[Clicker]

For a long time now i've been collecting in my mom's basement (yes Lowelle, i really do live in my mom's basement...LOL) old film based cameras ever since i sold my entire F series (NIB) collection because i had burnt out from shooting at that stage in my life...i got rid of everything photographic in the basement luckily i didn't go mad and cut out my eyes too

Since then i've come back starting with the Mamyia6 and a quite a few thereafter in a all formats except LF of which i only have 1 4x5 which i used for product work that i did for a few small companies.

I then quit shooting for money altogether a few years later and found P&S was all i wanted, "just let me have an image" after that i found Pentax again just a couple of years back when i joined this forum and now as life would have it and things do come full circle....dammit i'm collecting film cameras and all that comes with it yet again

Who else is in the club?

[pingflood]

I go through something similar; stages of collecting gear interspersed by stages of "going lean" or "going simple" where I'll take it down to a single camera/lens. I've gone from analog to digital to analog to digital to analog to digital so far, and I wouldn't be entirely surprised if at some point in the future I'll sell off all my existing gear in disgust, hoping to find solace in an 8x10 or something. Who knows.

But as this is a hobby, I can indulge in my whims without causing any harm.

[k100d]

certainly feel what you mean

i had a mini cycle with pentax stuff. when i first started i grabbed a tonne of stuff, pared it down a bit more. then jumped into film and accumulated a bunch of stuff i did't need. i'm on the big minimalism streak right now. still want to clear out a few more things to lighten the load and use my remaining gear a bit more.

[stevebrot]

Nostalgia is dangerous. Ditto for camera porn.

Because of nostalgia, I now own several Yashica rangefinders, an Olympus XA, a Ricoh Singlex TLS, and a Mamiya 1000 DTL.

If I ever start buying Russian rangefinders, you can blame it on camera porn...

Steve

[Ratmagiclady]

I think I have a tendency to want to thin down at least what I use to things I really know intimately. With all the automation, there are compatibility issues even with Pentax that can kind of inflate the number of things I need to at least try.

Much of my paring-down in the past has been pretty involuntary, but when I have what I need, I've tended to give stuff away when someone has a need. Having too many bodies is never a thing I've been fussed about: partly because a lot of them aren't in perfect operating shape: (This really inspires wanting some redundancy) ...but that's something that needs attending to soon.

It's a chance to have fun checking stuff out, anyway, in the meantime.

[RioRico]

When I worked in film (back in the later Triassic era) I accumulated affordable gear. Half-frame Canon P&S's (ah, the Dial-35! the Demi EE17!) and Olympus Pen-FT. YashicaMat 124G and Yashica Electro-35G. Graflex 9x12. Some no-name 135's. My only 'retro' cam was a wonderful German-made (1934) Kodak Retina I folder, the very first 135 camera -- very much like a somewhat newer Voigtlander Vito II that I inherited not so long ago. Anyway, those were all tools... and they all disappeared over time. (I just wish that it had been the Graflex that had been stolen, not the Pen-FT or the Retina.)

Forward in time: I'm working in software and only duff-shooting, so an Olympus XA-1 serves just fine. And now it's broken. Ratz... A little further into the future: I inherit Dad's Rolleicord (which goes into storage) and Sony Hi-8 vidcam. I shoot some vids, extract some frames, shoop them with PaintShopPro3, and SHAZAM!! I'm digital! Then a JVC digital vidcam (JVC service absolutely sucks) and a series of Sony digicams, and finally the K20D -- I'm now a fully matured Pentaxian. With no nostalgia in sight.

The trouble starts soon after, in mid-2008. My basic kit for the K20D just ISN'T ENOUGH. I go to eBay. I go on a buying spree. Cheap M42s! Cheap Russian lenses! Hey, the way to get a good cheap lens is to bid on a LOT, get some extra lenses and bodies and filters and flashes etc, sell all the surplus later. But later never comes. So I still have all this LOT stuff. I'd better start selling it soon.

But wait! Some of that is pretty interesting! No, not the two Argus C-3 bricks, nor the Instamatics. Not the 620 Brownies (although they look kewl and cost US$3 each). Certainly not the Hanimex Prakticas, nor even the Fujica ST-701. But that old Praktica FX2 slr with with look-down finder, no prism. And the Argus/Chinon CR-3E, very advanced M42 SLR (which I use). And the Russian FED-3 Leica-clone (which I don't). And the 6x6 and 6x6 folders. And the oh-so-moderne Ray-Loewey-designed Anscoflex, like a faded Coke machine with a big flash! And, ooh ooh, a Yashica Electro-35 GSN in mint shape! Watch out, here comes Nostalgia. A YashicaMat can't be far behind.

Those 620's are kewl for shooting sprocket-hole 135 panos. Those MF folders -- why, they're almost like pocket Hassy's and Bronicas. Dad's old Minox-sized Minolta 16, perfect for spy work, and his Rolleicord is out of storage now (but I can't crank it, darn). Lots of this old stuff was cheap or free, and it doesn't really take up THAT much shelf space, and I couldn't get diddly for it on eBay anyway. So maybe I don't have that much to sell, after all. Eccept for all those old Canikon and Minolta lenses. I'll NEVER use those -- will I?

[Clicker]

I'm chuckling first at what i find in some old found boxes and even more at "Made in Canada", i guess this is best described as a Kodak Moment. What's going to kill me is looking for unused film now ... and then a place to process it

[Blue]

How is this for nostalgia:




Or another kind of Nostalgia . . .

[Clicker]

I like that Mamiya, make sure she gets a crank or two monthly.