I Bow to My Grandfather...

[matthew_stott]

<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>I don't post here much, but I need to share this with someone OK, just someone who cares about old cameras and thinks they are cool.</p>

<p>Not sure if this happens to everybody, but once word gets out that I am "in to" something, every person seems to want to clean out their closets of whatever and give their old, often useless stuff to me. Cameras, for example: "oh, I heard you were in to cameras, so here, have a box of my old disc cameras- you will love them!"</p>

<p>About me: getting back into photography after 20 some years without touching anything more than a digital point and shoot. Mostly by accident after finding out that all the gear I drooled over in my youth was suddenly VERY affordable. I am into old, mechanical junk in general- so now I get to hold, pull apart and use some old and very classic cameras for almost no money (well, compared to what the stuff cost new). I saved up for a while and got myself a leica m2 and a very old hasselblad 500c. Both were non-functional when I got them, but that is much of the fun for me: getting to take them apart, see how they work and then fix them up. And this led me back in to photography.</p>

<p>About my grandfather: in the words of my grandmother "He's cheap!" He may have never purchased anything in his life without a coupon. Not sure if he ever purchased anything new- not if it was available used. He is frugal, but he did his research and rarely bought crap. </p>

<p>More about my grandfather: he is a personal hero of mine. He has one of the more incredible life stories I have ever heard. He also owned his own machine shop for a very long time- and most of his history that I have lived through involved watching him make and fix ANYTHING that needed to me made or fixed. The man has some serious skill in the mechanical department.</p>

<p>So I travel for work, and I occasionally get down to Philadelphia, where I usually try and stop in and see my grandfather. He mentions something about hearing my being into cameras and that he had some old cameras he wanted to give me.</p>

<p>Months pass. Years pass.</p>

<p>He comes up to Massachusetts to visit my mother last month, and when I stop by to say hi he mentions he has a bag of cameras for me. I am envisioning a bag full of point and shoot 35mm cameras- the free kind you used to get with magazine subscriptions. I never recall my grandfather having or using a camera, and if he did I cannot imaging it being a very good one.</p>

<p>I open the bag- the first camera is a run of the mill canon 35mm p&s- he mentions it was my grandmother's camera. She passed last year. He also mentions he had brought her a new digital camera, but she needed to finish the roll of film in her camera first. In all my memories of my grandmother she had this very camera with her- and now I had her last roll of film. </p>

<p>OK- so this camera is pretty special to me. I also figured out why my grandmother ALWAYS cut off our heads in photos: the parallax lines in the finder were very low and very dim. So maybe a bag full of cheapo point and shoot cameras can be a very good thing!</p>

<p>After a few more p&s types of cameras he pulls out the big guns. I guess he wanted a camera of his own one day and started searching the newspaper classifieds. He found a photographer selling his old gear. He purchased said gear. He bought some lenses for the gear. He saves everything.</p>

<p>That is when he pulled the as-new Nikon F out of the bag with a 55mm f/1.2 lens attached. And I mean "as new." When my grandfather was finished shooting he would remove the batteries from the FTn finder. Then he re-inserted the batteries into the cardboard battery package (duracell) and dated the package with the last usage stats. He taped the receipt to the battery package- and all this was with the camera he was handing to me. Every lens had a filter- and after each shooting session he would remove the lens, blow off dust, insert it into its plastic bag and then re-package it inside its original box. This is how he gave the camera to me. All original boxes (the ones he had anyway, he bought the camera and one lens used), all original documentation, every battery he had ever used in the finder and how long each battery lasted, the original hand written receipt, the repair/ cla bill, even the original classified ad from the newspaper. </p>

<p>Holy mackeral, I was not expecting this. Even the run of the mill point and shoot camera he gave me is very special. But now he was handing over a camera I have always wanted, but could never justify. I learned photography on a Nikon and have a special fondness for the brand. And the F model is about as good a symbol of the brand and what Nikon stood for as anything.</p>

<p>Anyway, my grandfather just got even cooler in my book. Much, much cooler. And I owe him a big one.</p>

<p>Thanks for reading and being patient, I need to go and develop a whole lot of film now.<br>

Some photos of the Nikon (sorry, no pictures of my grandmother's camera yet):</p>

<p><strong>F</strong><br>

<img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/mstott/nikon%20f/nikon-2.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><strong>The gear</strong><br>

<img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/mstott/nikon%20f/nikon-1.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><strong>The receipt (on my grandfather's stationary)</strong><br>

