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Rediscovering your own cameras

colin wells

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Apr 10, 2016
Messages
179
Location
UK
Format
35mm
Have you ever gone through your camera cupboard and found one of your forgotten favorites. Today i unearthed my Olympus OM 2sp i had forgotten just what a beauty this is .Precise, compact and excellent metering . I put two new batteries in and its ready to go .I cant wait to get out with it .
 
It has been a long time since I don't use my Kodak Retina IIIc or my Olympus Pen S, so i guess those are my 'forgotten favorites'.

Lately i'm only with the Canon F-1 and the Pentax Spotmatic.
 
No discoveries, but I know when certain cameras are sitting around not being used for too long.
 
Yes, I've discovered forgotten 'gems' I've shelved or boxed away. I have even found a few in a box I set aside to sell on eBay or the likes.
Right now, I using a questionable FSU camera for some pinhole work.
 
I open the cabinet where I keep checks and found a Black XD-11
 
I use all my cameras, some more than others. The 35mm SLR I use most is a Canon 3000n with autofocus, a pop up flash and pancake 40mm lens - perfect universal carry round camera. I always enjoy digging the Nikkormats out the box.
 
Mine are on new shelving in the Camera Room. They are all visible and accessible, so there's nothing to find.

Last year I did find a 1930's vintage Baby Brownie in a box my maternal aunt gave to me. Apparently it had last been used in the 1950's. I put some 127 film through it last year - angle of view much wider than I expected (like 24mm equivalent).
 
Woohoo! Found my good 'ol trusty Nikon FM recently... and just finished developing my first roll of film taken with it in 30 years! I am smitten once again by the charms of film... and thrilled anew by the magic that occurs in the darkroom.

Cleaned it up a bit...put some fresh batteries in it and was good to go. Everything....meter and shutter settings etc. all seem to work great. Found it with a decent little 35-70 zoom and 200 mm prime lenses.

I can hardly wait to get out for another photo session!!
 
It happened to me last year when I took my OM1n kit out for a spin. I vowed to use it more often and I will when time permits. I had forgotten how capable OM cameras are since using Nikon cameras so much. I may take the OM kit out this week. Always nice to get re-acquainted with what is one of my all time favorite cameras.
 
I don't have any surprise cameras, if I don't use them anymore I sell them or give them away.
 
I give up on some cameras swearing them away and telling myself they're for the shelf or trash.

I always end up coming back to them for another try. Latest one in the penalty box is my T50. I've shunned it for a half year, I enjoy shooting it a but it always does something stupid.
 
benjiboy said:
I don't have any surprise cameras, if I don't use them anymore I sell them or give them away.
Click to expand...

Is the EF gone? If so, I can understand why, although I consider mine my favorite FD mount camera.

With your F-1/n/N cameras, either your wife thinks you have just one or she has become an expert on the models and variations (AE, winder, etc.).
 
The Retinette B in my avatar deserves some attention. It probably feels left out.
 
My first camera was a Praktica MTL-3 with Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm f 2.8. I saved up my paper round money for weeks to be able to afford it!

It was a great camera and still appears to work fine, but the lens has sticky blades which I should try and get around to fixing. I've discovered that I am pretty good at dismantling things and even better at leaving them in pieces. Reassembly? Well that's a new challenge!

I have intended to use it again for ages, and have another M42 I could use from my Mum's old Chinon.

It never did get used with B&W film back in the day, it really should be treated with some HP5+...
 
I've got a pair of Nikon f3s that I haven't shot in awhile. Got a bit enamored with my om4ts for a long while and then my bessa range finders. I guess I just like smaller and lighter cameras. I'll have to give those old gems more love and shoot more.
 
I have a nice 'gift' Carl Zeiss 'Contina' with 45mm f2.8 Tessar i should use again -- I took it to the Philippines for B&W and when I went to Cebu Images Camera Club they all crowded round to see this 'Classic camera'
Contina by Peter Elgar, on Flickr
 
Theo Sulphate said:
Is the EF gone? If so, I can understand why, although I consider mine my favorite FD mount camera.

With your F-1/n/N cameras, either your wife thinks you have just one or she has become an expert on the models and variations (AE, winder, etc.).
Click to expand...
No I still have my EF Theo, this IMO is the smoothest FD camera ever made and I spent far more than it was worth about four years ago having it stripped down and fully serviced I'll never sell it .
My wife knew I was a photographer when she married me fifty three years ago has got used to my foibles and indulges them.
 
Body-wise, no, haven't rediscovered anything. Same with lenses. But, accessories, yeah, that has happened. Case in point, I sold an HS-7 lens hood to Pacific Rim Camera at the swap meet a couple weeks ago. A few days later, I was rummaging through some things, and found it. Or so I thought. Apparently, I'd bought one when I was looking for an HS-1 or maybe an HS-14, then forgot about it a few years back. So, I should've gone through my gear thoroughly when I bought the one I recently sold. Could've saved the $25.

-J
 
At last count, I have almost 40 SLRs and probably a half-dozeen folders. Another half-dozen or so interesting P&S cameras. This doesn't include the three or four cameras that I have or will have for sale on eBay. None of my keepers is in any way a surprise to me. I keep a running account in my head of my photo gear, which includes knowing which ones are presently loaded with film. I will frequently take a small selection of my cameras down from my gear cabinet just to play around with them -- dry fire them, check the batteries and meters, etc. Cameras require at least occasional exercise, so I have a bit of fun and they stay healthy. Right now, I'm surrounded by eight of my favorites -- two of which have film loaded -- and I go through the ritual with each before I put them back and pull out another selection.

Lenses are similar -- no surprises. Accessories are another matter. I was going through my drawer of accessories just a couple of days ago and was surprised to find a few focusing screens I didn't know I had, and also a couple of flash coupler adapters for the Canon original F-1, again, that I'd forgotten I'd had.
 
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Forgotten? No. Neglected? Yes.

I try to keep everything in rotation, but I don't have a lot of time to shoot anymore so some cameras will end up sitting for a long time before they get used again. Occasionally I'll be pleasantly surprised when I've forgotten how much I like shooting with a certain camera. That cuts the other way, too, from time to time! :O
 
I actually went over to the "Dark Side" for a couple of years but found downloading and editing hundreds of files from my SD cards to be a chore.
I have amassed quite a collection of cameras over the years and I have enjoyed using them all again. I enjoy them so much, that I sold my Fuji X100 and my Pentax K5.

My favourite rediscovered cameras are my Canon A-1 and my Spotmatic collection. Mind you, I'm warming to my Yashica Mat again too.
 
FED-2. Started to use it as soon as my parents allowed it. Used it until beginning of nineties. Stopped using it, because P&S and SLR became available. FED-2 came back to me in 2012 and I have to send it for service before I was able to use it. In 2016 I serviced it by myself (changed burned curtain).

 
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