January 10, 2017
#222
Gentle reader,
I began this blog to show and tell about our collections. There is a thick and expensive magazine called THE ROBB REPORT. Oddly, there is no one named Robb on the staff. It is one of those magazines for the wealthy. Of which we Robbs are not. But, I decided that name would be a good fit for the blog by changing the last word.
As stated in the subject line, all these images, with the exception of the last couple were shot on film long before the word "Digital" was much more than a descriptor, like: Digital Watch. Also, I could not conceive that I might sell some or even many of the cameras I'd works so hard to find and buy.
We always attended the annual Saint James Bazaar at a Catholic church and school not far from where I worked every Fall. It always amazed us how the same congregation could come up with SO MUCH stuff year after year to donate. Multiple rooms were stuffed with stuff! We always found some great items.
One year, in the late 1990's I spied a 35mm camera at the bazaar. At the time I only had one camera, my first, an Olympus OM-10 that I bought (at age 39) from a pawn shop. $99 included a 50mm f1.8 lens and a generic flash. SO, I picked up that camera, the only one there, tried it out. It wound and the shutter clicked and the $3 price was just right.
Note: I was still learning about photography, so a number of these photos are pretty crappy and they are all the best of each subject! I've come a long way. ANYWAY, we were newly wed, so this must have been 1996. We went from there to Nancy's dad's house. I showed him the camera and he identified it as a Yashica J. He too had one. He showed me how a rangefinder camera is focused and soon after, I decided to collect cameras.
We were renting a townhouse which was 5.2 miles from my work and a little farther to my wife's. Convenient, yes, but someday we would buy a house of our own. We had a pair of wooden shelves/cabinets in the dining room given to us by family friends, which you will see below and a nice wooden dining room table with three glass panels inside wooden frames for the eating surface. Since we had six kids between us, no Brady Bunch jokes, please, we had a plastic tablecloth the kind that has the soft fabric backing. Growing up, inevitably one of us would spill our drink during dinner and all would raise the sides of the table "cloth" to contain the spill. That green floral surface became my canvas for many of these photos.
To further identify these cameras, I am using my 2005-2006 McKeown's Camera Price Guide. Prior to the Internet a must-have book(s) for camera collectors. THE most expensive book I've ever bought. I had an earlier one, 1997 -1998, but this one was much thicker with way more cameras in it, including one Jim McKeown had bought from me!
I have an older Epson Perfection Photo scanner which I used to scan all these images. 39 scans with between two (5x7) and six (126) images per scan. Of course, each scan had to be opened X-times per image so that each photo could be separated, edited and named. It all took quite a long time! The cameras are in brand name order, I did not keep track of when I bought what or where or for how much. OCD kicked in for me in my 50's.
Ansco Ready Flash. 1953. 620 film.
Anscoflex II, 1954. Again, 620. One of many pseudo-TLR cameras.
Argus Argoflex Seventy-Five. 1949-58. Ditto.
Possibly a Kodak Brownie No. 2. 1901-1933. Uses 120 film.
Herbert-George Imperial Debonair. Company formed in 1945, bought out in 1961.
Somehow I don't think using this camera would make anyone look Debonair.
Kodak Brownie Hawkeye. 620 film. 1950-61.
Kodak Brownie Holiday Flash. 1953-57. 127 film.
Kodak Brownie Starflash. Probably 127 film. 1957-65.
Kodak Duaflex IV. 1947-60. 620 film.
Imperial Mercury Satellite. 127 film. 1964.
Kodak Pony 35. 1950-54. 35mm film. And the FIRST ONE: Yashica J. 1961 35mm.
OK, I see my careful alphabetizing is going out the window! Above is one of the first 35mm SLR cameras that I would buy. Konica Autoreflex T. 1968. Has metal rather than cloth shutter material.
Minolta Hi-Matic 7s. 1966. 35mm. Rangefinder cameras would become the focus of my collection. No pun intended. I had numerous Hi-Matic models.
Kuribayashi Petri 2.8 Color Super. 1958. 35mm film. I had a number of Petri cameras.
Kuribayashi Petri 7. 1961. 35mm film.
Kuribayashi Petri 7s. 1962. 35mm film.
NOTE: Those bubbly looking rings around the lens, some have a square or rectangular one on the front of the body of the camera, are Selenium Light Meters. Selenium generates electricity and thus these meters did not need a battery. Over time, they became insensitive to light.
