Old Cameras

[TucsonDirt]

Hope nobody minds me posting these pics of old cameras on a gun forum.
My mother-in-law passed away in November.
She was an antique dealer, and my wife and I have been helping my father-in-law
go through all the antiques she had around the place.
She had many boxes full of dozens of old cameras she had bought in bulk and was
prepping for sale in her store, and he let us go through them and pick out some for ourselves.

I don't know much about these but cleaned them up a little and thought I'd share some pics:

And a favorite since it was made in my hometown area:

 

[SuperSwede]

Fantastic! I like old cameras.. As a hobby photograper i enjoy the old ones and been able to pick up a few. Actually i have a real early Kodak brownie that i shot a roll with yesterday. Cant wait to see the pictures..
:-D

 

[gatling]

Most impressive. Thank you for posting these photos.

 

[ko41]

Nice cameras. I haven't come across a Beau Brownie before, the collectors guide that I have says it was made from 1930-1933. The Tower cameras were the Sears house brand in the 1950s and 1960s.

I have a collection Kodak cameras ranging from the early 1900s to Instamatic 110. I ran out of room to display them so I haven't added anything new for 6 or more years.

KO

 

[SuperSwede]

Nice collection there Ko41..
Especially like the stereo, (bottom pic bottom shelf)
Do you have the viewer as well ?

 

[ko41]

Nice collection there Ko41..
Especially like the stereo, (bottom pic bottom shelf)
Do you have the viewer as well ?

Thanks. Now that is a good question...Hmm, do I have the stereo viewer? I know I tried buying them on eBay years past
but now I don't recall if I ever got one :roll: if I did, it's packed away with the dozen or so vintage Kodak slide projectors.
KO

 

[Bob Wright]

That is really a nice collection! Back "in the day" I sort of always wanted one of those Kodak Retina folding cameras. Don't know why, but those folders always appealed to me.

Also wanted a 35mm camera with waist level finder. Finally got one, don't remember what it was, old sort of triangular body shape, marked "UT Pathology" could have been used to take photos of Elvis Presley's body at his death. Collector wanted it more than I did.

Bob Wright

 

[doccash]

Looks like quite a bit of intrest in old cameras, I just use mine. :mrgreen: Dr.C

 

[panik44]

Nice collection. I'd love to see more.

Jim

 

[caryc]

Seeing those old cameras reminds me of a garage sale find once. I purchased a box of flash bulbs, maybe a dozen or so. They were the size and shape of a regular 100 watt light bulb and had the same socket on them. I remember trying out a couple of them in a lamp. It was a good way of going temporarily blind for a few seconds.

I always wondered what they were actually used for. They were flash bulbs since the whole globe was filled with a spidery looking filament which of course instantly burned up when activated.

I should still have them packed away somewhere as I don't remember getting rid of them.

I found them in a box at the top of a closet. I still have 6 of them. They're marked GE Photo Flash #22. Now I'm tempted to pop one again. :mrgreen:

They're actually coated with a clear plastic kind of stuff, I guess for a safety thing should one of them break.

 

[panik44]

Back in the old days of Press Cameras (the 40's) some designs of flash units had this such screw in bulb. They did a great job of lighting up the immediate world. And or blinding someone. Yes the plastic coating was to help contain it from shattering. Don't set off too many at one time.

 

[stevemb]

Neat stuff above ! In the 70's-80's I did a fair bit of scenery,wildlife, a variety of races, and a couple weddings. I never made the jump to digital, though nieces and nephews have bought me two. I do have one neat little camera from an uncle. He flew spotter planes for scouting and after action pics. Its funny, his brother went into intell, and viewed some of his pics doing after action assesments. But I was left a miniture camera, in a miniture form fitting leather case. It looks like a 35mm SLR, but its 1 1/2" across and about the same deep, with lense. Name on front of lense cover portion of the leather case says "Mycro". On top of the camera itself, it say Mycro, patents, made in japan. All the controls work, it's not a toy. I wonder what it might be worth ? steve

 

[SuperSwede]

Steve: thats a camera for 16mm unperforated film..
http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Mycro

unfortunally theres usually not much value in old cameras..unless you have a rare model .. seen ebay listings rangeing from 20 to 200$ depending on model..

