The title is a little lame but is probably good for the Search Engines. Of course you can figure out HOW to collect cameras--you just start collecting them. But since I have been collecting cameras for a lifetime, maybe I can give you a few ideas about how to logically approach Camera Collecting in the most expedient fashion.
Few people new to photography or cameras, really have any idea of how big an impact this field has had on so many people for so long. Beginning in the mid-1800's, and continuing until the present--with both the greatest technological changes to mechanical film cameras AND popularity as passion and pastime--photography was perhaps grandest between around 1930 until 1980. The sheer volume of film camera designs is staggering.
I once had the uninformed idea to collect all the Twin Lens Reflex Camera models ever made; I quickly modified that aim to collect all the brands ever made. I was still way off the mark. I simply had no clue as to how many brands had emerged; I was only aware of a few of the main brands that had endured over time. For example, one book cites over fifty manufacturers and over 250 models--from Japan alone--and those in a 20 year or less time span.
A more realistic goal, I soon learned, was to pick one brand label and try to collect all the models of that particular brand. A good way to do this is to buy the best examples of the varied models that you can find on eBay, at garage sales, camera auctions, estate sales, etc., until you have them all--all the while trying to upgrade each model as you go. You can sometimes trade one model or sell it in order to create funds to buy a replacement that's in even better shape. The ultimate is to get Mint condition cameras near-mint condition cameras with the operator manuals, original boxes, vintage magazine advertisements that you can find.
You can find all sorts of references on line by simply searching for a genre or brand of cameras. Much bandwidth on the web has been devoted to cameras and photography. There are also a number of reference books. You'll be well-advised to never consider any reference source as the final word, even from the "experts". None of them have all the facts.
For instance, I was reading a camera repair blog recent;ly that declared that vintage cameras "are not worth much, and certainly not monetarily worth the trouble it takes to collect them." This surely is a common case of not seeing the forrest for the trees. This was a reputable camera repairman, who had been fixing cameras for thirty years or so. He has seen a lot of cameras come and go--but he must have been caught up in the recent past, and out of touch with the raging camera collection phenomenon, that has grown up during that time.
We now are seeing vintage cameras selling for tens of thousands of dollars or more. These were likely expensive, or limited edition cameras to begin with, some of them gold-plated commemorative models that have never been used, enclosed in glass, and retaining all of their original documentation. But not all. Some are real surprise sleepers, as it were, which for one reason or another have become highly sought cult classics. The reason for why cameras become so popular is often not obvious, nor easily understood , or predicted in advance. But the more you learn about the history of cameras, the more you DO understand and are able to predict their eventual worth.
Cameras may also have an intrinsic value for just one particular collector, and when he finds it, and buys it with no dickering or no questions asked, you wonder if you left money on the table. The fact is that that one piece may have been the completing piece for this single collector's private collection. The conditions may never repeat themselves.
Other trends are predictable. One this is certain, these old film cameras are not getting any more plentiful as time ages and ultimately destroys them, people trash them, and collectors scarf them up. As a general rule scarcity can be a good indication of ultimate collector value--but not always. Sometime the most scarce cameras are so unknown that it is hard to find collectors who even know about them. Though they may have true worth historically, which will probably one day be recognized, they may never be worth much.
On the other-hand, some camera models and styles seem to gain in value no matter how many were made. this is true of a lot of Leicas, Hasselblads, Rolleis, and other well-known brands of cameras. Other cameras are valued because of their connection with an historic event, movie, book, or famous person. Only by studying the historical significance of these cameras, and the role they played in history, do you have the necessary insight to make an educated guess about how valuable they will one day become--and how soon that day might be.
I have seen impressive collections of cameras that were long since considered obsolete--such as instamatic 126 film cameras. Odds are that young people just starting out, have no idea that such a thing ever even existed, but for those of us with a lifetime behind us, these cameras came and went and made an indelible impression upon us. It would be a fun thing to collect all the "Instamatic-style" cameras ever produced. It might even take a lifetime to assemble such a collection. And when assembled, this would be a huge contribution to history and to other camera collectors.
Within this blog, which started out as a photography how-to blog, I try to provide my own historical insight into the cameras that have been important to me in one way or another during my lifetime. I only wish I had begun this documentation earlier. As it is, I am running out of time. But I am still hoping to finish this project. I do realize that many of my entries need to be revised and edited for spelling and grammar and even changed opinions regarding one piece or another. But meanwhile, I am racing against time to capture the unique take that my own brain has retained during a lifetime as a working photographer with an interest in history.
I will continue the theme of this particular post every now and again. I will,therein, try to provide particulars abut specific models that I feel will one day become valued more than others as collectors.