How many film cameras do you own?

Alan Gales · May 2, 2015

Tamara said:
Save your Confederate money! Film's gonna rise again!

I was at the local pro camera store yesterday talking to a long time salesman I know. He told me that lately they are getting a lot more customers looking for used film cameras which they do sell.

Tamara · May 2, 2015

Alan Gales said:
I was at the local pro camera store yesterday talking to a long time salesman I know. He told me that lately they are getting a lot more customers looking for used film cameras which they do sell.

I've noticed, just in the six months or so I've been keeping track, that there seems to be an upswing in prices on film cameras. At least, on the ones I'm interested in. Generally a good sign of increasing demand.

Lord knows I'm proselytizing as hard as I can, myself.

justpete · May 2, 2015

Nikon FM10
Nikon FM2n + MD12
Nikon FM3/T + MD4/MN-2 + MF-6B + MK-1
(10) Nikon prime AiS lenses
Mamiya 7II + 43mm, 65mm, 80mm, 150mm
Bronica ETRSi + 50mm, 75mm, 150mm
and close to fifty B+W filters and polarizers
Yashica EM TLR + Minicam Master Flash w/TLR bracket
Nikon EM and Canon Rebel EOS - given to me because film, I guess

nsurit · May 2, 2015

Did my wife put you up to asking that question? She should know, they are all over the house. The answer is more than 50 put less than 100, ranging from 1/2 frame 35mm to 8 X 10. A nice mix of pinhole, toy and real cameras with clusters around, folders, pinholes, Olympus OM series, Hasselblad and 4 X 5 and I guess three 8 X 10 would be a mini cluster. Yes, too damn many. She already knows that.Bill Barber

AgX · May 2, 2015

More than days in a year.

Old-N-Feeble · May 2, 2015

I don't count the cameras I don't intend to keep. I have one that I ever intend to use... a Chamonix 4x5. I had intended to shoot 8x10 in the field also but that won't be coming to fruition nor will shooting 8x10 still lifes. Also, for 4x5 still lifes I can use the Chamonix. All others must go.

MartinCrabtree · May 2, 2015

3 Canon AE-1
1 Yahshica MAT124G
3 Nikon-F-F5-FM2n

And the first camera I ever owned-a Hanimex Praktica Super TL.

Kawaiithulhu · May 2, 2015

9 total, which breaks down to:

3 35mm
1 828
1 2x3/120
2 4x5
1 5x7/4x5

and 1 4x5 dry plate if you count sheets of glass as "film"

All are usable except the dry plate, for which I need to sit down and make some plates one of these days this summer

Theo Sulphate · May 2, 2015

Reading about all these collections makes me feel good. Normal even.

At the moment, I'm about to finish a roll of film in the Elan 7NE and am just starting another old Polaroid pack in the SX-70 (the images are coming out yellowish, but two more packs after this and I can use the Impossible film I bought).

Next in rotation for photo-making is an F3/T and a Minox.

fstop · May 2, 2015

frank said:
Simple answer: more than I need, but less than 100.

Simple answer: more than I need, but more than 100.

MartinCrabtree · May 2, 2015

I can't wait for my FM2n to come back from restoration.

ic-racer · May 2, 2015

If I include all boxes of plastic cameras people have given me over the years, at least 50 if not 100.

mehguy · May 2, 2015

Alan Gales said:
I was at the local pro camera store yesterday talking to a long time salesman I know. He told me that lately they are getting a lot more customers looking for used film cameras which they do sell.

yep. i see that too. when i went to pick up some hp5 plus film at the camera store, a person next to me was buying a polaroid spectra camera and impossible film. funny thing is, the customer asked for the film for the polaroid and the salesman responded back "its 20 dollars for 10 exposures, are you sure you wanna buy it?" and the customer said yes and the salesman responded back with "are you serious?" and went to the back to grab the film.

i just hope film cameras doesnt become too big because that means the rise in prices and too many resellers.

BradleyK · May 2, 2015

Hmm...let's see:

Two Hasselblad 500c/m bodies w/eight lenses;
Two Leica M6 bodies w/five lenses;
Ten Nikon bodies (4xF2AS, F2A, F2, F3P, F3HP,F5 and F6).

NB: Over the past year I have thinned out the herd by giving an F2AS and an F5 to my eldest nephew, selling an F2A and an F2, donating an F2A and an F2 to fellow APUGer and selling two F3HPs and giving a third F3HP w/50mm Nikkor 1.4 "K" to a newbie. With the exception of one of the F2AS bodies and the F2A, all are on active duty.

EdColorado · May 2, 2015

Tamara said:
According to this spreadsheet, twenty-seven.
How the hell did that happen? :confused:

(I know good and well how it happened, of course. A lot of these things were unattainable objects of desire for me growing up behind the counter of a camera shop and later working in minilabs and as a photog's assistant. Being poor as a churchmouse and getting to handle cameras that cost more than my old car apparently laid a craving on me that stuck. When I found out recently that you could get, say, a Leica R4 from KEH for <$100, I might have gone a little overboard. )

Thats what happened to me too. I wasn't working in shops or labs but was living the life of a flat busted photographer. All those cool fine cameras, no money to buy them. Then one day, many years later the universe flopped and I suddenly had the money, and the cameras were cheap! Now I'm running out of room to store them all.