Riken Riken 35. 1954. Has film winding knob AND rapid wind lever on the bottom.
Riken Ricoh 500. 1957. Rapid wind lever and rapid focus double levers on lens.
Voigtlander Vito CLR Standard. 35mm. 1962. Note Selenium meter.
Although it looks like a rangefinder, it does not have one. Yashica Flash-O-Set. 1961. 35mm.
One of the few photos of my first 35mm camera as mentioned at the top of the article in company with three others, left to right: Olympus OM-10, now sporting the optional Manual Adapter which allowed one to choose shutter speed. 1979. Pentax K-1000 (first camera I purchased from Colonel Bill Arps prior to knowing him). 1976-1990's. Canon TLb QL. 1972. And, Kuribayashi Petri FT. 1967. Circular object on the front right side holds meter battery.
Below begins the last of the individual camera photos that I made way back last Millennium. Groups of various sizes will follow. As far as I could determine, still in chronological order.
My Om-10 prior to buying the adapter, sporting a Tokina 28mm lens. And a better photo of the Petri FT.
My FIRST camera as a child in the 1960's was this or it's SEARS version. Actually a darker green than shown. Imperial Savoy. 1961. 620 film. Bought a black one just for the box.
There it is, my GOAL camera. A 1946 Leica IIIC. For some reason it has a late model Soviet FED lens on it. Next to it is a camera sold as a Brumberger. I am told it was made by ROYAL Camera Company of Japan. Late 1950's 35mm film. I had several related to it.
Same tablecloth, displaying the first 14 cameras in the collection. Let's see, top left: Kodak Baby Brownie, Yashica Flash-O-Set, Kodak Tourist folding camera. Next row: I can't tell, too blurry, past the open flash are two Kodak Brownie Flash cameras. Next row: Is an Argus CC (Color Camera) missing the meter that it came with on the top. Then, an Olympus Trip camera. Bottom row: Early Argus C3 "brick" camera. Then an Iloca 1a. 1951. Petri FT with open "fan" flash. Then a Kodak Disc camera and the Fisher-Price 110 kid's camera.
The collection has grown into the 20's. The large one was a surprise gift from my father-in-law. A Busch Pressman 4x5 press camera. Uses 4x5" sheet film. 1940's? To the right of it is one of the many Polaroid cameras I had. A lot (alot ought to be a word) are barely legible and if I tried to tell you where in this non-OCD mess they sat it might confuse you. The one with the shaft sticking up was also a gift from a family friend. The same week of the church bazaar, we went to visit Jim and Molly. I mentioned to Jim that I had decided to collect cameras. He stood up without a word, walked down the hallway and then came back with some leather rectangular thing. "What is it?" "Open it." I unsnapped some snaps and was now looking at something I'd never seen before. "I'm still clueless." Jim sat down, pressed a small button on top and two "barn" doors popped open, inside was a lens on a small bellows and the shaft popped up. It is a Voigtlander Vitessa (125) circa 1952. 35mm film. "I carried that all over Korea during the war." "Well thank you for showing it to me." "No, it's yours. I have a Rolleiflex around here too, when I find it, it will be yours too." I was dumbstruck!
Now, we get to the shelves/cabinets I told you about. 30 cameras now, plus the bigger ones not on these shelves. Mostly 35mm rangefinders with a couple SLRs and 127 film simple cameras.
Second shelf down, second from the left. Another gifted camera, this time from my brother, Jim. Like the Busch 4x5, this too came by mail unannounced. I opened this package and inside was a tiny Rollei 35! I had to look up how it worked. 1966. 35mm film. At the time, the smallest 35mm full-frame 35mm camera. Made in Germany. Forth shelf down is a little better shot of the Kodak Tourist camera.
See what I mean about blurry? Geez! But no instant view screen of the photos you just made back then! Twenty cameras on the left shelf and even more than before on the right shelf. Note that I'd built some inner shelves out of 1/4" thick Lexan poly-carbonate plastic that is unbreakable. 38 cameras, by know, I'm buying via eBay and I see a lot that I remember getting from Bill.
So here is the solution that I came up with. CameraLock is what I called it. An ingenious way to safely display your cameras so that they are theft resistant and one can put WAY more cameras in the same square footage. Eventually, I made two 4' by 4' panels that hinged onto the walls. I did not frame them externally. As you can see, I made little Lexan shelves to hold the 110 cameras that did not have a 1/4" tripod socket. 14 110s at this point including the Sanrio Hello Kitty model. The kitty folds down and covers the eyepiece and lens and the flash pushes down into the body. My daughter still has that camera.
