Visit MPB Visit MPB Visit MPB

I seem to have bought a collectors item :-)

skydata
Posted 26/12/2021 - 14:37 Link
On November 22nd, 1986 I was up in London and visited Fox Talbot at
443 Strand, WC2 and they had the latest version of the Nikon one-touch
compact camera kit in stock, L35AF2, so I bought one. £119.90.

It came with a plastic outer case and some gubbins which I have sadly
disposed of in years gone by. Now I have the camera, the soft case and
strap. I was about to donate it to the local BHF charity shop and thought
I would check the ebay price to advise them what minimum price they
should get. Amazingly, they seem to be listed for anything up to £300 !.
Even dead ones seem to go for daft amounts.

It seems they have acquired a cult status on account of the lens and
autofocus. I always thought that some of the photos I took with it over
the years have been crackingly sharp and detailed, so I'll keep it and run
some Ektar 100 through it. Luckily I take the batteries out when not used
for a while and the battery cover is still attached, which seems to be a weak
spot.

As anyone else bought something decades+ ago which has now become a
collectors item ?. Just curious.

Or worse, has anyone disposed of anything that has then gone on to be a
'collectors' item ?.

Andrew
Jonathan-Mac
Posted 26/12/2021 - 16:45 Link
Many, many compact film cameras go for silly money now. I have an Olympus Mju which I bought for a tenner a few years ago when the Mju II was what everyone wanted and it went for up to 70 quid. Now you can't even get an original Mju for that price.
Pentax hybrid user - Digital K3, film 645 and 35mm SLR and Pentax (&other) lenses adapted to Fuji X and Panasonic L digital
Fan of DA limited and old manual lenses
davidwozhere
Posted 27/12/2021 - 00:10 Link
I bought a filthy Meyer Primotar 135 with a battered hood for about £35 some time ago. It cleaned up a treat and and I got a spare hood for a tenner. You won't get a Primotar for two figures any more. I also notice that Trioplans - that went for £350 or so last year - are now going for £450-500.
Both the *istDS and the K5 are incurably addicted to old glass

My page on Photocrowd
Edited by davidwozhere: 27/12/2021 - 00:11
smc
Posted 11/01/2022 - 07:11 Link
About four years ago I bought a working Ricoh GR film version for £6 at a charity shop with original box, case and papers. They are delicate cameras at the best of times so sold it not long after for over £100 to fund a digital GR but now wish I had kept it as it was a delight to use and the price has doubled in the meantime!
Edited by smc: 11/01/2022 - 07:12
RayW
Posted 16/01/2022 - 21:17 Link
Many years ago I sold my lovely Olympus XA, to go digital. I later wished I hadn't because it loved that camera. Then I saw the current prices. But a few weeks ago I spotted one in an emporium/antique shop, hidden in a dark corner. Perfect working order, and they wanted a tenner for it. Come to Daddy!
OldTaffy
Posted 17/01/2022 - 17:25 Link
While I was on sabbatical leave in the USA in the mid-1960s Asahi brought out the Spotmatic. I had long wanted a good SLR but really couldn't afford this, which was distributed in the US as Honeywell Pentax. However, my American prof. knew a small-town camera dealer in Idaho who was prepared to sell one at a good discount - almost unheard of in America in those days. I bought it, on my way to Seattle, and I still have it with its fabulous Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 lens. It was still working perfectly well when last used, though I have not put any film through it for the past 3-4 years. In the 1970s my wife and I spotted an almost identical Asahi Pentax second-hand in an English camera shop. That too was still working fine when she last used it for her museum photography a few years ago. We would be reluctant to part with either of them!
A few of my photographs in flickr.
Lizars 1910 "Challenge" quarter-plate camera; and some more recent stuff.

Add Comment

To leave a comment - Log in to Pentax User or create a new account.