In the past several years, I've bought over a hundred classic cameras made
from the 1930s to the 1970s with very few problems. I've also passed over at
least a thousand cameras. I'm pretty selective. My Rules
of Acquisition are that the cameras I buy/collect/use must be:
Less than $100 (although I've broken this on more than several occasions)
Use readily available film types (35mm, 120/220 medium format, or current
Polaroids) - for example, I avoid 126 cameras like the plague, errrk.
In full working condition
I try to use all the cameras I buy and sell the cameras that I don't use. If you're going to be collecting or using cameras,
you should come up with your own Rules of Acquisition to help you narrow the
field down. Only 1950s Japanese rangefinders, for example. By specializing,
you can get a better feel for what's unique, what's available, what the general
price should be, condition, etc. And having a price limit prevents you from
bankrupting yourself.
Canon P (Leica
screw mount rangefinder, focal plane shutter, manual metering). I use this
for all around street photography. It's small enough that it fits in my pocket,
even with a full assortment of lenses.
Yashica Electro
35 GX (40mm f/1.7 rangefinder, leaf shutter, aperture priority auto exposure)
and its more widely available older brother the Electro
35 GSN (45mm f/1.7)
Olympus XA (35mm f/2.8 rangefinder,
leaf shutter, aperture-priority auto exposure)
Nikon FE (a small,
compact SLR with aperture priority metering).
Nikon S2 (a classic camera based
loosely on the Contax rangefinder, focal plane shutter)
Leica M3 (a classic 1950s rangefinder; focal plane shutter). The M3's widest frameline is 50mm, if you use a 35mm regularly you might prefer the Leica M2.
Leica M7 (a contemporary rangefinder
using a classic design; aperture priority metering, focal plane shutter). These are too expensive for most purposes.
I use a small Gossen Digisix lightmeter
with the older, manually meterered cameras. With older cameras, I tend to buy
rangefinders rather than SLRs. These are a couple rangefinder cameras I really
wish I also had:
Voigtländer Bessa R2: This takes Leica M-mount lens and goes for around
$500 new for the body. Add a $400 Leica lens and you got a like-a-Leica for
less than a grand.
Minolta CLE: I stupidly let one of these go at an auction. The CLE is a Leica copy
that has aperture priority metering. Darn darn darn.
Olympus 35 SP: Everyone raves about these. Gotta see why...
Why rangefinders? I recommend getting rangefinders rather than SLRs.
Why? Leaf-shutter rangefinders are usually much smaller than SLRs, much quieter,
can be handheld at much slower speeds, flash sync at all speeds, focus in very
low-light / low-contrast, are much more rugged, and are usually cheaper.They
are less complicated and less likely to break. More
evangelism. Even more members
of the 60s~70s rangefinder cult.
Note that the famous Leica M and Nikon
S rangefinders are focal-plane shutters
and thus don't have all the advantages of the classic leaf-shutter rangefinders.
But they do allow for interchangeable lenses, which leaf-shutter rangefinders
usually don't offer. And the rangefinder design allows for better wide-angle
lens performance. Even though Leicas are mega-expensive, modern Bessas and older
Canon screwmounts can be found at a reasonable price.
Why non-metered cameras? Metering is usually the first thing to break.
It's electronic. Batteries leak. Wires corrode and break. Non-metered cameras
are less likely to have the problems that metered ones do.And it's one huge
variable that you don't have to account for when purchasing. Is the meter dead
or is the battery dead? With camers where the battery electronically controls
the shutter (e.g. Nikon FE, Canon
AE-1, etc.) if your batter dies, you're dead
in the water.
Remember: there are lots of cameras out there. By only buying ones that
you are sure work, you'll always end up happy. If you're the least suspicious,
don't buy it! Most camera repairs now cost >$100 even for something simple.
You're almost always sure to come across a working version of the camera later
on. Don't get too attached and stick by your rules.
I've managed to not have a single dud* by checking the cameras out extensively.
