So, where's your camera been?

[reagan]

Did you every wonder where your camera had been before you got it? I always do. A short while ago I recieved from one of our own, JimG, a really nice Leica III. I immediately became soooo attached to it. (Surprise!)

Along with the camera Jim included a photo-copy of a Leica III instruction book. There on the cover was stamped the name/address of a local photo shop... in Bolivia. I remembered Jim posting that the camera had been purchased in New York, so my curiosity finally got the best of me and wrote Jim back and asked him if he knew anything about the camera's history. Here's what he replied.
______________

My father was a mining engineer and worked in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru from 1926 to 1950. His employer's office was in New York where he purchased the camera, (your camera) in 1939. He told me it had just arrived by zeppelin fresh from Germany. I have photos he made with it from Moffat Tunnel in Colorado, crossing thru the Panama Canal and all over the Amazon Basin.

It's really a testimonial to the quality of these cameras that it's in as good a condition as it's in. His main mode of transportation was river raft and horse back. Have you ever seen John Huston's 'Treasure of the Sierra Madre' with Humphrey Bogart & Walter Huston? That's what your camera survived and I still have the photos to document it.

Anyway he died, I got the camera many years ago which I seldom used because I prefer what is for me a faster film loading system. My daughter who prefers SLR's didn't want the Leica and I wanted it used by someone who would appreciate it. So you got it.

Great story, great camera. Thanks JimG.

Any more camera history stories out there?

[amateriat]

Damn, that's a great story, and - putting it mildly - a tough one to top. The only camera in my possesion with anything approaching a story (or backstory) is my father's Polaroid 95, but it's hardly anything to get worked up about, and I spent a good deal of time behind that camera, from age 7 onward (when he could finally trust me with the thing), so there's not much mystery either.

My Hexar RFs and trio of lenses were bought new, so theirs is a story in the making (they've been as far West as Texas and as far South as...well, as far as you can go without drowning). Dog knows where my Konica S3 has been before I got my paws on it.

Again, thanks so much for sharing this.


- Barrett

[flashover]

Hum I wonder where my IIIc has been in the last 55 years? tobad you couldn't track them through time. The only camera I own that I know the history on is my D1. I was originaly purchased by Bob Warner a Fire Fighter turned Photo Journalist. He was a widely respected photographer shooting for many major publications and newspapers. He was being offered a position as senior photo editor for AP in Washington DC. I recived the camera from a friend and photographer who recived it from Bob shortly before he died as the result of a car accident on route to visit some family and shoot photos at the Carlsbad caverns. The camera had been used to photograph major news and sporting events such as the Kentucky Derby and celberites George Clooney, Ashley Judd and Alison Krauss.

[back alley]

my m3 was once owned by a doctor

and a student.

and now me

[doubs43]

If I told ya, I'd have to put a contract out on ya!

Seriously, I have a IIIf RD that I bought in MD in 1972. It's been to Kansas, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, England, New Mexico and Georgia just to name the places that are on the top of my head. It was CLA'd by the factory in Wetzlar when I hand-carried it there myself. It's still as smooth as silk on glass.

Both pictures I submitted for inclusion in the RF Book were taken with it.

Walker

[Mike Stoesz]

Howdy from Wyoming;

I have 7 cameras that belonged to the Stetner brothers, a highly regarded mountain climbing team the pioneered many routes in the Rocky Mountains. Both brothers were members of the Chicago mountaineering club. There is a book about them titled the Stetner Way. The cameras are Kodak Retina 1a, Retina II, two variations of the Retina IIa, Retina IIIC, Voigtlander Bessa II w/Skopar, and also their Victor 16mm cine camera. These cameras recorded many of their famous first ascents.

Mike

[reagan]

Barrett, seems like my dad had a Polaroid for a short time as well, but I barely remember it. He was 99% a 35mm man. I have none of his cameras now and have no idea what happened to them. So "having your dad's Polaroid" is a good story... IMO.

Walker, I didn't read your post, so you don't have to put a contract out on me... just the other guys.

Wow, Mike. I'm too afraid of heights to use those babies. Good story.

