey.

View attachment 427774
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SNAP - well almost - I took a few shots with mine a couple of weeks ago

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G.K.Jnr. said:
Weren't those and the Zorki's the Russian attempt at copying a Leica? I once tried a "Zorki 4" and it always felt as if the wind-on mechanism had gravel in it compared to my old "Leica 3G" which I wish I'd never got rid of.
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They dismantled the factory and transported the production line to Russia. Then they used prisoners, orphans and other unskilled demotivated workers to make the cameras. After a while they began to 'improve' them. Every improvement made tha camera worse. By the end you needed welders gloves to protect you from the swarf.

They did the same with the Contax II. The only good things were the lenses. They weren't half bad. But the Russians couldn't match the build quality of pre war German cameras.
 
BillN_33 said:
One of my first digitals - I think

I can find the camera, but not the charger or batteries - I'll have to look it up etc., and see if I can get what's needed

Tiny camera - you could take it everywhere

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I bought the Digital Ixus v2 in 2003, which is also what really started me on photography. I don't know where it is now, but I would be surprised if I threw it out. Unfortunately there have been a few house moves since then and I can't find it.
 
Clive K said:
They dismantled the factory and transported the production line to Russia. Then they used prisoners, orphans and other unskilled demotivated workers to make the cameras. After a while they began to 'improve' them. Every improvement made tha camera worse. By the end you needed welders gloves to protect you from the swarf.

They did the same with the Contax II. The only good things were the lenses. They weren't half bad. But the Russians couldn't match the build quality of pre war German cameras.
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That's very interesting Clive, I had no idea all of that happened. (y)
 
Self deleted:- double post.
 
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BillN_33 said:
Another FED 3

just tried the lens on my M240 - I do not have the skill to make the images look even reasonable ........ I've "binned" them all

the camera re-wind knob almost takes the skin off your finger - Russians!!!

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Enough Vodka and you wouldn't worry about that. :D
 
Dale. said:
I've never suffered with GAS but this thread has had me looking at old cameras today. That in itself is a pleasure. There may be a purchase on the horizon, we'll see.

Sorry, I digress a little, back to it.

This little camera is the one that started it all for me. I had dabbled with some film cameras as a kid, Kodak 110s etc but the bug never bit me.......... until 2003.

My Brother In law had bought a compact, that he loaned me for a day. I took a few snaps of some flowers in my dad's garden and of my dog at the time. I decided that I wanted my own camera after this but I was absolutely clueless, I had no idea what, or had even heared of a DSLR. This was 2003 mind you, so they were a fairly new concept but compacts were much more mainstream.

Anyway, I ended up with this little beauty, it's a Canon Powershot A40. This is the very camera that I bought in 2003, it still works and it's in near mint condition. All 2mp of it. This is the very camera that started me properly on my photography journey.

View attachment 427774
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Oh the memories. This was my first digital camera



BillN_33 said:
SNAP - well almost - I took a few shots with mine a couple of weeks ago

TP_Canon_640.jpg
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And this was my second. Both brilliant cameras
 
Here's one that I reluctantly let go, so don't have any more. These were my sales pictures for it. The reason was that whilst I have a 35mm film scanner, I can't scan medium format, and the scans I jobbed out weren't up to scratch. In particular they had blown highlights, whereas on inspection of the negs on my lightbox I could discern detail in the dark areas. So quality control was lacking compared to what I could do at home IF I'd had the right scanner.

But the machine itself was marvellous. Such a handsome contraption! Nice lenses! I'm still regretful.

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droj said:
When this thread started, I never imagined that the the term "old" could include digital cameras! Perspectives change. All is relative.
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Yep. I guess "old" also refers to the user in my case. My first proper digital camera, the 350D turns twenty in February.
 
