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Edward8
Tinkerer
Username: Edward8
Post Number: 56
Registered: 03-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 11, 2011 - 08:34 pm: | 
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Please excuse this if it comes across as self-indulgent, but here goes ...
I've been a photographer for as long as I can remember. In the mid-1960s, I went professional, on a broadsheet newspaper, then tabloids, then studios, weddings, now I specialize in archaeological and architectural archival photography, for my sins. That's a lot of film. And cameras.
My work is now all digital. Film is, sadly, redundant in my line of work.
Which brings me to my lament: I have around eight working film cameras, mostly Nikon, which sit neglected, gathering dust. I have done the obvious, like removing all batteries and, when it's sunny and calm, a good work-out. Mechanical cameras like work. They turn grumpy when ignored.
Although I have no wish whatever to sell the cameras, I checked with my photographic dealer of around 20+ years. Alan said, all up, about $AUD300-400. Before digital, one of those cameras alone would have raised that amount as a trade-in.
To flog 'em off as a job lot for that price is not nice; it's akin to putting down the faithful family dog.
This is NOT a for-sale ad. It's a philosophical question to people on this site who enjoy the inner workings of these mechanical marvels.
So. What do I do? Do I put them into a suitable container and take them to the vet? Or do I continue to wallow in nostalgia and care for them?
Regards.
Edward8 |
Marty
Tinkerer
Username: Marty
Post Number: 88
Registered: 11-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 11, 2011 - 09:25 pm: |
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Since you're in this group, I think you instinctively know the answer... "Wallow in nostalgia and care for them."  |
Anirban
Tinkerer
Username: Anirban
Post Number: 31
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 11, 2011 - 10:41 pm: |
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Use them for non-professional use, like vacations, family parties and the like. Occassionally make prints and hang them on your walls to remind everyone (and yourself) that film might be inconvenient compared to digital, but film and film cameras last a lifetime. |
M_currie
Tinkerer
Username: M_currie
Post Number: 254
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 08:44 am: |
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Since they're worth so little now, keeping them doesn't cost much of anything, so I agree. Keep and use. You could make a regular habit of sticking a roll in one of them each month, go out and have fun burning up a roll of film on things you don't ordinarily look at, and get cheap prints or a CD. It's a nice liberating experience, and will keep your cameras limber. If they get valuable in the future you can sell them then. |
Heywood
Tinkerer
Username: Heywood
Post Number: 12
Registered: 03-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 01:24 pm: |
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Keep the 1 or 2 you love the most and the rest donate. For example we have these charity "goodwill" stores here and not long ago i found they have an online auction site. I had been thinking that i could get good bargains there but thats not always so. People sometimes bid more then what it may be on e-bay or of it's actual worth, why ? cause the know the money is going to a worthy cause.
After my dad died & mom went into the senior care center for Alzheimers it was up to me to go through the house. They saved a lot of stuff, too much in my opinion. It made me realize that not everything thats old is antique or rare. Maybe they made 10million units of some item over it's lifespan, but it might have been considered junk then & it's considered junk now.
But now is the time you can do as you see fit, to make sure they get a good home because they day may come when someone is going through your closet, has no interest in old cameras & tosses them in the trash bin. |
Brianshaw
Tinkerer
Username: Brianshaw
Post Number: 106
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - 07:53 am: |
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Perhaps you should declare yourself a collector and eschew the "user" attitude. Once you make this public declaration you'll lament less! Put them on a shelf and look at them often and fondly. |
Jimmyh
Tinkerer
Username: Jimmyh
Post Number: 1
Registered: 04-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - 09:43 pm: |
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I have 'collected' far more film bodies over time than time left to play with them, much less wear them out.
"So. What do I do? Do I put them into a suitable container and take them to the vet? Or do I continue to wallow in nostalgia and care for them?"
I have chosen to wallow, and I find I thoroughly enjoy it! I have them on display shelve near my desk, and find myself gazing at them, admiring the countless manhours of design that brought them into being, only to be replace by the next model with even more human investment.
