The Collectability of Vintage Cameras
by Bob Brooke

Now that digital photography has become firmly a part of people’s lives, people want to know what to do with their old 35mm cameras. Even though photography has been around for well over 150 years, it’s taken a long time for traditional photographic gear—cameras in particular—to become collectible.

Today, old cameras dot the tables at yard sales and flea markets. Most are 35mm castoffs, but a few are older. With the ease of taking photos with a digital camera, let alone not having to buy film, it’s no wonder dealers have so many cameras and lenses on hand. But are these recent castoffs worth anything in the collectible market? That’s the big question.

Unfortunately, in the world of photographic memorabilia, relatively recent 35mm cameras aren’t worth much unless they’re classic cameras or rare or unique models. Over 30 years after the introduction of digital cameras, the value of used 35mm cameras still hasn’t risen much.

So what types of cameras can be collected without breaking the bank? There are lots of modern cameras that have long ago outlasted their usefulness that can create an interesting camera collection. You can pick up a decent 100-year-old Kodak box camera for about $10 to $25 at flea markets. Folding cameras go for a bit more.

Established by pioneering George Eastman in 1888, Kodak soon became one of the world’s most widely recognized brands. Photo historians credit Kodak’s first box camera with broadening the appeal of photography to a wider audience, as these cameras were both less expensive and easier to operate than those designed for professional use.

There are two types of 35mm cameras—rangefinder and single lens reflex.

Rangefinders were the first cameras to use 35mm movie film to create still photographs. These cameras came outfitted with an additional rangefinder that allowed the photographer to assess distance in their frames to capture precise, clear images. But these rangefinders had a problem. The image the photographer saw in them was slightly shifted to one side, so the resulting image wasn’t exactly what the photographer saw. The Kodak 3A, which was introduced in 1916, was the first of the brand. The most famous rangefinder cameras were Leicas, precision optical cameras made in Germany. These became the camera of choice for photojournalists.

Though first patented in the 1860s, the single lens reflex (SLR) camera didn’t become popular as a consumer and professional camera until the 1960s. The SLR camera created crisp images with exceptional color thanks to its use of a complex combination of a mirror that moved with the shutter and a prism that refracted light to capture the image.

Founded in the late 1910s, primarily as a lens manufacturer, Nikon grew over the course of the 20th century to become one of the leading producers of both lenses and cameras. The company’s SLR cameras dominated the market in the 1950s with their modular camera systems that afforded users a variety of compatible camera components that could be changed out depending on conditions and preferences. So trusted was Nikon camera technology that they became one of the main suppliers of cameras to NASA.

Besides the standard SLRs, there are a limited number of other cameras that served unusual purposes---detective cameras, often designed to look like books or handbags, miniature cameras, panoramic cameras for photographing landscapes or large crowds, and stereo cameras used to produce the stereoscopic cards that were so popular between 1880 to 1910.

Camera collecting is one category that’s easy to get into. For the serious collector, the range is quite broad, so specializing in one particular brand or type isn’t only possible but desirable.

So what types of cameras are collectible without breaking the bank? There are lots of modern cameras that can create an interesting camera collection. A 100-year-old Kodak box camera can usually be found at flea markets for about $25 to $35 at flea markets. Folding cameras go for a bit more. There are also lots of other cameras, like Kodak’s Brownie that can be a start to a modest collection.

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