Vintage cameras

[Ludwig]

Collecting vintage cameras is quite a nice hobby. I haveca few here including the Olympus Om10, Olympus trips, Ricoh KR10, several Sony Cybeshots and 3 old bellows cameras. S lot of the very eary digital cameras take reallt good pictures and the batteries last a long time and can pick them up for very little money.

 

[Ridgeway]

My father collects cameras, has done for many years. He still has quite a few even as he approaches his 90's and he loves finding that "next camera". I guess he's been collecting since the 50's and i can remember many of his finds overs they years, nice hobby

 

[midlife]

I have a box of old cameras in the garage, Box brownies and all that I think. Inherited them in a house move 35 odd years ago....

 

[figbat]

I don’t collect cameras so much as just keep them when I get a new one. The oldest I have is a Pentax ME Super (with ME2 Winder), then there’s my beloved Nikon F801s, a crappy F50 I bought as a backup body for a safari trip and then the digital stuff - D70s, D200 and D7100. There are a few lenses too from across the eras.

 

[numbnuts]

I still have an Zenit-E with a stack of lens for it

 

[HMS_Dave]

I've come across a few that needed repairs. A lot get tossed out due to dirt/sand getting into the zoom mechanism and they jam. They're full of tiny intricate parts, notably tiny springs that go flying if you're not careful. Amazing engineering really. Old SLR's tend just to get gummed up with crud, if they haven't been for a swim in salt water first...

 

[DCBassman]

I now only have two cameras. One is a Sony Cybershot DSC-W55, my cycling camera. When I can remember to take it with me...
The other is in pieces, because it is an as-yet-unbuilt Haynes (as in manuals) plastic Twin-lens reflex kit. One day I will build it and get some ISO400 mono film and get snapping!

 

[byegad]

I have my Olympus Trip, bought new back in the late 70s or early 80z, can't remember when.
Also Olympus E500 and E510, EPM1, EPL5, EP3, EP5, OMD EM5, OMD EM10, OMD EM5 Mkiii and
Panasonic G6, Panasonic DC FT7 and
Samsung WP10.
As you see I don't throw things away. I have about 40 lenses, many from extinct SLRs and DSLRs bought cheap. All the adapters I have mean that they can all be fitted to and used by my MFT cameras, and many by my 4/3 E500/510.
They all work but the quality of the older 4/3 pair and the G6 is less than acceptable, and probably always was.
The Samsung Waterproof has been replaced by the Panny DC FT7, both are rugged and bought for use while cycling.
My hobbies include wildlife, street and landscape photography, and apart from the 4/3rds cameras and the EPM1 and G6, all get outings throughout a normal year, whatever one of those is.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I have a few, will have to dig them out sometime. Quite a few I gave away to a collector friend in the USA a long time ago.
Just bought my daughter A Pentax ME to get her going on analogue photography, all my kids are into it :-)

 

[Badger_Boom]

I still have an Zenit-E with a stack of lens for it

Same here. I eventually replaced it with Pentax K1000. I prefer old-school reliability to thousands of 'options' that I never use.

 

[Randomnerd]

My fave is my Olympus XA 2. Tiny. Silent in use. Amazing lens. Total work of art with so much packed into a small 32mm body. Very stealth for film camera and, apart from focus being almost guesswork, gives superb results once you are used to it. Way better than any digi shots. The giant A12 flash to clamp alongside is also a right piece of kit.

ive a few other Trips, including the 35, which I like a lot. Still use a nice AF, but it is heavy. Great lens though.

Canon 400d just sits there looking bulky and sad.

 

[MichaelW2]

My fave is my Olympus XA 2. Tiny. Silent in use. Amazing lens. Total work of art with so much packed into a small 32mm body. Very stealth for film camera and, apart from focus being almost guesswork, gives superb results once you are used to it. Way better than any digi shots. The giant A12 flash to clamp alongside is also a right piece of kit.

ive a few other Trips, including the 35, which I like a lot. Still use a nice AF, but it is heavy. Great lens though.

Canon 400d just sits there looking bulky and sad.

When I worked in a camera shop I got to borrow a lot of the used items and had a thing for quality tiny cameras. I tried out the XA2, Contax T3, Minolta CL (Leica CL). After leaving I popped back in and saw a Ricoh GR1s with my name on it. This was my general purpose/travel camera for years before I went digital and it was a cracking little camera with a sharp 28mm/2.8 lens. I prefer using well crafted analogue cameras but dont use them any more.

 

[Blue Hills]

I have my Olympus Trip, bought new back in the late 70s or early 80z, can't remember when.

I well remember my dad offering to buy me a camera back in the late 70s or early 80s - we went in a fairly old school camera shop in blackburn - I was really keen on getting a 110 camera (remember them?) as they seemed so nifty.
The chap sold them but tried to advise me to go for a Trip - said the pics were better quality.
Like a young idiot I went for the 110, which he sold me/my dad with a certain sigh.
He was right of course - the prints from the 110 were atrocious - how could they not be with such a small neg.

 

[Blue Hills]

My fave is my Olympus XA 2. Tiny. Silent in use. Amazing lens. Total work of art with so much packed into a small 32mm body.

I have a few XAs bought second hand in the 80s.
An amazing bit of design. A classic.
Feels wonderful in the hand.
At least one of mine was the rangefinder version.
I gave one to a gf and an idiot friend of hers who clearly knew nothing laughed at it.

 

[MichaelW2]

I well remember my dad offering to buy me a camera back in the late 70s or early 80s - we went in a fairly old school camera shop in blackburn - I was really keen on getting a 110 camera (remember them?) as they seemed so nifty.
The chap sold them but tried to advise me to go for a Trip - said the pics were better quality.
Like a young idiot I went for the 110, which he sold me/my dad with a certain sigh.
He was right of course - the prints from the 110 were atrocious - how could they not be with such a small neg.

I got an Agfa Isomat Rapid 35mm compact of similar spec to the Trip but used some propriatory film canister and an odd aspect ratio The Trip was the best 35mm compact foreverday use and young enthusiasts.