Does anyone on APUG from Australia recall a long-vanished camera shop in Sydney called The Camera Specialist?
I bought my first Nikkormats from this shop in the late 1970s - the owner had two ELs in his window, one silver and one black, secondhand but "as new", with 50mm 1.4 and 2 at what I considered were very reasonable prices, and I couldn't resist the temptation. I recall all this well as I made a mad dash to my bank and (almost) mortgaged my soul for a credit card with the then-amazing credit limit of A$1,000 to buy the two ELs and two lenses and a basic darkroom kit. The latter bits have all gone, but I still have the two Els and all but one of the lenses.
I also recall he (owner) told me they had come from a deceased estate. Amazingly, myhe thousand in credit also stretched to a Nikkor 35mm 2.8 and a 135mm 3.5, both kindly discounted to bring the prices down to just under the big one-triple zero, with funds left over to buy films, a few Nikkor UV and B&W filters, and the stuff for a basic darkroom. the 35 was adequate but useful, but I soon tired of it and after saving for a year, I traded it for a 35mm 2.0 which continues to serve me well. The 135, then regarded as a must-have, has been used maybe a dozen or twenty times in the forty years it has been part of my kit. I take it out occasionally and put it on my D700, for old time's sake.
Recently I was given a lovely old 6x6 Zeiss Nettar folder with the excellent 75mm 4.5 Novar Anastigmat. It's one of the early postwar models with the albada finder and enough curls and bits of trim to identify it as (maybe) from the first post WW2 production run from Zeiss in West Germany. Today being a cool but sunny autumn day in Tasmania, I decided to take this new toy for a stroll around Launceston, and opened the back to load it up with film - and saw a small paper sticker with the words 'The Camera Specialist Sydney'.
Memories came flooding back.
The shop owner was pleasant to deal with and always had time for my then novice questions about my first SLR purchase. He was, I consider, a true gentleman of the old school. Visiting the shop was always enjoyable, if only for a chat about things photographic.
I have forgotten his name, but surely many older Sydney photographers will remember him. He had a small shop on Elizabeth Street, across from Hyde Park at about level with the central fountain. I was mostly out of Sydney in the 1980s and when I finally returned for an extended stay in the '90s, the shop was closed. I felt rather sad at this, as if part of the photographic history of my youthful years had somehow passed on. I also missed the contacts I had made with other customers who regularly dropped into the shop.
All this is nostalgia now, but I would be greatly interested if other APUG Aussie members may have any details to pass on about The Camera Specialist.
Thank you all in advance.
I bought my first Nikkormats from this shop in the late 1970s - the owner had two ELs in his window, one silver and one black, secondhand but "as new", with 50mm 1.4 and 2 at what I considered were very reasonable prices, and I couldn't resist the temptation. I recall all this well as I made a mad dash to my bank and (almost) mortgaged my soul for a credit card with the then-amazing credit limit of A$1,000 to buy the two ELs and two lenses and a basic darkroom kit. The latter bits have all gone, but I still have the two Els and all but one of the lenses.
I also recall he (owner) told me they had come from a deceased estate. Amazingly, myhe thousand in credit also stretched to a Nikkor 35mm 2.8 and a 135mm 3.5, both kindly discounted to bring the prices down to just under the big one-triple zero, with funds left over to buy films, a few Nikkor UV and B&W filters, and the stuff for a basic darkroom. the 35 was adequate but useful, but I soon tired of it and after saving for a year, I traded it for a 35mm 2.0 which continues to serve me well. The 135, then regarded as a must-have, has been used maybe a dozen or twenty times in the forty years it has been part of my kit. I take it out occasionally and put it on my D700, for old time's sake.
Recently I was given a lovely old 6x6 Zeiss Nettar folder with the excellent 75mm 4.5 Novar Anastigmat. It's one of the early postwar models with the albada finder and enough curls and bits of trim to identify it as (maybe) from the first post WW2 production run from Zeiss in West Germany. Today being a cool but sunny autumn day in Tasmania, I decided to take this new toy for a stroll around Launceston, and opened the back to load it up with film - and saw a small paper sticker with the words 'The Camera Specialist Sydney'.
Memories came flooding back.
The shop owner was pleasant to deal with and always had time for my then novice questions about my first SLR purchase. He was, I consider, a true gentleman of the old school. Visiting the shop was always enjoyable, if only for a chat about things photographic.
I have forgotten his name, but surely many older Sydney photographers will remember him. He had a small shop on Elizabeth Street, across from Hyde Park at about level with the central fountain. I was mostly out of Sydney in the 1980s and when I finally returned for an extended stay in the '90s, the shop was closed. I felt rather sad at this, as if part of the photographic history of my youthful years had somehow passed on. I also missed the contacts I had made with other customers who regularly dropped into the shop.
All this is nostalgia now, but I would be greatly interested if other APUG Aussie members may have any details to pass on about The Camera Specialist.
Thank you all in advance.
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