What's your oddest camera?

[Cholentpot]

My Rolleicord or one of my two Rolleiflex Ts. Most unusual looking, at least in this day and age.

The problem when I do take them out is, for me, they get too much attention. Usually from other old duffers (like me) who want to talk "photography" with me, which I dislike doing as mostly I have to field inane comments like "my dad had one of those once" or "what is that little yellow lens you have on it, for??"

But then it serves me right for wanting to relive my past...

Rollei TLRs were THE camera of their time and not at all unusual, but most have vanished from the photo scene in the last decade. Nobody aged less than 50 would even know how to load one, less alone use it in this digicrap-everything day and age.

I'm not quite 50 yet but if you send me a Rollei I can show you how to load it.

 

[mshchem]

IIRC, I still have an Estes Camrock(?) in a box in the basement. If not, it's a holographic camera which I never got around to using.

Had one of the early 70's versions that took a circle of sheet film. I remember that there was a movie camera called the Cinerock . Later version took a cartridge, 110??

 

[mshchem]

To help you with your recovery:

1. Close your eyes
2. Take a big deep breathe
3. Repeat #2 several times
4. Open your eyes
5. Sit before your computer
6. Take a deep breath
7. Open the web server
8. In the URL slowly type either KEH.com or eBay.com or Photrio.com
9. Search for your hearts desire
10. Open the listed candidates
11. Select one or more choices
12. Pull out your credit card
13. Take a deep breath
14. Select "Buy"
15. Fill our your name, address, credit card number, credit card expiration date, secret code
16. Select "Send"
17. Take a deep breath
18. Enjoy the joy of success
19. Start tracking the shipping
20. Look out the window watch for Amazon, DHL, FedEX, UPS, [insert national postal system here]
21. When Amazon, DHL, FedEX, UPS, [insert national postal system here] vehicles appear on your street, chase after it
22. When the package arrives, unpack your hearts desire and start testing
23. Enjoy the Glow

This is a good way to end GAS for the short term. If the GAS comes back, go back to number 1.

I followed your instructions. Now a Minty (I love this term) Leica IIIg is on it's way from Japan. Oy

 

[mshchem]

I have been using these Rollei cameras since they came out in the 1980s, so I guess I did not think they were too oddball. But, I agree with bdial, they certainly don't match the common 35mm design!
View attachment 306071

These are amazing.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I followed your instructions. Now a Minty (I love this term) Leica IIIg is on it's way from Japan. Oy

Life is short and you deserve good things. A Leica is a good start.

 

[Lee Rust]

It's nowhere near as strange as some I've seen here, but I couldn't resist the Agfa Flexilette, a 35mm TLR that was produced for only one year 1960-61. Somewhat awkward to use, but fun, and the photos look fine.

 

[Kodachromeguy]

I do not have anything too old or exotic, just a 1949-vintage Leica IIIC and its original 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar. My dad bought this outfit in Guam at a US Navy post exchange.

https://worldofdecay.blogspot.com/2017/12/good-things-in-small-packages-leica-iiic.html

https://worldofdecay.blogspot.com/2021/07/optical-treasure-1960s-jupiter-8-lens.html

 

[__Brian]

Celestron Modified Nikon F, Mirror-Up button added.



Spring Wound and Electric-Drive Tessinas.

 

[AnselMortensen]

What is this even?

That is a modified WWII U.S. Navy Torpedo Bomber training camera.
6x18cm on 120 film.
Made by Russell Vought Co.
They were used to film torpedo bombing runs from underneath the plane (TBM / TBF Avengers)....used for training purposes.
(Real torpedoes were too expensive and needed in the Pacific Theater).
I modified it to accept a Fuji 135mm lens. (Oh, the irony! ).
Viewfinder by the Cameradactyl company.

 

[Cholentpot]

That is a modified WWII U.S. Navy Torpedo Bomber training camera.
6x18cm on 120 film.
Made by Russell Vought Co.
They were used to film torpedo bombing runs from underneath the plane (TBM / TBF Avengers)....used for training purposes.
(Real torpedoes were too expensive and needed in the Pacific Theater).
I modified it to accept a Fuji 135mm lens. (Oh, the irony! ).
Viewfinder by the Cameradactyl company.

Cool. Any examples of shots taken with it?

 

[grat]

I don't have that many rare or odd, but I do have a Mercury II, the 35mm brother to the Univex CC Cholentpot started us off with. Needs much cleaning-- came in a box of "take it or leave it" items, which included an Exakta VX IIa, with a motley set of lenses, multiple viewfinders, and a bellows.

But the rarest has got to be the ICA "Tudor" Reflex-- English Quarter Plate reflex camera, suspiciously identical to the Houghton/Butcher Popular Pressman, but "made in Germany"-- 8.3x10.8 cm film size.

 

[AnselMortensen]

Cool. Any examples of shots taken with it?

Sorry, nothing worth sharing yet.
Just "proof of concept" shots of my yard to verify coverage and guesstimation of focus.
Original lens was a 5" Ross, original shutter was a Venetian blind-style shutter...I got this as a second-hand kludge, all that was missing.
Early "inside writing" Fujinon 135mm lens covers 5x7, so coverage is good.

 

[benjiboy]

My oldest camera is a Canon EF made in August 1975.

 

[Cholentpot]

My oldest camera is a Canon EF made in August 1975.

That's odd.

 

[grat]

What's odd is that the Canon EF is an FD mount, instead of an EF. That's just weird.

 

[Cholentpot]

What's odd is that the Canon EF is an FD mount, instead of an EF. That's just weird.

And then there's that EF mount camera that's fully manual.

 

[Besk]

It's nowhere near as strange as some I've seen here, but I couldn't resist the Agfa Flexilette, a 35mm TLR that was produced for only one year 1960-61. Somewhat awkward to use, but fun, and the photos look fine.

I was looking to see if one of these would show up. I have one.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

The "oddest" bit of kit I have, I think, is probably my 1840s English Daguerrian lens (probably made in France, but sold in England under license), or else my 6x18 hemispheric film plane pinhole camera.

 

[John Koehrer]

Ummmm............

 

[benveniste]

110 rocket camera?

The older version where you had to cut out a circle of sheet film.

 

[Vaughn]

Ahhhh...I already gave it away. A military metal 8x10 built into a black sheet metal box with a curved top -- a field copy camera. Pull out the front, the back the other way, and a holder for flat material to be copied (photos, documents) -- looks like it easily could get 1:1 images. Not in great condition, but no damage. A friend wanted it as much as I wanted the space.

 

[benjiboy]

What's odd is that the Canon EF is an FD mount, instead of an EF. That's just weird.

It makes it very difficult to do internet searches.

The EF actually stands for Electronic F, because it's the same build quality as the F1, but with an electronic AE shutter priority shutter.

https://www.mikeeckman.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CanonEF2b.jpg

 

[serouscam]

Tessina
View attachment 305963

WideLux F7
View attachment 305964

Graflex Model D
View attachment 305965 View attachment 305966

There is no Model D, it is called Series D

 

[Sirius Glass]

There is no Model D, it is called Series D

Yawn

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Probably my Ricoh 35. Love using it.