The prompt of this week reminded me of my early photographic equipment. I remember a simple mirror reflex camera and a movie camera to record our kids' first steps. Since I do not remember discarding them, I started a search in several dark places. And yes, finally, I discovered the subjects of my search among the contents of a dusty cardboard box! It almost brought tears to my eyes. I had not seen them for years. These two cameras recorded our early family life. I am talking about the sixties. In those days, slides were popular, possibly because prints were more expensive? But before slides came into fashion, all our prints were in black and white. Developing those was not my cup of tea. I delivered the film to a nearby camera shop, which then forwarded it to a lab. And then, after waiting a week or so, the prints were ready to be picked up. Finally, you could see the result of your creativity.  |
| Exa IIb |
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| Exa II b with 50 mm Jena lens |
I forgot what I paid for my Exa camera. But I do remember the price of the movie camera. It was $ 16,99! The camera was a Japanese product by the name of Hymart. I bought it in a small shop on Broadway, N.Y., during my second service trip for KLM to the USA, early October 1969.
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| Hymart Super 8 movie camera |
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| Inside my Japanese Hymart |
The difference between these two analog cameras and their today's digital counterparts, is enormous! And I am not talking about making calls with your camera. Nobody thinks twice about that. But if you compare the performance of the lenses, especially in circumstances with bad or no light at all, there is a difference of night and day (no pun intended).
In any case, I am glad I did not discard both oldies. Maybe, one day, my great-grandchildren will find the box with these two cameras and wonder what they are.
For more wonderful finds, please check the Sepia Saturday site.
My Dad liked to have the pictures he took in slide form. We'd get out the screen & projector & have a fun viewing when them came back from the drugstore where we took our film to be sent to a lab to be developed. We could also look at the slides through a hand-held viewer, & back then (in the '60s) we could also have them printed out as regular photographs. I think between us, my youngest sister and I have all the old slides but I only view them through the hand-held viewer. I've been taking pictures with a digital camera since 2001 and love the convenience and possibilities, but I've held on to my last analog camera just for grins. :)
ReplyDeleteWe made a selection of the most interesting slides and had those digitized.
ReplyDeleteZdá se, že času není nikdy dost dělat věci, které dělat chcete jakmile je najdete. (Time in a Bottle, Song by Jim Croce ‧ 1972)
ReplyDeleteMy dad had several Exa cameras as they were a simpler Dresden brand modeled after his favorite cameras made by Exakta. He had several of these too with dozens of lens of all kinds. Also Agfa, Canon, Rollei, Olympus, Yoshika, etc. plus unusual cameras of every film format too. He even had a few cine cameras though he preferred slides and prints to home movies.
After he died I despaired of being able to account for them all (not enough time!) as he had hundreds, almost like a museum. But then I discovered he had kept notebooks and lists on his computer for his collection. Each acquisition recorded the date, camera model, price, seller, and condition. My dad was the person who introduced me to eBay as many of his cameras came from far away including Russia and Japan. (I just bought a new old photo off eBay this very moment!) Sadly the value of cameras has greatly diminished with the advent of digital cameras and smart phones so few people collect them anymore. Knowing my mom just wanted them gone, I found a local dealer who bought the lot. I've kept the notebooks though and a couple of his most treasured cameras.
It's strange how old cameras even if broken or defective can still fulfill their function to record an image with a roll of new film. Meanwhile digital cameras and smart phone that have dead batteries, obsolete charging connectors, or cracked screen are completely useless. An old Exa still had the mechanical heft of a precision instrument that you can admire on a mantlepiece next to a photo it once made. A 10 year old non-functioning iPhone does not have that quality.
You are so right, I don't see myself collecting old iPhones or Samsungs.
DeleteThanks for your extensive comment!
My dad had a very old 8 mm movie camera, which ran 16 mm film, and you had to turn it around when it had gone through it once, (under dark conditions no less) and then run it through again...then it could play on his projector (8 mm I assume.) So I was the star of early films in the 40s, then some cousins as well. I think a family member had everything changed to VCR at some point, but they haven't been digitized that I know of. I still have the little antique movie camera (I want to say Kodak). It worked by winding a key on the side, so no batteries to go dead...but it also wouldn't take very long sequences on one "winding."
ReplyDeleteThose were the days :-) Thanks for visiting!
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