How I became a camera collector

[Deleted]

I got interested in collecting early in 2002. One of our daughters was getting married on Maui and I decided after looking on E bay I could pick up a couple of Nikon bodies and a few lenses cheaper than we could hire a photographer in the island. I had got rid of all my decent 35mm equipment back in the early 1980 when I got involved in video taping our oldest daughter’s high school basketball games.

For the trip I acquired a Nikon FM and a Nikon FE, a medium telephoto, a 28mm and a GN Nikkor Pancake lens. And I did get excellent picture of the wedding and Maui.

While looking for equipment for the trip I stumbled onto Soviet cameras. I always admired the old Leicas but couldn’t afford them so I decided to check out the Soviet gear. The first bid I won was for what appeared to be a really nice Zorki 1 being sold by a woman in Siberia. Twelve years later I am still waiting for that camera to arrive. My advice would to be cautious about buying anything from someone in Siberia.

Eventually I did acquire a Zorki 1. And as time went on I found a number of versions, Then I discovered the Zorki 2, 3,4,5 and 6 in a variety of versions. There was a period of time when I seldom had less than two cameras coming to me in the pipeline. Got to know some of the sellers well enough that I bought directly from them without going through Ebay. The only reason my mate put up with my addiction was I paid for the cameras with other stuff sold on Ebay.

As I learned more about the FSU cameras I put together a website on the history and the variations. I knew I had arrived when I started discovering my information, word-for-word, describing cameras being sold by Russian and Ukrainian sellers.

Eventually I acquired a few FEDs and Kievs, too. At one time I had over 100 Soviet cameras but then I got interested in newer Nikon cameras and sold off part of my gear to finance that. A lot of it went to Japanese collectors who couldn’t deal directly with the FSU sellers and were willing to pay a premium to get the stuff.

During the time when I was collecting full steam I got to know several of the sellers on a personal level and that was as satisfying as the actual cameras. I also really enjoyed the historical research.

I also fine tuned some of the gear, actually sending it back to a Russian named Oleg for repair and/or CLA. Even got to the point where I could replace shutter curtains in some models myself.

Most of my collecting took place over about a five-year period. It started getting hard to find good camera and the Russians started jacking up to postage rates. Since then I have had some people who know about my collection just give me Soviet gear for which they had no use.

Last September we went on a cruise in Russia. I was in a second hand store in Yaroslavl and came across a box of old FEDs and Zorkis. My cameras were a lot nicer than the ones in the shop.

I’m not actively collecting now and my main concern is what will happen to the gear when I’m gone. Soviet cameras don’t appeal to a whole lot of people and I would hate to see them hauled to the landfill. Therefore I’m probably going to start selling off most of the cameras. The main holdup is I hate to think of all the hassle to selling, packing and shipping.

What's your story?

[truls]

Great and fun story Wayne!
I am new to collecting. In 2012 I got interested in photography again, after a period of 25 years. I also discovered internet auctions, and the low prices on certain cameras. After purchasing some cameras I had to search for more information, which often led me to the "Camera Collector" forum pages. I thought it was interesting, as I got proper answers. Later I decided to be a member on this forum, still unaware I could be a camera collector. After some time I found out I were like other members here, so I could call me a kind of collector. Short story, now I have to decide to get a real collection, confirming this.

[mickeyobe]

truls,

One is a hobby.
Two is for show.
Three is a collection.
Go man. Go.

Mickey

[hansz]

My father died in 1963, left a few Zeiss Ikon cameras, nobody took any interest in them, so the youngest son - I was 12 that time - got it all. Not doing so much with them, but stored it.
In my student time the need for a camera became obvious - geology is a very outdoors study. The Zeiss Ikons were too nice, so I bought a Beautiflex, and traded that one for a Zenit with some lenses.

When working (finally:-) I could afford more stuff, so in came the Nikon, Canon and Olympus brands.
Until 2000 no collecting here, but merely randomly buying and selling; making photos with the equipment of the day.

Than the Zeiss virus hit me, and the curiosity of the Zeiss concern was born - with the produced goods of which cameras and lenses are a substantial part, but also binoculars, microscopes, refractometers and the like.

No explanation necessary that it took too much money and room... So I sold the Nikon, Olympus, Topcon brands and tried to focus on the Zeiss brand (together with Exakta and Praktica) - still some other stuff around, mainly Retina folders. And Canon of course, for the daily pictures (FD based and digital). For Mickey: T90!

About display: I have an agreement with the lady of the house, to restrain myself (...) and started a virtual display (flickr and holoceen.nl) which is in an eternal state of construction.

