Mooching Along Through The Shop...

On a recent visit to the new CE Murray Street shop I came past this cabinet.

It is not overstated, nor over-full. Well, not as yet. It's still early days at the new shop and there will be more materièl added as time goes on. Our regular customers at the Stirling Street shop may crack a wry smile at this. Camera Electronic does have a habit of adding extra stuff from time to time...Ahem...

Okay, the cabinet has a " Pre-Owned " sign on the top. Those are pre-owned cameras and lense on the shelves. That's the bare bones of it. Here's the back story...

Camera Electronic has always maintained a Secondhand dealer's license. It has always had the legal ability to trade goods in or buy them outright and then to resell them. It also has the ability to thoroughly check the goods that come into the pre-owned section and to warrant their proper operation. This is due to the astute judgment of our technicians.

Our chief man, Ernest, uses nearly all of his senses when it comes to assessing equipment offered for trade.

a. He feels the camera. Is the surface rough, is a covering loose, do the controls feel gritty? Is there too much play in a lens mount? Does something not turn? All these signs mean that he will recommend that it not be traded in.

b. He listens to the camera. Do  the gears grate, does the motor whine too much, is there a crackle in the operation of the buttons or the levers? Again, this is a no...

c. He smells the camera. Mould and fungus have a peculiar odour. One he does not want us have to deal with. It can be dealt with, but not easily nor cheaply. Again no.

d. He looks at the camera. If it looks fine, that is fine. If it looks bad, that is not. Are there tell-tale signs of previous repair? Hmmm...

e. At this stage of the game I can state that I have never seen him lick a camera or lens to test the flavour. It is not impossible, but I have no idea that test result this would yield. About the only thing I can think of is the idea that a Zorki or Fed would probably taste like fish oil...Let's leave that one alone...

All the above is to indicate that the items that make it to the Pre-owned cabinet s at Stirling Street or Murray Street do so on merit. They have passed a set of very tough tests and are worthy of consideration. The fact that they are often at a considerable reduction in price compared to the new boxed item is of real benefit - you can have double the amount of equipment and double the amount of capability for the same price.

Do I practice what I preach? I do - I have bought secondhand lenses and camera bodies from Camera Electronic for decades and I have not been disappointed once. All the way from the wooden 4x5 Nagaoka that Ron sold me in 1995 to the latest 35mm f:1.4 Fujinon lens that sits on my Fujifilm X-Pro1 right now, the goods have been good and I have had fabulous value for money.

Go-on - mooch past that cabinet every time you are in there - and look in every time you do. The stock changes all the time and you never can tell when the ideal bit that you never dreamed you could afford will be sitting there waiting for you. One thing you can be sure of - it has the Ernest seal of approval.

Does that 35mm f:1.4 Fujinon do the business? It sure does when La Belle Jane is the model...

The Tide Has Not Yet Turned

Did goe to the Photomarkets this last Sundaye and was greatley entertained.

The day is always much the same - a crowd of sellers hanging off the door of the Leederville Town hall at 7:00 AM - and not getting to go in until 7:30. There is much vying for the front position but it is all folly - there are plenty of places to be had in the hall and no one corner has a better vantage point for selling than another. People may gravitate to a spot that they employed previously but the customers that flood in later in the morning will really scour every corner of the market place.

I had not participated for several sessions and looked to see if there were great changes in the goods being offered - a tidal replacement of old film goods with new digital items. For better or worse, I can say no - there were some digital goods of high quality on offer but the predominance was given to old film gear. Indeed there was a great deal of old cine gear there as well, with little prospect of any re-employment in the future.

I must not cavil - I was offering film equipment as well, and have to complement the passers-by for their courtesy and intelligence in examining it  - the questions asked were apposite and the enquirers seemed to know whereof they spoke. If it did not sell on the spot...well time may tell. At least people saw it.

