Buying Analog Camera
Authors: Goran Katić and Marina Ćosić
Surely sometimes, you came across an affordable camera which you couldn’t resist, or you, simply, wanted to purchase a classic analog camera and then decided to go for a used one (which is, at the same time, much cheaper). However, you, probably, couldn't make up your mind thinking should you buy used photo equipment or not, as you can never be sure if it's completely accurate and will it work properly for at least one following year.
Here are a few tips I learned from old masters of photography:
1. Check the camera body. If it's maintained (without any big scratches or dents) think about getting it.
2. Look trough commands (settings) – if the labels are hard to read means the camera was often used.
3. If the camera has the option of attaching additional flash, check if that part is badly scratched.
4. Check the connection part of the camera and the strap. If the camera strap looks warn out, means the camera is quite used (although, in some cases the strap is changed for the sake of looks).
5. Double-check the mirror. Pay special attention and insure it’s not scratched. It will not affect the final photograph, but can say if (and how much) the previous owner took care of it.
6. Look at the little sponge above the mirror that alleviates mirror banging when triggering. If it’s in a bad condition, then all your photographs taken under 1/30 will be shaken (out of experience). Good thing is it's inexpensive to fix.
7. Check that shutter works at every exposure, because sometimes happens that everything works perfectly, except when exposure is, for example, set to 1/2000 it does not want to trigger.
8. Double-check the little panel on the camera door and make sure the door closes properly (if not, you'll have a "light show" on your film). If the door is badly scratched, many films were shot no matter what the salesman says.
Surely, cameras as old as 20, 30 or more years will hardly look like new, however, if everything above mentioned works, at least the camera will function. If you have any questions or suggestions concerning a purchase, let me know, so we can (together) ease the purchase on the future "photographers".