Call myself a collector? Yes, for Zeiss equipment, and no, no displays and I easily sell pieces of value - even sold Contarex and Contaflexes. IMHO, a true collector has a certain, strong feeling for his/her equipment, that refrains he/she for selling the beloved pieces. So, I don't qualify... (Well some pieces I will never sell...)

[paulhofseth]

I do not really collect. I use cameras and lenses, inevitably they are knocked about, so purists will be shocked.

I just happened to buy some cameras to use -second hand-, and a few I did not part with, even if another one came to be used. Different optics had different qualities, so some duplication of focal lengths was inevitable, but I weeded out the less sharp ones. My credibility as user over collector should be clear by the fact that I found the 15mm Zeiss Hologon for Leica (bought new) to be less sharp than wanted, so I got rid of it (luckily after its price had soared). These days laborious Photoshop stitching will give better results.

In the search for perfection in miniaturization, Minox was the answer. It and its progenitors are now stored in a secure place.

Chasing perfectly sharp blowups, Linhof seemed suiable, but their rollfilm backs were unreliable, so that is gone.

In the digital age, older manual optics are eminently usable, so the stuff that is not stored gets used.

p.

[shoeman]

I was a snapshot-shooter with a Pentax SLR for 20 years and never thought to upgrade. After all, the K-1000 was way more camera than the 110 instamatic I had previously.

My wife was a photographer. When we got married, she was in charge of cameras. They were nice cameras, but I had no say. When I retired, it stayed that way for a while. I tried woodworking, fishing, golf, playing guitar. I always end up being more of a technician than an actual "artist" in any field. Then my wife decided she needed a new medium-format camera for the studio and put me to work wrangling one from the internet and disposing of the old one simultaneously.

Retirement lead to new freedom and new pursuits. My wife took her camera gear and her freedom and headed for new horizons, God bless her. I got good at buying and selling guitars and cameras on the internet. Old injuries made more physical pursuits less enjoyable, so with no wife to stop me, I bought a camera. Then I bought two more. Then two more. I was trying to find the "right one", but they each do different things. Then I sold a bunch of them and bought some more.

Now I like to travel alone. I can waste as much time as I like taking pictures. I like to bring the right camera for the right picture. If I need a chaperone, I bring my youngest sister, also a camera collector. She likes Leicas. I like Mamiyas and Pentaxes. Between us we have a museum.

[rhythmthief]

I don't really collect, as such: like others, I enjoy using my cameras but the thought of having them solely for display leaves me cold. I shot digital for years, having had my Pentax K1000 stolen in early 2001 and replaced it with a Nikon D200 six years later. Come the time to upgrade the D200, the only sensible choice was a D3, which I couldn't afford (and still can't ... I still use the D200), but I realised that I could afford a professional level Nikon, which would fit all my lenses, as long as I went back in time a few decades. So I bought my F3, then shortly afterwards realised I should have gone medium format. I started looking into it and realised that there were some very cheap cameras capable of exceptional images out there, which everyone had abandoned for the convenience of digital. I started with an Agfa Isolette III with the Solinar lens, followed it with a Yashica Mat which I had to rebuild (that was a steep learning curve), read good things about the Voigtlander Bessamatic and bought two of them, decided I needed a rangefinder and bought a Zorki 5, became known for having elderly cameras and was given six over Christmas ("oh, I found these cameras in my grandad's loft ... if you want any you can have them") - I ended up with a Braun SUper Paxette, a Voigtlander Vitomatic II, a Bencini Comet and a Balda Baldini, among other things. And so it goes on ... I probably have enough cameras now though, it's difficult to keep them all loaded with film!

[rickoleson]

My dad was a gun collector. He didn't hunt, but he liked them for the fine craftsmanship and machinery, and he did some very nice gunsmithing of his own. But guns had their complications, and while I shared his love of fine machinery I didn't feel like starting down that path when I was young. When I was with him at a gun show in the early 1970s, one of the dealers had a Kodak 8mm movie camera on his table with a $5 price on it. That struck me as an interesting alternative for the price, so it became my first old camera purchase. After that I began finding them at garage sales, mostly; usually for $5 or less, never as much as $10. By the end of the 70s I found the Photographic Collectors of Houston, which had a monthly meeting with a camera-swap auction at each one, and I became more regular about it. There was something liberating about knowing that you might be able to come back next month and buy/sell whatever you had just sold/bought last month in case you changed your mind. I still have many of the cameras I picked up at the PCH auctions, and I still have the Kodak movie camera.

