Old cameras and their historical fascination

[cliveh]

I think that one of the prime reasons I occasionally buy old cameras is my thoughts about their historical fascination. The last camera I bought was a Leica IIIf and when handling it I think about who may have used it and what images did they record. I know I will never know the answer to those questions, but it stirs my creative thoughts about compounding the historical creativity made with this camera by my own efforts. Almost like a piece of magic passed on from hand to hand. Can some others empathise with this?

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Canadian Kodak Brownie which I send to Moscow this year. I always wondered how it ended up with underwear elastic band as handle. Same and only we used to have in USSR.

 

[480sparky]

I'm fortunate enough to have the Tenax Automatic my dad used to take all the photos I have of the family when I was growing up. I still run some film through it on occasion, but I think the shutter is giving up the ghost.

So I don't have to image what photos it took.... I have the photos it took.

 

[R.Gould]

I have a few cameras in my collection with the names and addresses of previous owners on labels attachecd to the cameras, or written inside the cases, and sometimes I wonder if these were their pride and joy, what photographs they took with them, or who they were,

 

[Theo Sulphate]

... The last camera I bought was a Leica IIIf and when handling it I think about who may have used it and what images did they record. I know I will never know the answer to those questions, but it stirs my creative thoughts about compounding the historical creativity made with this camera by my own efforts. Almost like a piece of magic passed on from hand to hand. Can some others empathise with this?

When someone acquires an old camera with film in it, as happened here recently, then that is a little treasure: there's the camera, the images, and the people.

I like the idea of having information provided with the camera, though at the moment I can't think of a good way of passing this information along.

Once, when I sold a beloved sports car for a different higher performance model, I inserted some photos I'd taken into the owner's manual so that they'd be found later by the new owner.

 

[rbultman]

I bought a Busch Pressman Model D a few years back. I think I bought it from the original owner or perhaps his heir. It had the original bill of sale, case, etc. I felt like I got a piece of history, not just a camera. So, yeah, I know how you feel.

 

[Bipin]

I have a 1939 Voigtlander Vito that has been passed along throughout the family ever since my grandfather bought it in Germany during the war. I only have been able to find a few prints from the era, which would of been shot with this camera. The man's got a few crazy stories and a couple of prints to go along with them, though unfortunately none (that I can find) with what is perhaps the grandest story of all: Both my grandfather and his brother were conscripted into the Polish and German armies. During what I suspect would be the time of Operation Barbarossa, the one on the German side met his brother (my grandfather) who was on the Polish side, simply by chance. He warned his brother of an impending conflict between German and Russian forces; neither of which were particularly kind to the Polish. Long story short, this probably saved my grandfather life, for his town was decimated in conflict.

I'd be amazed to see pictures from this time in his life; he always carried the camera with him. At the same time, it kind of adds to the camera's mystique with having only my imagination to fill in the blanks. Either way, the journey this camera must of had going across Europe, Western Canada and eventually finding a home in Ontario makes it such an interesting piece of tangible family history. It is one of my most treasured possessions. I CLA'ed it a few years ago and use it 'till this day.

 

[Kyle M.]

I wonder the same thing when I pick up my Leica IIIf. When I pick up my RB67 I sometimes wonder who used it, and what they used it for? Were they just a wealthy amateur, or maybe a pro shooting portraits, or maybe even shooting for a magazine? I guess I will never know.

 

[Pioneer]

I can definitely appreciate those feelings. I buy and use old cameras for many reasons, chief among them being the fact that they actually take amazing photographs even today. But I also will spend time in the evening looking at them and wondering what they may have seen.

In some cases, such as my 1938 Agfa Jsolette 85mm/4.5, I strongly suspect it spent a lot of its past has been spent in its box or in a drawer somewhere. It is just too pristine to have taken very many photographs. Maybe a few on Christmas or other holidays. I like to imagine it belonged to someone like my grandmother who used it carefully to document the important events of her families history.

Other times I pick up my 1956 Leica M3 and turn it in my hands, looking at the scars of rough use displayed everywhere. The strap lugs are worn halfway through from continual carry. Obviously this particular camera has not spent much of its time waiting on someone to put it to work. Any box it spent time in would almost surely been a shipping box traveling to and from Leica for occasional adjustment and service. Or more likely there was a trusted local technician nearby who knew how to finely tune this camera for his customer. I say that because for all its scratches, bruises and scars, it still works as smoothly as a fine watch. The old Elmar 50/2.8 that came along with it seems equally worn on the surface but it still sees with a clear eye. I sometimes dream of it being carried without much drama from place to place by the photographer/writer/printer/editor/owner/jack-of-all-trades of a small town newspaper. Someone who certainly appreciated what this camera was capable of and trusted it to do what was needed, but far too busy to be concerned with the niceties of proper storage. Storage was the hook on the hat rack underneath the owner's jacket. This was a valued tool of his (or her) trade. No more no less.

And then I head out the door myself with these cameras and continue to use them for what their designers envisioned, to make photographs.

Isn't the imagination a grand thing??