My interest in 110 cameras began when I (thanks to my first McKeown's) which told me of rangefinder focused 110 cameras. I'd gone through the entire book and highlighted "rangefinder" so that I could choose what to search for. The first 110 with one being Kodak's Pocket Instamatic 60. I paid too much for it, not knowing the interest in eBay would expand and more and more cameras would soon appear for sale. You wouldn't believe how small and simple eBay was back in the early years.
I'm not sure why I cropped this photo so tightly while focusing. As you can seem there is a Minolta SLR 110 and three with zoom lenses (plus the SLR) plus some not in the traditional flat rectangular shape.
Up to 25 110 cameras in this photo. This panel was in the dining room, thus the white wall.
Now, I've moved to the basement with it's panel walled family room. As I wrote, I bought a 4X8' sheet of white peg board and made two 4x4' frames of 2X2 lumber for each. Heavy door hinges screwed to wall studs kept them secured to the wall and hooks and eyes kept the rear accessible for adding, removing or other access. Yet, a burglar would be dumbfounded at how to get them off! Take THAT, bad guy!
83 cameras, mostly 35mm plus a couple 110s hanging from the left panel. To the right of it is my MamiyaFlex C2 camera with eye-level pentaprism viewfinder mounted on a small tripod as is my father-in-law's 16mm movie camera behind it. In front is a copy stand made for a Kodak 126 camera.
Now, the panel to the right. 64 110s in the collection now, including one still in the package which is a waterproof Kalimar. Above that is the Star Wars Episode I camera that looks like the viewers they used like binoculars. IT was made for kids and they would pose a friend and take their picture. A Star Wars character would be next to them in the picture! I believe I had every Kodak and Minolta model 110, plus lots of other brands, including a waterproof Minolta. The other waterproof one is for 35mm film. 14 126 cameras plus medium format (70mm film) and even the one and only (to my knowledge) 127 film rangefinder camera the Revere Eyematic EE 127. From 1958. It white, was painted with baked enamel paint. Rather appliance like. Some unrecognizable objects block the lower occupants of the panel. As you can see, the collection was constantly evolving and I still had no clue "Digital" cameras were in the near future.
Evolution continues as you can see. The right panel now holds: 54 110s many with flash attachments, 10 126 cameras, many with flashcubes, six TLRs and two pseudo TLRs plus some not quite in the frame below that.
Here it is "in toto", yes, that is a word. Again with the tight cropping, some cameras are out of shot. And I still have NO idea what those large black objects are on the right. Better lit is this photo (as Yoda might have put it), also a tiny 16mm camera on a wee tripod sits beneath the Mamiyaflex C2.
Blue fabric is background material I bought on a copper plumbing pipe suspended upon two light stands. Bach then, copper prices were not so high to cause people to steal it from new houses and sell it.
Now, we are in this very room in the house we bought in 2001. Our commutes are much further now. My current desk is steel and glass and I sit in front of the opposite wall where this crappy wooden desk once sat. Still pre-OCD as I would never have such disorder in here. Right, Honey?
Left to right, Busch Pressman, military 70mm rangefinder camera made by Graflex called "KE-4 (1) 70mm Combat Camera". From 1953. Designed by a former Zeiss-Ikon employee so it resembles a Contax 35mm rangefinder camera. ON the shelf I built to the right. Top shelf: Pentax 110 SLR on it's winder, Rollei A110 camera, some camera shaped clocks and other camera trinkets, and a Kodak Vigilant Junior Six-20 that my sister bought for me in the original box and it was a gift! NEXT shelves down: Rolleiflex SL35ME and A110 cameras,then the Sears Tower Snappy and Savoy green cameras, a couple of nicer 110 cameras, I can't remember the name of the left one, but the right is a Fujica. The flash pops up and to your left at an angle. NEXT shelf down on the left is a 35mm White Stereo Realist camera which has a rangefinder. Past the greenies is a pair of 110s that look like small 35mm point-and-shoot cameras. Both are Vivitars. DOWN and to the left is a PANON Widelux camera. From 1959, it's lens rotates making a panoramic image on 120 film, I think. In the middle is my 1939 Rolleiflex Automat that I am told has a later taking lens that is coated and includes a PC flash terminal. Next to that is a Polaroid Captiva autofocus SLR camera that we and the kids had fun with. Interesting how "instant" cameras and film are back. Even Leica makes one! To the right and down are a Rollei and Minolta 16mm cameras. The latter was Nancy's mothers. She died long before I met Nancy. Also is a Vivitar 742XL, I think, it was their only rangefinder 110.