I have noticed though that supplies of old classic cameras are thinning. Used to be I could pretty much any time hit up the KEH website and fine whatever my heart wanted. Now more often than not they don't have it. Less and less film gear seems to be available. Now a days I find myself perusing the offerings of Japanese sellers on Ebay. Fortunately they mostly seem to be good to do business with.

Ko.Fe. · May 2, 2015

I like to buy a few, make them working and sell for something single, which I can't afford straight.
At this moment I have three TLRs, waiting for fourth one. Will shrink it to two.
Two RFs, which are not for sale, but pleasure to use.
Two scale 135. One 135 PS. Two SLRs. One LF. Two 120 foldables, one to go.
One Canadian Brownie. Few more 135 format cameras for repair and for sale.
I like to keep around ten and use them all.

narsuitus · May 3, 2015

mehguy said:
"How many film cameras do you own?"

1 Ansco Speedex medium format folder
4 Argus C-3 35mm
4 Pentax Spotmatic 35mm
2 Pentax ME 35mm
3 Canon Sure Shot 35mm
2 Canon Canonet QL 17 G-III 35mm
2 Fuji medium format rangefinders
2 Fuji ST705 35mm
2 Underwater cameras 35mm
2 Minolta HiMatic rangefinders 35mm
3 Nikon F2 35mm
2 Nikon F4 35mm
9 Nikon L35 35mm
2 Nikon N70 35mm
----
40 Total Film Cameras

https://flic.kr/p/9v7Bt8

Alan Gales · May 3, 2015

mehguy said:
yep. i see that too. when i went to pick up some hp5 plus film at the camera store, a person next to me was buying a polaroid spectra camera and impossible film. funny thing is, the customer asked for the film for the polaroid and the salesman responded back "its 20 dollars for 10 exposures, are you sure you wanna buy it?" and the customer said yes and the salesman responded back with "are you serious?" and went to the back to grab the film.

i just hope film cameras doesnt become too big because that means the rise in prices and too many resellers.

Polaroid film was always high but you didn't have to pay for development and printing. I'm thinking I used to pay $12.99 for a double pack or 20 pictures at the local Walgreens. We bought my daughter a Polaroid One Step camera when she was little. She loved watching the picture develop in front of her eyes. She is 21 now and owns an Olympus OM-1. She loves film, especially b&w.

Alan Gales · May 3, 2015

Tamara said:
I've noticed, just in the six months or so I've been keeping track, that there seems to be an upswing in prices on film cameras. At least, on the ones I'm interested in. Generally a good sign of increasing demand.

Lord knows I'm proselytizing as hard as I can, myself.

Keep proselytizing. Used camera prices may go up but at least they will keep making film as long as there is a demand! Also the more film they sell the lower the film will cost us consumers. I use a lot more film than I buy cameras!

RalphLambrecht · May 3, 2015

mehguy said:
I didnt know which discussion to put it under so i put it under the 35mm forum but it can apply to any film camera. I only own 1, a Rolleiflex SL35. I dont need another.

(maybe ill get a range finder one day, i dunno)

42,well, the answer is always 42.

benjiboy · May 3, 2015

mehguy said:
I didnt know which discussion to put it under so i put it under the 35mm forum but it can apply to any film camera. I only own 1, a Rolleiflex SL35. I dont need another.

(maybe ill get a range finder one day, i dunno)

It's not about "need, nobody needs 50 to 100 cameras it's about acquisitiveness and the hoarding instinct.

miha · May 3, 2015

I'm not sure how many I have but I lust for more.

Mackinaw · May 3, 2015

I have too many film cameras to bother counting.

People give me cameras. Over the past few years, I've been given several Chinon and Ricoh K-Mount 35mm SLR's (which I've given away to 20-year olds curious about film photography), a Pentax Spotmatic, Olympus OM-1 and a Canon F-1N. The last three I kept.

Jim B.

Les Sarile · May 3, 2015

benjiboy said:
It's not about "need, nobody needs 50 to 100 cameras it's about acquisitiveness and the hoarding instinct.

There are many reasons for our acquisitions. Personally, i am researching the variations in design from a historical perspective.

Ap507b · May 3, 2015

A fraction compared to many here. Nikon F, F2, a pair of F3's, F4, F5. FA, FE2, FM2, F301, FG, EM, F65 & F80. An Olympus OM1 & an OM2 SP & a Zenit EM. Have a Minolta 7000 on the way to me & have just bid on a Nikon F501 on Ebay.

Far more than I need but I get pleasure from just owning them.

The OM1 needs to go in for a service as the meter is off. The Zenit EM & Nikon F65 are not used. The rest get used from time to time. The manual focus Nikon's see by far the most use.

How many film cameras do you own?

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