Up until about a week ago, I had a For Sale page with a bunch of cameras and whatnot on it. It was up for about two years, and in that time I think I sold two things off of it, the Cosina CX-2 and, most recently, my step-dad’s Ricoh 35 ZF. Everything else sat on a sort of window seat thing gathering dust.
Last Saturday, I stuffed most of them into a falling-apart camera bag and dropped it in a Goodwill dropbox and took the page down.
Given that this is election week 2020 in the US, I’m feeling a bit at sea and having trouble finding motivation to post anything. So here are the last photographs I took with the cameras I sold or gave away in 2020.
Cosina CX-2 – sold July 11, 2019; last shot: May 29, 2018 (Bergger Pancro 400, Ilfotec HC):
Ricoh 35 ZF – sold 07/24/2020; last shot 1/21/2018 (bulk-loaded Konica Pro 160):
Nikon n8008 – gifted, along with the excellent 28-105D, 7/31/2020; last shot 1/13/2019 (Ilford FP4+, Ilfotec HC):
Holga K-202 Orange Cat – donated 10/31/2020 Edit: actually, I kept this one because it was my award for winning one of the Holga Week categories in 2017, but, really, I’m unlikely to ever shoot it again and it may as well go to a worthy home… someplace like the local Goodwill. I left it in this list because I really like how the torn film looks… Last shot 2/21/2018 (Ultrafine Xtreme 400, Ilfotec HC):
Canon EOS Elan – donated 10/31/2020, last shot 1/7/2019 (Kodak Pro Image 100):
Kodak Automatic 35 – donated 10/31/2020, last shot 1/13/2019 (Rollei Digibase CN 200 Pro):
Minolta Freedom Action Zoom 90 – donated 10/31/2020, last shot 7/18/2018 (Lomography Color 100):
Ricoh 500 GX – donated 10/31/2020, last shot 9/16/2018 (Fomapan Creative 200, Rodinal):
Sears 35rf (Ricoh 500 RF) – donated 10/31/2020, last shot 1/26/2018 (Kodak Hawkeye 400)
And, last, but not least, the Polaroid One Step 2: donated 10/31/2020, and last shot 6/27/2018. I keep thinking about buying one of the newer Polaroid iType cameras, but this one was such a bust compared to the Impulse SE that it’s left a sour taste in my mouth ever since. The lack of a viewfinder tunnel made it virtually impossible to frame, as this portrait of some of my work colleagues shows:
Honestly, I could easily rid myself of probably another 10-15 cameras, things that I haven’t shot or don’t get along with, and I probably should. Next time, maybe I’ll try to eBay them or something… naw. I’m too lazy for that. Plus, I ended up keeping a couple of the cameras from my For Sale page: the Lomo’Instant Square, because I ran across some of the pictures I shot with it and was reminded of its potential; the Agfa Optima Sensor 535 because it has the best viewfinder of any 35mm camera; the above-mentioned Holga Cat; and the LensBaby, the earliest version of what they now call the Spark, even though I may never shoot it again.
Anyway: I had some fun with the cameras above, most of them anyway. I just didn’t have enough fun with them to keep them around.
