Classic film cameras from my personal collection & photo apparatus for sale

A great chance to own one of the best film cameras, at an affordable price, that you will be using day in, day out! Click here to read all about it!

 

 

Hi, folks! Rather than just keeping adding to my posts here every time I decide to offer a camera for sale, I have left this page permanently as the first one you come to when you come to my blog; it shows you what I am offering for sale without you having to navigate all round the blog just to find out! Most of the items I was offering on here sold long ago, so at present, I am offering just one item for sale to you, and a superb one it is, too!

A new refinement to the blog is how you can make your purchases — you can either purchase your camera by emailing me directly on harsum888 at yahoo dot com, or leaving a comment here on this blog OR you can click on that photo of an Olympus 35SP camera, just on your right hand side of the blog here, right underneath the world map….that’ll take you to my store on eCrater.com Click any of the links on the main page that you come to when you search for my blog….any of those links will take you to my other stores online.

Anyway, besides buying a camera here, you’ll find some really great stuff to tickle your fancy, ranging from news or tidbits about famous photographers, unknown photographers, film and digital camera news, 35mm film reviews, and lots, lots more. I usually aim to post at least once a day, but failing that, depending upon what tasks the wife has lined up for me, at least once or twice a week!

Aside of that, I will also talk about film noir, writing, my other love, street photography, and also on the odd occasion, anything that really bugs me. We’re all allowed to rant and rave about things in this world!

I try and arrange regular street photography sessions here in Vancouver BC as well, so please do keep dropping in regularly. The most recent street shoot went really well and was enjoyed thoroughly by all concerned…thank you for attending!

Other than that, I hope you enjoy reading this blog, and in the fashion of that famous phrase “me casa, su casa”, this blog is my blog….and your blog; if you don’t like anything in it, or feel there’s something missing, well, please let me know by your comments. I’d really appreciate that.

Oh, and a very, very warm welcome to the blog!         🙂

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Oh, well…it’s heavy enough to use as a doorstop, or a weapon!

Sometimes, especially in commerce, it’s better to do nothing but look at the latest and best products, make notes, and then design something that incorporates everything all those products had, but with perhaps things that they didn’t have.

If you do that, then you will generally have a sure-fire winner on your hands.

That’s probably what happened to the machine I am leading you onto here.

Notice I called it a “machine”, not a camera? Well that’s because it is a precision engineered machine, as well as fantastic camera.

The camera is none other than the Nikon F Photomic slr.

I know. The Nikon F was not the only slr around at the time. But everyone remembers it as being the most famous one, because it had all the best features of other cameras of the era….the Pentax, Leica, Contax and others.

At the time, and we are talking of around the late 1950s, the majority of the cameras available were in essence, a compromise. You got sharp images, but the lens was fixed focus. Or you got variable focus lenses, but lost out in speed. So, a compromise, whereby you had to accept one feature but lose out to another.

Enter stage left, the Nikon F!

No longer did you have to put up with lenses that remained stopped down after exposure. The mirror in the Nikon F swiftly flew back into it’s original position after every shot. It’s viewfinder could be swapped with a plethora of different ones in order to shoot every conceivable photo. Added to that, was a huge range of additional lenses, power drives for faster shooting, extra film backs that gave you up to 250 exposures, titanium foil shutters, the list goes on.

But above all, the Nikon F was so solidly put together, that photographers even now marvel at how great it feels to hold in the hand. And to quote a famous photographer I once knew…..”if it stops working, you can always give it to your wife to use as doorstop, or failing that, use it as a lethal weapon to throw at a thief intent on robbing you!”

When it was marketed, the Nikon F raised so many valid questions from the public. Why were German cameras, which were at the time leaders in the field, why were they so expensive? How could the cheaper Nikon F, and one made by Japan no less, be better and more solidly built than the German Leicas, Contax and Zeiss cameras?

photo courtesy klassic-cameras.de

So obviously, the German manufacturers had no answer to that! And of course, the public voted by their feet, making the Nikon F one of the highest selling slr cameras in the world.

What were the benefits of the Nikon F then?

It is such a marvel of futuristic thinking, that even now, in the 21st century, the Nikon F goes on and on. Reason being, it has no batteries that can go flat or start to leak, no electronics that can malfunction, and no contacts that corrode and cause trouble later on.

The Nikon is so fundamentally designed, that a complete novice can use it.

The top half of the camera just has simple shutter dial for the speed, a film advance lever for moving the frame on after shooting, the all-important shutter release button and of course the film rewind knob.

At the back of the camera, there is a lever that allows you to swap the viewfinder, while back on the front again is a self timer lever, mirror lockup switch, depth of field preview button and a release button for when you wish to change lenses over.

