Other retro things in your life

[Johnny Ragwort]

I like my elderly film cameras. The pic below shows about half of my little collection. They're all in regular use and the main thing I like about them is that they're very tactile, tremendous fun to use and they inspire curiosity rather than hostility if you take pictures of strangers in a crowded street. And you can pick them up for peanuts, if you know what you're looking for. Who else has other retro stuff in their lives?

 

[rwm1962]

I collect vintage & antique camping stoves by Primus etc- mainly the small type that break down into nice old tins. Plus related 'paraffinalia', advertising, trade material etc

Nice example from 1912



This is from the 1952 Everest expedition. It will be going to the Royal Geographical Society's before my demise (or after if I get caught by surprise!)

 

[Johnny Ragwort]

Wow. I like the old photo showing that very same stove!

 

[rwm1962]

No sure it's the 'exact' same one as the photo! The brass stove itself is unused so don't think it ever went up the mountain but the aluminium windshield & pan set is well used. These were made especially for this expedition by a climber & friend of expedition leader Sir John Hunt who specialized in ladders for crossing crevasses & fastened to the specially modified stove. All designed to save fuel & protect from wind when melting snow & cooking.

I'm also lucky to have a Primus stove from the Hillary/Fuch Trans-Global Expedition of 1955-58 but apart from its provenance it's nothing remarkable.

 

[CTK]

I love film cameras also but the cost of processing means I dont bother anymore

 

[half cog]

Re:

Also a film fan.I do mono as I can develop and print my own. When we moved here some 20 years ago I worked for myself and needed an office.I used half a spare bedroom for that and the other half I converted into a dark room. The real job with built in safe lights,worktops even filtered air.Having said that when I was a youngster at home I did my own d andp in a large overstairs cupboard in my bedroom so you dont really need all the trimmings if you are prepared to think your way around the problems.Half the fun of film is in the development and printing.not sure it works out too cheap though as once you start you end up going for bigger and bigger photos and larger format films.Still something magic when you see a print start to appear in the tray even after all the years I have been doing it

 

[rwm1962]

I'd never part with my Olymus XA2 despite fact I'll never use it again - plus who'd want it!

Bought new in 1981.

 

[gibbleking]

Re:

i ollect retro rubiks cubes from the 80s for some strange reason.i was dropped on my head a lot as a sprog so i blame my mother.i also collect later versions too with varieties of size and shape ranging from a 2x2 all the way up to the petaminx which is a 12 sided 9 layer puzzle the size of a football.i collect the originals as they remind me of where i used to live and when i first got one.ps if anyone has an original or newer version they dont want feel free to send me it.hint hint

 

[half cog]

Re:

Heck. The XA2 has had a hard time.Had both an Xa and an Xa2 and they are superb cameras.I sold both of them but wont part with my Olympus om1n and lenses.Digital knocked 35mm camera values so I would rather keep them for what they are now worthThe good thing about that is that you can now pick up the sort of kit that would have cost a fortune for not a lot.Medium format has held its price somewhat better and there are signs that film is making a comeback.I am an old bloke now but I have negs that I took when I was eleven on a VP Twin camera from woolworths.Cost two shillings and six pence.I doubt many people will have digital photos sixty years after they were first taken. Recently re took one of a local landscape and you can see the changes that have gone on over the years

 

[Johnny Ragwort]

Re:

I had three or four medium format cameras, including a Mamiya C330 twin lens thing, an Agfa Isolette folding rangefinder and a Nazi Germany - era Welta Weltur (which I still have, it's in the photo above). I'm trying to narrow the collection down a bit though so most of the MF stuff has been sold. My current favourite things are my Voigtlander and Agfa 1950s rangefinders.