Bottom shelf holds that Kodak Tourist camera and a clear-green 4-lens camera that golfers used to check their swings. In front if an Olympus XA with flash. Next is another gift camera my sister bought for me the box camera Kodak Six-16 Brownie Junior from 1934-42. By that is my Kiev 60, the only medium format SLR I've owned. Next, in front is the only other Leica camera I owned, came new-in-the-box with all the papers: 2ZX. Behind is a Nikonos fisheye viewfinder for their underwater camera and lastly my Minolta 110 SLR Mark II. Whew!
Above is the first iteration of the CameraLock display system in the new house. It was on the wall that is behind me now. Note that there are 110 cameras as well as medium format ones mounted on the left panel. See the binoculars/110 camera near the top? A whole lot of black and chrome with a little color here and there. On the right panel is a fake "Gold Leica" that I bought from an American collector. The sheen long gone. Some other Soviet cameras with colored instead of black surfaces. An all-black Kiev, Contax copy. I've had a few cameras.
The shots above and below I had scanned years ago and Photo-shopped so they appeared to be further apart and with distractions removed. I see one camera has an "Auto-Up" on it. It was a close-up lens that also changed the view of the viewfinder for close focusing accuracy. There may be some other changes, but there are so many cameras, they all start to blur together.
I am not certain, but I believe this shot IS digital. I have a 8 1/2 by 11 framed print of it which I probably printed. Pretty cool fisheye shot. I don't remember the lens. Probably the Sigma 12mm which on an APS-C sized DSLR is almost circular. Note the vignetting on the left side?
Fake "Golden Leica" II above the real deal IIIC "in situ" on the CameraLock boards. Below is a straight on view of the IIIC.
Below, is my Contax II with Sonnar 5cm f1.5 lens and added on two-pin flash contacts. All-black Kiev to the right and the Brumberger and Neoca 2S which are styled after the Nikon rangefinder cameras which were Japanese versions of the Contax cameras made after WWII.
My Cosina-Made-in-Japan modern iteration of a reasonably priced ($600, Nancy bought it for me for Christmas gift) interchangeable lens rangefinder 35mm camera called a Voigtlander Bessa R. It mounts M39 lenses which are the most produced of this type of lens by makers in many countries over many years. [They also made three other bodies to mount Nikon lenses, to mount Contax/Kiev lenses and to mount Leica and Zeiss M-mount lenses.] It has the Leitz Summarit 5cm f1.5 lens which was the first (of 2) Leitz lenses that I owned. When I read that the Soviet Jupiter 8, a copy of the Zeiss Sonnar lens (on my Contax), was a much sharper lens, AND available in M39, the Summarit went to someone else and I started buying Jupiters. I had in both M39 and Contax mount: 35mm, 50mm (f1.5 and 2.0) 85mm and 135mm. I also had a M39 Leitz Hektor 135mm and have a Canon M39 100mm as well. I also had a bunch of FED and Industar and other brand M39 lenses over the years.
Four images made with my Minolta 110 SLR Mark II. Bessa R with Jupiter 11 135mm, Summarit 50mm, Jupiter 12 35mm and my Pentax 110 SLR with 50mm "long" lens.
Below, from the same roll, Pentax 110 with all metal 70mm telephoto lens, 18mm wide angle lens, 50mm capped, 24mm "normal" lens, completely put together and finally with 70mm lens surrounded by the rest and the rare 1.7X teleconverter lens. Which with the 70mm lens (equivalent to approximately 135mm on a 35mm SLR) equals 119mm or almost 240mm on a 35mm SLR.
Above is what I reduced the collection to around 2009. The red leather in on a FED 5 I bought brand new. To the left of the Leica is two fakes ones, the "Gold" one and an all black one, direct from Russia. It had some Nazi group name on the back. Someone bought it from me to use in a WWII movie as a prop for a German soldier. No swastikas or anything on it. 68 cameras total plus the Busch and the Vrebbit all-paper camera seen in the wide angle shot with the speaker. It is on the right side up high in THAT photo.
