Vintage Cameras

[rawill]

I have two Asahi Pentax cameras, lenses, filters etc to find a good home for.

Are they desireable items for collectors or should it all go in the skip.
Asahi Pentax K1000
Asahi Pentax Spotmatic.

[John 2]

In the UK, some photo courses still like to start students off with film and there is often a plea to the local club for the loan of film cameras. You might find a home for them at your local college.

[GrahamS]

To even think of tossing a K1000 and a Spotmatic in the skip fills me with despair!! Good ones are becoming rare and a collector will snap them up - advertise them on e-Bay.

[Mito]

+1 to that. To misquote, "one man's rubbish is another man's gold".

[rpcrowe]

Some vintage cameras have become collectors items and are valued accordingly. These, however are usually the higher end vintage cameras, not the cheaper cameras like the K1000 which were produced and sold in great numbers...

In the UK, some photo courses still like to start students off with film and there is often a plea to the local club for the loan of film cameras. You might find a home for them at your local college.

The same thing happens in many U.S. Community Colleges and I just cannot understand it! Sure, I learned photography using film. Anyone my age had just two choices, shooting film and drawing pictures on the walls of caves However, I strongly suspect that I would have learned my trade/art faster and easier by shooting digitally if that had been available...

I cannot understand the rationale for shooting film EXCEPT... Many of the colleges are set up with wet darkrooms and don't have the computer setups necessary for digital editing and, I also strongly suspect that many of the instructors know film photography but have let digital imaging pass them by. We tend to like to teach what we know even if it is irrelevant to our students! I personally know one photography instructor who has admitted to me that he doesn't understand digital photography and doesn't want to start again at the bottom of a learning curve. So, inferring from his disclosure, he'd rather continue teaching something in which he has amassed expertise than to go out on a limb and venture into a new art form...

IMO, digital photography makes more sense for students learning photography because:

1. Shooting is free after initial equipment purchase, the student can shoot as much as he or she desires without worrying about costs...

2. The EXIF data attached to digital images is one of the greatest learning tools available for a photographer.

3. The student can save and carry around his/her images far more easily than it was ever possible with silver halide based photography.

4. The digital medium is the future of photography, at least as we see it now. I personally don't think that film based photography (with the possible exception of some large format photography) has any more connection with today's photography than would teaching an aircraft repair student how to use stretched canvas to cover wooden aircraft wings...

Sorry that I was so wishy-washy about this subject! I will imagine that this post has irritated some traditionalists...

[Digital]

Richard, I can relate to the comment about in my day it was either shoot film or draw pictures on the wall of a cave.


Bruce

[Manfred M]

Interesting commentary Richard - the local Community College ripped out the B&W and colour darkrooms a number of years ago as part of their transition to digital. The space was turned into storage rooms. Film photography is not covered at all; but they kept the even older technology photographic hot lights; a few vintage Mole-Richardson units with their really heavy cast bodies and even heavier bases and stands. These are exclusively used in the photo department; the video department has much newer hot and cold lights.

I'm rather glad they did keep them, because I got a chance to play with them for a few hours one weekend I developed a real respect both the photographers and their subjects that used this technology in the 1940's and 1950's (and a bit beyond I suspect). They may have been WYSIWYG (what you is is what you get); but it did not take long to work up a sheen of perspiration when under those lights and the pupils shut down in a real hurry once those beasts were turned on. I can only imagine how more than a few fires occurred in the studios using them.

[rpcrowe]

Interesting commentary Richard - the local Community College ripped out the B&W and colour darkrooms a number of years ago as part of their transition to digital. The space was turned into storage rooms. Film photography is not covered at all; but they kept the even older technology photographic hot lights; a few vintage Mole-Richardson units with their really heavy cast bodies and even heavier bases and stands. These are exclusively used in the photo department; the video department has much newer hot and cold lights.

I'm rather glad they did keep them, because I got a chance to play with them for a few hours one weekend I developed a real respect both the photographers and their subjects that used this technology in the 1940's and 1950's (and a bit beyond I suspect). They may have been WYSIWYG (what you is is what you get); but it did not take long to work up a sheen of perspiration when under those lights and the pupils shut down in a real hurry once those beasts were turned on. I can only imagine how more than a few fires occurred in the studios using them.

