Berndt
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Post by Berndt on Jul 13, 2012 21:10:55 GMT -5
This question might have certainly been asked already, but I wonder, if somebody ever regretted not buying a camera and how everybody deals with buying rare cameras in general. It happened, that I watched a camera on Yahooauctions ( the japanese E-Bay ) this week. Not in really good condition, but a little bit of a research in the international and japanese speaking web told me, that this camera ( a japanese TLR ) is obviously so rare, that nobody has seen a surviving unit of it ever ( it is just mentioned in a japanese camera magazine from the late 40s ). The price was at 1 Yen all the time and nobody seemed to be interested. I though "Wow !!! That's my camera." And then, it suddenly went up during the last hours of the auction. Two obviously professional camera dealers started fighting over this camera. That's all not unusual, but ... I had problems, setting a personal price limit for myself, because I had no idea, what such a camera could be worth. There is no reliable price guide for cameras, appearing on an auction once in 50 or 100 years. However, the story ended, that I didn't get it ... and actually regret it now   The final price was about $ 100, but of course, I wouldn't know, how high it would have gone, if I would have staid in the ring until the end. How do you guys deal with those kind of situations ? Do you have some kind of "personal codex", helping you ?  |
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Berndt
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Post by Berndt on Jul 13, 2012 20:39:56 GMT -5
Fantastic Mickey !!! I would favour the Voigtlaender TLR in particular. Congratulations !!!
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Berndt
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Post by Berndt on Jul 13, 2012 20:34:46 GMT -5
Fair price. Somebody should take the chance. I am unfortunately not collecting SLRs, just having a few Canons for using my collection of Canon FL lenses.
Good luck. The camera looks nice !!!
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Berndt
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Post by Berndt on Jul 10, 2012 11:03:06 GMT -5
I still think, the customs regulations are the biggest problem. Shipping costs can be asked and clearly defined between buyer and seller ... but customs regulations can be quite surprising. I remember another case, when my wife ordered shoes from Korea. She was so happy about the bargain, which she thought, she had made. In the end, she paid five times the price. Crazy ? It is ... but ... the minimum import tax will be set completely regardless of the price of the actual item. The important point here is just - those shoes have been made of leather. These are things, people usually don't know until they make the experience. Now we know, that shoes can be very expensive So, here comes the risk ( especially for the seller ). Somebody might order an item for $ 1 and gets a heart attack later, when he needs to pay ... maybe $ 100 tax. The customs officers became smarter meanwhile and know very well, that everybody declares everything as "gift" anyway ... and then, they start guessing. The trouble starts here and the biggest problem is, that seller and buyer can not know, how much the buyer has to pay in the end. |
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Berndt
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Post by Berndt on Jul 9, 2012 23:26:19 GMT -5
That's actually pretty cool !!! How did people adjust it back in the days ? I mean, how do you know, that the flash is synchronized perfectly ?
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Berndt
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Post by Berndt on Jul 7, 2012 23:25:32 GMT -5
Partly understandable. Shipping cameras to overseas can bring some trouble, depending on the laws of the destination country ( which we mostly don't know ). My mother wanted to send me two cameras from Germany to Japan recently ( kindly donated by her friend and neighbour ). Oh oh ... first, nothing arrived for quite a while  We already thought, that the parcel must have become lost somehow, when we got a letter from the Japanese tax office. My mother declared everything as gift and also the value ... but ... it's not that easy  After a lot of phone calls and paper work, the tax office finally accepted the declaration, most likely just, because they didn't really know, how to estimate the value of those cameras. They looked "suspicious antique", but tax officers are not necessarily camera experts. However ... I wouldn't ship to overseas either ( at least not to an unkown customer ). Too risky. Later, he needs to pay a lot of tax and might not accept that ... and cameras are heavy. Shipping costs are quite expensive. So, it would only be worth for quite rare and expensive items anyway. The usual way is a kind of mass import and shipping via container. Many dealers are importing containers of old cameras from Japan ( often even Japanese cameras, which have been exported to the US long time ago ). All declared as "Junk", repaired and sold on the "japanese e-bay" Yahooauctions ( the original E-Bay is forbidden here ). So, I think, there is always some kind of local market for cameras. |
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Berndt
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Post by Berndt on Jul 6, 2012 9:26:10 GMT -5
Will we see some pictures, taken with it some day ?
