Does anyone collect old digital cameras?

Harlequin565

Harlequin565

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I'm just curious as we get quite a lot of 1st generation digital compacts through our charity shop and some of them go for silly money.

Today I picked up a 2002 Fuji M603 3.2Mp hunk of ugliness, and was astounded by the prices it fetches on eBay (selling at £200-£300 - not just optimistic listers). Even old Kodak Easyshares sell for £20-30. I'm guessing there must be people out there that collect older model digital cameras for some reason. Does anyone here do it? I'm just curious is all. I'm wondering if there's a trend I'm missing out on...

I know people collect old film cameras, both to shoot them, and some just to display them, but the fugly ones rarely attract high prices.

:tumbleweed:

Edit - this should probably have gone in talk equipment...
 
I have a few Nikon D1, D1H and D1X bodies brought a few years ago when they could be had for £30-40.
 
I have looked at one or two lately out of idle curiosity. I suppose there is an interest in seeing how some of them perform. But realistically I'm not sure I want to go down that road. I suspect the answer is pretty well, insofar as you might not notice a great deal of difference in practical terms. But you wouldn't want to use them for any shots you value.
 
When they were really cheap, I bought a few. Now the shops are asking more, I'm less interested. My best buy was this Fuji SL300 for all of £5!

Fuji SL300 camera E-PL5 P6160002.JPG

I was rather pleased with some of the pictures I got with it...

Fujifilm SL300 8GB 05 SL300 DSCF3397.JPG
 
Plain Nev said:
But realistically I'm not sure I want to go down that road.
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AndrewFlannigan said:
Now the shops are asking more, I'm less interested
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"not sure" and "less interested".... Not exactly statements of steadfast refusal... :)

Is it a case of "they're cheap and will do fine for my needs" or is it a case of nostalgia? Or something else? For pro photographers, I understand the need to have backup pro level bodies, I'm more interested in those folks who look at late nineties/early noughties compacts/bridges and think "Yep. I'll have that!"
 
Harlequin565 said:
I'm more interested in those folks who look at late nineties/early noughties compacts/bridges and think "Yep. I'll have that!"
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I'm interested in the "I'll give your £300 for that crap old camera" people. :D
 
Ed Sutton said:
I'm interested in the "I'll give your £300 for that crap old camera" people. :D
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So am I! That's 10 hours wages for a nurse on the wards.
 
Harlequin565 said:
"not sure" and "less interested".... Not exactly statements of steadfast refusal... :)
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True. I did look at a nice Canon DSLR that had a grand total of 7MP, and for a fleeting moment I was tempted. But in my case the restrictions are physical, as much as anything. I've just got nowhere to put any more. :p
 
I read a newspaper article that said there was a new trend for the old digital cameras and indeed my daughter asked me what I had that she could use. I now see that the link above is the New York Times which I do currently subscribe to, so perhaps that is where I read about it.
 
I guess the D200 that I have (converted to IR590nm) counts as one of these? It's still a great cameras far as I'm concerned, but not really vintage perhaps, more veteran.
 
I wouldn't say I was a collector, but I would like to get all the digital cameras that I have had, but no longer have.

I was burgled around 2010, and lost a Nikon D300, Fuji F31fd and Fuji S602Z Pro. Last year I was able to get a Fuji S602Z Pro, which was my first digital camera, and got me back into photography, for £20! :) It was bought for the nostalgia, rather than for taking pictures. ;)

I was surprised at the size of the S602Z Pro, it being larger than I remembered, even though I used it solidly for about 2 years, and owned it for about 6-7 years. :thinking: Memory can be a crazy thing. :LOL:

The Fuji F31fd is still quite expensive, but I will hopefully get one at some point. I got a D300S to replace the D300, so don't feel as much of a need to get another one soon.

I did have a Nikon D70 in the past, and will probably get one of those too at some point.

The Nikon cameras would be good to get just so that I can do camera profiles for the older cameras to apply to older RAW files, it needed.

*Edit* Just had a look on eBay, and the Fuji F31fd is going for 2-4 times the prices of the D70 and D300. :oops: :$ :LOL:
 
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petapixel.com

Why Are So Many Gen Z-ers Drawn to Old Digital Cameras?

A look at the reasons why members of generation Z are drawn to "vintage" digital cameras. It may all boil down to a desire for meaning in life.
petapixel.com petapixel.com
Here’s the article, without having to subscribe.
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Film camera prices have also gone up, i know, not really relevant.
D200 & D90 can still produce amazing pictures, I’ve recently sold mine but loved it.
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The thing with older cameras is that they don’t produce the perfect, clinical white balance, supersized resolution and unbelievably exceptional noise free high iso performance.
 