Let's divide the tests into sections:
* This is no longer true. I arrived at an auction late with
only 5 minutes to inspect the cameras. That was when I got a camera model that
I wanted for only $50, but it suffered from a sticky shutter and internal lens grime, both
of which I didn't catch until I got home with my winnings. It cost me $110
for repairs. Always arrive early for a thorough inspection! (Then again, I got
a $400 camera for $50 + $110 in repairs = $160.)
Lens
Dirt, dust and fingerprints are acceptable. Wipe them away with your microcloth
and steam from your breath. If there is dirt or dust in any of the internal
lens elements, then you or a repair person will have to take it apart. Until
you get more experienced, I'd pass on it.
Is the lens clear and free of scratches? Any haze or clouding? Bring a
microfiber cloth so that you can check to see if the clouding is just atmospheric
pollution or something more serious. Use your breath as wiping fluid.Light
scratches are acceptable. A worn anti-reflective coating is pretty bad.
Is there any sign of separation? Separation is when two cemented lens elements
start to separate. It looks like a iridescent or rainbow shaped crescent on
the sides of the lens elements. It can also look like faint white lines. Very
bad.There's no easy way to fix lens separation.(OK, you can separate
them, get rid of the old glue residue, and then glue them back together with
balsam or UV-setting glue, but it's very very very very hard to get them optically centered
again).
Fungus looks like fine spiderwebs or mold spots on internal lens elements. This is usually very
bad. Fungus secretions are acidic and actually eat into the lens. If you can
get the lens taken apart and cleaned quickly, you might be able to
repair the damage, but things are usually grim.
Any white spotting? Spotting is caused when the lens coating breaks down. The
Minolta CLE 28mm lenses are famous for this. It usually happens on the periphery
and isn't critical unless it migrates to the center.
Are all of the lens elements actually in place? This take a little bit
of experience to notice that a rear element is missing, for example. I notice
this a lot in very old Kodak folders. You have to have experience though.
Sometimes very old cameras (pre-War) used simple meniscus one element lenses,
so all you see is all you see!
Leaf Shutters
Try all of the shutter speeds. The slow shutter speeds are usually the ones
that have problems. Count "one one hundred" to see if the 1 second
shutter speed works. Is the 1/2 shutter speed about half of that? Any problems
usually reveal themselves quickly. Shutters are expensive to repair (~$100-200).
Very bad.
Leaf shutters occasionally become "sticky." This is usually caused
by some idiot trying to repair them by putting watchmakers oil on them although
occasionally oil will migrate to the leaf shutter from the lens helicoids.
Leaf shutters and diaphragms are almost always "dry" lubricated
and shouldn't have any oil on them. If you take the lens apart, you could
clean it with naphtha, but this is more a pain that it's worth for sub-$100
cameras.
To test a sticky shutter, be sure to release the shutter in every position
possible. Sometimes the friction only reveals itself when the camera is upside
down or pointing downwards, for example. But you might say, I never shoot
upside down! Nevertheless, the friction is always present and will throw off
the timing even if it doesn't actually cause the shutter to stick.
Leaf shutters are often sluggish from disuse. They might "warm"
up if you release them a couple of dozen times. You might look stupid, but
the huge grin on your face when you realize a "broken" camera in
the $5 junk pile is coming back to life is worth it.
Many cameras have bizarre shutter interlocks to make sure you don't double-expose
pictures. Some can be unintuitive. See the Kodak Retina or Zeiss Ikoflex
for example.
Focal plane shutters
All of the above recommendations for leaf shutters apply.
Make sure cloth shutter curtains are clean and are free of any pinholes
caused by an idiot pointing the camera to the sun without the lens cap on.
Point the camera at a bright light with the back open and make sure it's light
tight with no pinholes.
Make sure the shutters are free of any tears or folds. Some lightweight
steel, brass or titanium foil shutters (such as the Canon rangefinders or Hasselblad 2000 series) are
renowned for their fragility. An idiot can easily stick his or her thumb into
it, and crinkle the curtain.
Aperture Diaphragms
Rangefinders and TLRs are much less apt to have diaphragm problems because
the diaphragms are always "hard wired" into their settings and do
not move when taking a photo. SLRs have many more diaphragm problems because
the diaphragms must be wide open for focusing, then at the moment of exposure
the diaphragm must automatically stop-down before the shutter releases. This
mechanism tends to be problematic.
