[abruzzi]

It's laminated marine plywood, doesn't look pretty but very resilient - they've made over 1,500 4x5s and over 500 8x10s in the last few years - making almost the whole camera & bellows themselves in Brighton. My original Kickstarter version is a bit rough around the edges, but their manufacturing is much more established now. If it breaks they fix & ship it free, if you break it they fix it for the price of shipping.

cool. do you have one? How rigid are the adjustments? I've been idly considering getting a 4x5 but not that seriously yet, but the intrepid is on my list. It's about US$285 shipped to the US.

[johnha]

cool. do you have one? How rigid are the adjustments? I've been idly considering getting a 4x5 but not that seriously yet, but the intrepid is on my list. It's about US$285 shipped to the US.

Mine is the original Kickstarter (mark 1 I believe) - front standard rise/fall & tilt - the 'home' positions are quite rigid, the rest are less rigid (it will swing as well but there's nothing to hold it in position). The mark 2 is apparently better constructed and more rigid (and looks a much more accomplished camera). The current mark 3 Intrepid 4x5 MK3 - The Intrepid Camera Company adds rear standard tilt & swing movements and looks fantastic for the price.

My Kickstarter was half the price so I don't mind the rudimentary nature of it - I can't compare it with the later cameras. I subscribed to it to support them get started, and am very happy with the camera I received for the price I paid.

[felixkh]

Updated:
I have the following:
Chinon CP-7m
Ricoh XR-P (Sadly mirror cannot move any longer)
Nikon F90X
Pentax MZ-S Silver (Repaired)
Pentax MZ-S Black New Unused
Pentax MX
Canon A-1
Canon AE-1

[AntonioS]

Canon AT1
Canon EOS-300
Rolleiflex Tessar 3.5
Mamiya 645
Zeiss Super Ikonta 521/16
Olympus 35 RC
Yashica Electro 35 CC
Zeiss Contessa
Zenit TTL
Takane Mine Six

[monochrome]

Been there; done that.
Had a nice one, Eric serviced.
SP-F didn't do it for me.

IMO ES mount was just a stopgap measure.

Chris

I know where that SP-F is.

[monochrome]

.
I just don't get why people collect old film bodies. <snip>

What's the attraction of collecting old film cameras? Film is expensive to shoot/process/print. Film cameras do not have image quality that can hold up do the better digital cameras, and I do believe that their retail value is low (and probably going even lower in the future). What am I missing here?

For me at least, and probably Kim, i enjoy using film cameras. I like the way they feel and sound and the interface and process of actually using analog cameras.

I collect them because the joy of using each one is slightly different from the others. Also - I just like old things. They should be kept and enjoyed by someone. Each of my cameras represents the hand work of some Japanese company man who sat at a table in black pants and a white, short sleeved shirt assembling them.

If you don’t understand that you just don’t understand - and that’s OK. I don’t understand people who don’t appreciate history and preservation and assembling a collection for the fun and challenge - and that’s OK too.

My wife collects old furniture, china, artwork, needlepoint pillows and such things at estate sales. She needlepoints and cross-stitches; I photograph; we collect these things because we like these things as objects and works of cottage and industrial art..

My wife’s father collected miniature painted lead soldiers. He left 35,700 of them in his estate. A few cameras is nothing.

[monochrome]

I fully understand what you say and how you feel. I don't know if it works differently in the US but in the UK any warranty for a service is only good for the person who had the service done. It can't be "sold on". So "your" CLA is only intrinsically worth something to you. When I was buying film cameras, I was buying ones with problems and then getting them serviced because then I was "sure". I have just had my MX fully serviced by Robin who is as good and as well regarded in the Europe as Eric is in the US. I know if I sold it, I would not get the cost of the service back. But then I had it done for me, not for resale value.


At the end of the day, the resale value of any item is only what someone is prepared to pay for it. The insurance or replacement value is different.

Many years ago I bought and sold Pentax cameras and lenses on eBay. Around 2006 the market just - stopped. All the good stuff left the hands of those who had bought it new and went to the hands of those who had wanted it but couldn’t afford it before (with probably some intermediate transit holders like me). At that time I could sell an Eric CLA as a distinguishing feature, but not now, except the 50’s cameras. I have all my cameras serviced because I want to use them, but the resale market doesn’t value the CLA as a feature any more.

[monochrome]

@Fenwoodian Collecting and using film cameras is just a different take on the photography hobby. I’ve sold or given away a few lately, but I still have about 36 30 today . . . . and accessories for most of them. There are people here who have a lot more film cameras than I do.

I bought the oldest of these from Fred Sherfy, from his personal collection. For some reason I enjoy the fact that these were owned by a noteworthy collector and there are images of them in books. (I have a couple lenses that are shown in a rather rare book).

