imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

From the golden age of camera-dom and my camera museum comes this blast from the past !

I picked this up many years ago at a camera show. It turns out to be a great resource for collectors or users of this older but very useable type equipment ! Then, unlike today, sellers were willing to FINANCE purchases ! Keep in mind this was BEFORE the 35mm SLR had fully taken hold. This is but a small sampling of this 103 page catalog. - ENJOY !

Sadly, the impressive 6X6 Kodak Chevron Rangefinder does not show up here because it did not sell well (620 film ) and was dis-continued by '58

P.S. Letter postage stamps in 1958 were 4 cents so I use a conservative 12X muliplier to convert these prices to today's !
.
.

The cover

(Download)

For the Retina lovers

(Download)

For the Leica lovers

(Download)

For the TLR lovers

(Download)

More TLR's ! TLR's were BIG back then !

(Download)

For Graflex lovers

(Download)

And, finally a very sought-after 6X6 folding camera today ....ironically, when intrduced it did not sell well and were heavily discounted !

(Download)

luvmypets Loc: Born & raised Texan living in Fayetteville NC

That catalog is a year older than I am! LOL!! Wouldn't we all like to be able to purchase cameras at those prices!!

Dodie

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Nice! I had that movie camera/projector combo.

Tomfl101 Loc: Mount Airy, MD

Great to look at. Very enjoyable. Thanks for the share.

Bill 45

Wards was the last place I think a person would look for Leica, Rolleiflex, 4X5 Graphics Camera. The cost of any one of those camera in 1958 was more than income my mother and father made in an month in 1958.

krl48 Loc: NY, PA now SC

$100 in 1958 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $1,035.19 today, an increase of $935.19 over 65 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 3.66% per year between 1958 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 935.19%. (Feb 14, 2022)

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

A great find and thanks for sharing. I often remind myself that the price of things over time has not gone up, however, the value of the 'dollar' has gone down. It now takes more and more dollars to buy the same thing. It's that pesky "Fiat Currency" thing where printing more dollars without anything to back it up happens.

Gort55 Loc: Northern Colorado

Thanks for the memories. I had a Wardflex TLR as a kid and bought chemicals and paper from Wards. My darkroom was in the basement in a closet under the front porch.

MDI Mainer

Great find. The price differential between Leica and the other brands was stunning even then! As I recollect, the now-moribund Kmart chain also had a big photography department in its stores.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

LOL ! Yes, these may be the "official" Govt. statistics - but I for one do not buy it ......along with many other Govt. statistics ! I go by real world verifiable letter postage rates .....so it was 4 cents in 58 and now it is 63 cents - do the math 63 divided by 4 = 15 + so the multiplier should be at least 15 - NOT 9.35 !!

And, @ 63 cents today the USPS says they are still losing money !
.

MrMophoto Loc: Rhode Island "The biggest little"

In the height of my film days I had the Mamyaflex with the extra 135mm lens. I loved that camera and the 2 1/4 square format. I still have some of my negatives, which I recently scanned.
Thanks for the memories

charles tabb Loc: Richmond VA.

That Catalog is 19 years younger then I am. (84)
My dad had an Agfa and a dark room.
He had an Omega D3 Enlarger plus we rolled our own 35mm film cartridges.
It was good doing our own prints also.
I was born in 1939

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

The Asahi Pentax SLR had just come out just before this was printed and the Nikon F SLR would come out just after this printing in '59 !

revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

Was there really a 1958? O, that's right, we married that year. I had one of those Kodaks and used the greatly missed Kodachrome film. Then my wife lost the Kodak and I replaced with Olympus rangefinder 35 SP. Sold it years later for more than I paid for it. Taking into account inflation, probably was really less than I paid. Memories!