In use, the Nikon F is akin to a world class ballet dancer….each dial moves into place with a satisfying click, the film advance sound is precise and accurate, and all other controls are placed in such aesthetic positions, that one wonders how the engineers managed to get everything just right.

The Nikon F has been used to cover wars, it has been used to take photos in space during lunar orbit, you name it, it has done it.

                 

I think I have said enough here now to whet your appetite! Go get your hands on one!

And no, before you ask, I do have one myself, and I am afraid I will not be selling it. I am keeping it!

🙂

photos courtesy flickr.com

 

Your source for camera coverings!

Hi.

I keep getting lots of emails about camera coverings which I am able to supply to give your camera a brand new fresh look.

 

So here is the link that gives you the lowdown on what is available!

Fitting the coverings is simple….the coverings are of very high quality, much better in fact than the original coverings, self-adhesive and easy to fit.

Even if you make a mistake by misjudging the fitting of the covering, the material has a certain amount of “give” in it and will generally settle into the camera moulded recess with a little pressure with your fingers in the right direction.

If you need any help at all, feel free to email me or leave a comment here and I will reply asap.

🙂

Good day, friends! I present the Pentax K1000!

Hi everyone!

Long time, no speaky! The Covid19 thing has certainly brought major changes to our lives and our behaviour, for sure!

Personally speaking, I have never been so paranoid in my life before. On the rare occasions when I have to venture out to the grocery store, I am forever looking behind my back to see how close the next person is to me….all stores in my country and probably yours too, have that safe 2m distance markers outside their stores as well as inside, to remind us all to keep our distance.

Of course, most people I’ve seen couldn’t care less about that and routinely will push past me, or get real close rather wait for the space to appear naturally after the other customer has moved on. It’s so annoying and frustrating, because in pointing it out to that person, you will probably cause an argument, something which I do not want with anyone, especially at this time.

The other day, I was witness to a fist fight at the lineup at my local supermarket, as 2 guys argued and fists started flying, as to who was first in the line!

Anyway, that’s something for another day! Let’s talk about something neutral and interesting to pass your lockdown moments!

I want to tell you about a camera, one of many, that I still love using.

photo courtesy flickr.com

It’s the Pentax K1000. Or to be more precise, the Asahi Pentax K1000. Available in chrome or plain black styles.

You will find it has nothing automatic. That’s right, nothing!

No autofocus, no autorewind, no automatic shutter selection, no self timer, no auto exposure, no mirror lock, no on/off switch, no interchangeable viewfinder screens.

So what kind of a crap camera is that then, many may say!

photo courtesy flickr.com   

Well, shall I say something here?

As your friend holding his/her digicam stands there trying to work out why their camera costing $$$$$ refuses to take any shots, either because the battery is low, or the mini-brain inside it tells it one or more sensors are not giving the correct information, your Pentax is shooting away merrily.

Simple.

The Pentax has virtually nothing to go wrong. No complicated electronic “brains”, no chips inside that can short circuit. Ok, the only thing it does have is a little, easily obtainable cell battery for the meter. But even if that battery is not there, the camera will still take photos!

The shutter is silky smooth, something even the Leica cannot manage.

To take a shot, just focus till the image is sharp in the viewfinder, and click. That’s it.

As long as your film is wound on to the next frame, the Pentax will take your photo every single time. NO annoying shutter lag, no delays while the computer like in other cameras works out the correct exposure etc.

So I will not bore you with technical details. You can read a plethora of that on the web.

Suffice it to say, anybody who has used, or still uses, this Pentax, will tell you a 1000 reasons why they keep using it, day in, day out, year in, year out.

Ok, so the Pentax isn’t a so-called professional-level camera, but just compare the shots you take with it, to those taken with any high priced SLR and I can say, with hand on heart, you will be hard pushed to tell the difference.

One final thing. Be sure to buy an Asahi Pentax. There are other models made in Hong Kong and China which do not have the Asahi name on the front. These models are ok, but not as good as the Asahi version, due to a large amount of plastic having been introduced into the camera to save on costs.

I normally have several of these in excellent working condition for sale normally, but at this time, I am afraid I am sorry I don’t have spare ones available. I only have 2, and both have enormous sentimental value for me personally, and I will scream and cry like a child, if you try to take to take them away from me!

Happy shooting with your Asahi Pentax K100.

🙂

 

#AsahiPentaxK1000 #film #SLR #film #solid #Asahi #Pentax #filmcamera999

 

 

 

 

Just to say..

 

A quick hello and warm hugs to all of my friends here!

And to make sure you are all safe and well.

I have received quite a few requests for information on photographic products recently, certainly more than I normally get, no doubt due to so many of us on enforced stay-at-home, self-isolation etc etc, but please be patient, and I promise to answer all your requests as soon as possible.