Asahiflex IIa | Asahiflex IIb | AP | K | SV | SP-F | ESII Chrome | KX (4) | K2 | K2DMD | K1000 MIJ | K1000SE BN | MX | MX Black | MESuper | MESuper Black | Auto 110 | ME-F Black | ME-F+AF35~70/2.8 | LX | SuperProgram | SF1 | SF1 Store Demonstrator | MZ-S | YashicaMat | Yashica Electro35 GSN | Olympus XA

I’ve had most of them CLA’ed and used every one of them at least once. Each has at least one contemporary lens. Some of the really old ones are displayed in my office. Oddly, I don’t care about Spotmatics. I just gave one away, and an ES and ESII.

I’m pretty well finished buying film cameras. I don’t need a ‘better’ copy of any of these. I still want the LX Titanium and LX 2000, and the Limited-style silver A50/1.2. Let’s not talk about lenses.

All that being said, life and the hobby would be simpler with just a KX, MX, LX and MZ-S (for the Princesses).

[gofour3]

I bought the oldest of these from Fred Sherfy, from his personal collection. For some reason I value the fact that these were owned by a noteworthy collector and there are images of them in books. (I have a couple lenses that are shown in a rather rare, famous book).

Yep Fred had some really nice cameras back then, I got a beautiful black KX from him.

Phil.

[pentax360]

I have like 10 point and shoot and disposable cameras in my electronics parts box,
4 SLRs (a Pentax, Minolta, Konika Minolta, Sears), that are worth nothing so they're part of my collection, and I have a Pentax PC-333 because it looks cool.

[officiousbystander]

Whatever I said weeks ago +1: Olympus 35 SP. It's just been CLA'd.

Is collecting a type of OCD? And do I want a cure or more cameras?

[Elroy Jetson]

At the risk of veering off topic, in addition to various hardware I described above, I also have a vintage Pentax t-shirt. If memory serves correct, this was created around the time the ES II was released in Canada and features an image of the camera on the front, and says Asahi Pentax across the back. I can't recall where I got it from (dealer or trade show?). Still, a curiosity related to a specific film camera.

[boriscleto]

I have 11 more on the way...

An Asahi Spotmatic, 2 Minolta XG7, Topcon Unirex (or one of that family), Kodak Instamatic 500, Konica TC-X, Canon EOS Rebel 2000, Cosina CT1G, Minolta Hi-Matic AF2, Olympus Infinity SuperZoom 300, and a Nikkormat FT2.

I think I've hit rock bottom...Time to sell a few...

[Astro-Baby]

I'm going to stop hanging around in this forum - its got me started on a camera collection now

Christmas got me moving. My other half asked what I wanted so I said a Canon AE-1 in black with a motor drive - voila - thats what I got. My eldest bought me a Lubitel 166 and a friend in the US sent me a pair of OM-1s - my tiny collection has almost doubled and now its causing other half to raise eyebrows a lot and start asking awkward questions like 'do you ever intend to shoot anything with them ?' I am left with little choice but to blame you lot for this

I do intend to run film in them apart from a few which have problems but as I keep explaining I am not going to blow £7 on a roll of film to take pictures of nothing much. Its finding the right subjects and going places where I am likely to find subjects worth spending money on. With digital you can just blast out pics on a hope that something good will come of it - with film you have to be a bit more judicious about whats worth shooting.

From a collector standpoint my real aim is to collect all the cameras I ever owned from the Kodak Instamatic 33 through to the Nikon F plus a few I never got to won but would have liked (A Leica Rangefinder is out though - waaaaaaay too pricey)

[abruzzi]

I do intend to run film in them apart from a few which have problems but as I keep explaining I am not going to blow £7 on a roll of film to take pictures of nothing much. Its finding the right subjects and going places where I am likely to find subjects worth spending money on. With digital you can just blast out pics on a hope that something good will come of it - with film you have to be a bit more judicious about whats worth shooting.

buy cheap film and develop it yourself. There are some up-front costs like the development tanks and a way to scan, but once you're past that you can shoot and develop a roll of film for US$5-6. Its also more fun because if you wait until you go someplace worth shooting, you probably haven't worked the kinks out of your cameras, and really learned to use them.

This past summer I went on a trip through Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. I took a chance and only took a film camera, and shot ~13 rolls (medium format 6x4.5, so 15 shots per roll.) The B&W came out great, the color negative came out insanely great, but the color slide was under exposed (salvageable after scanning). I realized afterwards that I hadn't shot more than two rolls of slide film before the trip, and I had done it with the SuperProgram and its TTL auto exposure, but the camera I took didn't have metering and I was using a handheld incident meter. I should have practiced with that camera and meter with slide film more before the trip.