G.K.Jnr. said:
That's very interesting Clive, I had no idea all of that happened. (y)
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At the end of WW2 the Russians and Allies were racing each other to capture German industries. The Allies got some of the Leica plans and other paperwork, but the factory ended up in Soviet hands. Zeiss too was split with some falling into what became East Germany and some in West Germany. Some of the production lines were taken to Russia whilst some manufacturing continued in East Germany. Their binoculars and lenses continued to be made to a reasonable standard in Jena. They used captured employees to bring new models including the first SLR into production. Then they started developing their own cameras, copies of western Zeiss models usually, that were rubbish.

Eventually there was a law suit brought about by the Western Zeiss to protect its brand against the Eastern Zeiss. The last SLR introduced by Zeiss in the west was the Contarex. It was so expensive, complicated and difficult to repair the camera side of the company went into liqidation to absolve itself and the rest of Zeiss from the warranty claims.
 
Hi, a pic of my toys in 1989, from left to right: the ROLLEI 6x6 I bought that year, the PORST CX6 I bought in 1973 as a uni student. This was my first real camera.

The MINOLTA XD7 is from 1981, the ROLLEI 35 is from 1975, the TE from 1976. I used the ROLLEIs when motorcycling and space was at a premium.

I still have all the cams in the pic (somewhere) ...



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The start of the Nikon Camera - 1947

The first Nikon camera – The Nikon 1 was launched in 1948, followed by the Nikon M in 1949 – my camera is the Nikon S, (the Nikon 1 and M look almost exactly the same), the "S" was made from 1950.

In good Japanese fashion it was copied from what the German Camera industry had made and was based on the Zeiss Contax

The S1 was improved and the S2 was released in 1954, the same year as the Leica M3.

According to the internet 34,000 Nikon S models were made

The lens mount is the Nikon S mount, similar to the Zeiss Ikon Contax RF mount

It's a heavy camera!!

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Japanese Cameras - maybe a little known fact - the slot on the battery cover was designed to fit the Japanese 1 yen coin which is made of alloy and very soft - so as not to damage the edges of the grooves.

I spent quite a lots of time in Japan, with work, in the late 80's and 90's, and still have a few 1 yen coins left


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BillN_33 said:
In good Japanese fashion it was copied from what the German Camera industry had made and was based on the Zeiss Contax
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In his book "Nikon Rangefinder Camera" (ISBN 1-874707-07-3) Robert Rotoloni makes it clear that the Nikon 1 was "a combination of features from both the Leica and Nikon cameras of the day".

He goes on to write "even though over the years many collectors have assumed that it was simply a copy of the Contax".
 
@BillN_33 you’ve got quite a collection and I have a feeling you’ll dig out more gems from the drawers
 
I think that this was described as Nikons most advance manual focus camera - 1983?

The Nikon FA - with the MD 15 motor drive

I stuck a couple of LR 44's in this morning and it fired away as usual - but I would need to put batteries in the MD 15 for that to work - the last time I used it must have been well, before year 2000

(MD 15 is 8 AA batteries)
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This gift from a friend of my parents is what started it all off for me (in the 1960s).

The cost (even then) of the glass plates which I used before I got the roll film back certainly made you think about the image you were taking!


My old press plate camera by John Liddle, on Flickr
 
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Here's one I picked up in a Charity Shop

Made in the USA

A Perfex fifty five made by The Candid Camera Company of Chicago, around 1950

I read somewhere that the Perfex forty four, (the model which started the line), took the only reasonable image of the detonation of the first Atomic Bomb in New Mexico, as apparently all the other cameras over exposed the image but the Perfex, because of a faulty shutter, managed to capture some thing, so the story goes?

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BillN_33 said:
Japanese Cameras - maybe a little known fact - the slot on the battery cover was designed to fit the Japanese 1 yen coin which is made of alloy and very soft - so as not to damage the edges of the grooves.
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I seem to remember the manuals for my Pentaxes simply referred to a coin for opening the battery compartment. I found any of the coins in my pocket fitted well enough, with a 2p being ideal for it's slightly larger diameter, soft materials & minimal value.

The system doesn't work quite so well now as I often don't carry cash. I suspect those battery compartments could make a right mess of a credit card!
 
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