Every so often the guys that own the photo studio where I work will clean out their really old gear and sell it on-line to help offset the cost of new equipment. I spent this morning taking some shots of the old gear they're getting rid of. Other than the Canon AE-1 and the Hassies, I'd never seen these things before. It's pretty cool holding these really heavy, old bodies and looking through the eyepieces for a while.
The first one is a twin lens reflex camera. One lens is for viewing the subject and the other lens takes the shot. Both lenses have the same focal length. The view finder is usually at the top of the camera and you look down into it. The Rolleiflex is probably the version most people are familiar with. I always wanted a Rollei growing up, they seemed so cool.
Even today when you look at an old one and study the way they are made it's hard not to marvel at the quality of the construction and the incredible engineering. The Hasselblads are the same way.
They'll probably be posting these cameras on Evil-Bay within the next two or three weeks.
Rich is right. I've never used any of these cameras, but from a historical perspective I'll hate to see them go. There is a beauty to these things that I'll miss. I think we still have a few Hassies that we'll just keep forever.
I have started an old camera collection, but I only have 2 so far. One of them still has a rool of film in it, but I found that out the bad way. :bang: