1953 Camera Buying Guide

Popular Photography magazine had their buying guide in the May 1953 issue.

 

 

BG Cameras 1 sm 2

Here is their film buying guide.

 

 

BG Films 1 sm 2

Here is their Lens buying guide.

 

 

BG Lenses 1 sm 2

Here is their light meter buying guide.

 

 

BG Meters 1 sm 2

Here is their Tools & Techniques column.

 

 

T & T 1 sm 2

Here they take an interesting look at photo-journalist J. R. Eyerman.

 

 

Eyerman 1 sm 2

Modern Photography looks at the latest Rolleiflex cameras.

 

 

New Rollei 1 sm 2

Here is this month's What's Ahead column.

 

 

WA 1 sm 2

Here are this month's dealer ads.

 

 

BB 1 sm 2

Here are this month's camera equipment ads.

 

 

Alpa 1 sm 2

And these "buyer's guides" are very useful for the poor, deluded camera collectors.

 

Thanks for the memories

I resemble that remark ;<)

Great series. If I had Doc Brown's DeLorean time machine from Back to the Future and was stuck in 1953, while I might be enjoying all those great cameras, I'd probably really miss Tri-X. As many of us collect and use these older cameras, we are fortunate that many of them can still be found and restored to working condition. Thanks for the camera guide. It was fun looking to see how many of those cameras I'd seen at some time and the few that I've had the good fortune to collect.

Another great post, thanks!

 

Very different fates for each of those 1953 cameras; some are unknown today while some others are sought-after classics. Lenses had to be described as "coated" and apparently one had to explain that 35mm film gave 36 exposures. The 2.8 Rolleiflex was probably the star of this list, and it had its separate article.

 

I am surprised to see no Agfa in the film list. Tri-X was there, but in sheet film only. ASA 200 (current ISO 400) was considered "extreme speed".

 

The Eyerman article is a treasure, and not only on techniques but on information about how photo magazines worked at the time. In 1953, A-bomb tests had places reserved for newsmen.