A New Fascination with Old Vintage Cameras
The Beginning…
Vintage Kodak scopemeter 8mm movie camera - 1958-1963
It was the middle of the summer – my husband and I were browsing the local yard sales when we came across an 8mm movie camera which looked a bit shabby in its case but had a neat vintage style and worked – it was only $8, so of course my husband had to buy it.
2 8mm Vintage Projectors
The next week we found our selves in Brooklyn, NY moving our daughter in to her apartment and her landlords gave us a tour of their beautiful home. On a shelf was a very cool projector. The fire was lit….back home the very next thrift shop we went into my husband happens to find a vintage 8mm projector and buys it. Have I mentioned that he is very lucky? I could search for years and not find anything I’m collecting.
His next find was at Goodwill, where he came across a Polaroid Land camera, Model 340, from the 60’s, and since our last name is Land (not sure if there is any relation to Edwin Land, inventory of the Land camera) he bought it. Now the ball is really rolling and within a few weeks his collection has grown. Here are some photos of the ever growing collection.
Vintage 8mm movie camera's
These cameras and projectors have a wonderful vintage aesthetic and look great as decorative accents. We like the connection to film and movies since our daughter was a film major in college and is now trying to make her way in that business. The mechanical nature of these cameras provides a way to remember how involved the process of shooting images and developing film was.
If you are interested in learning more about vintage cameras and finding the film and batteries here are a few places to start.
- George Eastman House – Photography Collections Online
- The Impossible Project – Producing New Instant Film Materials for Classic Polaroid Cameras – this is a very cool website for anyone interested in Polaroid!
- Convert 4.5v Polaroid Automatic Land Camera to AAA Batteries – YouTube Video
- Amazon and B&H both sell the batteries and film for older Polaroid camera’s (note* the series 600 film is very expensive)
- Fuji makes Polaroid 100 film which is reasonably priced
As the collection grows I’m sure I will be showing more of the cool finds here and in the shop.
This is a very cool collection. I have a number of vintage cameras (not displayed properly) but old movie cameras and projectors would be very difficult to find. I remember family birthday parties in the 60s with very bright lights on mouse ears off the camera. After cake we would settle in to watch films of past holidays together.
On my blog I link to a post about collections. It would be grat to have you join in.
Thanks – I will definitely check it out. Yes we love the nostalgia factor with these cameras and projectors. Although, in my family we did more slide shows than movies, but I love the way these camera’s and projectors look. Thanks for checking out my post.
Woah, what a GORGEOUS collection! I’m always tempted to scoop up vintage cameras, but I have too many collections going! But I’ll check out the resources in your post when I find myself unable to resist any longer…
Thanks Van – yes and that is just about half of what he has found in a very short time!