A Tale of Two Cameras
Nov 18, 2018 13:29:56 #
A follow up from a post made yesterday.
In 1953 my mom worked in a Kodak retail sales store in Hawaii. I was 5 years old at the time. A gentleman came in and wanted to trade a Leica in and negotiate a deal on a Kodak Retina camera. Kodak made some really good cameras at the time. The reason the gentleman wanted to trade in the Leica was that he wanted an American camera.
My mom knowing that I was both interested in taking photographs and very careful with my stuff negotiated with the store manager and purchased the Leica from the store. Mom and dad gave me the Leica IIIf for either Christmas or my birthday. I don't remember which.
Friday, I was in Tempe Camera to purchase some battery holders and strolled by their used department. There sat a Kodak Retina IIa camera in almost pristine condition. I thought it would make a nice complimentary team with the Leica I've had since I was 5. So, here's the two of them together for the "family" portrait.
Incidentally, I used two pieces of equipment I purchased from UHH members over the last few months. And, yes, I will be shooting some film with the 'new' camera in the very near future.
--Bob
In 1953 my mom worked in a Kodak retail sales store in Hawaii. I was 5 years old at the time. A gentleman came in and wanted to trade a Leica in and negotiate a deal on a Kodak Retina camera. Kodak made some really good cameras at the time. The reason the gentleman wanted to trade in the Leica was that he wanted an American camera.
My mom knowing that I was both interested in taking photographs and very careful with my stuff negotiated with the store manager and purchased the Leica from the store. Mom and dad gave me the Leica IIIf for either Christmas or my birthday. I don't remember which.
Friday, I was in Tempe Camera to purchase some battery holders and strolled by their used department. There sat a Kodak Retina IIa camera in almost pristine condition. I thought it would make a nice complimentary team with the Leica I've had since I was 5. So, here's the two of them together for the "family" portrait.
Incidentally, I used two pieces of equipment I purchased from UHH members over the last few months. And, yes, I will be shooting some film with the 'new' camera in the very near future.
--Bob
Nov 18, 2018 13:56:48 #
Both of those little jewels are gorgeous! Reminds me of an experience a couple years ago. My wife and I were on a WW2 battlefield tour of Europe, which ended in Munich. Instead of going straight home, we stayed for a couple extra days. One morning, we took a bus to the Neuschwanstein Castle. Before you enter the castle, there's a waiting area where everyone seemed to be gathered around a couple young Japanese girls. I wandered over to join the fun and immediately saw the reason for the mini crowd. One was shooting with a Canon AE-1 and the other a new looking Canon A-1. It was a treat for all of us, as is yours.
Nov 18, 2018 13:58:42 #
rmalarz wrote:
A follow up from a post made yesterday. br br In ... (show quote)
That kewl, Nice catch on the Retina, The Leica is kewl too.
Nov 18, 2018 14:04:26 #
Thanks, greyfox and Manglesphoto. Your visit and comments are appreciated.
--Bob
--Bob
Nov 18, 2018 14:25:10 #
My first Leica was a 1A which I used in west Africa in the mid '60s for street shots. In that time and place Americans with cameras were very suspect so I always held my little Leica in the palm of my right hand held in place by a small elastic band. That little camera was superb technology even 20+ years after it was considered an old camera, was extremely quiet to shoot and very unobtrusive. Nevertheless, locals would often come up to me and ask "Does that camera shoot night pictures?" ... since that was what they thought all Americans (automatically classified as spies) did with their cameras.
On a boat trip down the Niger River to Timbuctu I was out on deck taking pictures of the dunes in the Sahara when my cabin mate came up with a distinguished looking Tuareg nomad carrying the traditional curved dagger at his waste. Not to seem unfriendly I stuck out my hand to shake and realized that I had the camera entangled in my right hand and would need to untangle the elastic and so I stuck out my left hand and gave an apologetic look and gesture showing the Leica tangled in my right hand. He hesitated but then shook hands and chatted a couple of minutes before he moved off.
Later my cabin mate, the Deputy Mayor of Timbuctu, explained how lucky I was to get off the boat alive because by putting out my left hand to shake hands I had gravely insulted the august Tuareg tribesman. It seems that to many nomadic tribesmen of the time offering a left hand was to offer one's "toilet hand" and was an insult only assuaged by death of the offender. Still I wish that I could have gotten a picture with my Leica 1A of that tribesman, a very distinguished and picturesque gentleman to let such a callow youth live to tell the story 50 years later.
My next Leica was a bigger and clunkier M3. Just not the same camera at all so I switched to Nikon and used a Nikorex F in a lot of subsequent shooting in the desert until the powder-fine sand got into the inner workings and made it sound like a gravel truck every time I pressed the shutter. Those conditions would have required a housed camera to survive but that 1A was still good even years later. I traded the 1A in on a new Nikon SLR and now every time I see an old Leica in a shop window I stop to see if it might be a 1A. Best camera ever!
On a boat trip down the Niger River to Timbuctu I was out on deck taking pictures of the dunes in the Sahara when my cabin mate came up with a distinguished looking Tuareg nomad carrying the traditional curved dagger at his waste. Not to seem unfriendly I stuck out my hand to shake and realized that I had the camera entangled in my right hand and would need to untangle the elastic and so I stuck out my left hand and gave an apologetic look and gesture showing the Leica tangled in my right hand. He hesitated but then shook hands and chatted a couple of minutes before he moved off.
