camera collection
Every now and again I come across photos on Flickr of very impressive camera collections – laid out beautifully and usually involving a Canon 1D or Nikon D4 along with some of those beautiful looking lenses. All costing thousands of Yen, Dollars, Pounds, Euros etc
Theres usually a description of each and a few "notes".
I wondered what my motley collection of stuff would look like.
Firstly, it would have helped if I could line things up properly.
Well, here goes.
I’ve still got my very first camera, my Kodak Instamatic. I’m not 100% sure why they called it that because there was nothing "insta" or "matic" about it. I guess it was great for kids because you could just pop the film cartridge in the back, and off you went. No fiddling with threading a 35mm film in. Not very good for the enviroment I suspect as I doubt that any of that plastic in the cartridge got recycled – but I dunno, maybe I’m just doing them a disservice. Oh, the flashbulbs. Came in a cube (maybe with four bulbs in), that rotated when you wound on. Then you threw it in the garbage can (aka the dustbin). But hats off to Kodak and the Instamatic, because decades later, here I still am, snapping way. On the back of my camera is a Dymo label with "watch the case!" on.
Moving to exhibit number two. The Praktica L. Around my teens everyone was buying Eastern European SLRs. This one was passed on by old Mr Kpcv when he got his OM1. All the vinyl is peeling off and can be seen here with the wide angle lens.
Exhibit #3. The Olympus XA. Captured all of our "goings on" in the early to mid 80s. Everyone said how great it was cos it had a seven element lens or something – I’ve still no idea what that means. It had a screw on flashgun, which died a death years ago. What I do know about this is it took ace pics and slipped beautifully into a motorcycle jacket, so years later we can all laugh at the fashions and gaze lovingly at all those classic bikes, that at the time weren’t classics – just our bikes.
Exhibit #4 – a plastic Praktica compact. I think this came free from Freemans catalogue, when we bought some towels.
I’ve only just noticed but it looks like the face of a cartoon dog.
Exhibit #5 – A "Traveller" tripod. Ten quid from Aldi.
Exhibit #6 – Cosmic 35 – I’d seen that this was supposed to be the worst camera ever made. To have the worst of something has got to be worth having. If you know what I mean.
Exhibit #7 – the digital age arrives. After much reading of exciting camera magazines (yawn) I decided on the A80. No regrets. Only 4Mp but great picture quality.
Exhibit #8. The A80 took great photos but was soooooooooooo slow to react. By the time the "shutter" actually fired, the dog/ relative/ car/ bird/ motorcycle had long gone. So, naturally I went for a "G" series Canon – the G9. I love it.
Exhibit #9. The Nikon D40X. Is it a good idea to have two different brands for your Compact and your DSLR? Maybe not. Had just come out but was as "cheap as chips" and an unmissable bargain, bought from a duty free shop. Let’s move quickly on.
Exhibit #10. I guess if you’re going to get an SLR you may as well buy another lens. A manual focus 70-300 mm Sigma bought from the bargain bin at Jessops for less than a "oner". Sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night about all the shots that would’ve been Ok, but actually were out of focus.
Exhibit #11 – Nikon remote control. Perhaps the best fifteen quid I’ve ever spent. Er…no it’s not….but not far off.
Exhibits 12 – ?? The truly bonkers Lomography Diana F+ and accessories. The camera, the vintage looking flash gun (complete with coloured gels), the 20mm fisheye, the Splitzer, the fisheye viewing thingy, the Close Up lens, 75mm lens, 110mm telephoto, 38mm Super-Wide etc. If you like shooting 120 roll film, then this is the camera for you.
Impressed? Nah, I didn’t think so.
Posted by davekpcv on 2012-02-19 16:26:54
Tagged: , camera , canon , nikon , praktica , kodak , lomography , cosmic , diana , tripod , instamatic , d40x , a80 , g9 , remote control , cosmic 35 , Diana f+ , Lomo , canon powershot , coleção de câmeras completa , coleção , collection , Kodak Instamatic , Powershot