[nikon_sam]

I own a few older cameras a few I still use others are on a shelf somewhere in my house.
I would love to know where they've been and what pictures they've taken. Just the thought that someone out there with the same passion for photography and the same love of just holding a camera may have own or used this camera.

[oftheherd]

Interesting that some of you know the history of your used cameras. The only one I know is the 50mm lens for my Super Press 23. I got it second hand from a local pro who used it extensively for all kinds of work, but primarily architectural documentation.

When my gear that I purchased new gets passed on somebody will get a Yashica TL Super I purchased in the PX in Quang Tri, Vietnam. It has traveled with me to Colorado, Korea three times, Ft Knox, Ft Campbell, Washington, DC, all over the US West, and points in between. Same for my Super Press 23 and Fujica ST 901 except they only joined me my first time in Korea. The Fujica has hung out with me out of a 'copter in Korea, photographed numerous crime scenes and autopsies, as well as surveillance photos, and just been a fun camera to have along all the time. It has visited a lot of temples in Korea and the Korean National Museum in Seoul for a special photo op in a place where photography was not normally allowed. It was great as even then I was not allowed to use flash, so a tripod and its AP exposure worked well. It was good on a lot of crime scenes for the same reason. It has also taken a great many family photos.

Still, nothing as exciting as some of the stories already told. I envy y'all.

[denishr]

Well, I can only imagine where most of my cameras have been - since I bought all of them used.
I know for sure that my Nikkor 24/2.8 lens went to London, Paris and Rome - once to London with me, and to Rome and Paris with a friend, on loan
As for the RF cameras, I got my M2 used in Austria, and can only imagine where it went before it settled down with me. My M3 and M6 came from USA, and I only know for sure that the M6 was used to take some nice photos of deer grazing near Brian's house in Virginia prior to embarking on the journey to Croatia

Denis

[RML]

Hmmpf! Great story! How can I top that?! I can't!

[unohuu]

My Lynx 14 is formerly owned by Karen Nakamura who runs the Photoethnography website. I am sure it has travelled places I am only dreaming about.

Luke

[taffer]

Very nice story and thread !

My M2 seemed to spend many hours of hard work under the US Navy supervision.
My Canon P comes from a photojournalist who treated it with great care, it even has a (newspaper? service?) 'FH' sticker which I'd really like to know more of.
My ex-Moskva (now Chase's) seemed to belong to a Russian professional.
My Leica CL belonged to our very own Gene Wilburn !
My black Kiev 4a was a present from a missed friend and retired PJ
My Minolta Hi-matic 7s came from our unique and fearless moderator

And I have to think of more...

[FrankS]

Originally Posted by CVBLZ4

Did you every wonder where your camera had been before you got it? I always do. A short while ago I recieved from one of our own, JimG, a really nice Leica III. I immediately became soooo attached to it. (Surprise!)

Along with the camera Jim included a photo-copy of a Leica III instruction book. There on the cover was stamped the name/address of a local photo shop... in Bolivia. I remembered Jim posting that the camera had been purchased in New York, so my curiosity finally got the best of me and wrote Jim back and asked him if he knew anything about the camera's history. Here's what he replied.
______________

My father was a mining engineer and worked in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru from 1926 to 1950. His employer's office was in New York where he purchased the camera, (your camera) in 1939. He told me it had just arrived by zeppelin fresh from Germany. I have photos he made with it from Moffat Tunnel in Colorado, crossing thru the Panama Canal and all over the Amazon Basin.

It's really a testimonial to the quality of these cameras that it's in as good a condition as it's in. His main mode of transportation was river raft and horse back. Have you ever seen John Huston's 'Treasure of the Sierra Madre' with Humphrey Bogart & Walter Huston? That's what your camera survived and I still have the photos to document it.

Anyway he died, I got the camera many years ago which I seldom used because I prefer what is for me a faster film loading system. My daughter who prefers SLR's didn't want the Leica and I wanted it used by someone who would appreciate it. So you got it.

Great story, great camera. Thanks JimG.

Any more camera history stories out there?

This is SO BIZARRE! That is EXACTLY the same story my collapsible Elmar 50mm lens comes with!

