Post your "old camera collection" photos

[electronpusher]

No. 4 Cartridge Kodak Model E, 1897-1907. Used 4 x 5" glass plates or 12 exposure No. 104 roll film. Bausch & Lomb f/4 Rapid Rectilinear lens. Double extension, rising/falling front.

 

[Ray Petri]

J. Lizars Challenge C, 1910-1920, 1/4 plate hand camera. 1 - 1/100 sec Gautheir Ibso shutter, Aldis #2 Anastigmat f/6 lens, rising and falling front standard. Lizars was founded in 1830 by the optician John Lizars (1810-1879) in Glasgow, Scotland, later continued by the Ballentine family. Lizars also made additional optical instruments, including eye glasses, telescopes, microscopes, thermometers and binoculars. Lizars merged with C. Jeffery Black in 1999, forming Black and Lizars opticians in Scotland & Northern Ireland.

This one's a bit of a puzzle. The "Challenge C" is the most likely model, but I've not found an exact match to date. Although the plate holder is 1/4 plate size (3 1/4 x 4 1/4"), the image opening measures 3 x 3 1/4" which is not a standard size. The plate holder was probably used to produce 3 1/4 x 3 1/4" glass lantern slides.

View attachment 3842Always nice these survivors of yesteryear, Dennis. And just like today - you even get choice of two viewfinders - the optical prismatic thingy on the front right hand side and the ground glass screen - used with a bag over your head of course! What more could the young enterprising photographer of the day need?
You are more than likely correct about the lantern plate holder. There would not have been too many amateur photographers keen enough - or indeed wealthy enough to have toured and taken loads of lantern plates in those days. My grandfather had quite a collection of lantern plates and a few nice cameras and a stereo plate camera he used to use. He gave me a couple but unfortunately they were not treasured in the 40s-50s as they are today and they got used for other things. I turned one into an enlarger and used a hole in the shed roof as the light source because we had only gas lighting at that time. Sadly, when he passed on, an aunt's husband gave them to a scrap man before I could get my hands on them - I put it down to his ignorance!
Regards

 

[electronpusher]

Vest Pocket Autographic Kodak (1915-1926). Advertised in the U.S.A. as the "Soldier's camera" during World War I. Comments were written with a stylus in a window in the camera back onto the paper backing of the 127 film which incorporated a carbon-paper. This left the backing slightly translucent where the stylus passed. The writing window was then exposed to the daylight and the inscription burned onto the negative. It was truly pocket size at 2.5 x 4.5 x 1" when collapsed.

 

[electronpusher]

Univex Mercury II, Universal Camera Corp., 1945. Half-frame, 35mm, with rotary shutter - 1/20 - 1/1000 sec, B & T. Body cast from aluminum-magnesium alloy. f/2.7 Universal Tricor 35mm lens. The rotary shutter was constructed of two overlapping discs which separated to reveal a variable sized slit, scanning the film during rotation. The smaller the slit, the faster the shutter speed, one of the fastest of its day.

P F McFarland's excellent Repair & Restoration instructions are the best I've found. Mine is a bit slow, but works at all speeds. His short video shows the rotary shutter in action.

https://live.staticflickr.com/video/6857688092/1968c28f9b/700.mp4?s=eyJpIjo2ODU3Njg4MDkyLCJlIjoxNzAxNjg1NDA2LCJzIjoiYjAzYmI4YzZmNTJmNzRiYTk0ODY3OTlhYzFlNDFlOWU0Nzc2MTI2ZSIsInYiOjF9

 

[Jeff USN Photog 72-76]

B&J Press camera 4x5 with Graphex 135mm lens. I bought this from an old Chief Petty Officer in Pensacola FL at NASP in 1973. Still light tight and works fine.

My 2 Mamiyas C220 and C330 and my Hasselblad 1000f

 

[Jeff USN Photog 72-76]

Finally got a lens for my Nikon EM

 

[BSartist]

I had annotated this for someone else. My own first, second and fourth cameras. My third and fifth were sold when they still had value.

 

[MakisM1]

My old loves!

The Russian Lubitel 2



Canon FTb with Vivitar Series I (70-210)

 

[electronpusher]

Zeiss Contessa, Tessar 1:2.8 45mm lens, 1 - 1/500 sec + B Compur Syncro shutter, selenium meter. A compact, beautifully made (1953 - 1955) camera. My uncle bought this while in the Air Force during his time in Japan. Later he gave it to my dad who used it for family pictures until the selenium meter stopped working. I inherited it a few years ago when Dad passed away. I remember Dad's face behind it, fiddling with the meter and exposure settings every time I look at it. Bitter-sweet camera memories.

 

[electronpusher]

A bit of my Zeiss collection - Super Ikontas.

Super Ikonta 531

 

[electronpusher]

Super Ikonta 531-2

 

[electronpusher]

Super Ikonta 532-16

 

[electronpusher]

Super Ikonta 533-16

 

[TheBigYin]

Voigtländer Perkeo I by The Big Yin, on Flickr

 

[TheBigYin]

Fed 3 type B by The Big Yin, on Flickr

Seventies Classics by The Big Yin, on Flickr

 

[TheBigYin]

A-1 and Lenses by The Big Yin, on Flickr

 

[TheBigYin]

Bronica ETRSi by The Big Yin, on Flickr

Bronica Kit by The Big Yin, on Flickr

 

[ndcisiv]

Nikon F4 & Lenses by JP, on Flickr

 

[mrgooch]

My old Yashica G Rangefinder

 

[Jeff USN Photog 72-76]

Nikon F4 & Lenses by JP, on Flickr

Interesting in a film world the F4 would still be a Flagship camera