In the market for an antique camera for my girlfriend for Christmas. She is an experienced photographer but doesn’t know much about the old cameras. Im looking for something reasonable in price from say the 40’s .Are there any sites I can visit to find this info?
Look for an old TLR like a Rolleicord. If you can find a Speed Graphic by Graflex, Even a good Leica rangefinder would be good.
8 users commented in " Whats the best antique Camera to start with? Wanting to get into antique photography? "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a Trackbackthe old Licas or even now kodamatics or Polaroids since digital has obsoleted every camera over 5 years old..
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Since most films are becoming obsolete as well as the developing, you would probably be better off getting her a good program to work with a digital camera. I have worked with some old cameras, by favorite still being a brownie, but film is no longer available. About the only film still being sold in many areas is 35mm, but even this will be outdated soon.
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Look for an old TLR like a Rolleicord. If you can find a Speed Graphic by Graflex, Even a good Leica rangefinder would be good.
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profotog
Try a Graphlex Speed Graphic or similar press camera.
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http://www.clickondavid.com/graflex.html
Personally I would suggest a Polaroid camera that takes 600 film. Even though it is out of production if you buy a whole heap of the film bulk you can have maybe 100 shots to store in your fridge until the time comes to use them. If your not prepared to spend that much all in one hit get a Kodak Box Brownie that takes 120 film as they are pretty old, cheap and 120 film is a lot cheaper and easier to develop than the other film types in other Brownies. Another option is to buy a new camera, like a toy camera. I have a Holga which is made out of plastic and takes 120 film but you can get amazing results that cant be reproduced with photoshop. Check out http://www.lomography.com/ for more info. There’s quite a lot of cameras on offer there from cheap to very expensive. The community is great to get into and there are many ways to create unique images with these cameras
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http://www.lomography.com/
Here’s a site with a good collection of vintage cameras:
http://licm.org.uk/livingImage/1940Room.html
I’m particularly fond of the old German-made Kodak Retinas:
http://www.wctatel.com/web/crye/retina.htm
A 35mm camera is probably the most practical, as film and processing for these is still readily available. 120 film and processing is also available, though you have to hunt for it. Everything else is pretty much obsolete, though there are specialty outfits that supply film in a variety of dead formats like 828.
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An old Rolleicord is an excellent camera. Not only is it a physical brick that has been around since God knows when, the optics are exceptional and they simply make good pictures (if you know how to use one). Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) cameras are fun to use, I have three of them and have a blast using them. Other old TLRs that will be nice are the Minolta Autocord, older Yashica models, and some old Zeiss models.
Make sure, however, of the condition. If an older camera like that has been sitting around for a while, chances are that the shutters are sticky and either will not work or will be very slow. I just bought an old Rolleicord that had a stick shutter and it is now being CLAed.
For a guarantee for one that works, look up http://www.keh.com and call about them.
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Wait until you get older then you can BE an antique shooting antiques with an antique.
What’s the point of this question?
If she’s an experienced photographer, she probably knows more about the older cameras than you may think.
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Antique Photographer.
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