I too work with digital, but still play with film. I try to play with one at a time, inserting a roll of film, shooting away, then dropping them off at the local store that still processes film. I don't see them ever being sold, at least not by me. Now, perhaps at some point my (future) widow will be forced to sell them, or maybe the children will decide that $$ are a more suitable inheritance... |
Glenn
Tinkerer
Username: Glenn
Post Number: 908
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 14, 2011 - 06:41 am: |
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There are two fundamentals that those of us who are about to unpack the 'Zimmer Frame' should remember, and have written on 'post it notes' stuck all over our 'priceless' collections.
!/ Our off spring and relatives will have no interest in our clutter of junk.
2/ If our dependents do have to sell to pay the bills, the markets will always be in a bloody great trough - never at a peak!
So enjoy your collections and do what you will with them, selling the whole bloody lot and have one last mad escapade might be the best way of brightening up one's twilight years - you cannot take the damn stuff with you! |
Barnum
Tinkerer
Username: Barnum
Post Number: 201
Registered: 10-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 14, 2011 - 11:50 am: |
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Unless of course, in my case anyway, St Peter has a truck for hire. |
Edward8
Tinkerer
Username: Edward8
Post Number: 57
Registered: 03-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 23, 2011 - 12:05 am: |
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Thanks - one and all - for the sound advice and understanding. Sorry I haven't responded earlier - been out and about.
+++
I shall now proceed to happily wallow. My mechanical cameras will NOT go to the vet. But Heywood - Hi, Heywood! - strikes a sensitive nerve, by writing: "... make sure they get a good home because the day might come when someone is going through your closet, has no interest in old cameras & tosses them in the trash bin."
Or, even worse, paints 'em yellow! Or covers 'em in cane-toad skin! As the late actor of some note, M. Brando, said in the film Apocalypse Now ... "oh, the horror".
Again, thanks for the understanding.
Regards all
Edward8 |
Stereopost
Tinkerer
Username: Stereopost
Post Number: 2
Registered: 07-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 17, 2011 - 09:43 pm: |
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In the late 1970s, I used to go to Salvation Army, pawn shops, etc., looking for old cameras. I found many, and would go to the camera shop and look to see if film was still available. For many, it was not. So, I reluctanly passed them by. Then one day, I came across a book called The Hole Thing: A Manual of Pinhole Photography. As I read through it on the way home (as a passenger in my friend-collector's car), I realized we could take pictures with ANY camera using PRINT PAPER for the negative! Yes, exposures would be slow, and usually a tripod needed, but now I have a collection of really neat early 1900s cameras that I actually can take pictures with. I even learned to make my own "roll film" taping pieces of print paper onto a roll of black paper (marked for exposure numbers on the outside for the red number lens on the back of the camera). Then I cut film for film holders of the "old size" of formats for those cameras. The effect is the same as using the old "wet plate" photography, and the effects are marvelous! Of course, I contact printed them; the paper negatives are processed as prints, but looked-through like negatives until the density is there. Not only that, but I found out it was more fun than a dog eating peanut butter.
You give me a camera, I can take a picture with it. |
Waynemel
Tinkerer
Username: Waynemel
Post Number: 80
Registered: 08-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 - 06:26 am: |
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Ilford makes a positive print paper that can be used for pinhole or other cameras that would eliminate the need for a contact print. |
Stereopost
Tinkerer
Username: Stereopost
Post Number: 3
Registered: 07-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 18, 2011 - 08:49 am: |
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Thanks! I think I remember seeing that on one of the online photo shops. I used to love Kodak Fine Grain Positive film, but I think that's gone now. Using a single weight paper for the negatives and prints and the old Kodak Tri-Chem packs, we had a lot of fun with the old 122 Folding Kodaks. |
Edward8
Tinkerer
Username: Edward8
Post Number: 61
Registered: 03-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, September 10, 2011 - 08:58 pm: |
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It is with a heavy heart that I feel obliged to report that I have made a decision. They will go. With some luck, to a good home. (Just in case anyone misinterprets this note: This is NOT a for-sale ad.)