And that may be really the only benefit for the Photomarkets in the future - unless someone is digging the roadside and strikes a main conduit of old Leicas and Rolleis, we are unlikely to see a flood of them on the Perth market. CE sees more of the good bits than the Photomarkets...and even CE doesn't take everything in.

Perhaps the markets can concentrate on more arcane bits. On previously unknown manufacturers or weird European and Oriental debris from the 50's and 60's. I don't think that people bringing in slightly aged digital software or clattering hardware from the 1990's have much of a chance of a sale - this isn't new enough to provoke desire or old enough to evoke nostalgia. Some manufacturers charged off in every direction but the right one at the time ( K....) and no-one wants to follow them. It will take a lot of time for the things that they made to gain the charm of old teacups or Matchbox toys.

One thing you can say for the Photomarkets - they have the best coffee and cake stand of any venue in Leederville. Choose your baked goods with care and you can eat very well indeed. You might not take off a photographic prize but you can get a better morning tea there than you can make at home.

Note to the custodians of the Leederville Town Hall: The next time you replace the light bulbs in the fixtures that illuminate the hall go for something that actually has a colour temperature. We don't mind which one but install something...the current globes hang over the tables like reminders of past sins.

Old Skool Rodz - And Old Skool Cameraz

Go to the magazine rack of any newsagency and look at the car magazines. Bypass the 4WD and luxury European sedans and look for the hot rod and street car magazines*.

Somewhere in there will be one that refers to Old Skool cars. The definition is a little fuzzy - they're talking about vehicles that are prior to 1966...mostly. And they are talking about American cars...mostly. And you can love 'em or leave 'em just as you wish - the point is that they are being loved by someone and used to their full capacity right now. If you see some of the full kustoms and low-riders they are being used to well over whatever the designers thought was capacity...

The rat rods are another feature of these publications. Not everyone has happened upon a car that can be re-built to factory specifications or prettied up into a show piece. Some old cars are just rusters and the best that can be done is to make them mechanically safe and turn a blind eye to the defects in the appearance. Some owners capitalise upon the look of horrible old steel.

Camera users might well take some guidance from this. If any of h clients of Camera Electronic fancy trips down Memory Lane with photo gear, the shop can provide the vehicles - in the form of secondhand cameras. For some buyers they might be re-living their youth with a camera that they had before. In other instances the buyers are re-living someone else's youth...taking a different Memory Lane than the one they have maps for. This can lead to problems.

If you fancy an older camera with the view that it will give you the experience of earlier times consider that some of those earlier times didn't yield very good pictures - particularly if the historic camera wasn't really a very good camera to start with. Cameras ain't wine - they don't mellow with age.

Also remember that the camera that functioned perfectly well in 1948 is now 67 years old. It may not work as well as it did. Hell, I was born in 1948 and I don't work nearly as good as I did...though I am still pretty to look at.

Finally - the support mechanisms that made the whole system work in the olden days ( Dragons, Elvis, and such...) is not there any more. You can't get your 620 Verichrome Pan developed at the chemist shop for 7/6. You can put modern emulsions through modern specialist labs at modern prices and get modern prints. You can search around for all the parts needed to develop and process and make your own little Rochester in your house - and God bless you for it - but if you need quick pics or lotsa pics it ain't gonna work. Trust me on this - I am typing this from a little Rochester that has been converted into a digital darkroom.

Old Skool is fun. Do it for fun. If you do it for profit expect your Memory Lane to be dark, unpaved, and dotted with potholes.

*FORGED is a WA publication and is well worth buying. Also anything from Koolhouse Publications.

Swiss Optical Puzzle - Tessina

 Until this example of the Tessina 35mm camera came into the shop in a collector's kit, I could never figure out what all the dials were on it - there were illustrations in the photo magazines in the 1960's but the thing always looked as if it had more holes and glass than there was a need for.

It took some handling and puzzling to do it, But I suspect I could operate it now. Of course one has to have the special Tessina cassettes loaded to do it - you take the film from a regular 35mm cassette or from a bulk film loader. And it is a small format camera - half frame really.

