Addition To Camera Collection(vintage hunting)

[Jarl]

Hello,

Just wanted to show my latest lot score of a few old cameras. Not going to say what I paid for them. They aren't on the top of the collectors list, but aren't all on the bottom either. I love them all regardless. I have them pretty much dated, from the 50s-60s and possibly very late 40s on the Ansco Speedex 4.5.

List:

Revere Stereo 33 (35mm) USA
Rolleiflex baby grey (127/4x4) Germany
Voigtländer Vitessa (35mm) Germany
Ansco Speedex 4.5 Special(120/6x6) USA
Exa Version 1 (35mm) Germany

They all need cleaned and conditioned. There are some minor adjustments that need done...a few sticky/sluggish shutters, buttons and focus rings. The Ansco is missing a dial opposite the film advance. Otherwise, they aren't in terrible shape at all.

Any comments, suggestions welcome.

Thanks for looking. GL & HH(where and for whatever you hunt)

 

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[DFX DAVE in M.D.]

I don't know anything about old cameras. I do want to say I like your cameras in the picture. I bet they would display nice on a shelf.

 

[Jarl]

Thank you DFX DAVE! Between operative improvements, esthetics and competition(not in any specific or categorically critical order)cameras are as variety stricken as automobiles. But, they all basically do the same thing whether old or new, barbaric or fancy...which is take pictures(and entertain collectors). Now that I think on it, collectors and their reasons for it are probably as variety stricken as that which they collect.

 

[Jarl]

I don't know much about all the varieties either, I never will or possibly could...or want to. But the trip should be enjoyable.

 

[pa plateau hiker]

Buy film and take pictures with them. Film is available in 127, 120 and 35mm, no matter what is said about film being dead. The only problem would be the sticky shutters. If they slowly close, you could put the camera on a tripod and take a longer exposure.

 

[CincinnatiKid]

Nice pieces.
It's a shame most cameras are digital now, yet I also understand the benefits.
Where art is concerned, film is a must.
DFX Dave is surely correct. They will look great when displayed.
GL
Peace ✌

 

[hvacker]

Most film cameras are not that valuable. One of yours I'm familiar with as still in demand is the Rolli. They still fetch a good price. I had one in the 70's and it was a great camera. Hassleblad is another along with Leica.
I asked a local camera dealer what I could expect from my darkroom equipment. He said for him the going price was $25 per pickup load.
I still lust after medium format cameras. I remember when they were $$$ and the lenses were through the roof. Now I've seen medium format cameras with a bunch of lenses almost give aways.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Nice. I worked at Anitec for 17-1/2 years - was GAF - was Ansco - was Anthony & Scoville. The camera plant is still there but vacant and the film & paper complex is a field. Pity.

I have several of the old Kodak and Ansco bellows and box cameras. A relative parented the focal plane "view screen" for bellows cameras.

Kodak stole Ansco's patent on roll film and 95 years later bought us up and tore us down.

 

[CincinnatiKid]

After initially reading this thread, I remembered a camera my dad gave me in the late 70s. I can't find it anywhere.
But the display/collection has struck my interest. I've noticed a few 40s and 50s models in local thrift stores for under $5.
Peace ✌

 

[Jarl]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I will be showing two more that I acquired on Monday...they're in another county, I'll have them Christmas when I go there. Hvacker, this particular Rollei(baby grey) came along with another more rare black version. I looked on ebay to see what people were asking for the Rollei I had found...my thinking is that people are pricing them at what the rarer black ones go for(more than they're worth to collectors in other words). Otherwise, if what people are asking is correct...I did pretty good with what i paid for the whole lot then lol.

 

[mikeraydj]

I can see the reason for you collecting them. They are pleasing to the eye and speak to a time of great craftsmanship. Something that we have lost over the years. I used to collect old radios and microphones for the same reason and because they were related to my profession.

