Work in progress

I have been using cameras for decades, since about April 1964, and I describe the comings and goings in my camera equipment page. But since about 2010 I have increasingly been buying cameras for collection purposes. On this page I describe the cameras that I have and why I have them.

Currently my collection looks like this:

Some of those photos are still in use, and the lens collection also includes a number of lenses that I use, thus the gaps in the collection.

I have bought the cameras for a number of reasons:

1. Historically relevant cameras
2. Cameras I no longer use
3. Cameras that remind me of the past
4. Cameras I have inherited
5. Cameras I actually use

Historical cameras

These cameras are at top left. They, or something very similar, represent an important step in the evolution of cameras.

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Leica II (FED 1)

This was the first rangefinder camera—I think. It was the successor to the Leica I, the first successful production 35 mm camera, introduced some time in 1932. It looks remarkably primitive by modern standards, though the original Leica was more finely finished than this Soviet copy.

Why “I think”? This was the first Leitz camera with integrated rangefinder, but Zeiss introduced the Contax I in the same year. Nobody so far has been able to tell me when in 1932 each was introduced.

Contax 4 (Kiev 4a)

This camera is the successor of the Contax I. It was introduced in 1936, and was the first camera to have a built-in (but not coupled) light meter. My copy is a Kiev 4a, made in 1957. It is almost identical except for having flash synchronization.

Exakta II

This is my oldest camera, made round February 1949. It's pretty much the same as the original Kine Exakta of 1936, which was the first 35 mm film („Kine“) single lens reflex camera.

Contax D

The Contax D is a minor development of the Contax S, almost the first SLR with a pentaprism. It was effectively the basis for all subsequent SLRs. The difference in appearance from the Exakta is very obvious. Mine must be dated to round 1952. See the detail page for more information.

Asahiflex I

This was the first Japanese SLR, still with only waist-level viewfinder, made in about 1953, four years after the Contax S.

Cameras I no longer use

I have not disposed of all my old cameras. The ones I have include:

Pentax Spotmatic

Nostalgia

Cameras for photography