Rare limited Edition Cameras ?

[dee]

I have been captivated by some of those limited edition cameras , not Gold Plated !

Hugely expensive , too precious to use , but sometimes georgeous .... and offering nothing in useablity over a standard camera LOL .

But how about having one made ? At a cost of about £130 ?

I am having a 1956 Kiev IIIa remade - with no engraving over the lens , KIEV in English on the meter door - and in metallic blue paint and tan leather with matching lens .

The cost , with donor camera and leather is around £200 , about the same as my restored Contax III from the same source . I love the Art Deco style of this camera and the state of the art built in meter . My Autistic Glitch loves the magic of selenium meters on my Kiev 3 and 4 !

I will also have a Contax III body with Kiev IV top and meter - from a broken , parts C III and K 4 - no fine cameras have been harmed in the making of my specials . Why not use a Kiev 4 ?
My ASD rejects Kiev 4 as ' wrong ' because it's a different body , just as Leica II is right and Leica IIIc wrong .
It will be just like one of those Contax fakes - but a little more authentic - LOL .

I could have had my Kiev IIIa serviced for about £70 - but , I reckon another £60 is well worth having something unique which helps with my Autistic Glitch .

Would you repaint or re-imagine any of your cameras ?

dee

[Deleted]

Back when I was intensely involved with FSU gear I reskinned several Zorki 1s, replacing the vulcanite with pigskin. Makes it look better than a Leica of the same vintage. I have a couple of Z1s with reskinned Zori2C body shells. The 2C body shell was identical to the Z1 EXCEPT it has strap lugs. The tops are considerably different, however.
Usual the "Gold" bodies have just had the plating removed and a coating of varnish put on the brass underneath so it won't oxidize.

Wayne

[Mark Vaughan]

Dee,

There are some guys on this site with pretty remarkably well-done leather jobs - some great colors too. I am currently working / toying with the idea of making a very customized Nikon EL2. Mine is a good working example, but suffers from some rust spots and texture wear. I have secured the leather for the job and am thinking about having the top / bottom pieces chrome plated (a nearby shop will chrome dip virtually anything for a price).

Show us some photos of what you have!

Regards,
Mark

[dee]

I would love an SRT in tan leather , but all of my five [ early / late SRT 101 chrome early late SRT IOI black and my original SRT 202 ]
... and my SRs and SR7v are too precious to mess with - now where are thos old Prakticas ?
Seriously , I prefer messing with poor unsupecting Kievs .

[mickeyobe]

I wonder if a camera that has been "customized" by the owner can really be called a limited edition.
Would a limited edition not have to be produced in limited quantities by the manufacturer?

Enlighten me, please.

Mickey

[Deleted]

Mickey:

I think a camera modified by the owner would be a "modified" model rather than a limited edition. A limited edition suggests severa' bodies modified exactly the same by the factory.

Wayne

[mickeyobe]

Thank you, Wayne.

This is my reason for asking -----





Yashica Full Automatic Auto Focus Motor.
It is fully featured and works perfectly. One may observe all the mechanical operations at the front, back, top and bottom.
However, It cannot take pictures as its transparency fogs the film.

I assume it was a salesman's sample. I can't find any listing for it but the Auto Focus Motor - D with the correct specifications except transparency does appear in Lind's List For 1983.

Could this, perhaps, be a limited edition?

Mickey

[Deleted]

That's cool! I think it's exactly what you called it--a "salesman's sample."

[dee]

I can hear the saleman saying - ' It's the perfect camera , works beautifully - and you will never have to worry about taking photographs '
Transparently useless !

[dee]

Of course a single messed with camera - good or bad - can't be a Limited Edition - but it can be a means of satisfying that craving for something unique ... hopefully , better that that limited run - or not !

[Andrew]

Thats an interesting camera Mickey, of course no doubt a promotional camera to show off the complexity of the circuitry and mechanisms all cleverly fitting in to the small space. It would have likely been made in limited number for promotional purposes only, as a number of other camera and lens makers do (have done) with their merchandise, you might have seen quite often for sale around, large format and other lenses/or cameras that are sectional cut in half displays also. to the right people and relative to the popularity of the regular lens or camera sold they can fetch more money.

i dont mind in essence special limited edition cameras, not too keen on many of the gaudy looking gold cameras very much, at least to use them would seem pretentious, i dont know, maybe just maybe you could get away with using a gold trimmed hasselblad in the studio (more so on a tripod), it may make the subjects (people) feel like they are more special in front of something shiny, different and fancy..

i guess that many of these gussied up cameras stem from the old days of the tropical cameras that do look [are] gold and red bellows and beautiful polished wood or coloured leather etc, when the base [non-tropical] model was much plainer, of course the original tropical models were built with those materials to be 'more' functional/durable and to withstand the elements as well as more beautiful ..also some studio camera simply were made to look fancier just for prestige, it was [still is for many people] an event and special occassion to go and have your picture done at a studio. even more elaborate sometimes are the old wooden stands for the cameras , some of those stands are truly works of art!

[dee]

I think that I have been tempted by the metallic coloured Digi-boxes so common today - and my favourite metallic '' Bluebell '' colour - which apeared on the original Honda Jazz range from 2000 , not to mention the exotic finishes from my favourite Art Deco period - shades of Cinemas in the 50s . I am seriously considering a metallic Pink K III too ... I know , but it's so 1930s - like those pink film sets and Restaurants I knew as post war kid . But another £130 may not be possible for another whim LOL
I guess I would love a pair of 1952 Lambrettas in these metallic Ice Cream colours , but they are long gone .
[ I have two cheap 1956 Kiev IIIa which have just a number on the access shoe - I can't get past the Made in USSR / CCCP clutter -
which would make great donors ]
I have a III/IV to paint , but the metallic works best with the Art Deco curves of the III .
I would love it Contax badged , but that would be very naughty but nice !
These days few would turn a hair at coloured cameras ... and I would use them .
Maybe I saw those grey and olive Leica M cameras , but wanted something a little more - girly !!!

[Deleted]

Back in the 1950s and '60s the Soviets made more Leica Copy cameras than they could sell so a lot of 'em were engraved and presented to members of the military and/or the party for real on imagined accomplishments--usually Zorki 2Cs for some reason. I bid on a few and alway wish I had picked up at least one--but I didn't