My photographic work is now all, er, electronic. Cameras are tools of trade. As much as I love 'em, it is cruel to let them die, slowly, in a drawer.
A sad day, indeed. But, on a brighter note, maybe some young person might obtain one of my cameras and be inspired ... to become a photographer. That is my wish.
Regards all,
Edward8 |
Jimmyh
Tinkerer
Username: Jimmyh
Post Number: 2
Registered: 04-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 11, 2011 - 08:25 pm: |
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Rest, content in knowing that your decision will end your torment about keeping them, and brighten someone's day when they receive them.
Perhaps a wee dram and a farewell toast would be in order?
Here's to old friends, gone but never forgotten. |
Edward8
Tinkerer
Username: Edward8
Post Number: 66
Registered: 03-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 11, 2011 - 10:20 pm: |
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Jimmyh:
I reckon a wee dram would certainly be in order. Therefore, I dips me lid and - in a swift movement almost imperceptible to the naked human eye - raise my glass. Cheers. To all friends. |
Bobkids
Tinkerer
Username: Bobkids
Post Number: 3
Registered: 04-2012
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, April 01, 2012 - 06:55 am: |
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It is indeed a sad story to hear that but as a gesture of good intention, I would suggest that those gentlemen out there who ever is interested in Mechanical cameras should contact you for your kindness to let go those items which you find that are no longer able to "look-after" be given to them who are Keen and have great interest in the field of Photography. Cheers...!! |
Paul_ron
Tinkerer
Username: Paul_ron
Post Number: 281
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 02, 2012 - 07:35 pm: |
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Back in the 70s I had a nice collectiono of cameras I used as a pro goingout of business n sold off my gagle of geese. I regret it now as some were very valuable today n others had so much sentimental value it still hurts. On th egood side I did sell em to good homes where they got plenty of use and I am sure someone is still thanking me for a great deal on such fine equipment at bargain prices.
I've tried to make up for my loss by restoring many old cameras n now have a closet full of gems. My kids do know the value of my equipment n have used many of em n are also very good photographers as a result n all have their own cameras but still chcek the closet for my newest toys. At least I can rest in peace knowing when I'm dead, they will treasure my odopted children in the closet.
. |
Hollenbj
Tinkerer
Username: Hollenbj
Post Number: 17
Registered: 03-2012
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 05, 2012 - 11:55 am: |
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Oh, I wish my kid enjoyed my gems as much as I do. What makes me shudder even more is that my gems might not be enjoyed by *anyone* after I'm gone. I have looked into options for this...without too much success.
I wallow with about 200-300 gems. And I make it a point to take each one out for a spin -- once I get to the end of the roster, I start again, and again...
I do B+W only. Develop and scan at North Coast Photo Services near San Diego. Not that cheap, but reasonable. I archive the negs (usually don't even look at them) and play with the digital "prints". Sometimes make a physical print to share or sell. |
Paul_ron
Tinkerer
Username: Paul_ron
Post Number: 282
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 07, 2012 - 07:08 am: |
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I once knew a woman who inherited her father's collection of thousands of cameras. As an OCD collector he labeled n made custon boxes for each n everyone of em. The only problem is he was a camera addict not a user so they sat for years n years.
She found me n asked me to restore em and she'd list the working cameras n sell em cheap to people that agreed to use them, not store em.
I took her on as a charity case n did basic CLAs for almost nothing, most of em were already in grerat shap just needed a kick start, some were in need of reapirs but she sold those as parts cameras to other DIYers to help their efforts to get other old cameras a new life.
Gotta admire camera junkies, dedicated to keeping good quality cameras on the road instead of tossing em only becaus they are old not because they are broken. This polluting disposable society with plastic crap replacing good for junk is so wasteful.
