Old Cameras

I love old cameras.

There was a little family owned shop near where I grew up that was half camera store and half bookstore. It was a split-level place, with a short staircase between the camera store in front and the books in the back. On both sides of the stairs were display cases with old cameras in them. I used to love looking at them. There’s a distinctive weight and texture to an old piece of photographic equipment. And when you open an old camera up to put film in, there’s a kind of oily-leathery chemical smell that makes me nostalgic for all the people I know who love photography.

This particular camera was from the collection of the grandfather of someone I grew up with. A bunch of his old cameras were being sold as a box lot at a Habitat for Humanity rummage sale, and I grabbed them up quick. Most of them are in need of cleaning and repair, but this one is in great shape. It’s a mid 1950’s Ansco Karomat… It uses standard 35mm film, and it’s got this really nifty dual prism focus system that was really innovative and is still amazingly accurate. I’d actually found a German web site with some of the old ads and information about the camera at one point. I’ll track it down again and post it in the comments.

There were a couple of old 8mm movie cameras too, one of which had a repair note inside. The main spring is broken and the company that made the camera wasn’t making replacement parts for a model that old. The note dates from before I was born, and it was from that same little corner camera and book store that I spent so much time in when I was growing up.