I've kept a couple. I have a blue Canon Ixus and a matching leather case, I think this was exclusive to Jessops, and a Medion compact. I haven't used either for a few years but I am reluctant to bin them. I don't think I'm interested in anything older as I have bad memories of a company compact I used to use which just ate batteries.

The Canon is ok but the Medion WB sometimes bares no relation to reality so I open them as raws and process them for best effect or convert them to mono. I have two pictures taken with that camera printed A4 and framed and they look good to me. What does appeal to me about the Canon and Medion I have is that to me they are much more attractive and nice to use than a smartphone and they're credit card footprint and easily go in a pocket, a modern smartphone doesn't.

I always look in the charity and cash for stuff shop windows when I pass but I never buy as Mrs WW would shout at me :D There was a case full of second hand compacts in the local outdoor shop the last time I went in.
 
Mr Perceptive said:
CCD sensors render quite differently to CMOS ones
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That's new information to me
a Bit strange leica models had ccd sensors (M9, M monochrome, M-E
Makes me wonder if they are actually better sensors
 
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I never even thought of adding any digital cameras to my collection, as I'd sold my Nikon D70,D90 and D7000 when I switched to Nikon Z cameras, but a friend of mine was selling his collection of digital stuff, the mint and boxed D1h followed me home followed shortly afterwards by a mint condition D1x,I haven't added any more since, I'd love to find the original D1 in the same condition, but it looks easier to find a unicorn.Screenshot_20221218_105853_eBay.jpgScreenshot_20221010-191255_eBay.jpg
 
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Think I’m missing the point but digital cameras are just tools to me , I do still have all my old cameras but never use them
I do still have my Canon A1 film camera that I’ve kept for sentimental reasons as my father bought it for me
 
I don't collect digital cameras but seem to have acquired a fair few over the past couple of years.

I often go to the race track and use them, my Canon 1D with the Canon 1DX MkI, or Fuji XT-1 or just recently Nikon D2Xs and Nikon D800 and use them a lot.

My favourite?

The Canon 1D, for a 4Mb CCD sensor, which I can get great A3 prints from, just works so well and I love the images from it.
 
Marino said:
That's new information to me
a Bit strange leica models had ccd sensors (M9, M monochrome, M-E
Makes me wonder if they are actually better sensors
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It's a Yes / No answer to that.
As far as I know the only company still using CCD Sensor is Phase but it is a DASLA one, and I am not 100% sure on that.

CCD sensors that many people are after are the Kodak ones but the big problem with them is that they don't deal with high ISO's very well, my Canon 1D is great a 400 and just about OK with some messing in post at ISO800 but beyond that, nope not really usable.

CMOS, mainly made by Sony and in nearly everything these days, is better in many ways, quicker with the new BSI sensors, clear images at high ISO etc.

As for colours, well that is down to personally preference and what you're after. CCD sensors were on the cusp of film / digital so Kodak tried to make the sensors very "film" like and being Kodak that have a look very much like the old Kodachrome (least that's what I think).
Leica are perhaps the best at getting that film like profile and their M9 series did a very nice job.

Yes CCD, to my eyes, do refer colour different, but so many presets out there and YouTube videos showing you how you can mimic the look in post not sure that you could say CCD sensors are better?
They just look different.
Like Windows and Mac OS, they do very similar things, just in a different way :)

Still want a CCD medium Format though :LOL:
 
Compact digital i still have a Canon Powershot S70 still boxed. Which i don’t use and keep it as sentimental value. Otherwise the oldest, digital camera that i have which you can say I ”collect’ is my Fuji X100 original, limited black edition. Paid like £430 for it, but even the regular silver version cost that much these days.

I still use a Fuji X-T1 all the time, it’s fantastic.
 
The Nikon ccd cameras tend to have much more intense reds and a bit more intense blues than more modern cameras. The light response is less linear and sometimes more like film. That was probably deliberate because no one was going to buy a camera which made dull pictures.

I really like the pictures straight out of my D80. They take more work as the exposure is harder to get right than a more modern DSLR.
 
Don’t collect old cameras as such but my current ones are x-t1 and x-pro1, seemed to have also developed a strange want for a Sony a7 , the original
 
@Knikki @Marino

CCD sensors were more expensive to make than CMOS sensors and have a lot less dynamic range than todays CMOS sensors hence the limited usable ISO range.

