The Vintage Camera Club Thread

[Dreispitz]

Even quite recent cameras like this one are regarded vintage!

 

[MikeBravo]

I'm not a collector, although I do have a Box Brownie

I just saw this camera on Australian Ebay that I thought was interesting.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/vintage-Kodak-Brownie-Bulls-Eye-odd-shape-bakelite-camera-braided-leather-strap-/250952788835?pt=AU_Vintage_Cameras&hash=item3a6df3ab63

Does anybody have one?

 

[BigFitz]

I know next to nothing about cameras but I picked this Polaroid Land Camera at a thrift store a couple of weeks ago for $5.99 mainly because it was cool and cheap. Does anyone still make film for these? The model number on it is 80.

There was also a Konica 35mm SLR from what I guess would be from the '60's on the shelf next to the Polaroid for $5.00. That's all the info I have for the Konica. Any opinions on either camera?

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

Bigfitz, Hopefully some of the experts will be along to help you on that one soon.

I got a question of my own. What is a safe way to clean vintage camera lenses? I bought a big box full of cameras dating from the early 1900's to the late 1940's. I have heard people say that different lenses should be cleaned with different methods. I need to sell some of the cameras and don't want to sell them with really dusty looking lenses.

 

[jkingrph]

I have one of the larger format Argus that was Dad's stuck back in a drawer someplace. It's one of the types with a flip up viewfinder, you hold camera at waist level. My next two are a couple of Spotmatics, one a Honeywell, the other a Pentax plus a fair assortment of screw mount lenses. I was into taking a lot of slides the first couple of years I was married. The new wife and I were in Turkey courtsey of the USAF so there was a lot to see and photograph, then back to the states and a new baby kept me going. In '91 a few months in England again courtsey of the USAF for Desert storm.

Last year I purchased a high quality scanner and digitalized about 8500 slides I had taken, plus another couple of thousand photographs, most taken by my parents and a few going back into the late 1800's from grandparents.

From time to time I see some nice looking old cameras in antique shops but generally pass them by. I do not know how to judge condition, plus repairs/restoration is likely to be difficult and expensive. The variety of film both for print and transparencies is not like it was 15-20 years ago, and processing is not as readily available. Digital has taken the world by storm, quailty is good and cheap. Nice thing is that my son can take pictures of the new grandson and send them to us in just a few minutes, no waiting.

My old Pentax's need some restoration, the light seals are crumbling due to age. The other problem is batteries, they no longer make the little mercury batteries the meter uses.

 

[1930artdeco]

I would like to join since I use two different Graflex 4x5's and a 35mm pentax for my shooting. Atterbury Dodd, you can go to any camera store and get some lens cleaning coths and they will work just fine on the lenses. The early lenses were not coated with anything an lens cleaning cloths are designed to be used on coated lenses so they are very soft and fine.

Mike

 

[Warbaby]

The other problem is batteries, they no longer make the little mercury batteries the meter uses.

The Spotmatic meter is voltage-independent so there are a number of modern batteries that will work in it.

"Availability of batteries for the Spotmatic is better than other cameras of the era because the Asahi engineers built in a bridge circuit in the metering which makes it battery voltage independent. This means you can use the original 1.35 mercury PX400 battery, or a 1.5V silver-oxide replacement without problems. An exact fit PX400S is available, or you can use a #392 cell with a small rubber-O ring (purchasable at any fine home repair center or DIY store) as a spacer. I believe a #397 also fits as well."

Also LR936, SP500, 387S, LR43.

PX400 replacement batteries are also available on eBay. Just do a search for "PX400 battery"

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

I would like to join since I use two different Graflex 4x5's and a 35mm pentax for my shooting. Atterbury Dodd, you can go to any camera store and get some lens cleaning coths and they will work just fine on the lenses. The early lenses were not coated with anything an lens cleaning cloths are designed to be used on coated lenses so they are very soft and fine.