Wait, the lens I bought from Jim was attached to this camera, so it's not so weird after all.

[Kin Lau]

I'd love to know the stories behind my Leica IIIa, Elmar 50, 35 & 90 and Summar. All are pre-war, acquired separately and looked fairly well used. The IIIa & Elmars 50 & 90 are quite brassed.

[Byuphoto]

My M4-2 was purchased by an Army Combat photographer named Joe Lieberman in 1979. He puchased it NYC before going to Germany for the last time. He also carried it to Moscow in 1980 and to Korea before retiring in 1981. Since then it has been all overthe US and Canada, GB and europe.
Joe sold it to me to pay medical bills from his battle with terminal cancer. Joe is now on a very low limb and does not have much longer to live. I wish I could have gotten his M3 as it had been in some deep s*** with him.
My old Canonet, I bought in '73 has been to Viet Nam, cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Hong Kong, Philipines, Korea, Japan, Fiji islands, New Zealand and Australia. It has rode in Swift Boats, Helos and Marine AmTracks. It was also with me for the evacuation of Saigon and it walked the beaches of Hawaii many times while I was stationed there. It has been to Ak, Wa,Ca. and Az. and much more before I retired it and started using a Pentax ME Super

[grizzz]

Don't have any history on my M but have a good story about my Canon F1. A good freind of mine knew I was into photography and gave me this camera when his father passed. He wanted it to continue to get used and not just sell it off. His father towed a camper around all of North America to include all USA states to include Alaska and parts of Canada. He had this F1 with him for all of it. I know it's taken many great shots all over the place. I now keep it at my moms house in florida and it's the only camera I have when I go see her. Since I do this quite often it is still getting alot of use.

[Finder]

This is an interesting thread. It reminds me of what my mother used to tell me - don't put it in your mouth, you don't know where it has been. Not that I am going to start putting my cameras in my mouth and knowing where they have been, I am less likely to do so.

All my cameras were bought new. So they have made their own record of where they have been. Naturally, I was there too. I often look at a picture as a document of something, but it is also a record of where the photographer was. (I don't know if that articulates that well, but I know what I mean.) It would be fascinating when you get a camera to get a copy of all the photos that were taken with it.

Just a side note, anyone see the TV series "Shooting the Past" or "Perfect Strangers"? They seem to go along with this thread.

[dexdog]

My most traveled camera is a Contax II that I bought in New Zealand in 1983. The inside of the camera back has a service sticker from a camera store in Beunos Aires, Argentina. I used the camera in NZ and Australia on that trip. Used it from time to time in various locations in the US, most notably in SE Alaska. Serviced by Henry Scherer in 2002, and subsequently used in Spain, Costa Rica and Ecuador/Galapagos, and plan to take it with me to Hawaii this May.

I wish it could tell me how it got to NZ from the point of production in Germany, with a stop-over in Argentina.

[Robin Harrison]

My chrome M6 used to below to an army medical officer. He took it to the top of K2 on a training mission at one point. Back in the England, the camera fell off the back of his motorbike somewhere in the west country. A couple found the camera and sent it back to Leica, who matched the serial number with some sales record and returned the camera to its owner! He later sold it to a photographer friend, who in turn sold it to me. And some lovely looking scars it's got too (I can't understand the appeal of pristine cameras)!

[reagan]

Wow, great stories all! I love it!!

Someone wrote that they wished you could put these old rangefinders to your eye, push a button and see everything it had seen before. Well, here's a glimpse of what my Leica III and FrankS's Elmar have seen before. I just thougt it was too good to keep to myself.

Jim wrote: "Reagan, The guy facing the the camera was my father. Notice the guy facing him looks like he's holding a Rollie TLR. JimG"

Looks like just another RFF Meet, eh?
(Thanks JimG for sharing. I promise I won't post every pic you send me! )

[hmotte]

Originally Posted by CVBLZ4

Did you every wonder where your camera had been before you got it? I always do. A short while ago I recieved from one of our own, JimG, a really nice Leica III. I immediately became soooo attached to it. (Surprise!)

