Tag Archives: fair

Vintage Fair, Bleurghhhh and Issues.

Thoughts and Musings, , , , , ,

You may have noticed the change of blog theme just when I was settled on a new layout. I have been having issues lately with WordPress losing media selections from the galleries. This was happening every time I updated or edited a post. It only started to occur since the previous theme change. Hence I thought the new theme was the issue and the reason for this new change.

WordPress help was very responsive and attentive, I can’t fault them on their attempts to fix the issue. But in the end it seems to have fixed itself…for now. It was very frustrating, especially when I edited an older post and had to relink the photos.

The “bleurghhhh” in the title means I am sick, it is cold season and I have a stonker. This week I had to skip work and my volunteering duties, staying in bed watching Game of Thrones. I did manage to attend my very first vintage fair as a stall holder before being afflicted. The fair was not as well attended as in previous years, but I did manage to sell a few cameras. Strangely, I ended up being offered more cameras by visitors. Those that lived nearby went home and got them. At the end of the day I walked away with the same amount. That was interesting, just as I was saying I could not afford new cameras, here are people offering them to me to keep, borrow, or buy for next to nothing.

Here are the phrases I heard the mosts:

  • Oh, I used to have one of those
  • Do you buy cameras? I am sure I have one in a draw somewhere.
  • Can you still get film?

It was nice to chat with people as they seemed genuinely happy to see the cameras, but I would have preferred to sell more. There will be another fair at that location in October so I think I will attend again. I also realized I will never be rich as I ended up giving some film away to a couple of people for various reasons.

It was hard to choose the cameras I put up for sale and repacking them after the event, I changed my mind on a couple of them. One the changes of mind was for the Minolta Weathermatic. It is just such a good camera. I reread my own post and then up popped this one from 35MMC. And after that I checked the prices. Wow, it has gone up in price. That settled it, I am keeping it….Especially as I sold the Sea & Sea at the fair.

Lastly if you are interested in buying a film camera, here is the most comprehensive guide I have ever seen. It is a few years old, but it is a treasure trove of information.

Ginza Camera Fair

Junk Camera Finds, Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

I went to my very first camera fair today. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but the opportunity was there so I took it. There seems to be 3 a year and after today I will definitely go again.

There were quite a few stands there with a wide range of film cameras. To be honest the whole thing made me realise that:

  1. I am a nerd
  2. I have a nice camera collection
  3. I know a fair bit about cameras
  4. I am a nerd
  5. I can’t resist a cheap old camera

I didn’t go with the intention of buying anything, but there were junk bins!

The junk bins were the only areas that were hard to get a space to peruse. I had to hold my ground a few times. I did notice I was probably the only female there and so I felt I had to be a little more “stand my ground-ish”. One or two Japanese men tried to push me out of the way. In these instances being short and rotund, low center of gravity, really helped. Having stood my ground I felt like I should buy something, it was my god given right!

So I ended up buying 4 cameras for about $30

  
The only one I was unsure of was the Konica, but I read a little about it when I got home and wow, lucky me. Turns out it is a great camera and this is the rare version due to the 1.6f lens.  

 
They all seem to function properly apart from the flash on the Olympus. I will work on that, but the camera doesn’t need it to function in daylight. I will test them all eventually and put them on here.

After the fair I went to a fabric area in Tokyo and bought some leather and stuff to reskin either these or future purchases.

Once I got home the weather was awful so I decided to spend my time changing light seals and reskinning some of the cameras I bought. Here are the results:

   
    
 
Now to test.