 

[OptiKen]

Sometime I will wonder who the camera was stolen from.
Engraved serial number scratched off.
Persons name covered up or scratched through.
Makes one wonder sometimes

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Totally. I wonder a lot about that. If only these cameras can talk.

One of my favorites I now own is a beat up been-thru-heck 2.8E Planar Rolleiflex I bought from a tiny old curios shop down a dark alley way on the outskirts of Beijing back in 1999. It was dusty as all heck and had obviously been there a while. Who owned this camera? How the heck did it get to Beijing let alone this back water shop? Who used it and what did they shoot?

 

[bsdunek]

Or my Grandmother's Kodak Autographic. Can't get film for it any more (not in a practical sense, anyway), but it resides in my antique camera collection, and I like to just handle it now and then.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I bought the 4"x5" Graflex Model D and the 4"x5" Pacemaker Speed Graphic from Bert Saunders who was a Graflex and Graphic repairman for 26 years. The cameras were the best from his personal collection. After he retired he helped people over the internet on www.graflex.org.

 

[480sparky]

Or my Grandmother's Kodak Autographic. Can't get film for it any more (not in a practical sense, anyway), but it resides in my antique camera collection, and I like to just handle it now and then.

But you can adapt it to 120 film. Try here.

 

[NedL]

I empathize. I wonder about the people and the photographs they made and how they felt when they saw the prints.
What light went through those lenses?

 

[NedL]

But you can adapt it to 120 film. Try here.

Or paper negatives! Or cut-down sheet film.

 

[480sparky]

Or paper negatives! Or cut-down sheet film.

Or Harman's Direct Positive paper......... if you can find some.

 

[Rook]

I suspect there are a good number of cameras that were bought new, perhaps given to someone as a gift, but never really used. Of course if there are signs of wear - scratches, dents, rub marks, etc. - that's not likely the case. But I have bought some old cameras which show no obvious signs of prior usage, and I do wonder about that. Especially if the leather camera case it came with doesn't have a single scratch of scuff mark on it.

 

[MontanaJay]

I was lucky enough to be given my grandfather's Kodak 3A when I was age 12, just before he died in 1965.

and he also gave me a cigar box of his post-card size negative, like this:

(That a 1911 picture of my mom in the carriage on the left.)
My grandfather is the dapper guy in the bowler.
And I'm so glad he had the foresight to make these gifts, and that I had to wisdom to hold onto them.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

While it isn't old, I'm in a somewhat unique situation with my Canham 14x17. I'm the third owner of the camera, and I know personally everyone who has owned it to include the manufacturer. It would be very hard to pass that along to the next owner, not only because I intend to keep it for a very long time, but what are the odds of finding another buyer who would know all four of us?

 

[480sparky]

............and he also gave me a cigar box of his post-card size negative, like this:.........

I was fortunate enough to end up with almost 1400 of my grandfather's negatives. They have all now been digitized and cataloged.

And, since I now have the ability to PRINT said negatives........

My dad is the one in the middle.


I ended up choosing 10 negatives, and made an album for my dad and his 4 siblings.

My grandfather would be in the top left image, in what is the only photo taken at their wedding.

 

[CropDusterMan]

Some cameras are pieces of art. I am not a techie guy really, and will fall asleep when discussions of lens and megabyte
stuff flows, but when I get my hands on a well designed and engineered camera, it's like holding a piece of art. I have
two that make me feel this way...my Linhof Color and my Rolleiflex 2.8C. They are both circa 1953, and feel wonderful
in the hand. The same with older Leicas. The lines, the designs...often, it's like an old baseball glove that just seems
to fit perfectly. Balance. I don't think much of the previous owners really, I'm usually to busy chasing the light! LOL

 

[cliveh]

Perhaps one day, technology will have advanced enough for examination of old cameras to retrieve all photon variations that passed through the lens into the chamber, thus being able to recreate every picture that camera has taken in it's lifetime. So if anyone has the Robert Capa camera with which he recorded the D-day landings don't throw it away.

 

[DannL.]

I bought this 5x4 Sands & Hunter Exhibition on eBay about 8 years ago. What surprised me was that there was very weak competition during the auction. Apparently few people noticed the ivory Nadar Paris Office badge. That was the very first thing that caught my eye. Since I was in the market for a British Tailboard, the provenance only helped. The camera was as complete as anyone would hope. Retaining the original bellows (since replaced), all three original plate holders (matching numbers) plus special inserts, and a barrel lens that appears to work wonderfully as a portrait lens for this size camera. The camera is once again in user condition, and works like a champ.

I do have an unfounded fascination for cameras built under the auspices of the Third Reich. I once had a 1939 Leica III, now sold. And recently bought a Kodak Recomar, circa 1936.

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

Perhaps one day, technology will have advanced enough for examination of old cameras to retrieve all photon variations that passed through the lens into the chamber, thus being able to recreate every picture that camera has taken in it's lifetime. So if anyone has the Robert Capa camera with which he recorded the D-day landings don't throw it away.

Let's do a start-up!