Like many of you, I have been forced to self-isolate, not an easy task at all but hopefully there is light at the end of the tunnel.

A special thank you to my good friend Marina Kanavaki for her support, too! She has been with me more or less since I started this blog and is a very special person, as I am sure you are all aware. Thank you, Marina!

Needless to say, this crisis has changed us all immeasurably. Gone are the assumptions that we took for granted, just weeks ago.

Life plans have had to be changed. And as yet, there is no end in sight.

There is political wrangling going on the world over….who is to blame for the virus, who failed, how and when….whose heads should roll….what have we learnt from this etc etc.

This will go on for a very long time now.

One thing is for sure. Nature has shown us just how insignificant we all are. All the technology, all the money, all the power we thought we had, cannot help us very much.

We are at the mercy of Nature.

Surely THAT is the lesson here…..to look after the planet, it’s resources and giving Nature it’s rightful place in the ecosystem, and not meddling with things we do not fully understand.

Hope you are all well and safe?

Just checking to see if you are all ok?

This is my 4th week in lockdown…..I started self-isolation 4 weeks ago due to a family member being sent home by employer for self-isolation. When I mentioned that to my employers, I too was sent home for a 14 day self-isolation.

Weirdly, I developed a sore throat and tightness in my chest about a week ago, which I didn’t mention to my family, for fear of creating panic, but yesterday it became worse so I had to call the paramedics.

The para-doctor arrived at 1am this morning, checked me out and said my symptoms could be Covid related, so told me to self isolate yet again in one room of the house, where none of the family will be allowed. That’s tough, but we will somehow try to carry that out. Meanwhile, the doctor didn’t prescribe anything, aside of the usual advice to take paracetamol and hot drinks, which shows that nobody really knows how to battle this virus.

Anyway, that’s enough of my woes. Hope you are all keeping well.

Stay safe. Stay home if you can.

🙂

 

My friends….

Yes.

That’s right…my friends.

That’s how I feel right now, in our time of need.

Even though we are all 1000s of miles apart, I feel we have a special kind of bond in this crazy world of ours, that is undergoing such a huge radical change right now, changes that we may not see again for a very long time to come.

I won’t bore you with all the details. This is a time for us all to follow guidelines that people and governments have given us and to look after family and each other as much as we can.

Aside of that, in my view, we are Nature’s call.

When the time is right, this calamity will end, for nothing goes on forever.

At that time, those of us who are left on this planet should be give thanks for being alive.

It’s as stark and simple as that.

So. Be safe. Stay at home.

 

The Amazing Spider….oops! No, I mean..

The Amazing Rollei 35 range of film cameras..real film, real cameras!

You may indeed have read about these tiny 35mm cameras before, and I remember I myself have sold several of these beautiful cameras on here too.

So. Tell us about these cameras then I hear you say.

The Rollei range comprises several models, ranging from the simplest Rollei B35, to the top end Rollei 35SE and 35TE.

When it came onto the market, way back in the day in 1966 (oh….the glorious 60s….bring back memories of hippies, long hair, flared pants, VW van buses, Woordstock etc!), it was billed as the world’s smallest 35mm pocket camera.

Lots of other cameras claimed to be pocket cameras, but none really were. Most would stick out like a sore thumb in your pocket, let alone a tight fitting pair of jeans that everyone seems to be wearing these days!

On the subject of jeans, let me digress a little here….how DO people go through their day wearing such a tight pair? I’ve tried tight jeans before, and I couldn’t get them off fast enough! I felt as if I was in a straight jacket or something, couldn’t bend down to pick up a dropped pencil or to tie my shoe laces, neither could I sit down comfortably, let alone sit down at the dinner table to eat. No. For me, it’s always been a loose pair of pants, and if Joe Public think that looks nerdy, well then, that’s just fine!

Ok, so the Rollei 35 is really tiny. There is no other camera smaller, aside of the Pentax ME, which is much smaller, but then again, it’s not a 35mm camera but uses 110 film.

In use, the Rollei 35 SE or TE models are simply art in motion!

Every control is intuitively placed, and just after a few minutes use, you will be using the controls like second nature.

The exposure meter is simple and to the point….there are 3 LEDs visible in the viewfinder….the top and bottom ones are red, to signify over and under exposure, whilst the middle one is green, signifying correct exposure.

All you need to do is push the edge of the control either up or down, which will move the LED indication to the correct position, all this without the need to look away from the viewfinder. Magic!

The focus on this camera is also different. You don’t get a rangefinder, or a split screen thing in the viewfinder, so you have to rely on knowing, and using that thing called zone focussing, basically meaning setting the aperture so that objects within a certain distance are in focus in your shot.