It's so hard to find anyone that can sit long enough to even read a book let alone spend several hours in a darkroom... ADDH as a result of our new digital instant gratification, robbed everyone's brain n patience to the point they can't even wait for the light to turn green at corners?... ever notice it's always the guy way in the back blowing his horn? If he left his house a minute earlier he's be up front! |
Thol
Tinkerer
Username: Thol
Post Number: 17
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 21, 2012 - 02:47 pm: |
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I've had/have the same dilemma — three large Tupper Ware boxes with cans of desiccant and old cameras. Many of them work fine enough but need new light seals. Some like my Zeiss Contaflexes are useless despite periodic exercise sessions. I love them, but they are too expensive to repair, and too complicated for DIY overhauls. There is pile of decent glass too.
So, sometimes I have felt the urge to thin out the whole collection. I have thought of going digital, but I just cannot afford a digital camera that is in the same league as the film types I own. That settles part of the problem. If I could sell off the whole collection to afford one decent digital body I might leap, but it will not raise enough money. It looks like I'll be putting up a display shelf and abandoning some glass to fungus in this humid climate, and using a carefully culled few to keep burning film until I fall down.
Edward, I admire your decision. Flexibility and change keeps us alive and in step with the world. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with being an antiquarian, yet each of us has to come to his/her own decision as to whether to be one. Here in Japan physical space is one huge factor, and it pushes me towards the same place you've just occupied.
To conclude, I don't think your OP was at all indulgent — very apros pos to this forum. |
Jimmyh
Tinkerer
Username: Jimmyh
Post Number: 6
Registered: 04-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2012 - 09:28 am: |
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Thol,
A portion of your post
"...but I just cannot afford a digital camera that is in the same league as the film types I own"
caught my eye, and I offer these comments without knowing a thing about your experience and preferences and you may have already thought about what I about to say.
If you are hoping to use a digital camera that has a similar number of 'pixels' I suspect that you are correct. However, I have been using a 'humble' Nikon D50, referred to by many as a 'starter' or 'basic' or 'consumer' camera that I bought when it was introduced, and find that its 6MP sensor is more than capable of producing fine images.
I also understand that newer cameras have more MP, and more significantly, they have newer and more advanced onboard processing that improves dynamic range, etc.
From my experience, I would suggest that you consider a less-than-top-of-the-line, and less expensive, model and that you shoot both film and digital for a while. This way, you will get valuable first-hand experience with the workflow of a digital camera.
Later, when you decide to upgrade to a 'decent' body you will have a digital backup, and if it is of the same family you can also use the lens or lenses from the 'starter' camera.
Switching subject, I have a fair number of Zeiss cameras. My lone Contaflex is an impressive, compact work of mechanical art, and it is one of the most complex cameras in my Zeiss collection. In fairness, though, I did buy it used and untried. It malfunctioned before I could load a roll of film, and I suspect it was not in working condition when I bought it. I often wonder what it could have been but for the march of time...
Cheers,
Jimmy |
Thol
Tinkerer
Username: Thol
Post Number: 25
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 02, 2012 - 12:41 am: |
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Hi Jimmy,
I've taken note of your reply and will easily concede that you are right.
There was a Pentax that I was very interested in — particularly as I have a pile of SMC and Takumar lenses. When I found this inexpensive model — the K-X I think it was, I got really excited ... only to find out that it was out of production left a lot of people hoping for a successor. It appears that nothing happened to replace it — well, no a simple camera in that price range, anyway. I was very disappointed.
I expect that eventually I will come up to getting a digital camera. But in the last two days I found nice standard primes for a Nikon Photomic F and a Canon AV-1 — the bodies of which were given to me at different times. I'm still on the film track. By the way, I d have a little Canon IXY. For all its tiny size and simplicity, it performs very nicely and is my point and shoot. |
Biloraguy
Tinkerer
Username: Biloraguy
Post Number: 1
Registered: 06-2013
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 10, 2013 - 11:51 am: |
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I started in the photography biz just a couple of years before you and I have my original Nikon F and a lot of old cameras (about 50). I do not collect old cameras, I rescue them. I am going to donate a couple of older models with custom features (added for news photography work) to a journalism museum. I am printing up some of my photojournalism photos from the 1960s and 1970s to very large sizes and exhibiting them as art. I regularly take artistic-type photos with my old cameras. I have a zoomy DSLR but digital bores me to tears. |
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