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Berndt
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Post by Berndt on Jul 6, 2012 6:01:04 GMT -5
Frankly speaking, I didn't know half of those cameras. An interesting selection And MIK ... the pocket fisheye is back: microsites.lomography.com/110-cameras/ I am not sure, if I would try it though ... fisheye on 110 film ... mmmmh ... but at least good news for all 110 camera lovers/users/collectors - 110 film is back and available as B/W and color film again. |
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Berndt
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Post by Berndt on Jul 4, 2012 2:44:25 GMT -5
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Berndt
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Post by Berndt on Jul 3, 2012 11:22:12 GMT -5
Great pictures !!!
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Berndt
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Post by Berndt on Jul 1, 2012 7:58:23 GMT -5
Sounds logical, Mickey. I don't think, the flash contacts are broken ... but maybe mistimed ... or better, adjusted to the effect you described ( Flashbulbs have a much longer duration and will reach their peak about when your shutter is wide open ). That would make some sense and indeed, it seems that the flash fires before the shutter opens. I became a little bit more clever meanwhile and make a simple test before wasting a film: I look through the lens from the open back of the camera and then, I can see, if the flash fires BEFORE the lens opens. Interesting though, that some cameras ( we are basically talking about the early 50s here, when many cameras didn't have an "x-sync" yet, just a normal flash terminal ) work with modern flash guns and some not ... even they should all be designed for flash bulbs, because there haven't been any electronic flashes at that time ... as far as I know ... And also modern toy cameras. Extremely simple constructed ( everything just plastic and very simple shutter mechanisms ) ... but they all work with electronic flash guns. However ... as flash bulbs are not available ( or affordable ) anymore, those oldies became "daylight cameras" only, I guess  |
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Berndt
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Post by Berndt on Jul 1, 2012 0:16:32 GMT -5
Mmmmh ... you are right, Hans. There is another number and it is 527/24. So it should be a Contina II ? The thing is just, that my camera does not look like a Contina II at all ( especially not from the top ). My camera does exactly look like a Contina Matic II. Something wrong with this number system then ?
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Berndt
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Post by Berndt on Jun 30, 2012 23:56:19 GMT -5
I recently noticed, that a modern camera flash does not work on some vintage cameras from 50s and I wonder why I tried to use two Bencinis ( a Koroll 24s and a Comet S ) and another quite simple constructed Hobix Junior with flash, but all pictures became just black. The shutter is triggering the flash and it fires properly ... but obviously not in the right timing. What all those cameras do have in common is a very simple shutter mechanism ( simplier than a leaf shutter ). Any ideas or explanations on that ? |
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Berndt
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Post by Berndt on Jun 30, 2012 10:20:06 GMT -5
Thanks Dave. I didn't know. Fantastic pictures anyway.
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Berndt
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Post by Berndt on Jun 30, 2012 4:32:45 GMT -5
Andy, these are brilliant pictures !!! Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed looking at them very much. I am just a little bit confused. Aren't some of them from famous movie sets ? Did you take those pictures ? How could you do that ? Did you work there ? Now, it's nearly impossible to take pictures at movies sets ( except you are the director ). The security is insane ... at least here in Japan |
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The final price was about $ 100, but of course, I wouldn't know, how high it would have gone, if I would have staid in the ring until the end.
We already thought, that the parcel must have become lost somehow, when we got a letter from the Japanese tax office. My mother declared everything as gift and also the value ... but ... it's not that easy 
After a lot of phone calls and paper work, the tax office finally accepted the declaration, most likely just, because they didn't really know, how to estimate the value of those cameras. They looked "suspicious antique", but tax officers are not necessarily camera experts.