How it all started
For me it all started in or around 1981 when, as a teenager, I purchased my first SLR camera. A Yashica FX-3 with a 50mm F/2 Yashica lens. I used it until 2004, before I made the switch to digital cameras, eventually moving onto Nikon DSLR's.
Over the Christmas holidays of 2017, I read an article about film cameras and that they were making somewhat of a comeback. I searched and found my old FX-3 in a closet and wondered about restoring it. If any of you have come across Yashica FX cameras of that era you will know that the body covering that they put on at the factory did not hold up well over the decades. This, along with the fact that the light seals and mirror foam had turned to a gooey mess, meant that it was going to take some time to get my prized FX-3 back to looking half decent. That project got me hooked on film cameras all over again. I began scouring the want ads and I started to find many examples of cameras that I could work on and sell, and the prices were so low I couldn't resist buying them. I was lucky to find some cameras that I wanted to keep, so I decided to document them here for people to look at and also for me to have a place to catalogue them.
The following cameras are the ones that I have decided to keep in my permanent collection and use on a regular basis. I've come across other cameras that I have bought and sold. Pentax K1000, Pentax SP1000, SP500, Nikon FG, Yashica FR. But the cameras below, at least to me, are special. Either because they are rare, or were the first of their kind, or they are just beautiful to use and look at (OM-2!). I am sure that I will come across other cameras that I will fall in love with, but for now these are my Super 8.....in alphabetical order.
1. Canon AE-1 Program
2. Minolta SR-2
3. Nikon F with FTn Photomic Prism
4. Nikon F2 AS
5. Nikon FE
6. Nikkormat FT2
7. Olympus OM-2
8. Yashica FX-3
The following cameras are the ones that I have decided to keep in my permanent collection and use on a regular basis. I've come across other cameras that I have bought and sold. Pentax K1000, Pentax SP1000, SP500, Nikon FG, Yashica FR. But the cameras below, at least to me, are special. Either because they are rare, or were the first of their kind, or they are just beautiful to use and look at (OM-2!). I am sure that I will come across other cameras that I will fall in love with, but for now these are my Super 8.....in alphabetical order.
1. Canon AE-1 Program
2. Minolta SR-2
3. Nikon F with FTn Photomic Prism
4. Nikon F2 AS
5. Nikon FE
6. Nikkormat FT2
7. Olympus OM-2
8. Yashica FX-3