Found prop at the flea market ! OMG Finally !!

[Darklighter]

I'll consider myself unlucky.:angry

Went into a local camera shop about a year ago, I am an amateur photographer so I poked around for a few minutes checking out a few used tripods. Then I took a step into the antique area hoping to find something worthy of conversion. On the top shelf of a display I noticed a shiny graflex and inquired to the shopkeeper, in my coolest tone, as to the price of the “old Piece of junk on the shelf”…….

I should have guessed by its strategic placement on the top shelf that he knew darn well what the “piece of junk” really was…..

His asking price was 250.00 :lol…… with that I let out a short sigh and a modest chuckle and went on my not-so-merry way.

 

[Noeland]

I love flea markets!!

 

[GKvfx]

I picked up an old Kodak Cinespecial II when I was at USC Film School about 20 years ago for $25.00 (which, even then, was a steal). It had a problem with the clutch, so it was surplussed. I didn't care, as it would make a nice display unit, and Ray Harryhausen used the same type of camera for some of his early Fairy Tales and tests. I later discovered that the same cameras were used for the first Circle-vision film at Disneyland. I saw a picture of them on a wall when I visited a friend of mine at Disney. Neat.

Flash forward to Nov. 2007. I show the camera to Harrison Ellenshaw as we were talking about the old Disney projects. He says that the inventory sticker looks a lot like the old Disney stickers they used (a stamped metal plate with a simple red outline). Another ex-Disney guy looked at it later and I mentioned the Harrison Ellenshaw comment. He looked at the plate and said yep, it was at Disney at some point. And Disney did donate a lot of old equipment to Cal Arts and USC in the mid-80's. Don't know if it was one of the actual cameras, but cool nonetheless.

Gene

 

[Probe Droid]

Congrats, sir, swell story. I was a serious scrounger for years, and successfully so. I scraped up about 6 each of Graflexes and Heilands back in the day. I haven't seen any in years though, so it's good to know they're still out there.

The eye with the chord is for a Kalart Spotfinder. You attached the chord to a thingie on top of the rangefinder and it shone beams through the two rangefinder lenses. When the beams matched up, you were in focus.

If you plan on converting to a Luke ANH and need a real eye, let me know.

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

I forgot about this Thread !!

Still unconverted, but soon !

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

Oh- I just got it. I'm a little slow today.

In my 'Women on the RPF' Thread I had asked anyone to go through my post history and someone must have seen this Thread and bumped it up.

Too cool.

Man I GOTTA get back to that flea market. I keep bugging my wife but our schedules are not working out to get out there together.

 

[Jet Beetle]

What would be really great is if you took the bottom off and inside it said "PARKS SABERS"

I would put a smiley face here but I hit fast reply and I don't feel like typing my great joke all over again

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

What would be really great is if you took the bottom off and inside it said "PARKS SABERS"

I would put a smiley face here but I hit fast reply and I don't feel like typing my great joke all over again

Ha ha. Actually that would be funny !! Like the old timer schooled me !

Even at $25 for a Parks that's a deal, but this one is 100% genuine Graflex.

 

[Mike J.]

So, Mr. Kenobi, what's with the collection of 'other' cameras?

Just curious.


-Mike J.

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

So, Mr. Kenobi, what's with the collection of 'other' cameras?

Just curious.


-Mike J.

It all spawned from the almighty seacrh for the Graflex flash so many years ago.

All the time looking in camera shops, antique shops, and magazines lead me to really develop a passion for old cameras.

Something about the cameras themselves- how they are made, how they work, thinking that they were someone's first camera or it took family pictures on Christmas morning decades ago was interesting to me.

Taking a picture on real film is like taking a little piece of the world. Everything in the field of the lense is captured. Life is captured. A moment in time is captured that can and will never exist again.

Holding a photograph in your hand you hold a little piece of the world. And when we're all gone, and our memories go with us, pictures are all that is left except for the mark we made in the world and how others remember us.

Those TLR cameras are on 2 little racks in my kitchen. I look at them every day. There's just something about old cameras.

 

[Mike J.]

Ah.

I asked because I have a few myself. I'm not entirely sure why. :lol

Thanks,


-Mike