Aesthetically, the camera has a solid, well-built feel to it in your hand. It oozes quality.

The lenses used in the camera are pin sharp Tessar or Sonnar versions. Ok, so there is a little flare apparent in your shots, if you shoot facing the sun directly, but that can be taken as a quirk of using vintage film cameras, quirks which don’t exist with digital cameras.

So, the Rollei 35. A fantastic little camera. Get one if you can!

🙂

Some examples of shots taken with a Rollei 35…

 

Nothing to do with photography..!

If Only….

Hi guys!

As before, I have at times used this blog to vent my feelings and have the occasional rant!

Today is just such a day, too.

I happened to be chilling out as you do on a Sunday morning, rain outside, windy and generally yucky, so I thought, ok, let’s sit down and listen to a few songs on Youtube.

I don’t know how, but the Youtube search gravitated to a video by someone who has collated as many actresses and actors who passed away last year, and put it all in one video….yeah, I know….morbid to say the least!

But you know what? Yup….I started watching it! Curiosity and the cat!

As the video went on and on, most of the stars shown I had liked watching in the movies, and gradually I became more miserable…yes, even more than I normally am!

After 5 minutes or so, I had to shut it down as it started bringing home to myself that we are not here forever, and my own lifespan came into focus.

I learnt one simple thing today….that I will not want to say 2 words when I get old….really old, I mean!

What are those words? For me, they are “If Only” !

I don’t want to get old and say if only I had taken those piano lessons, or if only I had travelled to Alaska, or if only I had met Marina Kanavaki earlier…..LOL….only joking, Marina!

But you get the message.

We all have our If-Onlyies……but I for one am going to make darn sure my If-Onlyies are very very few!

So should you!

🙂

 

 

Instant photography!

Instant photography?

Oh…you mean pics taken with my cellphone? Yeah, they’re instant!

No!

I mean photos taken with a camera designed in the 1940s, and which was first offered for sale a few years later in 1950! And by photos, I mean proper hard-copy photos you can hold in your hand, rather than digital ones which can be destroyed in a few nano seconds with an idle click of a button.

That’s the conversation I recently had with a young guy at a camera fair where I was selling off some of my camera collection! It seems the latest generation only know of the very latest digital technology based gadgets, but nothing beyond that. That guy hadn’t even heard of Polaroid cameras…..to him, the word Polaroid meant sunglasses!

It’s indeed really sad that the basic engineering feats of yesteryear technology that set the base for what is now the internet and digital paraphernalia, has become forgotten.

As an example, I can bet your bottom dollar that very few people these days know how the computer or cellphone works, aside of actually using them. For example, they don’t know how digital data is stored….using logic gates within an integrated circuit, commonly known as a chip, as the base.

Nor do many people of this generation know what a logic gate is, or the precursor of that logic gate, which was the semiconductor transistor, or indeed, before that, the thermionic valve.

It seems these days, one only needs to know how to configure or use technical gadgets, and how they work is of no interest. Shame. In my time as a student, we were always interested in finding out how things worked, and many times experimenting at home in trying to find out too!

Back to Polaroid, though…

Yes, it’s old technology for sure….old with a capital o, too!

 

But if, like me, you have been lucky enough to use a Polaroid camera, you will know that it can produce magical results.

It’s not the same as a selfie taken on your cellphone! Taking a photo, a real photo, with a real camera, and then holding the photo after it has been processed, in your hand, is a totally different thing completely.

And it’s something our children, and then their children in turn, will never probably know about.

The Polaroid camera was first exhibited in 1948 by Edwin Land in the USA, hence it’s first name known as the Polaroid Land camera.

That first camera produced black and white prints within 1 minute, which was almost a miracle in those days! Later, in 1963, came the first of colour print versions which peeled apart, followed by the non-peeling version.

By around 1979, instant camera sales began slowing down, as the video camera revolution started and prices of 35mm cameras became lower and lower.

It is intriguing to know that although Polaroid created a worlds-first with their cameras, the very action of inculcating the desire for instant photography, ultimately led to the development, albeit after several decades, of the cameras we now all use the most…digital cameras!

Polaroid instant films are still available, as the medium has made a surprising comeback, and now, instant cameras are available from many other manufacturers, such as Fuji, Leica, Lomo, Kodak as well as Polaroid.

A very special and highly addictive hobby with instant photos has been taken up by creative types and artists (something maybe my friend Marina may be interested in…here’s looking at you, Marina!) ……watch it on this video here >>

 

Click for Polaroid video….

 

There’s also a funny vintage video advertising Polaroid cameras, too….click here to see it!

I will be posting more in-depth articles about the Polaroid cameras soon….stay tuned!

🙂