38 years ago (and a bit)!!

6998 Burton Agnes Hall, with the Blackmore Vale Express, heads away from Salisbury destined for Yeovil Junction on a dull misty 5 October 1986.

 

I took it on my 1959 vintage Rolleicord Va loaded with Ektachrome 200 colour transparency 120 format film. The camera is still fully operational and used from time to time, and here it is posed on Fountain Colliery a few minutes ago. 

 

I bought the camera in November 1983 secondhand from City Photographic in Southampton. It’s funny how we remember these things.

 

I doubt many of today’s digital cameras will still work 38 years from now, the electronics almost certainly failing well before then. But there are enthusiasts who’ll want to keep such alive….

Early 2000s digital cameras have a bit of a following, and often with younger folk who’ve maybe only known mobile phones. The other day I saw a young woman who was probably only just twenty with a Nikon D1x from around the year 2000. And fashion conscious young chap at my local station wanted a photo of him and his pal as he thrust a mint 2006 vintage Canon G7 Powershot in to my grubby mitt. Naturally I obliged and commented on his choice of vintage digital camera. 

 

The same goes for film, when out and about it’s the younger people who are experiencing and championing film photography, maybe with grandad’s old SLR. And there’s certainly no problem getting film these days. It’s having quite a renaissance, as people rediscover those old cameras. Rollei and Pentax have recently released brand new 35mm cameras, reinforcing the photography equivalent of vinyl.

 

And finally, the Rolleicord featured here is currently loaded with Ilford HP5 film for further adventures....