 

[street]

Here is my collection of old cameras. The bottom row are Nikon Fs. This is the camera that changed the way that news journalist took pictures. When this camera came out in 1959 the news journalist stop carrying the Speed Graphics and starting carrying the Nikon F. On the top row there are Nikon F2s which most camera experts say was the best mechanical camera ever made.

Camera on the left is a Nikon F Fhotomic TN with a 250 shot motor drive. Camera on the right is a Nikon F, FTN

Camera on the left is a Nikon F2 Photomic with a 250 shot motor drive. Camera on the right is a Nikon F2 Photomic with a Polaroid Back.

Camera on the left is a Nikon F with a Eyelevel finder and it has the rare Speed Magny 100 Polaroid back. Camera on the right is a Nikon F Photomic with the very rare Medical lens with built in flash for taking close ups. It has it’s own power supply on the right.

This is a Nikon F with a bellows for taking close ups.

Cameras on the top row are Nikon F2s some with motor drives, and some with the rare Action Finders used for sporting events.
Cameras on the middle row are Nikon Fs some with the very rare F36 motor drives with wireless battery packs.
The cameras on the bottom row are the Nikon Range Finders. All are rare the first one on the left is the very rare Nikon M. This camera was made in Occupied Japan and dates to about 1950. Only about 2000 to 3000 made. The next camera is a Nikon S, transition model, yes we have transition models in cameras as well. The 3rd camera from the left is a Nikon S. the next two cameras are Nikon S2s one with chrome dials and one with the rare black dials. The next camera, 2nd from right is the very rare Nikon S4. Only a few thousand made and none were exported to the USA. The last one on the right is a Nikon S3.

This is a twin lens Mamiyaflex.

This is a Kodak, model No. 1A Pocket Kodak

This is a German made rangefinder, Voigtlander Vitessa.

 

[caryc]

Speaking of little cameras, did any of you ever buy one of the "miniature spy" cameras advertised in the old comic books along with the old "X-Ray Specs?

I actually sent away for one when I was a kid. As I remember, it was a pretty neat looking little camera and seemed to be well made. I never took any pictures with it though. Kind of wish I still had it.

 

[SuperSwede]

Street: That is one impressive Nikon collection.. !!
The F2 with that heavy motordrive was my fav when I worked as a fashion photographer back in the 80´s.. (along with the hasselblad´s of course..)
I hade two F2´s and a good selection of lenses but I sold them when I quit the job.
Still have a FA with a MD15 and a small selection of lenses.. thinking of having it overhauled and bring it back to use.. there´s a certain feeling in the hand with those cameras!

 

[street]

Street: That is one impressive Nikon collection.. !!
The F2 with that heavy motordrive was my fav when I worked as a fashion photographer back in the 80´s.. (along with the hasselblad´s of course..)
I hade two F2´s and a good selection of lenses but I sold them when I quit the job.
Still have a FA with a MD15 and a small selection of lenses.. thinking of having it overhauled and bring it back to use.. there´s a certain feeling in the hand with those cameras!

Thanks SuperSwede, Yea! Those things were built like a tank. It would probably cost $10,000 to build one of those Fs of F2s at todays labor cost. All of those cameras were hand built with hundreds of parts in each one of them. It just couldn't be done today.

 

[TucsonDirt]

Wow, nice camera collections guys!
And Caryc, we also found a whole box of flash attachments and flash bulbs like the one you posted. All the remaining cameras and flash bulbs were sold in a garage sale a few weeks ago, sad to say.

 

[BlackEye]

Seeing those old cameras reminds me of a garage sale find once. I purchased a box of flash bulbs, maybe a dozen or so. They were the size and shape of a regular 100 watt light bulb and had the same socket on them. I remember trying out a couple of them in a lamp. It was a good way of going temporarily blind for a few seconds.

I always wondered what they were actually used for. They were flash bulbs since the whole globe was filled with a spidery looking filament which of course instantly burned up when activated.

I should still have them packed away somewhere as I don't remember getting rid of them.

I found them in a box at the top of a closet. I still have 6 of them. They're marked GE Photo Flash #22. Now I'm tempted to pop one again. :mrgreen:

They're actually coated with a clear plastic kind of stuff, I guess for a safety thing should one of them break.

There's some on eBay if they are like these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Lot-of-6-GE-Photoflash-22-Lamp-Bulb-FG-1939-EX-Vintage-Class-M-/151119631475?pt=Camera_Flash_Accessories&hash=item232f6e9473

 

[WendyZXZ]

Those are nice collections of cameras!