Mike

Thanks for the information. Basically you are saying that the modern coatings are more fragile, so using the cleaner on old ones would not be risky? Camera store... I have no idea where to find one, I'll have to ask a friend that is into cameras.

 

[Warbaby]

Never mind the lack of special lens tissue. I've always used what my grandfather suggested when he introduced me to photography back in the 50s - an old silk pocket square that had been washed enough times that it was nice and soft. It's worked for me from my first box camera through my Nikon and Leica gear in the 70s to my current digital equipment.

 

[The Inspector]

I have 2 minolta's

XE-7
Maxxum 7000 Model

First up the XE-7 and Vivitar 1 series long range lens and a minolta add-on lens.

Next the Maxxum 7000

 

[Giftmacher]

http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/04/news/companies/kodak_bankruptcy/index.htm

 

[Michaelshane]

Here's my baby....

 

[bburtner@moran]

Nice Leica...

 

[RodeoRose]

I recently acquired this splendid little Argus C3. Such a simple, sturdy thing and it takes remarkably crisp pictures!



The only issue is that the viewfinder and rangefinder windows are quite small and dusty, but I hope a little cleaning will take care of that.

If interested, *here* are the results from my first roll of film with it.

 

[MrZootSuit]

This is my only vintage camera so far, my father's old Kodak Duaflex IV. It's in good shape, but sadly at the present I cannot afford film to use it!

 

[CONELRAD]

I've got a small collection, but never really got too into camera collecting.

My first Argus C3, with a flash and leather case. The case is in mediocre condition, and for some reason, after I took a set of pictures, the shutter quit working for, apparently, no reason, is this fixable, or should I just give up and get a new one (they're only $30-$40 apiece)?

Closed


My second C3, I got this one for free because I ordered one on eBay, and they sent me the wrong one, so when I asked about returning it, he just refunded my money and told me to keep the camera!


My Kodak Brownie Flash Six-20, this one was my Grandpa's camera when he was a kid, he gave it to me a couple years ago.


My not-so-great Polaroid from the seventies or eighties.

 

[Tin Shed Experience]

Hi All,

Wondering if you can help out on this. I have a Super Ikonta b 132/16
I am trying to track the year of manufacture as accurately as possible by the serial number on the body which is H4357 but I cannot seem to find any sourceonline. I can see that the lens serial number corresponds to 1938 but its particularly the year corresponding the body serial number that I am after. Would any of you be able to help?

 

[rjb1]

With a camera such as a Super Ikonta B, where everything is all made as "one piece" (no removable lens board like a Graphic), I would take the lens manufacture date to be the same as the camera body date (or very close). Is there some indication that the lens has been replaced, as difficult as that would be, to make you think it and the camera body were not made at the same time?
I have several Ikontas and Super Ikontas and one of the Super A's and its distance-scale setting, rangefinder-image, and focus plane at the film (using a ground glass) are all in total disagreement.
Do you have a mismatch/out-of-adjustment of that sort? On mine, there is no physical indication that the lens has been replaced, but I have always been curious as to how it got so totally out of adjustment. Maybe the numbers don't match, and that possibility never crossed my mind.

 

[Giftmacher]

I've got a small collection, but never really got too into camera collecting.

My first Argus C3, with a flash and leather case. The case is in mediocre condition, and for some reason, after I took a set of pictures, the shutter quit working for, apparently, no reason, is this fixable, or should I just give up and get a new one (they're only $30-$40 apiece)?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77895421@N08/7484762810/
Closed
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77895421@N08/7484761446/

My second C3, I got this one for free because I ordered one on eBay, and they sent me the wrong one, so when I asked about returning it, he just refunded my money and told me to keep the camera!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77895421@N08/7484760316/

My Kodak Brownie Flash Six-20, this one was my Grandpa's camera when he was a kid, he gave it to me a couple years ago.
My not-so-great Polaroid from the seventies or eighties.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77895421@N08/7484755630/

I'd try to clean the shutter with isopropanol, or medical gasoline, but be careful during disassembling

 

[Giftmacher]