Heck, I once started a minor fire on a U.S. Navy Nuclear Submarine using hot-lights while shooting motion pictures. The subs don't have a lot of room and the halogen light was placed a bit too close to the bulkhead while shooting in a small compartment. The paint began to bubble and began burning. Easily extinguished but quite embarrassing for me.

Asbestos gloves were a standard part of our kit when working with hot-lights...

[stuck]

I have a Pentax SFXn gathering dust. I called in at a local camera shop just last week and asked if it had any value. The reply was simple, no. BUT had it been a K1000 then the shop would have been interested.

So as already advised, don't bin them.

Ken

[rawill]

Thank you all.

You have answered my questions.
I really wasn't going to put them in the skip, but cleaning out this family estate is a bit of a nightmare.
Have you seen programmes on TV on "Hoarders". This is what I am doing. But among the real rubbish is some good stuff.

Like the cameras, enlarging equipment,
but how about 12 knitting machines, and 4 sewing machines, 12 hammers, anyone what one!

[tao2]

I have two Asahi Pentax cameras, lenses, filters etc to find a good home for.

Are they desireable items for collectors or should it all go in the skip.
Asahi Pentax K1000
Asahi Pentax Spotmatic.

Hi Robin, in the UK the Spotmatic is the more desireable (collectible) one. Prices vary alarmingly though - without a lens and exc tae mint condition £20-75. With an original lens/case - £50-120. The K1000 is roughly around the same price. In the USA probably around half those prices due tae the numbers available. No idea about NZ/AUS market prices. Have a look on http://forum.mflenses.com/ .The marketplace has a swap section , ye may find something interesting in exchange for one or both cameras.

AH'm tempted but don't want tae get intae another camera series (with accompanying GAS)

[benm]

The lenses are supposed to still work when using them with specific cameras, NEX series and maybe others. At least, that is what I have read.

The camera bodies could be used for conversation-making doorstops

[rpcrowe]

The lenses are supposed to still work when using them with specific cameras, NEX series and maybe others. At least, that is what I have read.

The camera bodies could be used for conversation-making doorstops

Or interesting looking paper weights. A buddy of mine (who smoked cigarettes) used an old large aerial camera lens as an ash tray. Imagine the feeling snuffing out a cigarette on the front element of a camera lens!

[rawill]

Well I listed it and someone enquired about the 1:2.5 28 mm Pangor Wide Angle lens.
It is fitted to a Spotmatic, so screw in style.

[drjuice]

Hi, Rawill (however, I'm still wondering why RAW makes you ill. ;~)

At any rate, you've clearly come across some gems. Amongst my Mom's treasures, inherited from her Dad, was an electrically powered tool for making bulls into steers, in case some of you let your children read the fora on this website. ;~)

Then, I found my Dad's first fishing rod that still works just fine after I got a reel and tied a few flies for it (got three brown trout about 2# apiece (just under 1 kilo) and a few slews of rainbow trout totaling about 25 pounds over the course of the summer); his fishing basket (which was always lined with ferns before they started fishing); and his boning knife.

And, finally, my Dad's foldout Leica and my first softball bat.

All in all, it was a pretty great set of finds. I wish you luck in getting the sorting completed! ;~)

virginia

[PRSearls]

Here is my late dad's old camera, a Voigtlander, probably purchased in the late 1930's. It was the first camera I ever used (as a child). The shutter still works and even has roll of film inside (dad's). It is a cherished heirloom. Technology has come a long way although the basics of good photography has changed little (just styles and tastes). No histogram on this puppy!

Paul S

[rawill]

Hi, Rawill (however, I'm still wondering why RAW makes you ill. ;~)
virginia

hehe, Virginia, you are the first one to come up with that.

In early days of internet here my provider only had space for short email names,
So Robin and Averil Williams became "rawill".

I have used it as a user-name ever since.

[rawill]

No histogram on this puppy!

Paul S

hehe - and a good photo of it too.

Here is my bellows - a Unca Foitzik Trier.

[Kris V]

Thank you all.

......but how about 12 knitting machines, .......

Too bad you're on the other side of the world.

I've been looking for a decent one for ages.
They're hard to find, and the ones that are sold on Amazon have so many negative reviews that I hate to spend money on one of those.

[rawill]

Too bad you're on the other side of the world.

I've been looking for a decent one for ages.
They're hard to find, and the ones that are sold on Amazon have so many negative reviews that I hate to spend money on one of those.

I guess you mean the knitting machines.
Sadly they are quite heavy, costs of sending a unit to you would be prohibitive.