(readable but to be edited. rough draft)
They haven't caught on yet. But they will. "They" are the rising swell of camera collectors. It is not uncommon for collectors to miss a piece or two of the puzzle when determining "values" of collector pieces. Those whom so many people look to to value vintage cameras do get it wrong. They generally are not photographers, but experts in antiques and/or historians.
They do their best to make educated guesses about old camera values based on numbers of camera models made, original values of comparable cameras of the time period (much as appraisers use surrounding houses to establish square foot values), recent demand and trends of sales--including numbers that similar products have sold for on Ebay, and the perceptions of values among collectors.
Where these valuators get it wrong is in a rapidly adjusting field, where, not being photographers themselves, they underestimate OTHER INTRINSIC FACTORS that do now, and will increasingly,make certain brands and models more highly sought after by both antique collector/investors, AND real photographers who are looking for something neat to collect, but also want something usable--often something they couldn't justify at its original high price.
Ebay and such outlets are not exempt from the economic downturn either. I have been watching and cherry-picking vintage camera items on Ebay for some time. I have observed several phases that vintage film cameras have appeared to have gone through, and I believe that I can reasonably out-predict future values of certain models and badges. As digital cameras appeared to be supplanting film cameras in virtually every field of use, camera owners fell into three categories:
1) Those who hurried to dump their previously expensive film gear while they could still get a little return on them, so they could reinvest in digital equipment.
2) Those who were in denial and lost their shirts and hopes of ever getting any money back on their previous investments--and then sold them for pennies on the dollars in disgust (or whatever reason--they sold them.)
3) Those who decided to ride out their chosen profession using film. Being near retirement age, they neither wanted to invest in, nor to learn the requisites of the new digital paradigm.
They have never been under any illusions of any great resale value of their cameras. But they knew how much they were worth to themselves, as working cameras. They may have had sentimental attachment to these cameras (it happens), or they may have felt that if they kept them in the family, they might attain a greater value to their children or grandchildren. They were not wrong.
Now what I see happening is that certain better known camera models are being scarfed up, largely by collectors. As demand out-strips supply for these models the prices skyrocket. Many people are priced out of the market. Consequently they start looking for other models to collect and discover models new to them. And photogrpaher collectors are seeing opportunities to acquire very fine film cameras and equipment--the kinds used by the greats of a short time ago to produce the best images in the world--and they are having a field-day. They are ahead of the curve.
I don't pretend to be and expert on the values of vintage cameras, nor am I anyone more than an amateur historian with a love for the old cameras I grew up and grew old with. I do know a lot about how these cameras were used, the general professional consensus among vintage photographers--as to the usefulness, reliability, and quality of those vintage cameras. Many of them anyway.
I have to place some order to the forty or so favorite models that I plan to review in this weblog during coming weeks and months. I have a pretty good idea of how to proceed. I have already begun by writing about several Hasselblad models, especially a couple with special historical significance.
The camera brand and model, that I see most glaringly overlooked, both by collectors and user-collectors are the Hasselblad 500EL and 500 EL/M models. These are extraordinary cameras. They originally cost arms and legs. There are reasons that they did cost so much. For one thing, these are considered the "Swiss Watches"of medium format film cameras. They were designed with forethought, and engineered with precision seldom seen with any product anywhere today. Materials used were intended to last almost forever.
The EL designation has put off some conventionally thinking people because it means that they were and are electric models and depend on batteries to work. I recently read one prominent camera site whose experts had concluded that this was a drawback because:
- The batteries were discontinued years ago.
Indeed they were, but a quick iInternet search will show that they can be reasonably had "all-over the place", including all over eBay without any problem, from after-market manufacturers. They work fine. I have tried them.
Try The Battery Warehouse on Ebay
There is another solution as well. There are inexpensive conversion kits which will enable these cameras to run off either standard 9-Volt Batteries or standard-or-rechargeable AAA Batteries. I guess that's actually two separate solutions.
Oh yeah, you can also use the EL series powered by a proprietary AC Cords.