 

[Frankn]

My family always had cameras. I think that is what got me started. Brownies, Argus, Kodak, bellows and box cameras. I started with an old Exacta 35mm. I have had Polaroid and Kodak instant cameras. When I started in a professional way, I used Nikon, Did mostly weddings and landscape. After I lost everything in a fire, I went digital with Canon and now am using an Alpha NEX6 which I just picked up. Hay, here's one few have seen. I used a Xerox 8.5 X 11 bellows view camera that used flat metal coated plates and had electrostatic transfer and heat or vapor fusing. It's primary use was for making masters for offset printing. I got some fantastic images out of it using the available colored plastic toners. Hay this was back in the 60's. Frank

 

[Jarl]

Thanks for the story Frankn. Yeah that Xerox sounds interesting. I'd like to be able to afford the dream of owning a view camera. Some day. I never shot pro, but did do some small jobs...a few low key weddings, family gatherings, a few single life event shots for people. I just never had the 'edge' to work intimately with people though. Otherwise, I did a lot of still life or whatevers...just anything that looked worth taking if I happened to have my camera in hand at the moment. I collected some years ago for awhile...then basically my collection drifted away bit by bit. Only recently did I get a new spark. My preference is vintage, totally manual...I am not interested in motorized anything unless it's a funky old Polaroid...aside from that no electronics or computer anything etc. I generally try to find cameras that have full manual controls: shutter speed selectable, f/ adjustable, lens changeable/focusable...etc etc...you know, full manual control gadgetry. I am not interested in the film SLRs that were abundant like the Pentax Spotmatics, K 1000's and Canon AE1s...not vintage looking or feeling enough for me. I have several of them, but I haven't divorced them from this digitally dictated user world yet as relics.

 

[pa plateau hiker]

I gotta tell you Jarl, view cameras aren't all that expensive. I bought a 5x7 off ebay 12 years ago for $250. It was in excellent condition. It was a 1930's model. Someone had put a new bellows on it, and re-finished the wood. Bargines are still on ebay, as I check every so often. This camera replaced a 120 I was using for landscape, which replaced a 135 mm I was using for too many years to take landscape photos which was way too small for landscape.
A view camera makes you slow down and compose the scene. I will set my back pack down, walk left, walk right, forward, backward and may do it all over again. If people could see my footprints in the snow, they would wonder what was going on.
My film costs $2.00 a sheet, so I am very particular about the composition. Too many times, people with digital cameras will post 5-10 pictures of the same scene without moving an inch. Boring. I always say, it only takes one picture to tell a story.
Two stories, A couple years ago, I was shooting a parade with a 135mm . A recent high school graduate asked to look at my camera. He was amazed as he had never looked though a view finder of a camera. He had grown up looking at a screen.
Abought 5 years ago, I had my 5x7 set up on a tripod composing on a row of trees. A truck stopped to see what I was doing. Two guys got out to see what I was doing. I let them look through the ground glass at the scene. What does one guy do. He goes back to the truck, grabs his digital camera and tripod, sets his tripod next to me, places said digital camera on tripod and takes the same picture I was. It made my day!!
I don't own a digital camera. My pictures of people, places and things are all film. The only time I take a digital photo is to post something on the internet and then I will use my wifes digital camera.

 

[Frankn]

Thanks for the story Frankn. Yeah that Xerox sounds interesting. I'd like to be able to afford the dream of owning a view camera. Some day. I never shot pro, but did do some small jobs...a few low key weddings, family gatherings, a few single life event shots for people. I just never had the 'edge' to work intimately with people though. Otherwise, I did a lot of still life or whatevers...just anything that looked worth taking if I happened to have my camera in hand at the moment. I collected some years ago for awhile...then basically my collection drifted away bit by bit. Only recently did I get a new spark. My preference is vintage, totally manual...I am not interested in motorized anything unless it's a funky old Polaroid...aside from that no electronics or computer anything etc. I generally try to find cameras that have full manual controls: shutter speed selectable, f/ adjustable, lens changeable/focusable...etc etc...you know, full manual control gadgetry. I am not interested in the film SLRs that were abundant like the Pentax Spotmatics, K 1000's and Canon AE1s...not vintage looking or feeling enough for me. I have several of them, but I haven't divorced them from this digitally dictated user world yet as relics.

