My second theme revolves around Zeiss Ikon, Voigtlander and Asahi (Pentax) cameras but not entirely. Those look old with much loss of paint and corrosion of metal parts.

My first theme is almost entirely medium format (120 film) cameras with (currently) one 35 mm camera, the Tenax I. I am keeping my collection at around 50 cameras, so as I buy more, I sell those that are no longer appealing to me as much as when I bought them. Later, I added a third theme – professional and semi-professional cameras. Secondly, 35 mm cameras from the second half of the 20th century that were made for serious(ish) photographers. First, cameras from the first half of the 20th century that were iconic of their time. After six months or so, I decided that I needed to rationalise my collecting so I decided on two themes. I just bought anything that caught my eye. I had no rhyme or reason about my collecting. So, every couple of weeks I bought another camera. Every time I logged on to Ebay, it would suggest things I could buy – and some were cameras. The single old camera turned into a collection when I sold my old vinyl record collection on Ebay.

Learning the idiosyncrasities of the camera took longer – no manual was avilable – and I wasted a shot or two (or three) using the wrong red window to advance the film and fighting the double exposure lock. I had learnt the basics of apertures and shutter speeds many years previously and it all came back to me fairly quickly. It so happened that I had £20 burning a hole in my pocket so I went in and bought it. I spent a very enjoyable afternoon with my ‘new’ camera taking photographs of Lincoln – 16 of them on my first roll of film for ten years. I started collecting cameras when I saw a folding Franka Solida II for £20 in the window of London Camera Exchange.

Vintage cameras collection