Vintage Watches are great, but let’s see some Vintage Cameras

From a few years ago when I was living in Saudi... (some are more recognisable than others)

I have an adapter Mamiya 645 to EOS and, from recollection when I last used it, there is a working focal length and not just macro mode.

Camera porn....... utterly beguilingly beautiful.

I want one now. You swine!

Well it really isn't so long since I posted that I'd flipped all my film camera kit to get into watches. I calculate that this "kit swap" was about eight years ago.Look at me now though:

Olympus OM1, 2, 3 and 4 plus a sack of lenses re-acquired. Some body duplicates in OM1 and OM2 though arguably they are all different.

My old Olympus Trip and this Mamiya 35mm camera which never actually left.

645: there's a bit of a gap to be filled here. I kept a lens, I adore using a waist level finder and picked one up attached to a faulty body. Now to get a working body and start shooting.

Rangefinders didn't really grab me in the past but you might say we've caught up with that one!

Voigtlander Bessa R rangefinder with exposure metering: it take any 39mm screw thread lens and currently it's got this little Canon lens.

Say, please don't ask to see all the old lenses which I've always enjoyed using on my 5DII DLSR.

And look at these Soviet Leica clones; completely manual shooting so very satisfying to get right. The one at the front with the collapsible lens is the same age as me - produced in 1953.

Folders: I want to love 'em and I hate them when they become unreliable.


And a very good friend recently gave me his Canon SLR: it's a bit of a brick compared to the Olympus OM bodies but I've ordered some foam and I shall renew the seals.

And at mid-September 2020 that's the state of the collection. What next? well I want some 120 medium format film photography and because I was fairly familiar with the kit have got an eye open for a working Mamiys 645 body.

Do I need all those Soviet rangefinders? No, of course not in exactly the same way as I don't need all these watches.

I think I have over 60 cameras, mostly old and vintage...but some are digital. Not many photos but this one I do have photos of...circa 1950s MX-EVS Type 2. Serviced and in use.








some photos taken with it:

Beautiful

Sinar Norma 8x10. probably the best monorail view camera ever made for field photography

There are very nice cameras posted here. Here is my contribution. I bought this from an antiques shop sold as is.

I loaded a roll of Kodak c200 and shot all. I have received the results today and am pleased to see that the camera functions properly. Here are some samples.

glad I stumbled upon this thread, im wondering if anyone can help me. I am a new photographer I shoot Sony and am looking to get into film photography. I want to avoid the mistakes I made getting my current camera gear and skip the trial and error process. if you were to buy a one and done film camera that isn't going to break the bank, produces great images and is small enough to take with me traveling or with friends what would be that ONE camera that comes to mind? looking for quality

I chose two which were used by professionals in their day, Contax IIa and a Nikon F2, neither are expensive now and lenses, especially for the NIkon are plentiful and not too expensive.

Pure personal taste, Nikon FE if manual focus is not a problem, or a clean Nikon F100 if auto focus is preferred and Nikkor 28-105 for versatile and budget friendly option.

Sure, prime lenses from 24mm to 85mm are good choices though may require some additional funds to add to the gear set.

If zoom versatility is not required or preferred, another option is to buy 50mm 1.8.

Nikon FE - https://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/fe.htm
Nikkor 28-105 - https://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/28105af.htm
Nikkor 50mm 1.8 https://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/5018daf.htm

To be honest, there are many options depending on the use cases and of course the budget available, from point and shoot to professional cameras. Finding a clean one requires some work just like it is required for vintage watches.

I like the Olympus XA and Kodak Retina. However, the Retina may require an accessory light meter. Both are manual focus rangefinder.

Normally I would say start with a FED 5 but that's Russian and we don't like their leader right now. 😀

August 1962
NASA astronaut Leroy Gordon Cooper swimming with mask & snorkel wearing his Accutron tuning fork pilot watch on his wrist while working with a camera in an underwater-photography outer box. (Photo: NASA)
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April 1965
NASA astronaut James McDivitt demonstrating a Hasselblad 5000 series camera during a preflight Gemini IV press briefing. (Photo: NASA)
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April 1965
NASA astronaut Edward White discussing a photo camera he will be using during the June 1965 Gemini IV spaceflight mission. (Photo: NASA)
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September 1974
Veteran-cosmonaut and ASTP commander Alexei Leonov working with a Swiss-made Bolex Paillard camera on the mall outside the capitol building Washington D.C. - USA
(Photo: NASA)
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