Diaphragms like leaf-shutters become sticky with oil problems. Set the diaphragm
to its smallest aperture (f/22 or f/32) and the shutter speed to "bulb."
Look directly into the lens and make sure you can see the diaphragm close
down at the moment the shutter opens. Try this several times.
With Pentax mount lenses, take the lens off the camera. Set the lens aperture
control to 'Auto' and set the aperture to f/22 or small. Push the small tab
on the rear of the lens several times to make sure the lens closes down smoothly
and with no hesitancy. With other lens mounts, you can usually figure out which nubbin or cam causes the diaphragm to close down. Check from the rear to make sure there's no oil on
the diaphragm blades.
Exposure Meters
Selenium cell meters were used in cameras in the 1960s and 70s. They were
great because they didn't need batteries as the selenium produced its own
electricity like a little solar cell. You can recognize selenium cell meters
because they are quite large (usually 1 cm x 3 cm) and usually have little
bulbous plastic lenses that help concentrate the light on them. The "selenium
cell" look was considered so high-tech at the time that cheapo cameras
even had fake grey gridlines on them to imitate them!
Unfortunately, selenium degrades with sunlight and humidity. Unless your camera was stored
in a bag or in its case or unless it had a selenium cell light shade on it
(such as the Contaflex
IV), the selenium sell is almost always shot. My Contaflex
IV and Yashicamat
are OK (although nonlinear) but my Bessamatic
is shot.
Selenium is also nonlinear. In essence, you can't really trust a selenium
cell. Don't stress if your camera meter doesn't work. Just get a good external meter.
In the 70s, CdS (cadmium-sulfide) became the rage. The Pentax
Spotmatic was an early adopter. These cells vary resistance based on sunlight.
They could be made much smaller. If your camera has a 5mm (1/4 inch) little
lens or hole to measure aperture, it's CdS. If you have TTL metering (Spotmatic,
etc.) then it's CdS. These types of cells do not degrade with time so you're
in luck if you have one.
The downside of CdS is that you need a battery. That's bad enough but most
1970s cameras used a mercury battery called the PX625 that is no longer being
made. You can purchase replacements such as the Wein though or modify the
camera to use modern alkaline or silver batteries. I have a page
that deals with replacements for mercury batteries.
With a CdS camera, test out the camera fully. Ask the owner if you can go
outside with it. Set the camera to ASA/DIN 100. Make sure your outdoor reading
is about f/11 ~ 16 at a shutter speed of 1/100 or 1/125. Go back indoors.
The reading should drop by about 4 stops.
With most CdS systems the common breaking points are:
- battery dead. Unfortunately it's hard to tell if the battery is really dead
or if the electronics are shot. Most mercury cells last over a decade with
light use.
- battery leakage. Open the battery compartment and see if there is any gunk
in it.
- analogue match-needle cameras are very susceptible to damage caused by shock.
Hold the camera upside down and make sure the needle doesn't go floating awol.
Film transport
Open the back and release/wind the shutter a couple of times. Make sure
all of the film transport cogs are working.
Look at the film rails and run your fingers along them. Make sure they are
free of scratches, burrs, or abrasions that could damage your film. More than one
camera has been tossed into the Goodwill bin because it was scratching up
film. Don't be the one who buys it back! That being said, burrs can be
fixed with 3000 grit sandpaper from your local car supply store.
Is the back light-tight? This is easily repairable so it's not an automatically
killer. Make sure the foam hasn't reverted back to gunk.
SLRs: Reflex mirror and focusing screen
The reflex mirror is quite a complicated mechanism. Make sure it goes up
properly when you hit the camera release.
Many pre-1960 era cameras did not have auto-return mirrors. That means the
mirror does not come down automatically after taking a photo. The viewfinder
goes "dark" when you take the photo. This is not a BUG it's a feature.
Well, they hadn't figured out how to make an auto-return mirror yet in the
1950s. So if your camera goes dark, don't freak. Wind the film/shutter and
the mirror should go back up. If it doesn't, toss it.