Conclusion: The electric argument does not hold up. Think about his intuitively for a moment. Do you really think NASA would allowed the only opportunities to take photographs in space and on the moon to be lost because of battery failure. The fact is that the old argument about manual camera capabilities while interesting, is really a non-factor today. If you think you might be caught with a prized-shot facing you just as your battery runs out, carry a couple of extra sets (you DO already DO this don't you. How many digital cameras do you know that have manual capabilities? Or how 'bout electronic flash units? They don't run on wind power. The argument just doesn't hold up.
2. The 500EL is too large and cumbersome for field work. It should only be relegated to the studio.
Okay, I kinda agree with this, or wait, do I really? No, I really don't. I must be getting spoiled. By todays standards, the Haselblad 500EL cameras is quite large. It's weight is not so formidable, however. Having used many film cameras going back to the old press cameras, such as the Mamiya Press 23, or the Omega Rapid, and the heavy twin-lens reflex models, such as the Mamiya C330, and the SLR Mamiya RB67, and/or the Graflex 4x5 field cameras--to say nothing of the Graphlex flash units that required the big gray 16 lb. shoulder-carried battery packs. I could go on. The point is, you may be susrprised what a smallish photographer can manage without undue duress. It is all mindset and expectation.
You are likely to require a bag or case to carry your camera accessories anyway, right? So you just put all the extraneous stuff--and only what you actually need-- in the case. What about the weight of the camera itself? It has been my experience--honestly--that it is easier to hold a larger, heavier camera steady. That's right. No motion blur from tired unsteady hands, nervous tremors, or shaking from anger or terror.
If this doesn't resonate with you, you haven't photographed some of the things I have--everything from combat and weddings, to bull-riders and bull-fights, to angry mobs and angry drivers who have survived (or not) auto accidents, to location shoots of industrial machines for advertisements and sales sheets.
I promise that all of the types of photography mentioned above can be accomplished with a Haaselblad EL Series Camera System in tow, with room and energy to spare. Two bodies actually. I have done all of the above with much larger, heavier and less-prestigious cameras. Okay, it might be bigger or heavier or bigger and heavier than the digital or compact film camera you are accustomed to, but if that is the case I am merely guessing that you don't do any of the types of photography mentioned above.
Another thought is to aquire a Hasselblad two-handed grip. It makes handling the EL a breeze. Just another accessory from a fine camera company. A comfort-curved padded neck-strap, a hand strap, and a choice of several bags and hardcases are also available from Hasselblad. These vintage accessories also will add value to your investment. Speaking of future value to collectors, if you can snag a black EL or a MOON Modelo EL/M, it will immediately have greater value, and it will increase. Since the Haselblad EL/M was used durin g the Apollo Moon Landing, the forty-year annaversary date of the Moon Landing will be July, 1008. Then, it will really be celebrated ten years later during the 50-year Landing Annaversary.
I had been wanting a higher-end digital camera for a long time--mainly just for grins. I'd had quite a few good consumer models and had been very impressed with them. I'd actually managed to do some serious jobs with them. I am old-school. I simply don't buy things I don't need--that is until I can somehow trick myself into justifying to myself that I DO need that something. Last summer, I found the excuse to buy a "good" digital camera. What I wound up with was an entry-level professional
digital Sony SLR and a good contingent of accessories and lenses, a nice bag, some tripods and electronic flash units.
I had been consigned (by my wife) to document a music festival, which she was producing. So I got my long awaited digital gear, made myself comfortable with it, and set out for Music City, three hours away. I spent a week there in the resort and did my daily due on assignment. It was a huge place. I found myself more than once having to stop to sit and rest and gather my thoughts. Right! It was hard physical work. That's what many types of photography depends on. Unless you can afford multiple assistance and porters, it is part of the job. NO?
Sooo, the big and heavy argument really has no substance, but if you still feel that the Hasselblad 500EL series is too heavy, then just think, at the cost you can now buy one for, it could be relegated to the studio only--if necessary. There is no better portrait camera. Attached to a tripod with a Hasselblad quick release tripod mount accessory, and the optional ten-foot electric cable release, a 150 mm lens of any number of variations--your choice--or outfitted with a softar and a warming filter and a Hassleblad lens shade or vignetting bellows, loaded with 220 or 70 mm film or digital back; and accurate stove-pipe finder for a really precise focus--there is nothing more reassuring as the resounding clunk-and-advance provided by the 500EL camera system.