Above and below is the collection as of now. Not shown are the cameras I have been buying since joining the FaceBook classic and vintage camera collecting/using groups. Dang it! Now I have to sell some of these 1/18th scale cars to make room! See what you have done to me making all those nice photo with FILM! 13 35mm cameras, 7 110 cameras and one 16mm, 3 roll-film/medium format and one subminature in the yellow case. Plus the two 8mm movie cameras that were Nancy's parents. I have not been able to find the 16mm camera shown higher up in the basement photos from the old house. It's here somewhere in the attic, maybe.
For a while I collected tripods. These three images are on 126 Instamatic film. All in the old house's basement family room. Check out that beige computer and dot-matrix printer!
Lastly, seen in the distance in the photos within my previous article about Colonel Bill Arps, can be seen this cabinet. I built it originally to house Nancy's Beanie Babies collection. Then I got into buying toy and trainer rifles. My brother and I shared a wooden trainer rifle and a Daisy pop air gun as kids. We were not allowed to have a BB gun. The black M-16 with the orange tip is a spring powered Airsoft rifle. All are long gone except for a couple of the Daisy pop air guns. The grandkids like to play with them. And you just saw what's in this cabinet now. I now have a M4 and SCAR full-auto Airsoft rifles.
WOW! That was a lot of work over several days to create this record of my camera (and cars and toy guns) collections. I'm glad I did it. There will be more camera posts in the future as I get back into collecting and USING film classic and vintage cameras.
Thanks for looking,
Scott
January 10, 2018
Blue fabric is background material I bought on a copper plumbing pipe suspended upon two light stands. Bach then, copper prices were not so high to cause people to steal it from new houses and sell it.
SPOILER ALERT: OUR NEW HOUSE!
Left to right, Busch Pressman, military 70mm rangefinder camera made by Graflex called "KE-4 (1) 70mm Combat Camera". From 1953. Designed by a former Zeiss-Ikon employee so it resembles a Contax 35mm rangefinder camera. ON the shelf I built to the right. Top shelf: Pentax 110 SLR on it's winder, Rollei A110 camera, some camera shaped clocks and other camera trinkets, and a Kodak Vigilant Junior Six-20 that my sister bought for me in the original box and it was a gift! NEXT shelves down: Rolleiflex SL35ME and A110 cameras,then the Sears Tower Snappy and Savoy green cameras, a couple of nicer 110 cameras, I can't remember the name of the left one, but the right is a Fujica. The flash pops up and to your left at an angle. NEXT shelf down on the left is a 35mm White Stereo Realist camera which has a rangefinder. Past the greenies is a pair of 110s that look like small 35mm point-and-shoot cameras. Both are Vivitars. DOWN and to the left is a PANON Widelux camera. From 1959, it's lens rotates making a panoramic image on 120 film, I think. In the middle is my 1939 Rolleiflex Automat that I am told has a later taking lens that is coated and includes a PC flash terminal. Next to that is a Polaroid Captiva autofocus SLR camera that we and the kids had fun with. Interesting how "instant" cameras and film are back. Even Leica makes one! To the right and down are a Rollei and Minolta 16mm cameras. The latter was Nancy's mothers. She died long before I met Nancy. Also is a Vivitar 742XL, I think, it was their only rangefinder 110.
Bottom shelf holds that Kodak Tourist camera and a clear-green 4-lens camera that golfers used to check their swings. In front if an Olympus XA with flash. Next is another gift camera my sister bought for me the box camera Kodak Six-16 Brownie Junior from 1934-42. By that is my Kiev 60, the only medium format SLR I've owned. Next, in front is the only other Leica camera I owned, came new-in-the-box with all the papers: 2ZX. Behind is a Nikonos fisheye viewfinder for their underwater camera and lastly my Minolta 110 SLR Mark II. Whew!
A wide-angle shot of the same area. Nikon N90S was the camera used.
A Boyd's Bear photographer cat. Nancy bought it for me. Lots to see on him.
My oh-so-pretty Leica IIIC with the red sea-snake skin I recovered it with.
Below, from the same roll, Pentax 110 with all metal 70mm telephoto lens, 18mm wide angle lens, 50mm capped, 24mm "normal" lens, completely put together and finally with 70mm lens surrounded by the rest and the rare 1.7X teleconverter lens. Which with the 70mm lens (equivalent to approximately 135mm on a 35mm SLR) equals 119mm or almost 240mm on a 35mm SLR.
Thanks for looking,
Scott
January 10, 2018
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