My camera collection
22/03/25, 17:34
This is kind of a companion to my old tech devices blog, but I feel like cameras are distinctive enough from the rest of the stuff I own that they can be talked about in a separate post.
As I've said in the previously mentioned entry, I've been collecting a lot of different types of obsolete and/or vintage devices for years now and I've been wanting to share some of my favorite gadgets here for whoever is as passionate or interested in old technology as me. Over the past few years since my collection started, I've grown quite fond of cameras and tend to put special care in maintaining them. I guess it's mostly the nostalgia factor but they really are fascinating to me. That being said, I know next to nothing about how they actually work, so this entry isn't going to be particularly informative - There's some links to information on every camera listed here at the end of this post for whoever is interested in the more technical details though. Hopefully it is still an interesting read.
Film cameras
Cmeha Smena 8M
This is a soviet 1970s camera that belonged to my grandfather. I think the thing that stands out the most from this one is that its extremely lightweight, its almost like handling a little plastic toy. I feel like that was most likely the intention: The word "Smena" (Cmeha) roughly translates to "Young generation"and in my research I have also seen it constantly described as "inexpensive", "practical" or "lightweight", so it seems it was very much intended for casual or everyday use and directed to a younger public. This camera series was also produced in pretty impressive quantities and the models seem to have stayed practically the same throughout its almost 40 year production run. 40 years! Apparently the very first models were from around 1952 and the last few were from 1991.
I also find it extremely charming to be honest: There's something about the size and the little case you use to carry it around that I find a bit adorable. Overall it seems very nice and I really wish I could try it out.
Zenit 122
Another soviet camera. This one from around 1990 to 2005. This thing is HEAVY. Going from holding the Cmeha to this one had me almost dropping it the first time around. I don't think there's much I can say about this, simply because I understand next to nothing about cameras. Most of the sites I visited seem to talk more about the specifications of the camera rather than its history, so I don't think there's much I can comment on here. I have heard however that this one is also a really good one, but I can't really corroborate that because I lack the knowledge.
Konica Z-up 115e
I know next to nothing about this one and the internet isn't helping either. All I know is that the brand is Japanese, it was launched in the 2000s and that I confused it for a very large digital camera when I first got it. I'm pretty sure it intends to be a pretty simple device, most likely for beginners or more casual photographers? Apparently it was also one of the very last camera models produced by this company before it merged with "Minolta", although only 3 years after the fact the company was unable to "get with the times" and ended up ceasing its production of cameras since they failed to adapt to the digital era. A big portion of the company was sold off to Sony as well.
If I could get my hands on some film this one would probably be the first one I'd try since it seems to be the least complicated one out of the three. Overall its pretty cute. It looks pretty "modern" for a film camera which is why I initially got it confused for a digital one. It's a bit ironic that the switch from film to digital was exactly what killed the company.
Digital cameras
Not one, but two: Fujifilm FinePix A500
Weirdly enough two of my relatives owned the exact same digital camera at the exact same time. One of these is the only camera in this collection that I actively use. It's kind of like my Frankenstein's monster… Leonel’s monster if you will… I had to take some parts from each to get one working: The SD card from the second is corrupted and the lens from the first is very clearly stuck. I shuffled around the card so I could get one functional camera (The Frankenstein reference may have been over exaggerated. Obviously it wasn’t that much of a hassle). Overall, considering its low cost and age (I am pretty sure it was released in 2006), this thing is really good and fun to use. I've been taking it with me everywhere and it has made taking pictures much more enjoyable (there's something about having to push actual buttons that makes the activity much more fun than using my phone camera). Here's two of my favorite pics + My photography page over at Neocities if you want to see more stuff:
VHS cameras
Panasonic Palmcorder PV-A207
This too is a low-end, casual camera not intended for professional use. I'm starting to see a pattern. Either way, here's what I know about it: It's a VHS camera from the late nineties, I'd say around 1997 since that's the year the manual is dated. Since it's VHS, it uses cassettes to store the video. I haven't heard wonders about the quality of it though... Most sites refer to it as "decent" or "simple" so I think it's fair enough to assume that it most likely looks bad. Another thing I noted is that it uses a lot of batteries for whatever reason: A battery pack, a round/clock battery and some AA batteries as well. It also has no way of checking what exactly it is that you're recording so you just have to guess and pray it looks decent enough. I still like it though. It's also the only exclusively video camera I own so I have to give it some merit (The FinePix does record video as well but it doesn't have any audio so I guess it doesn't really count).
That's about it... I'm not very good at conclusions. Once again any other additional info or questions are always welcome and I'd be happy to hear them :-)