Later my cabin mate, the Deputy Mayor of Timbuctu, explained how lucky I was to get off the boat alive because by putting out my left hand to shake hands I had gravely insulted the august Tuareg tribesman. It seems that to many nomadic tribesmen of the time offering a left hand was to offer one's "toilet hand" and was an insult only assuaged by death of the offender. Still I wish that I could have gotten a picture with my Leica 1A of that tribesman, a very distinguished and picturesque gentleman to let such a callow youth live to tell the story 50 years later.
My next Leica was a bigger and clunkier M3. Just not the same camera at all so I switched to Nikon and used a Nikorex F in a lot of subsequent shooting in the desert until the powder-fine sand got into the inner workings and made it sound like a gravel truck every time I pressed the shutter. Those conditions would have required a housed camera to survive but that 1A was still good even years later. I traded the 1A in on a new Nikon SLR and now every time I see an old Leica in a shop window I stop to see if it might be a 1A. Best camera ever!
Nov 18, 2018 14:27:14 #
My first Leica was a 1A which I used in west Africa in the mid '60s for street shots. In that time and place Americans with cameras were very suspect so I always held my little Leica in the palm of my right hand held in place by a small elastic band. That little camera was superb technology even 20+ years after it was considered an old camera, was extremely quiet to shoot and very unobtrusive. Nevertheless, locals would often come up to me and ask "Does that camera shoot night pictures?" ... since that was what they thought all Americans (automatically classified as spies) did with their cameras.
On a boat trip down the Niger River to Timbuctu I was out on deck taking pictures of the dunes in the Sahara when my cabin mate came up with a distinguished looking Tuareg nomad carrying the traditional curved dagger at his waste. Not to seem unfriendly I stuck out my hand to shake and realized that I had the camera entangled in my right hand and would need to untangle the elastic and so I stuck out my left hand and gave an apologetic look and gesture showing the Leica tangled in my right hand. He hesitated but then shook hands and chatted a couple of minutes before he moved off.
Later my cabin mate, the Deputy Mayor of Timbuctu, explained how lucky I was to get off the boat alive because by putting out my left hand to shake hands I had gravely insulted the august Tuareg tribesman. It seems that to many nomadic tribesmen of the time offering a left hand was to offer one's "toilet hand" and was an insult only assuaged by death of the offender. Still I wish that I could have gotten a picture with my Leica 1A of that tribesman, a very distinguished and picturesque gentleman to let such a callow youth live to tell the story 50 years later.
My next Leica was a bigger and clunkier M3. Just not the same camera at all so I switched to Nikon and used a Nikorex F in a lot of subsequent shooting in the desert until the powder-fine sand got into the inner workings and made it sound like a gravel truck every time I pressed the shutter. Those conditions would have required a housed camera to survive but that 1A was still good even years later. I traded the 1A in on a new Nikon SLR and now every time I see an old Leica in a shop window I stop to see it might be a 1A. Best camera ever!
On a boat trip down the Niger River to Timbuctu I was out on deck taking pictures of the dunes in the Sahara when my cabin mate came up with a distinguished looking Tuareg nomad carrying the traditional curved dagger at his waste. Not to seem unfriendly I stuck out my hand to shake and realized that I had the camera entangled in my right hand and would need to untangle the elastic and so I stuck out my left hand and gave an apologetic look and gesture showing the Leica tangled in my right hand. He hesitated but then shook hands and chatted a couple of minutes before he moved off.
Later my cabin mate, the Deputy Mayor of Timbuctu, explained how lucky I was to get off the boat alive because by putting out my left hand to shake hands I had gravely insulted the august Tuareg tribesman. It seems that to many nomadic tribesmen of the time offering a left hand was to offer one's "toilet hand" and was an insult only assuaged by death of the offender. Still I wish that I could have gotten a picture with my Leica 1A of that tribesman, a very distinguished and picturesque gentleman to let such a callow youth live to tell the story 50 years later.
My next Leica was a bigger and clunkier M3. Just not the same camera at all so I switched to Nikon and used a Nikorex F in a lot of subsequent shooting in the desert until the powder-fine sand got into the inner workings and made it sound like a gravel truck every time I pressed the shutter. Those conditions would have required a housed camera to survive but that 1A was still good even years later. I traded the 1A in on a new Nikon SLR and now every time I see an old Leica in a shop window I stop to see it might be a 1A. Best camera ever!
Nov 19, 2018 05:36:46 #
Nov 19, 2018 06:10:38 #
rmalarz wrote:
A follow up from a post made yesterday. br br In ... (show quote)
Awesome and yes they do compliment each other....
Nov 19, 2018 06:35:14 #
Nov 19, 2018 06:36:31 #
Nov 19, 2018 07:01:57 #
rmalarz wrote:
A follow up from a post made yesterday. br br In ... (show quote)
You were quite the young lad at 5 years old. I'm trying to remember what I thought was important at 5. Drawing a blank. That was 70 years ago.
Nov 19, 2018 07:22:09 #
Nov 19, 2018 07:36:04 #
Very nice. There's something to be said for those old, mechanical cameras. I went on eBay and bought models of cameras that I had owned in the past. I don't shoot film with them, but they're nice reminders of earlier days.
Nov 19, 2018 07:39:48 #
Nov 19, 2018 08:08:55 #
John, for me it was 65 years ago. It seems that from a very early age, something shy of 3-perhaps earlier, I seemed to think everything was important. I pretty much still do. I was also very careful with things that were mine.
I appreciate your stopping by and sharing a bit of yourself.
--Bob
I appreciate your stopping by and sharing a bit of yourself.
--Bob
traderjohn wrote:
You were quite the young lad at 5 years old. I'm trying to remember what I thought was important at 5. Drawing a blank. That was 70 years ago.
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