Along with the camera Jim included a photo-copy of a Leica III instruction book. There on the cover was stamped the name/address of a local photo shop... in Bolivia. I remembered Jim posting that the camera had been purchased in New York, so my curiosity finally got the best of me and wrote Jim back and asked him if he knew anything about the camera's history. Here's what he replied.
______________

My father was a mining engineer and worked in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru from 1926 to 1950. His employer's office was in New York where he purchased the camera, (your camera) in 1939. He told me it had just arrived by zeppelin fresh from Germany. I have photos he made with it from Moffat Tunnel in Colorado, crossing thru the Panama Canal and all over the Amazon Basin.

It's really a testimonial to the quality of these cameras that it's in as good a condition as it's in. His main mode of transportation was river raft and horse back. Have you ever seen John Huston's 'Treasure of the Sierra Madre' with Humphrey Bogart & Walter Huston? That's what your camera survived and I still have the photos to document it.

Anyway he died, I got the camera many years ago which I seldom used because I prefer what is for me a faster film loading system. My daughter who prefers SLR's didn't want the Leica and I wanted it used by someone who would appreciate it. So you got it.

Great story, great camera. Thanks JimG.

Any more camera history stories out there?

Liking your story. My father was a professional photographer when I was very young. He was still into photography very much when I was 13. He had a darkroom at home and a lot of camera equipment. When I was 14 he died and my mothers brothers took all of everything he owned. I never got even a watch, a ring, a camera, nothing. I saw a camera like he had owned about a year and a half ago and bought it. I have been a photographer ever since that day. I now have 28 cameras in my collection. 17 of which are rangefinders, all in good working order. I do not know if I have any like he had other than that one, but I have bought some from the time he would have been owning cameras, so maybe I do. One of my favorite ones is a mint condition Petri 7s. It is dead on. Then my minoltas and the Yashica is sooo perfect. The pictures so sharp, as to cut oneself.
And the beautifl part is that all the prime lens are so sharp but so inexpensive compared to todays. I do have a Canon Pro 1 and Nikon D50 though, but I take my rangefinder with me everyday. I have a film scanner. I am now 60 years old and would like to say to all. Do not wait until you are old to do what you want or should. Oh, well, enough already. I am waiting for the mail also like you all. Still have cameras coming, etc...and waiting for the next trip to take pics. Maybe I will see you there.

[childers-jk]

I don't have any stories about my cameras, although I would really like to know where my F1 has been!! But some of you might remember my a post about how I aquired my darkroom equipment. I answered an add in the local paper for darkroom equipment, and bought it from an older gentalman. He really wanted to sell the enlarger and the other stuff, but I only wanted the enlarger. He was so exicted to see all of his collection go to someone who will use it!! I still talk to him from time to time, and hope to take him some pictures when I find one good enough to give him.

Anyway, that story will be passed on to whoever gets the equipment from me.

[Tom Harrell]

I don't know where all my IIIf had been before I bought it at a trade show but since then I've taken it on a few trips. I had taken it to Kuwait, Germany, U.K. where it began to fail. I sent it to DAG and since then have traveled to Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Germany, and today I leave for the U.K. again. I like the little traveling companion and the security people at airports get a kick out of it once they are convinced it really is a camera.

Last fall in the Frankfurt airport I was going through security prior to my flight back to Chicago. The small camera bag that I was carrying contained a small digital camera and my IIIf. I placed the camera bag, my boots, belt, brief case on the conveyor belt for them to run it through the X-ray machine. They ran the conveyor belt back and fourth looking at that camera bag. Finally they had me open the bag and take out the contents. When I removed the IIIf this security guard started laughing. This other guard said to me "He's laughing because his fiance' works at Leica in Solms, and he now knows what it was he was looking at on the X-ray maching!" The guard told me that the picture they were getting on the X-ray was so dense they could not acurately tell what it was.

Next month it goes to Japan, and in April it is going to Turkey and Italy. June the 1st it will be my companion in retirement.

Tom

[Evgeny S]

It will be miracle, if somebody could tell me where my Argus A has been for 70 years (according to its number, it was produced in 1936)