Camera Store from long ago.

PentaxBronica · Dec 15, 2014

If you look at the release dates of popular '80s and '90s SLRs you rapidly find that 'twas ever thus!

Prices are probably about the same in real terms too (as in comparing how many times you could fill your car up or go out for dinner for the same amount as you're about to pay for a camera).

There's also the fact that selling cameras which will last fifty or sixty years isn't going to keep your business going for long, as your customers will only come back when it wears out unless you can convince them that whatever you're offering now is an improvement. That's what bit the car industry and caused the "cash for clunkers" and scrappage schemes. They cracked how to make reliable cars which didn't rust to nothing or fall apart, and saw their new sales nosedive about ten or twenty years on as customers realised that the new models didn't really offer anything more, and were often more prone to breakdowns due to the sheer quantity of electronic gubbins.

fotch · Dec 15, 2014

Hello Luke 221 welcome to APUG

David Lyga · Dec 15, 2014

I was living in NYC during the seventies and in, say, 1973, the photo district in New York (near Penn Station) was rife with every possible store: the Camera Barn chain, Olden Camera, and Willoughby-Peerless being the main players (although WP was a bit more expensive). I distinctly remember that 36 exp rolls of Plus-X were 56 cents at Camera Barn. On Saturday's going to the second floor of Olden's was nearly impossible, as the crowds were so intense. I could never understand why the NYFD allowed all of this humanity to congregate in such a small space. But we all survived. I was 23 in 1973 so I remember well. - David Lyga

E. von Hoegh · Dec 15, 2014

LUKE 221 said:
I remember when a camera would last you 20 years or more. Nowadays seems like every two years the young people have to have the latest gee-whizz 4000 model and constantly upgrade. How many people do you know still shooting with a 2 megapixel camera? It will reach a climax if it hasnt already. The camera manufacturers much like the Television and home electronics people, have found a way to convince the consumer to shell out big bucks every 3-5 years instead of every 20 years. Ever wonder why so many people live paycheck to paycheck and have huge amounts of debt. In some ways we as the consumer have allowed this to happen.

Me, almost. Nikon Coolpix 995; 3.2 MP. It does everything I will ever need to do with a digital camera, it's also the only camera I own which was made this millennium.

Kirks518 · Dec 15, 2014

I wish someone would have told me this. I went from a full digital user in April (2014) to full analog (35mm) in June. I know am seen running around (well, lumbering around) with a Mamiya RB67 ProSD and a Yashicamat 124G hanging around my neck, and one of many smaller 35mm RF's (Rollei 35, Minolta 7sII, or the like) in a pocket.

Now where did I put that DSLR...

Sirius Glass said:
Luke 221 welcome to APUG

Stick around and we will first pull you in to building your own darkroom. Then you will learn the detail ability and wonders of MF. Once you have purchased and use the MF equipment we will draw you into 4x5. At that point you will be doomed to migrate to larger and larger formats as you spend your way into oblivion. :devil:

On topic - I was 8 in '73, and started with my Dad's B&H FD35 (Canon TX) with a 50mm 1.4 in '76-'77. I think I may have bought some stuff from the guy that used to work in the camera dept at the A&S in Hempstead (grew up down the street from there). Never worked in a camera store, but would have liked to.

There are no places in my city to buy anything photographic except for a box store, or a store on the north end of the county. I've actually been thinking of opening up a small used photo equipment shop around the corner from my house.

Hal Reiser · Dec 17, 2014

David,
My very first summer job was working the in the film department at the 1272 Bway Camera Barn store in 1973. Who knows it might have been me that sold you those 56 cent rolls of Plus-X from the diamond shaped wood racks behind the counter. To this day I still miss the old Photo District. Those were good times!

benjiboy · Dec 17, 2014

I was the manager of a big city centre camera store in i973 and have some happy memories those days.

Marvin · Dec 22, 2014

I started this thread long ago and was 63 then, now I am 67 and retired. Hope to have time to shoot some of that frozen film and drag out that 4x5. Try to get the Darkroom back to going!
Marvin

benjiboy · Dec 22, 2014

Marvin said:
I started this thread long ago and was 63 then, now I am 67 and retired. Hope to have time to shoot some of that frozen film and drag out that 4x5. Try to get the Darkroom back to going!
Marvin

Congratulations Marvin, I hope you are enjoying it, I've been retired for ten years and it beats the hell out of being a wage slave and now my only boss is my wife.