But the photosites on CCD sensors suffered less light bleed into neighbouring photosites than early CMOS so we’re more spatially accurate (and used extensively in monochrome machine vision cameras at the time - an industry I work in). Early CMOS sensors also had slow readout compared with CCD.

But production scale and computational improvements mean that CMOS is now king.

@Knikki DALSA (a supplier I have had a 25 year relationship with), make a lot of sensors including many used by Phase One and other digital backs, indeed many older models are CCD sensors.

There is something special about relatively large photosites on a sensor and often low megapixel count sensors punch well above their specifications and produce beautifully rendered images - I’m a big fan of these and often find the high MP count if some of todays offerings quite sterile (and obviously digital)
 
Erty said:
The Nikon ccd cameras tend to have much more intense reds and a bit more intense blues than more modern cameras. The light response is less linear and sometimes more like film. That was probably deliberate because no one was going to buy a camera which made dull pictures.

I really like the pictures straight out of my D80. They take more work as the exposure is harder to get right than a more modern DSLR.
Click to expand...

CCD sensors are more sensitive towards the red end if the spectrum- if you were getting intense blues then these will have been engineered into the Bayer demosaicing algorithm.
 
gjhill said:
Don’t collect old cameras as such but my current ones are x-t1 and x-pro1, seemed to have also developed a strange want for a Sony a7 , the original
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£350 boxed

London Camera Exchange

The London Camera Exchange supplies second hand cameras, new cameras, digital cameras and other camera equipment and provides a camera part exchange in photographic shops all over England, UK.
www.lcegroup.co.uk
 
gjhill said:
Don’t collect old cameras as such but my current ones are x-t1 and x-pro1, seemed to have also developed a strange want for a Sony a7 , the original
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I ordered mine before they hit the shops and I'm still using it today :D It's the best camera I've ever had, it'll be 10 years old this year.
 
Well I don’t think I do, but the missus has a different opinion… ;)
 
So interesting to read that people keep old cameras for sentimental reasons. When I re-purchased my first camera - a Kodak Instamatic, I did it because of sentimentality. But after going through the rigmarole of respooling 35mm into a spare 126 cannister, shooting it, then developing it, then scanning it... I realised that the sentimentality was for the photos it took, not the camera itself.

It's still on the shelf waiting for me to summon up the willpower to make another roll of film for it.

Thanks for all the replies btw. I thought this would be a tumbleweed thread.
 
I still have all my old cameras apart from my original Fuji 1400z which died and a Sony RX10m2 and a Fuji F71 which I gave away. I should have probably sold my 4/3 gear as it includes the high end 7-14mm/35-100mm lenses and I've never touched a 4/3 camera since I changed to F-mount. It's honestly more laziness not shifting them on and it's all probably worthless now, I don't really feel they make for good collections as most of the cameras are really just functional. It's also such a pain to use the older cameras as they all have different batteries and chargers, I was digging out the GH1/GH2 for someone and I could find the battery for one and the charger for the other...both of which are incompatible even though the cameras were released closely together.
 
I started off with a Nikon D70, sold that and then got a D200..... loved shooting with them but then went for a D3100 and after that a D7000.... 2.5 years ago I bought another D200, as I regretted selling my first one and that kicked of my collection..... Now I have D70, 2x D200's and 2x D700's in addition to my D810. All picked up with very low shutter counts. Have noticed lately that the prices on mint D200's are creeping up...
 
TheFiend said:
I started off with a Nikon D70, sold that and then got a D200..... loved shooting with them but then went for a D3100 and after that a D7000.... 2.5 years ago I bought another D200, as I regretted selling my first one and that kicked of my collection..... Now I have D70, 2x D200's and 2x D700's in addition to my D810. All picked up with very low shutter counts. Have noticed lately that the prices on mint D200's are creeping up...
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I'm getting another camera to add to my collection..... The Nikon D200's evil twin, the Fujifilm S5 Pro....
 
I got a D40, loved the colours and the challenge of making it work effectively. Then I got a D80, and then ...
 
Absolutely - full Kodak DCS Pro SLR series for me, Nikon D1, Canon Pro 90 IS, Canon Pro 1 IS, Sony F818, few Kodak digital compacts, Samsung NX1 and a few nice lens, original Canon digital Rebel, couple of Contax digital compacts, the original Apple Quicktake...
 
All this has prompted me to dig out my old Canon Powershot A640 with a whopping 10MP! Still works a treat. And the results are very creditable. I don't suppose that I used it's full potential at the time, but knowing what I know now I can get more out of it.

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Black and white is good. And it produces nice colours in a classic films type profile. Plus which I've also discovered I can process the images in Capture 1 Express. Win, win really.
 
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