What do I do with all of these camera?

[Velander]

I just inherited a camera collection and I have to figure out what to do with it. I'm living in an apartment and don't have room for 400+ cameras. I like photography (I currently have a Nikon D90) [Boo... Digital], but I would love to get back into analog photography using some of these cameras.

I'm thinking that I will put them in storage and take them out a few at a time, find out something about them and try and document them better, maybe try and take some pictures them, then decided what to do with it.

I have setup a web page so people can see the collection. You can see them at link to my website on my profile.

[nhemann]

im only on page 8 - that is one heck of an inheritance....pardon the sharks circling but, do you intend to sell any?

[chriscrawfordphoto]

Keep them, sell them, or give them away. Of course, you don't have to do that with all of them. You could keep some and sell or give the rest.

[ntenny]

Good grief! You have quite a haul there. I have no idea what you can sensibly do with a collection of "user" cameras that size---a lot of them seem to fill the same niches, like the seven different Yashica TLRs.

I didn't immediately see anything that made my eyes pop as an extraordinary rarity or anything, but a lot of them are in the "quite nice" to "professional" range, and they look like they're in great shape at least cosmetically. Congratulations!

-NT

[waynecrider]

I like the shot of the Canon Sure-Shot, under the Canon category of course, showing the accessories display in the background. Did you inherit a store?

[Vaughn]

Well, I am always looking for donations of 35mm and medium format camera for our university art photography program (part of the Humboldt State University Art Department). I am the darkroom tech and I check out equipment for students to use for their assignments. I particularily need manual 35mm cameras such as the Canon AE-1, older Nikons, Pentax K1000s, etc. But the Canon series of Rebel cameras work for us also (but I prefer not to give the students the opportunity to put the camera on auto).

Every semester we have 4 to 5 classes (24 students each) using our darkroom (and one class in the digital lab). Many students have their own cameras, but many do not -- or try to use their parents' old cameras that have been sitting around for 20 years...which often seem to fail part way through the semester. And this semester I started out with 10 working 35mm cameras and I am down to 7 now.

I also check out 4x5 view cameras -- we have 3 wood field cameras and 5 rail view cameras. We just got a donation of a 5x7 camera, but need to get some holders.

We always need tripods, flash units and cable releases, too!

So...this is a shameless plug for our photography program. I will pay out of my own pocket for shipping!

Vaughn

[Velander]

I like the shot of the Canon Sure-Shot, under the Canon category of course, showing the accessories display in the background. Did you inherit a store?

The cameras are on display in his gun shop. The items on the wall in the back of the picture are gun clips and other accessories.

[Velander]

Good grief! You have quite a haul there. I have no idea what you can sensibly do with a collection of "user" cameras that size---a lot of them seem to fill the same niches, like the seven different Yashica TLRs.

I didn't immediately see anything that made my eyes pop as an extraordinary rarity or anything, but a lot of them are in the "quite nice" to "professional" range, and they look like they're in great shape at least cosmetically. Congratulations!

-NT

The cameras I have on the site are from images of his collection as of about a year ago. I need to update it with the rest of his collection. He was telling me about a recent addition that he said was the smallest twin-lens reflex camera ever made, but I can't remember the make.

[Paul Cunningham]

Nice job on documenting the collection. Unless you want to open a museum, I'd say it makes sense to sell a few of them to fund the storage costs. That's a bit of a job in itself, but I'm also in Portland and could maybe help out. I'd love to see some of these cameras in person, too! I recently started shooting a Rolleiflex from 1960 (my birth year), and am fascinated by the precision of these things, in particular the German ones. Paul

[Velander]

Nice job on documenting the collection. Unless you want to open a museum, I'd say it makes sense to sell a few of them to fund the storage costs. That's a bit of a job in itself, but I'm also in Portland and could maybe help out. I'd love to see some of these cameras in person, too! I recently started shooting a Rolleiflex from 1960 (my birth year), and am fascinated by the precision of these things, in particular the German ones. Paul

I'm going to pick up a few this weekend and bring them back to town. The Mamiya RB67 setup looks like it would be fun to try out. I'm not even sure what format of film I will be able to find, or where to look for it.