Agreed!Originally Posted by claudiocambon
I have my dad's old Sped Graphic and his old Nikkormat FTN.
But I regret selling his old Rollie to fund a Nikon.
I have a picture of him shooting the 1959 Stanley Cup with a Nikon SP, not sure what ever happened to that camera.
My father gave me his old Rolleiflex and that started me on my way...he is not famous...he just had used it with the 35mm adapter to make the family slides. He "upgraded" to an easier-to-use Instamatic 804 (top of the line).
My Zone VI 8x10 was bought used from Midwest Photo...used but pristine. It was obviously owned by a photographer who knew not what he/she was doing. The fensel lens was placed on the lens side of the GG and there was also a piece of mylar with curved lines drawn on it stuck between Frensel and the GG. Perhaps bought for some strange project and he/she never could figure out why the images on the film were never quite sharp. So thank you unknown photographer, your loss was my gain!
Vaughn
Wasn't there a fad years back with IR film and people were shimming their GG by reversing the frensel or some such thing? I never jumped on those band wagons (nor did I for cross processing) but I seem to recall talk around the lab, of guys who were doing that for about two years back in the early 90s or so.
Was there 8x10 IR film? That would have been cool. I bought the camera in 1995 or thereabouts.
Vaughn
Well, now I have 31 8x10" Mido filmholders formerly owned by Michael Fatali. I don't want to think about the karma that may come with them.
I had an FD 300/4.0L that I bought from New York Newsday after they went digital, and I'm sure it took many published news photographs.
I lent my good friend Stephen Longmire my 4x5" Gowland while his two Deardorff Specials were chez Hough, and he made a good number of the photographs in his new book about Sag Harbor with it.
And now I've got Ted Harris's Acratech Leveling Head, and he was a pretty level guy, so I'm sure it will do its level best.
I have a 14 in Commercial Ektar that came on an old plywood lens board that was 9 inches square with an old packard in back of it. There are not a lot of cameras with 9 inch lens boards. It looked like it was well used and probably made someone a living for a long time. Carol Miller at Flutot's put the NO. 5 Ilex back into service and it makes great pictures. These are great old lenses that should be used, they supported a whole generation of commercial photographers. K
My Weston Ranger IX is still giving good light value readings. It was a great trade a made with Minor White in 1973. He took my "poncho" and I got his "light meter".
I think he was very happy, it was very cold up in the Cordillera Blanca.
I remember very well when he says: "keep seeing in zones, even when you are having coffee ... !"
This exercise have become for me like a visual meditation.
Zeiss Nettar 515
This camera belonged to my grandfather's brother. His brother gave it to him and it traveled around Europe. Eventually it was put into a draw and forgotten about, until a year or so ago when it was given to me.
Goerz Dagor 180/6,8
My grandfather was given this lens by his wife's boss, I believe either upon leaving her job or shortly before. It was the only piece of his darkroom equipment that he didn't give away. Story goes that it was an expensive lens but the boss didn't have a need for it, and due to the jammed focus helical (it's from a strut camera, but he didn't know this) was used as an enlarger lens. I bought a Polaroid Press shutter, and mounted the cells in this so it could be used as a proper taking lens.
Dogmar 150/4,5
Randy sent me this lens shortly before his blindness (from a tumor behind the eyes I think) took hold badly. I've still got it in-barrel as the rear element is jammed and I can't remove it without damage. I'm waiting to cut it out once I have a new shutter for it
Korona 5x4
This was a gift from Simon Benton, and I had to assemble the camera upon arrival. That was pretty fun. I do love the camera, it sees not as much use now though as the Razzle is my go-to for fast portraits.
Summicron 50/2 coll.
One of my leica lenses, an old collapsible Summicron was given to me by a member of another forum who lives in Australia. Funnily enough at the time I'd been given a Jupiter-12 in perfect condition, and I wasn't using it, so I sent it to the member in return for the very scratched 'cron. He was happy so was I!
Kodak Ground Camera
The Half-Plate camera (now swapped and gone) was bought from a guy who saw my ad on evilbay, he said he'd bought it from a camera fair in the hopes of sorting it out for use, but it ended up sitting in a box for years, until he passed it on for me in exchange for money
Vivitar 285 flash
I was given this by a member of another forum who was moving from UK to NZ, it was a surprise and I hadn't expected it, but it's been my main flash up until buying a metz 45CL1 for slightly more power.
All the rest of my pre-owned stuff has a forgotten history, as the dealers don't usually ask where the camera came from!
I have a Korona 8x10 that was purchased by the TVA (part of the New Deal) and which was used for many years to photograph around their project areas. It was sold to one of the people who used it and I picked it up after that man's death. It came with the original government receipt and is complete with the original lens and shutter shown on the receipt. While not a famous photographer, I think it qualifies as something of photographic historical interest and it is certainly of greater value to me for that reason.
I've been planning to take it back to Tennessee to photograph some of the same places the TVA photographed (those that are not underwater that is), just for my own edification, but I'm kinda eccentric like that anyway...
- Randy
Last edited by reellis67; 14-Oct-2008 at 05:59. Reason: grammar
I think that these all come in that condition - mine certainly did. Once I rebuilt it it became my #1 camera, and remains so today. The only thing that it has historically going for it is that one of my favorite Ansel Adams photographs was made using the same model, although I somehow doubt that this one belonged to Adams...
- Randy
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