3) Which brings us to another possible "objection" to using the Hasselblad 500EL Series Camera System. "It is tooo loud!"
Are you a wildlife photographer? If you are you may have a point. although, I must say that I have used a Hasselblad 500C for just such photogrpahy. The C has the same loud clunk of the shutter. You can, however, lock up the mirror on the EL, which makes it much quieter. Not quiet, but quieter. Working from a camo blind, with proper scent control it was never a problem for me. It usually results in a cautious look around. I don't know what it woulds like to animals, but they don't know either. It doesn't spook them. The sound can also be dampened with small sandbags used to both steady and mute the sound.
No, I wouldn't use it to try to steal a shot in the theater. You are not supposed to do that anyway, are you? I wouldn't try to take clandestine spy pictures with the EL, unless of course, it was from far away, with a long lens, in which case it wouldn't really matter, anyway.
Frankly, I probably wouldn't take it while covering a story behind enemy lines while tagging along with a squad of rag-tag irregulars making raids over the Albanian lines. The last time I tried something like that, I got mobbed and beat-up by friendlies wanting candy and MRE's and lost all my good good Nikon gear. Come to think of it, I could afford to lose his stuff now. But no, since I would be uploading images for timely coverage by 2-meter radio satellite link anyway, so--it would be better to be digital, and smaller WOULD be good. so I probably would leave the EL at base camp, in this one case.
4) This is a lame one, but the objection might come up that you are not using the latest- greatest state-of-the-art digital equipment for a particular job wherein your reputation might suffer and you'd be embarrassed.
Give me a break! It's the results that your reputation rests on. I recall using Nikon FE2's and F3 long after they were considered "OLD" All it earned me, was respect from other photogrpahers who reverence the truly good stuff. In this case the younger photographers wondered how I could manually focus it so fast. You just can. I dunno. It's quality stuff. I mean, what better gear can you get than what was used by NASA astronauts on the moon!Who can top tat?
In fact the Haasselblad EL series cameras were so far ahead of their time that they set a precedent for all future cameras to scramble to attempt to match. Being a Systems Camera, these cameras have a vast array of secondhand accessories and lenses that you will wait in vain for, for your new camera to be equipped with.
Your camera will undoubtedly be a relic itself, before anything actually becomes available to begin to rival those made and readily available on the secondhand market for the Hasselblad EL Series Cameras. For instance, microscope adapter, multiple types of finders and viewing glasses, numerous types of trip mechanisms including electric cable shutter-releases, and radio-controlled ones intervalometers (know what that is? It 's cool), backs to accommodate all types of roll, and cut film, Instant film backs (Polaroid types), custom camera cases,custom integrated electronic flash units, metering devices, covers, filters and lenses.
A gazillion lenses. True, these lenses can be fairly expensive, but now cost only a fraction of what they once did, and what superb lenses they are. Did you know that a special lensboard is made for Hasselblad lenses that will enable you to use them as film enlarger lenses? BTW, how easily can you double or triple expose on your current modern camera? It doesn't require photoShop with a 'blad.
If I were starting out as a professional photographer today, I'd probably start parttime. I would get a good new or secondhand low-end digital camera with a lot of features and resolution. I woulod get a few lenses--good ones. They I would get a Hasselblad EL/M body and 150mm or 120mm lens secondhand. I would get some inexpensive used backs, a waist level finder, a lens shade, a trip cord, and I would continue to round up secondhand accessories as I could generate the cash to pay for them.
Then when I began to establish a good clientel, I would invest in a film scanner, until I could eventually get one or two used Phase One digital backs for the Hasselblad. My Hasselblad lenses could be adapted for virtually any other digital camera, and they would be about as fine as any lenses you could ever buy.
The link below provides good information regarding the valuation of cameras.
http://www.popphoto.com/article.asp?section_id=5&article_id=1162&page_number=1