What Age is Considered to be Vintage in the Photographic World?
Oct 4, 2019 16:23:14 #
ornault wrote:
I'd like to hear some UHH input on some or all of ... (show quote)
About an hour.
Seriously, lenses are less frequently replaced, but camera bodies have a life of about 2-3 yrs before their feature sets are superseded by genuinely better, cooler stuff. I have at least 5 lenses that have not changed much over the past 15 yrs.
Oct 4, 2019 18:26:25 #
It ain't wine, it's hardware!
I used to think SOME PHOTOGRAPHERS are insane, especially when they suffer a GAS attack and go out and buy stuff they don't need, and perhaps don't even know how to use, perhaps wishfully thinking "IT" will improve their photography, that is, until I met some avid CAMERA COLLECTORS- "crazy" ain't the word- try "berserk" I witnessed a guy spending $2,000. on a mint condition Vest Pocket Kodak Autographic because it had green leather covering and had not only the stylus but a few rolls of useless film with the "carbon paper" in the roll-film backing! He "needed" this camera to complete his "Autographic Collection"! For the uninitiated, it's a Kodak folder circa the 1920s, that came with a trapdoor in the back which enabled the photographer to write something on the film via a carbon-paper like stuff on the backing paper, using a stylus that was supplied with the camera and stored on a clip on the body. The writing would survive processing and washing and would impart the text, in white, on the prints. For an addition $500., the seller included an album full of prints with historical data like "Aunt Marry 1927"
Rarity counts. At one point in time, a Zeiss Contessa Nettel Tropical with red bellows went for 5 Grand on the collectors market- now you can get one for a mere $1,000.
I was never a collector. I'll admit that some old cameras induce a pang of nostalgia like the ones from the 1950s when there were still a plethora of cameras made in the U.S. and Germany, but I won't buy any. I have purchased a few big old wooden studio cameras with impressive brass lens barrels as a showpiece in my old studio- I had more space there. Theses old monsters were crafted like fine furniture with tongue and groove joinings and have character- the rest are just hardware.
"Vintage" is overused. "Circa" is better!
I used to think SOME PHOTOGRAPHERS are insane, especially when they suffer a GAS attack and go out and buy stuff they don't need, and perhaps don't even know how to use, perhaps wishfully thinking "IT" will improve their photography, that is, until I met some avid CAMERA COLLECTORS- "crazy" ain't the word- try "berserk" I witnessed a guy spending $2,000. on a mint condition Vest Pocket Kodak Autographic because it had green leather covering and had not only the stylus but a few rolls of useless film with the "carbon paper" in the roll-film backing! He "needed" this camera to complete his "Autographic Collection"! For the uninitiated, it's a Kodak folder circa the 1920s, that came with a trapdoor in the back which enabled the photographer to write something on the film via a carbon-paper like stuff on the backing paper, using a stylus that was supplied with the camera and stored on a clip on the body. The writing would survive processing and washing and would impart the text, in white, on the prints. For an addition $500., the seller included an album full of prints with historical data like "Aunt Marry 1927"
Rarity counts. At one point in time, a Zeiss Contessa Nettel Tropical with red bellows went for 5 Grand on the collectors market- now you can get one for a mere $1,000.
I was never a collector. I'll admit that some old cameras induce a pang of nostalgia like the ones from the 1950s when there were still a plethora of cameras made in the U.S. and Germany, but I won't buy any. I have purchased a few big old wooden studio cameras with impressive brass lens barrels as a showpiece in my old studio- I had more space there. Theses old monsters were crafted like fine furniture with tongue and groove joinings and have character- the rest are just hardware.
"Vintage" is overused. "Circa" is better!
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