What have I done?

I probably have too many cameras. Not a ridiculous amount – I’m not one of these people with dozens of different Nikon SLR’s on a display shelf or something, but a few too many to make regular use of. I try my best to use all of them, but most often I just tend to reach for my favourites, so five or six cameras tend to be in relatively frequent rotation, while the others sit unused for lengthier periods of time. I’ve been thinking for a while that I should perhaps reduce their number.

So this week I bid on and won an auction for six SLR cameras…

I’m really not sure why I did this, especially when considering what I’ve said at the start of the post. But do it I did, and I’m now the proud owner of six SLRs sold as “Not working or for parts“.

The cameras arrived the other day, and I’ll give a brief outline of each:

Fujica STX-1 with 50mm f/1.9 X-Fujinon lens – In very good cosmetic condition. Working mechanically. Light meter working. Light seals needed to be replaced (I did this last night).
I’ve been out with this camera today to test it and, while I’ve yet to finish the roll and develop the negatives, I’m relatively confident that it works ok. It’s a relatively basic model with fully manual control and feels nice and solid in the hand.

Minolta X-300 with 50mm f/1.7 Minolta MD lens – In very good cosmetic condition. Working mechanically. Light meter working. Light seals needed to be replaced (I did this last night), and it needed a bit of a clean (also done last night).
I’m relatively confident that this one works ok too, although I’ve yet to load a film and test it properly. While I believe the X-300 is a relatively entry-level model, it has more features than the Fujica.

Nikon EM with 28mm f/2.8 Vivitar MC lens – In very good cosmetic condition. Working mechanically. Light meter working, although I had to remove a corroded battery and clean the terminals first. Light seals need to be replaced (still to be done).
The Nikon EM is often derided as being a cheap amateur’s camera, and one that switched to plastic for parts of it’s body. While it’s undoubtedly a basic camera in comparison with many of its stablemates, I was pleasantly surprised at how solid it feels – it feels a lot more rugged than some other, later model, SLRs I’ve used. I’m looking forward to testing this one and seeing the results I get. I have a couple of non-gelded Nikkor auto-focus lenses that I can use with it too.

Cosina CT-1 with 50mm f/2 Cosinon-S lens – In very good cosmetic condition. Working mechanically but the light meter is not currently working – again, some signs of corrosion on the battery terminals. I’ve cleaned them, but the meter still isn’t working. Light seals need to be replaced (still to be done).
I’ll have a further play with this to see if I can get the meter to operate. If not, then it should still work fine with an external meter (or Sunny 16) and I’ll test it this way if I have no success. I’ll probably sell this one on though.

Canon T70 with 50mm f/1.8 Canon FD lens – In very good cosmetic condition. Not working. The battery terminals looked like they needed a clean, but the camera draws power from batteries and the LCD display activates. Unfortunately it does nothing else. This is a shame as it feels like a very solid camera. I was always a little dubious about the somewhat wide design of Canon’s T-series lineup but, on holding it in my hand, it feels great. I’ll probably sell this one for spares / repairs.

Miranda G with 5cm f/1.9 Auto Miranda lens – In dirty cosmetic condition with some scuffs. The shutter button is missing. The camera is not working at all. Another one that I will attempt to re-sell as spares / repairs.

So, all-in-all, a bit of a mixed bag. Hopefully (assuming testing goes well) I will have three fully working cameras.

Oh, and two of the cameras had rolls of film in them (one Fuji Superia 200,the other some Fotomax 200). I’ve no idea how long these have been in the cameras, although neither seemed to have been more than a few frames into the roll, so I suspect they may be largely unused. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve sat in the cameras for over twenty years though. I don’t think I’ll attempt to shoot or develop either roll.

As to why I bought them, well the obvious answer is G.A.S., but I think that is only partially true as none of the cameras in the batch where models I was looking to acquire specifically. I think the only real reason I can come up with is that I quite like the idea of having a camera of two that I’m less averse to taking risks with, such as going out in the rain or snow with them without worrying unduly that they might be damaged. That’s not to say that I plan on treating them recklessly, but I also won’t panic if they get a bit of water on them from time to time, or I go to a sandy beach on a windy day.

Now, another way to deal with this would be to buy a truly rugged camera (A Nikon F4, or a Pentax LX, or something) that can handle the elements in their stride, but those types of camera tend to fetch much more money and, while I’d like such a thing, it’s not top of my list. So, for now, this batch of cheaper and more basic cameras will have to do. I can always sell them on again (hopefully as more valuable “working and film tested” items. 🙂