EARNED my living as a writer for nearly 40 years, the last 25 of them as a freelance, but now I'm more or less retired I've got a little more time to devote to my hobby of collecting and restoring cameras. I have very little method or order in collecting cameras. I collect what attracts me, which is another way of saying that I’m a sucker for anything well made, interesting and with a lens on the front – well, within reason. My collection ranges from a Victorian brass and mahogany half-plate field camera to 35mm and rollfilm cameras from around the 1980s.
      Having said that, I'll admit to having a favourite type and period for collecting, which is German cameras from the mid 1920s through to around the mid 1970s from makers such as Agfa, Franke & Heidecke, Voigtländer, Ihagee and the huge conglomerate of companies that came together under the banner of Zeiss Ikon in 1926. It’s partly because I appreciate the fine engineering in them, and partly because they’re the cameras I wanted when I was younger, but couldn’t afford.
      I grew to appreciate the quality and reliability of the better Japanese cameras after my late wife Valerie, who was a photojournalist, switched to Canons as her main professional cameras, and I’ve since added a few such as Minolta and Yashica to my collection, but I think you need to be a specialist to collect Japanese cameras. The sheer volume and different models of cameras that the Japanese makers poured out in the past 40 or so years, many of them very similar in specification and performance, is a bit overwhelming for a general collector like me.
      Also, since I picked up a Zorki many years ago, and later joined a couple of internet groups about Russian cameras I’ve started taking more of an interest in Feds and Kievs and Zenits and Zorkis and things that go Bump in the night.. Yes, I know about high production quotas and poor quality control, and I've found a few examples, but my general experience is that if you get a good Russian camera, or one that’s been taken apart and screwed together again properly, it can be a nice camera to use, and Russian lenses are first class.
      German, Japanese, Russian … well, I did say I was an accumulator rather than a collector with a theme. I just like cameras. The whole collection's not worth even a tenth of a fortune, but I like them. I've put some of them in the My Cameras section with a few notes and history about them, and I’ll include more when I get around to taking pictures of them.
       I sometimes think I'd like to take more of an interest in the better American cameras, things like Graflex, Bolsey and so on, but you can't collect everything. I've got a couple of Arguses (Argi?) but apart from the ubiquitous popular Kodaks, American cameras don't turn up very often in the UK. I've looked at a few, like Perfex and Kardon but, sorry US camera fanciers, in my not very authoratative opinion, they didn't come anywhere near German cameras for quality, and the prices asked were just plain silly.
      I appreciate digital cameras for what they can do, and I like the convenience of being able to see what you've taken as soon as you've taken it. I’ve got an Epson 850Z digital camera which I used for many of the camera pictures on this site, so I can honestly say I'm not a die-hard. But I appreciate them in much the same way that I appreciate a computer or a television. What goes on inside a digital camera holds very little attraction for me. I prefer levers and gears that I can see move, and watch how they work.
      I blame a family history in the antiques world and my early training as a design engineer for two traits: a love of restoring mechanical things and what amounts almost to a compulsion to find out what makes mechanisms tick. I also agree with the "if it ain't bust, don't fix it" point of view, so all my fiddling around with the innards of cameras is done on non-working examples which I've picked up, usually quite cheaply, at camera fairs, boot fairs, jumble sales and charity shops, so it's no great loss if I don't get them working. I got quite a few of the cameras in my collection this way, and I've usually (but not always) managed to get them back into working order and reasonably presentable, though I'm a self-taught amateur camera repairer, not a trained one.
      I enjoy reading about other peoples' experiences in camera repair, so from now on I’ve decided to take pictures of the repairs and restorations I do and put them in the My Repairs section in the hope that other people will find them interesting, and possibly helpful, but don't blame me if you get your camera apart and can't get it back together again. If you want to take a screwdriver to your own cameras, then on your own head be it.
      I hope you enjoy browsing through this site. I know I'm inclined to waffle on a bit and let my writing run away with me, but I hope I don't bore you. If you've got any comments, or just want to chat about camera collecting, drop me an e-mail. I’d love to hear from you. My e-mail addresses are peter@peterwallage.com and peterwallage@gmail.com.
      All the text and pictures on this site are my copyright, or I have the copyright holder's permission to use them. If you want to download and take prints for your own use, please do so. If you want to use anything in a restricted circulation printed club magazine, go ahead, though I'd appreciate an acknowledgment. However, if you want to use anything on the internet, or in a publication that you sell, please get in touch first.
      Lastly, if I can be allowed a commercial plug, have a look at the Wallage Reprints site. We reprint a number of books on camera collecting, and we’re hoping to add more. You’ll find us at wallagereprints.com.
      Enjoy your collecting.

All text and pictures are copyright © Peter Wallage. Trade marks and logos are the property of the respective companies and are used here with that acknowledgement.

Peter