Cameras

I bought two cameras today in a totally unplanned splurge of camera excess.  I'm not entirely sure why.  No doubt that it was in part because of a crappy week and a dark and dismal weekend--cameras are like crack--they do make you forget all that stuff.  But also because they were incredibly good deals.  Every now and then I stop and peruse the higher end retailers like Goodwill and the Salvation Army.  Despite what people say, it isn't for my clothes, but I do look for cameras.  Sometimes I find the odd bargain, but today I hit two home runs.

At Goodwill I found a Poloroid 110a, one of the three or four Polaroid cameras that are actually worth something.  Most are worthless, despite what antique dealers or desperate people trying to sell the family heirlooms might say.  This one has an exceptional lens and can be converted to use 4x5 film.  The camera was basically free, but the conversion is about $150 if you supply the camera or $450 if you don't, so you can guess the value of the camera.  I might actually do this and have a very packable large format camera.

But the best deal was at the Salvation Army. At one time, I had more than 30 Leica cameras, so I think I know a bit about them.  I certainly can recognize them from across the counter, and boy, did my eyes brighten a bit when I saw this case with its $8.99 price tag.  I casually asked to see it, and sure enough, it contained a real live Leica IIf with a 50mm f3.5 Elmar,  its original lens.  It isn't Leica's most valuable model of camera, but it still, every Leica  ever ever made is worth more than $8.99!  The case alone is worth about $100, the lens is easily $275 and the body is worth at least $175. Let's just say  I did not hesitate to buy it.  I have made better deals for a camera, but not many, and really, can anyone ever have too many Leicas?  I have four now, and I kind of feel that I am just getting started. Now if only I could take some pictures!  Maybe tomorrow.

Honestly, though these cameras were exceptionally good deals, I did not buy them for that reason alone.  Of course this is silly to have so many cameras as I can't exactly take pictures with all of them or even some of them every day.  Some times, I sit with an old camera and think about and imagine the stories that they have covered and the pictures that they have taken.   This Leica was made in 1952, 60 years ago.  Did it take pictures of a little girl drawing a picture or on the playground or of the waterfall at the state park?  Did it take pictures of sad events and beautiful landscapes and what part of peoples' lives did it record? I guess I collect cameras for the same reasons why I collect fountain pens--I wonder and imagine what stories that they have told.  And maybe, I might even be able to record a few more stories with these cameras...