Sirius Glass · Dec 22, 2014

Marvin said:
I started this thread long ago and was 63 then, now I am 67 and retired. Hope to have time to shoot some of that frozen film and drag out that 4x5. Try to get the Darkroom back to going!
Marvin

I too became a pensioner in May and I have never been so busy setting up my darkroom for color printing and using the darkroom for film and prints. Half of my freezer space is filled with film of all sizes. Enjoy. I am 10001002.

benjiboy · Dec 23, 2014

The first Monday and Tuesday of my retirement I stayed in bed all day and have felt much better ever since.

jfoote · Dec 23, 2014

Yes!

blockend said:
Digital is the best thing that ever happened to photography. It made film cameras much more affordable.

I can not believe how low they have gone...and I love it!

Marvin · Feb 15, 2015

jfoote said:
I can not believe how low they have gone...and I love it!

Never thought I could afford a Nikon F5 but I have one now.

Sirius Glass · Feb 15, 2015

Marvin said:
Never thought I could afford a Nikon F5 but I have one now.

Next is a darkroom, Hasselblads, View cameras ... You have only just begun ...

snapguy · Feb 15, 2015

I worked in a small camera store in a ritzy part of town in the Los Angeles area. We sold Leicas and Nikons. A customer could go to a mail order store ten miles away and buy a new Nikon for less money than we could buy one from Nikon to resell to the customer. The other store advertised in the photo magazines (in pre-Internet days) and sold a lot of camera stuff. My shop sold one Leica while I was there, a used one. The manager's wife hated selling cameras and loved selling frames and knicknacks so when it came time to buy new stock it was very few cameras and a lot of junk.
I remember Freestyle Camera before it was on Sunset Blvd. It was more like a war surplus place, something that was very popular then. Freestyle for film and paper and Spiratone for lenses. They kept me going.

Sirius Glass · Feb 15, 2015

snapguy said:
I worked in a small camera store in a ritzy part of town in the Los Angeles area. We sold Leicas and Nikons. A customer could go to a mail order store ten miles away and buy a new Nikon for less money than we could buy one from Nikon to resell to the customer. The other store advertised in the photo magazines (in pre-Internet days) and sold a lot of camera stuff. My shop sold one Leica while I was there, a used one. The manager's wife hated selling cameras and loved selling frames and knicknacks so when it came time to buy new stock it was very few cameras and a lot of junk.
I remember Freestyle Camera before it was on Sunset Blvd. It was more like a war surplus place, something that was very popular then. Freestyle for film and paper and Spiratone for lenses. They kept me going.

When I first moved out to Los Angeles even though I was not working in a camera store I saw that people would drive across the city to save $2 or $3. They did not care about the time the sales person spend with them and the effort to help them make the best decision for themselves. I was glad that I had not chosen photography sales for a career.

Arklatexian · Feb 16, 2015

Camera Store from long ago

Sirius Glass said:
When I first moved out to Los Angeles even though I was not working in a camera store I saw that people would drive across the city to save $2 or $3. They did not care about the time the sales person spend with them and the effort to help them make the best decision for themselves. I was glad that I had not chosen photography sales for a career.

Unfortunately I spent 11 years working in camera stores in photography sales before I finally decided to "make a living" and went into electric motor sales and repair as an outside salesman. That is when I learned how other people had enough money to buy photographic equipment and supplies. Made some good friends while selling cameras though.....Regards!

Arklatexian · Feb 16, 2015

snapguy said:
I worked in a small camera store in a ritzy part of town in the Los Angeles area. We sold Leicas and Nikons. A customer could go to a mail order store ten miles away and buy a new Nikon for less money than we could buy one from Nikon to resell to the customer. The other store advertised in the photo magazines (in pre-Internet days) and sold a lot of camera stuff. My shop sold one Leica while I was there, a used one. The manager's wife hated selling cameras and loved selling frames and knicknacks so when it came time to buy new stock it was very few cameras and a lot of junk.
I remember Freestyle Camera before it was on Sunset Blvd. It was more like a war surplus place, something that was very popular then. Freestyle for film and paper and Spiratone for lenses. They kept me going.

i'll bet the manager's wife found out that there was more money to be made in selling frames, knicknacks, and "junk", (we sold greeting cards also) and that is why she hated selling cameras...........Regards!

PentaxBronica · Feb 17, 2015

I remember what I can only consider to be the tail end of multiple independent camera shops in the late 1990s/early 2000s.

At that point Hereford had Melgrays, another indy I can't remember the name of and a Jessops branch.

Now the only survivor is... Melgrays! Independent outlives national chain's presence in city. They even still have used gear and some film kit from time to time, I've seen MF Pentax and other bodies in their display cases in the past couple of years.

There are still a few proper shops about. Picked up a Canon FL 100-200mm zoom from the London Camera Exchange branch in Bristol last weekend.

Camera Store from long ago.

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