<img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/mstott/nikon%20f/nikon-3.jpg" alt="" /><br>

<strong>The repair quote and classified advertisement</strong><br>

<strong><img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/mstott/nikon%20f/nikon-4.jpg" alt="" /><br /></strong><br>

<strong><br /></strong></p>

[bill poole]

<p>What a wonderful story. I SO coveted that camera when I was a young man working in retail photo store. Best I could do was to borrow one for a weekend every now and then. Those were (are) marvelous, awe-inspiring, industrial-strength cameras. A rare gift indeed.</p>

[rustys pics]

<p>Wow! Very cool story. A 55 1.2 is quite an impressive hunk of glass. Enjoy shooting and please post pics back here when you get time. Maybe some portraits of your Grandfather?</p>

[jimmckinnon]

<p>Thanks for taking the time to share this story with us, matthew. As Russ said, we'll look forward to seeing some of your work with this very special camera.</p>

[stp]

<p>You're going to have a very, very special experience taking photos with that equipment. You'll look at the resulting slides in a way like no other.</p>

[User_4525289]

<p>Impressive story, even more impressive that Nikon F as we all know is a professional camera and professionals were using and abusing them as much as possible. Finding one in the mint conditions is a success, getting one from a relative is a miracle. How did your granddad get is such conditions from a newspaper photog? The original owner must be so accustomed to Graflex or something, that he or she neglected Nikon F and sold it like new.</p>

[william_roberts4]

<p>That is such a great story!!! I am glad to read a story of a camera getting passed down and being used by different generations!! And such a great camera and lenses!! I have an F, but I got it from Goodwill and it has been used!! I kind of wish I could hear the stories behind that camera! Have fun shooting with that beauty! May I make a suggestion on your first shoot? Your grandfather! (if you havent done that already).</p>

 

[JDMvW]

<p>Please, please keep the documentation with the camera and lenses. It's the sort of thing to make an historian drool.</p>

<p>I have the much the same setup, including the 55mm f/1.2, but I had to get mine at full price when they were new. I still use the f/1.2 a lot both on my old Nikon equipment and with adapters on digital SLRs.</p>

<p>Congratulations, what a family treasure.</p>

[subbarayan_prasanna]

<p>Machinists are very precise in whatever they do. It becomes second nature to them. Many others do not understand the perfectionism, often perceiving it as an obsession. Poignant story;grandpa must have conveyed enormous love with this treasure; I am sure he was not one of those who spoke it in words! Thanks for the post, sp.</p>

[matthew_stott]

<p>Thanks for all the kind words everyone. </p>

<p>Yes, my grandfather is a very precise man, I try to take some of that away in my daily life and work. He also left me notebooks which record every shot he ever took with the camera. Shutter speed, aperture, flash, location, etc. The documentation is worth as much to me as the camera, I am trying to figure a way to store it properly. I have shot about 6 rolls with the camera so far- it is an incredibly smooth and precise machine. The film advance alone is impressively smooth, much more so than any camera I have ever used. </p>

<p>And yes, the entire first roll is of my grandfather with my new nephew- I just mixed up my chemicals tonight and should be developing some film this weekend, I will definitely post the results.<br>

Thanks for the kind words,</p>

<p>Matt</p>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>Wonderful, Matt. It's so cool to share an experience like yours, and thank you for posting. Over the years I've acquired several complete outfits, with purchase dockets, notebooks and other quite personal information, and I've felt obliged to keep and maintain them just as they arrived. You're lucky to become the curator of such a great collection! Very nice presentation and photographs; I'm looking forward to seeing the results of your first films, and thanks again for a fine post.</p>

[rdm]

<p>This is a great story. I look forward to seeing your photos from the camera.</p>

[Matthew Currie]

<p>There's nothing quite like an F, and an F with a great back story is just that much better. Nice selection of lenses also, from what I can make out. I see a 24/2.8 AI, I think, which is one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy this one for a long time.</p>

[Andy Collins]

<p>Matthew, thanks for taking the time to share such a wonderful and personal story. That's the kind of time spent with your grandfather that you'll remember for the rest of your life. The camera is absolutely beautiful and the fact that it's in such great condition is just icing on an already fantastic cake! What a great post--Thanks!</p>

[red_buckner]

<p>That's the Nikon F for you: just pick it up, and you want to run out and start shooting. Its potential is so great that it reaches you. The Minolta SRT 101 has that kind of magnetism, also. </p>

[Rob_the_waste]

<p>Awesome story. Now take that "F" and make him proud!</p>