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Do any of you have a "birth year camera"?

Andrew Patteson

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One of my other passions is classic/vintage steel bicycles. In that world some of the folks get a kick out of having a bike from the year they were born. I have a Motobecane Grand Record (lovely and French) with a 1974 s/n that was probably sold in 1975, the year I was born, and that's close enough for me.

I had thought about getting a K series Pentax a while back, and when I realized recently that they were released in 1975, I decided I should go for it. This K2 has an early serial number, so from right around 1975. Not that it really matters, but I kind of like the idea. Here it is on my favorite Domke bag.

Do any of you have a birth year camera?

 
No, I would be afraid of the comparison betwen the camera and me...
 


I used to have a birth year Lap Steel guitar that I wish I hadn't sold. This isn't my year but it looked like this.
 
I'm not sure I have a birth year camera, but I do have a birthplace camera:

 
I've got a beautiful Kodak Retina II, not sure exact date, late 50s. I have a really beautiful Folmer and Schwing camera made in 1917, the wood is virgin Honduran mahogany. Just now I Googled, found out that Central American mahogany is illegal to possess, similar to Ivory.
Mine pre-dates this
 
I've got a bunch of cameras older than I am, but I'm not at all sure I have any that are the same age. Maybe the older of my Brownie Hawkeye Flash boxes, possibly my Daiichi Zenobia (probably too old). Brownie Starflash is another possible candidate (haven't checked the CAMEROSITY code on that one). Also just about possible my Bantam RF or Motormatic 35 are from the second full year of the Space Age.
 
Probably (Rolleiflex and cord), but like similar-aged body parts, may not be operating up to spec.
 
LOL... I’ve heard of birth-year Gillette razors amongst razor aficionados but never birth-year cameras. I have one of each: Gillette SuperSpeed B-2 Flair-tip and a Kodak Retina IIIc
 
Ha two Leica M4, one black paint and one chrome. Salt and Pepper. The black paint one was mint when I found it for a surprise price and I was going to flip it until I ran the serial number and discovered the production was not only in my birth year but also the same week. I figured it was a sign to keep it, since finding another BP M4 of that year and week would have been much more time and money than what I found it for. The chrome M4 I found on the 'bay site was from the Middle East and it has the most extensive wear I think I have ever seen. It looks as if thousands of rolls of film went through it. The chrome shutter release is worn to brass!
 
I am all for daily attitude adjustments...
 
I do not have OCD to the level that would drive me to buy a birth year camera. The technical term for OCD at that level is CDO which is a form of OCD that drives one to alphabetize everything including their disorders.
 
It would be nice to have one, someday. The closest I have now is a ‘64 Leica M3. I need to check the year on one lens, which may be closer. I have one bicycle that is six years older than me.
 
Sure it does.......how many spare sets of full octave, piano keys doe you have hidden away.?
 
A "birth year" camera for me would be old enough that there wouldn't be anything special about it--not old enough to be an antique or collectible and not new enough to have things we come to take for granted like multi-coating. It would just be an old camera.
 
yep... 1946, 3x4 Anniversary Speed .. here we are with parents, looking at the camera, most likely in the early 50's, at Jones Beach perhaps .. NY.

 
I have a Jupiter 12 lens that I partly picked out because it was made the same year as me.
 
Yashica Lynx 1000. I thought it was introduced in 1961 the year I was born, but Camerapedia has it being introduced int 1960. Close enough. Not the most attractive camera, but the lens is good and I really like shooting with the two I own a few times a year.
,
 
I have a non-functioning Hasselblad 1600F that was built the year I was. At least I'm still functioning.
 
No dings? No brass? No scuff?

Damn it man! Go out and use that thing. Don't leave it in a camera bag. When I get a "new to me" camera in perfect shape, I beat it up a bit before I'm willing to hang it about my neck.

But seriously, I don't have a birth year camera. Looking up serial numbers for my favorite brand/models and then hunting down camera bodies for my birth year is so much work, I've never considered it. However, if a psychiatrist ever got ahold of me and "adjusted' my gray matter with his bullshit pills (and everything that comes out of a psychiatrist's mouth is bullshit) then perhaps I would be crazy enough to pursue a birth year camera.

That being said, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to actually have one.

P.S.
I have several classic steel (lugged frame) bicycles from my days racing them in Europe. I don't consider them classic. I consider them tools. Sure, "prettier" than my aluminum, carbon, and titanium bicycles, but certainly not better.
 
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