Classic cameras

I was so taken in when I walked into a camera shop in Chai Leng Park, Prai recently and saw a lot of old cameras on display. I asked the shop's proprietor whether I could photograph his camera collection and he readily agreed. In fact, he even asked me whether I would be interested to buy the cameras from him.

Me? These old cameras are worth a fortune and I don't think I can afford his asking price! So let me continue to admire his cameras from these photos.

The two cameras in the first picture are the Lubitel and the Rolleicord. Both are medium-format, twin lens reflex cameras. The two lenses on each camera are identical. The bottom one focuses on the film while the top one is reflected 90 degrees by a mirror and the image can be seen upside-down when you flip open the top. Interesting, eh?

Next, would you believe that this camera below, the Mamiya RB67, is a single-lens reflex? A medium-format SLR camera. It's similar to the Hasselblad which I almost bought a long time ago, because I was very crazy then about medium-format cameras. But I soon realised that I would be even crazier to buy one because it was very heavy. Not an equipment to carry around your neck or slung on your shoulder.


Let's forget about the Asahi Pentax Spotmatic camera in the background but the two cameras in the foreground are the Exakta Varex IIa camera on the left and the Voigtlander Prominent rangefinder camera with a Nokton lens. Incredibly, the Exakta is an SLR camera, and it comes with a Tessar lens!