There will almost always be lots of gunk on the focusing screens and mirrors
of older SLRs. Ignore it, it won't hurt you. Cleaning it almost always causes
more problems than its worth.
All of these tests should take only around 10 minutes to run. I do all of mine
in the store / dealer / garage of the person I'm buying from. They look at me
weird, but I'm able able to avoid most absolute duds.But here are the worst
things that have happened:
Selenium cell non-linearity. My Yashicamat and Contaflex
IV both have meters that "work" in that they respond to light,
but the metering is pretty non-reliable.
Lens imperfections. My Voigtländer Bessamatic is in great condition
but the photos lack sparkle. The lens are clear so I'm not sure what's causing
this. It's most probably just a symptom of a consumer-camera of the 1950s
showing its age. My Zeiss Contaflex
of the same era just shines. Sigh. Can't win them all.
Leather rots. So the cases are in much worse condition than the cameras.
But that's better right? Who wants a ratty camera in a clean case? Better
the other way around.
I got the bug. I've purchased over fifty cameras last year. Gotta
stop it. I keep telling myself that I'm going to sell all of them and buy
a Hasselblad or Leica, but I'm far too attached to these little guys.
Dealers on the Net
I don't recommend buying used cameras on the net (including ebay) unless the
seller allows you an inspection period because of variances in what "mint"
and "working" means. However, the dealers below have shown themselves
over the years to be anything if not conservative in their ratings, i.e. what
KEH calls "good" is usually what an ebayer would say was "Exc++++++".
KEH - the
granddaddy and perhaps largest of used camera stores
Canon P (Leica
screw mount rangefinder, focal plane shutter, manual metering). I use this
for all around street photography. It's small enough that it fits in my pocket,
even with a full assortment of lenses.
Why rangefinders? I recommend getting rangefinders rather than SLRs.
Why? Leaf-shutter rangefinders are usually much smaller than SLRs, much quieter,
can be handheld at much slower speeds, flash sync at all speeds, focus in very
low-light / low-contrast, are much more rugged, and are usually cheaper.They
are less complicated and less likely to break. More
evangelism. Even more members
of the 60s~70s rangefinder cult.
Is the lens clear and free of scratches? Any haze or clouding? Bring a
microfiber cloth so that you can check to see if the clouding is just atmospheric
pollution or something more serious. Use your breath as wiping fluid.Light
scratches are acceptable. A worn anti-reflective coating is pretty bad. 
Try all of the shutter speeds. The slow shutter speeds are usually the ones
that have problems. Count "one one hundred" to see if the 1 second
shutter speed works. Is the 1/2 shutter speed about half of that? Any problems
usually reveal themselves quickly. Shutters are expensive to repair (~$100-200).
Very bad.
All of the above recommendations for leaf shutters apply.
Rangefinders and TLRs are much less apt to have diaphragm problems because
the diaphragms are always "hard wired" into their settings and do
not move when taking a photo. SLRs have many more diaphragm problems because
the diaphragms must be wide open for focusing, then at the moment of exposure
the diaphragm must automatically stop-down before the shutter releases. This
mechanism tends to be problematic.
Selenium cell meters were used in cameras in the 1960s and 70s. They were
great because they didn't need batteries as the selenium produced its own
electricity like a little solar cell. You can recognize selenium cell meters
because they are quite large (usually 1 cm x 3 cm) and usually have little
bulbous plastic lenses that help concentrate the light on them. The "selenium
cell" look was considered so high-tech at the time that cheapo cameras
even had fake grey gridlines on them to imitate them!
In the 70s, CdS (cadmium-sulfide) became the rage. The Pentax
Spotmatic was an early adopter. These cells vary resistance based on sunlight.
They could be made much smaller. If your camera has a 5mm (1/4 inch) little
lens or hole to measure aperture, it's CdS. If you have TTL metering (Spotmatic,
etc.) then it's CdS. These types of cells do not degrade with time so you're
in luck if you have one.
Open the back and release/wind the shutter a couple of times. Make sure
all of the film transport cogs are working.
The reflex mirror is quite a complicated mechanism. Make sure it goes up
properly when you hit the camera release.