I see a lot of them in places like Good Will and other second hand shops. Some people buy them just for the glass. You can get adapters now for just about any combo, and some of that vintage glass can produce a great image. Frank

 

[Frankn]

I gotta tell you Jarl, view cameras aren't all that expensive. I bought a 5x7 off ebay 12 years ago for $250. It was in excellent condition. It was a 1930's model. Someone had put a new bellows on it, and re-finished the wood. Bargines are still on ebay, as I check every so often. This camera replaced a 120 I was using for landscape, which replaced a 135 mm I was using for too many years to take landscape photos which was way too small for landscape.
A view camera makes you slow down and compose the scene. I will set my back pack down, walk left, walk right, forward, backward and may do it all over again. If people could see my footprints in the snow, they would wonder what was going on.
My film costs $2.00 a sheet, so I am very particular about the composition. Too many times, people with digital cameras will post 5-10 pictures of the same scene without moving an inch. Boring. I always say, it only takes one picture to tell a story.
Two stories, A couple years ago, I was shooting a parade with a 135mm . A recent high school graduate asked to look at my camera. He was amazed as he had never looked though a view finder of a camera. He had grown up looking at a screen.
Abought 5 years ago, I had my 5x7 set up on a tripod composing on a row of trees. A truck stopped to see what I was doing. Two guys got out to see what I was doing. I let them look through the ground glass at the scene. What does one guy do. He goes back to the truck, grabs his digital camera and tripod, sets his tripod next to me, places said digital camera on tripod and takes the same picture I was. It made my day!!
I don't own a digital camera. My pictures of people, places and things are all film. The only time I take a digital photo is to post something on the internet and then I will use my wifes digital camera.

I use to be the same way, but when my house burned and I lost my extensive picture and negative collection I decided to try digital. I got a Canon 10D. it had 6 MP.
But the thing that matters in a good digital camera is the image processing in the camera. I was making good 22X30 prints and selling them, but the 16 X 20's sold the best. I ran every image thru Photoshop Elements. In digital you probably get as much satisfaction doing this as in laying out the shot. What you can do far exceeds dodging masking and burning in the dark room. In fact you literally create your own image. I now have about 200 CD's full of images. I really enjoy playing with the image. Frank

 

[pa plateau hiker]

I'm glad you like digital Frankn, but it;s not for me. That's the trouble with digital. Too much manipulation. Just take a photo and print it as taken. So many pictures I see are hdr which look like fairy land. The pictures I take are printed as is. Very seldom do I burn or dodge. If the scene is too contrasty, as in bright sky and dark fore ground, then I will dodge the foreground. I always expose for the shadows, sometimes up to 50 seconds at f.32 with darker scenery photos. There is good latitude in b&w film. You gotta shoot film again Frankn. You know how much fun it was.

 

[Jarl]

Thanks pa plateau hiker. I'm glad to know that they are accessible in the world. The short stories were great too. I just remember back in the 90's, I really wanted to be able to reproduce the photo quality of magazine ads but quickly realized what the professionals were using was...way out of my budget. But I didn't give up trying with smaller formats. I like that you prefer to use film. Digital for me is a necessary curse so to speak. I try to convince myself that I have only artificially accepted the digital rev age. It's been awhile since I have committed to film. I work at a school and they have a dark room. What i plan to do is burn lots of film through my camers and enjoy again the full control of the medium-from the camera to the picture frame.

 

[Frankn]

I'm glad you like digital Frankn, but it;s not for me. That's the trouble with digital. Too much manipulation. Just take a photo and print it as taken. So many pictures I see are hdr which look like fairy land. The pictures I take are printed as is. Very seldom do I burn or dodge. If the scene is too contrasty, as in bright sky and dark fore ground, then I will dodge the foreground. I always expose for the shadows, sometimes up to 50 seconds at f.32 with darker scenery photos. There is good latitude in b&w film. You gotta shoot film again Frankn. You know how much fun it was.

The truth is I have gotten lazy,lol. With the little Alpha NEX6, I can set it on high definition and it will shoot 2 pictures, one for the light areas and one for the shadows and combine them. Yea, I think I have used every film and developer ever made. Now I use the camera to do the best it can do then I pop the file into Elements and get the best I can do. I do a lot of still setups with glass objects. This is a glass cube I picked up at a flea market in Quartzite. Frank