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Classic Cameras
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I have a Kiev 4a with a Jupiter-8M 50mm f/2.0 lens. The camera was made in Russia in the Arsenal factory just outside Kiev in 1945. This camera is a clone of the Contax 2. I also have a Braun Paxette, 1954 with a Katagon 50mm f2.8 and a 35mm 2.8.
These old cameras are still in working order, excellent engineering. I wonder will the digital cameras last that long?
I have a lot of old cameras too, mostly not very expensive ones, such as the Olympus Trip 35, and several point and shoot ones which people dumped in perfect condition and I bought for cents in charity shops, boot sales etc..
I have an old Pentax MX SLR, as well as a Fujifilm SLR bought for little or nothing on Ebay. One of my all-time favourites is the Halina 3000, which is considered not very good but which is very enjoyable to use and gives me results I like. But my all-time favourites are the Polaroid cameras I’ve been rescuing for some time now. I wonder are there any other people here interested in Polaroid? :)I have a Pentacon 6TL with an 80mm Carl Zeiss Jena MC lens attached.
Also have an old Nikon FEMark
i got my hands on an olympus half frame pen e series point and shoot. great little camera, no batteries and fully automatic or aperatue priority
PolMac wrote:
I wonder will the digital cameras last that long?
Thats an easy one. No they wont. You’ve some fine hardware there! I’m green with envy!
Mark wrote:
I have a Pentacon 6TL with an 80mm Carl Zeiss Jena MC lens
:sick with envy
lightlady wrote:
I wonder are there any other people here interested in Polaroid? :)
Theres a few of us here use polaroids. I’ve a SX-70, a 5×4 polaroid back and a 110a. The SX-70 is in regular use as is the 5×4. Not using the 110a at all.
I’ve got a 2002 Nikon E5000,
still going strong after 20,000+ exposures,
does that count as classic?Sure, I’ve got the sx-70, and the 54back too,
but to put things in perspective,
20,000 exposures on an sx-70 is ?45,000,
and I’m pretty sure I don’t have that many polaroids, to be honest.I know its apples and oranges, and I’m not looking for an argument,
but technological advances are what brought us the polaroid cameras and chemistry,
and it does seem a little strange to expect r&d to terminate at some arbitrary time in the past.Just in case I’m in the wrong thread, I’ve also got a couple of super Ikontas, including one of the nice rangefinder ones with the Zeiss 80mm,
and not too much bloom on the lens. And a huge unweildly polaroid 5×4 press camera from the ’50s. (Film no longer available)Imaging is the important thing to me, not the equipment, or its longevity. They are after all,only the tools of our trade,
and will wear out eventually- if they’re used enough-Of course the museum pieces are great, and its good that they still mostly work, and they’re beautiful objects (some of them)
I still have the camera I took my first pictures on, my dad’s Kodak 620 from the ’50’s,
but I shudder to think what it would cost me to process the film and have the original 6x9cm contact prints made, with the crinkly edges.For all the actual use some of these old cameras get, its hardly surprising that their small number of mechanical moving parts still make some plausible sounds and movements.
What’s perhaps more of a mystery to me is the sheer sophistication of the modern equipment,
and the quality of the images they produce.Olympus OM System,
thats a classic, isn’t it-
Got lots of those,
but they’re all pretty battered after so much hard labour. Lots of brassing and dents, but some still work.
And I hope to recycle the lenses on a canon digital body before too long.Oh, and a couple of XA Olympus too, including one rangefinder one.
sorry for ranting on-
j
jb7 wrote:
Sure, I’ve got the sx-70
jDont worry about ranting :D Have you tried the new sx70 blend? http://www.unsaleable.com/instant_photofun/
No Fintan, I’ve seen it advertized,
but haven’t used it-
Looks like the colours could be better than the original though-Lots of good stuff on that website,
but I still remember the days when they didn’t actually charge a premium for out of date stock-Its far too expensive for me anyway,
I’d use it if I had a specific project for it,
and its good to have the option-I think I’d be tempted to use the b/w polaroid 5×4 before the sx-70 anyway,
it produces beautiful negatives-Just need to get organized-
j
Know very little about classic cameras, but while recently in Prague, I was surprised by the number of second hand camera shops selling really old cameras.
The likes of Leica seemed to be big.
Heard after that that most of them were knockoffs
You boys should get together in January for a “Classic Camera Rally”. I’d buy some 5×4 Velvia if someone would let me use their field camera to take some nice landscapes on it. I just wouldn’t travel to Dublin for the pleasure (bloody part-timer half-hearted lightweight I hear you mutter).
Don’t worry Pete-
I’ll drop it up to you,
just let me know what time suits:D
j
Sure, just bung it in the post JB.
I’ll send you down a few tins of the black stuff for yer trouble.
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