But the precision involved - really watch making work. Of course this camera is really a collector's item now, but you do have to admire the concept and the workmanship. The Swiss really do think outside the square sometimes.

We Are Getting There Splendidly

Please disegard the expression on the face of our staff member, Mr. Doudakis. He is practising to be the Parthenon in a fog - grim, grey, and Greek. He is really as delighted with the progress of the new Leica Shop as rest of us.

The basic structure is up and we are setting out stock onto the shelves. Leica have an amazing range of cameras, lenses, and accessories. Their binoculars are superb - there is an entires section devoted to them at the right of the shop. We have also made provision for the pre-owned Leica stock in some very elegant show cabinets.

There will be much more coming - drift in occasionally to see the new stock go up. If you want you can buy some...just sayin'...

Big Deal - It's A Canon...

So? It's just a secondhand Canon lens...what's so good about that?

If you are a Nikon, Pentax, or Olympus user....basically nothing.

If you are a Canon user the good is the condition of this lens and the reasonable price. Lens, box, case, caps and a three month warranty for $ 1450.

If you are shooting weddings, or surfing, or pets - and in particular if you are combining all three themes in one shoot....this is the lens for you. A wet bride covered in cats is just indescribable.

Treat yourself to some good glass for a change. It will make even the modest Canon bodies look good.

The Pendulum Swings - To Secondhand Canon

Here in Camera Electronic one of the core areas of the business has always been the trade in secondhand photographic equipment.

Cameras, lenses, enlargers, processors, and lots of other things have come in and gone out over the years. While I was just a customer and not yet on staff I remember buying a number of lenses and other items at the older premises - and I enjoyed using them for years. Indeed two of my core digital lenses and all of my analog lenses had previous owners. I benefitted when I bought them from the drop in sticker price that always accompanies secondhand sales and they have performed magnificently.

So if you have any interest in professional work - or high-end enthusiast photography - you might like to look at the line-up of cameras in the secondhand cabinet this week. For some unfathomable statistical reason, we seem to have about a tonne of Canon 1D cameras.

This is where the pendulum reference comes from - at any one time we might have have a preponderance of Canon or Nikon equipment in the shop. It often happens that one or other of the companies bring out some new model and the owners of the previous one - or the model back from that one - feel impelled to trade up. The real fun comes when the Big Two bring out competing models at the same time and then everyone wants everything.

You score well from this if you are a student, enthusiast, starting professional, or canny shooter. The class of camera we take in for trade is high, and we make sure the cameras are good before we accept them. They all carry warranty. Many of them are fully-accessorized and in all cases we can point you to instruction manuals and assistance. In the case of the Canon cameras that you see in the photo there are a number of Canon shooters here on staff to walk you though the menus and features. ( I'm of the Nikon persuasion - plus I can deal with Hasselblads, Linhofs, and .69 Charlevilles. )

Note that the 1D cameras are really big and sturdy things - they take the L series lenses. They work fast and can be used in poor weather conditions without worry. This should be a boon to sports and wedding shooters.

We are filling up here and would appreciate it if you could wheel a barrow down here and take some away. Thank you.

Uncle Dick

Big N Sale - Secondhand Has Never Been So Good

Looks like there has been a veritable flood of Nikon camera bodies and lenses traded in over the 10 days I have been gone. I see a row of Nikon D3 bodies - and D 300 and D 300s bodies. There are a couple of fightin' cameras - the D2x - and even a contingent of D 80 and D90. All at bargain basement prices - the secondhand prices have been dropped.

The secondhand cabinet is groaning under the weight of lenses as well - and some of them are exotics like shift wide angles. If you have a very small amount of cash hidden in the biscuit barrel, I suggest that now is the time to bring it in and benefit from both the sale prices and the sudden influx of good gear.

Funny how it works - one part of the year there will be an influx of Canon and the next thing you know it will dry up and Nikon flows in. I wonder if it is related to the phases of the moon - like the tide.