Classic Cameras in India

[ptourtellotte]

Last year I had the good fortune of spending 5 months in rural Rajasthan and got to see Indians taking

photos with everything from camera phones to old Japanese rangefinders.

While in Delhi my wife and I ventured into the stream of life in Old Delhi.

It is here just 2 blocks fdrom the historic Red Fort were we found the Camera District. There are many

shops there selling old rangefinders,slr,cameras from the Soviet Union, as well as film, and digital

cameras. I bought a Rollei lens shade for my TLR for less than $5.00. An interesting place to visit and find

classic cameras.

[d_purdy]

In watching Rolleis on ebay I have seen several cameras come up from india.

It seems though that they are always in terrible shape with haze and fungus in

the lenses. Also there was a seller in india who kept trying to sell an old 3.5 F

that really needed to be put in the trash, however he kept trying to sell it as

excellent condition white face. the only reason it had a white face was

because his item photo was so blown out that you couldn't see the black

stripes around the lens. And the lens looked terribly hazy. Must be high

humidity in india or else they are taking their cameras into the river with them.

[ptourtellotte]

Dennis- I would never buy a camera over there sight unseen. I went into a shop and asked if

they had any old TLRs , they brought me out a box of junkers- only good for parts. Yes, a

combination of the humidity and dust quickly desstroy cameras there. I spent 5 months in

the desert and got alot of dirt in my DSLR.