More vintage gear....

I have somehow become the receiver of vintage camera gear from my aging uncles....

Included this time was:
Nikon EM body #1
Nikon EM body #2
Nikon FM2 body
Nikon Series E 50mm f/1.8 #1
Nikon Series E 50mm f/1.8 #2
Nikkor 50mm f/1.4
Nikon 105mm f/2.8
Nikon 135mm f/3.5
Sigma UC Zoom 28-70 f/2.8-4
Sunpack Auto 131S speedlight
Polarizing filter
Case for the EM in excellent condition
An old plastic numbered box that holds four rolls of film

This is all in addition to the OTHER uncle who gave me his Nikon kit which was extensive and I still use it today.

It would be interesting if this thread morphs into vintage camera equipment owned by TWTERs.

SL350 said:

It would be interesting if this thread morphs into vintage camera equipment owned by TWTERs.

Click to expand...

Well I own it now so does that count? lol....

I kick myself for selling my old Honeywell Spotmatic F and 50mm f/1.4 in a garage sale a dozen years ago. I got that about 1974 and shot a bazillion frames with it. Then I sold off my Bessler 23C with a few lenses/negative carriers and gear in a moment of weakness.

I have a couple of my dad's cameras from when he grew up. Kodaks, some pretty cool old stuff and a 120 roll film bellows unit. I really should see if I can get some of them working again.

I still use an Olympus OM-1 and OM-2, preferring the 1. Vivatar 283 with filters, remote sensors, charger and ni-cad pack, bounce kit. Complete Cokin filter set for the OM. Original sales brochures and stuff. Old umbrellas and background rolls. A Mamiya 645 medium format with extra lenses and brackets and gizmos that I once took wedding photos with. Probably 20 years since I last used it.

But then I also have a odd bunch of old WWII and earlier cameras. None worth much but a glimpse of camera tech of the times. Only a few old cameras like old Zeiss seem to be worth anything.

For film I still have several hundred rolls of a single dye lot KOdak 120 pro film from 1980. Same in silver B&W Kodak tri-x. They don't make them like that anymore.

Probably more than anyone wanted to know...

More than anyone wanted to know? Naw.... I think the older gear is still cool and served it's purpose in it's heyday. Just the standard progression of technology, costing, manufacturing and such which have changed over the years.

I've also come full circle to recognize there IS a difference between digital and film. I'm of the opinion that images shot on film, then burned on paper from a negative seem richer or deeper, almost more dimensional than that of the digital era. If I try to break down the 'why' to that statement, I think it's simply because there IS depth to a negative. True, measurable physical depth. Then toss that on paper and that again also had true measurable depth.

Anthony used to play a lot in here with him medium format gear. He seemed like he had a really good handle on what it was capable of. Kind of miss not seeing his shots anymore.

Any chance you'll fire the medium format up and post some scans?

I might do the OM-1 again but the medium format is so darn difficult because I gave my darkroom equipment to Eastfield college a long time ago. The labs I used are long ago closed down. Even the equipment needs hard to find batteries that I don't want to even Google. And by the end of my OM-1 days, 35mm was so good, there just wasn't any need for medium format even in poster sized prints. I thought the OM lenses were as good as any including the Nikon and Zeiss though some would argue. No, I just can't see doing the 645 again anytime soon. If I was going to do 120 film again and use up what I have saved it would be in one of the other cameras that looks like a Yashika mat 124G but of early German heritage. A lightweight box camera, not the big heavy unit like the Mamiya.

Funny I have all these old cameras but not one picture of my Kawasaki 500 triple that I rode for 25-30K miles. Wish I had one picture of it but I always like taking pictures of everyone else.