I got interested in more expensive cameras, which I could not afford to buy... unless one came along in non-working condition. I took to buying nonworking Contax rangefinders at $35 apiece, and then Contax/Pentacon SLRs that wouldn't run. That led to having to figure out how to get them running again, which led to fixing them for other people, which provided funding for my collecting.

Of course, since the internet and eBay, the whole world has changed. Pieces that we knew only from books or legends back in the 70s and 80s can now be found easily. Russian cameras, in particular, were very exotic and would have brought a little money (maybe) back in the pre-internet days.

[dee]

I found that Minolta cameras calmed my autistic glitch - even before I knew what was adrift [ A term I use advisedly !! ]

A traumatic 'coming out' and realisation in 1997 of ASD and severe Gender Dysphoria/boy-girl-me ??!! led to recycling Dinky Toys via e-bay at silly money for ex-USSR cameras as ever , with the typical intensity of ASD !!

A weird dee'ficulty is that I seem to need several same/similar cameras in sight at the same time.
It's as if my brain sees 'same again' rather than ' several ' which seems to reinforce the stimulus/input. Nothing really impacts - everything remains dreamstate , but moments of 'solidity 'help.

I love the fake Leicas from Moscow Phot which were refinishes as new and which worked exquisitely .
I am always amazed at the ingenuity of USSR engineers to modify the basic Leica model - creating the 1st Leicaflex in the Zenit ,plus that the hugely complicated Kievs were made by rural people with little or no engineering experience .

I also reclaimed a copy of my 1st SLR- a Prinzflex STTL 1971 / Chinon which has the dubious reputation of being painted ' pro ' black over chrome with the obvious results - the rival Zodel version was black on brass , but I did not know that then . I also and added some missing SLRS such as a black Nikkormat Chrome Spotmatic and recently, a £10 Pentax K1000.
Hands and eyes seldom work together , but Kiev/Contax , Leica II/III and Minolta SRT seem to be OK .
I no longer use film , but just playing with my familiar/safe toys is calming .

An alternative reason for both collecting and using my Digital cameras - but it works for me.

dee

[philbirch]

I never thought of Zenits being the first 'Leicaflexes', they are solidly based on the Zorkis, sure enough. I don't think it would have taken much ingenuity for the Germans to turn the 111g into an SLR. Well done the Rusians.

[Stephen]

I think the team at Leice where mainly interested in the size of the cameras, it is known they felt Exakta's were too large and not practical as 35mm "miniature" cameras. It was also recorded that they were concerned about the mirror causing body movement just before exposure.
The Russians were never given enough credit for the Zenit solution, but it was at the height of the Cold War, and praising anything from the USSR was not on!

[yashica1943]

I started collecting Konica 35mm SLR about 2 years ago.
Before that I had a mint Olympus OM 1 and intended to add more Zuiko lenses, I bought an immaculate Yashica FR1 with a f1.4 Yashica lens plus two Tamron Adaptall zoom lenses for a song.
I also had my deceased brother's Canon AE-1 which will never be sold and had just sold off my perfectly good Minolta 9000 and now wish I hadn't. But I didn't consider myself to be a camera collector then, I just had some nice film cameras.
I was after a 24mm lens for the Olympus or Canon but the originals were all too expensive so I bought a Sun Actinon 24mm with a Konica mount, then looked for a body to put it on!
I cannot remember the first Konica body I bought, but it might have been an Autoreflex. I then remembered an old test report in a magazine of an FT-1 and liked the look of it, I bought two reasonable looking black Konica FS-1 before I came across one of my current favourites, the FT-1 immaculate and working in silver.
I now have 9 Old Konica SLR, with 6 lenses including a nice 40mm which is ideal for general use.
I also have a Voigtlander Vito B to remind me of my first 35mm camera, a Voigtlander BL and as described and pictured elsewhere, a wonderful Bessamatic that works and produces amazing prints..........
Also a Nikon F40 in mint condition, a Zenit, and a Canonet. Two Minolta 110 zoom SLR and a Pentax Efina T APS.
My wife's old Olympus Mju, passed to me which is very, very good for it's size and price.
So no theme or sensible reason at all!

I am now considering selling all the Konicas except the FT-1 to finance a decent long zoom for my Nikon Digital SLR!

[yashica1943]

Somebody local found out that I collected cameras, so I now have a Minolta 500si, two zoom lenses, an Olympus Mju and a Samsung compact. All free. Pity there was nothing classic!
I have also become the proud 'owner' of a Sigma 300 SA which has the nastiest, stickiest cover I have ever seen, like a ten year old black toffee with a lens, now put into quarantine. I don't think it is worth doing anything with!

[mickeyobe]

I am reasonably certain that I caught the CC virus from handling a very beautiful old but contaminated camera.