Old Camera

In addition to a lot of computers (old and new), we have a lot of cameras in the house. The most recent is a Panasonic DMC-ZR1 that I bought for my mom to replace her Canon PowerShot SD600; one of the switches on the Canon is broken so it's stuck in video recording mode. My dad has a Panasonic FZ28K (18x zoom) and an older Olympus digital camera. I used to buy Sony point-and-shoot digital cameras but all three are gone now. The tiny U20 finally broke again (after being serviced once) so I tossed it. The other two I "lost" during break-ups. My primary cameras now are a Panasonic DMC-TZ3 and a Sony Alpha A100, both several years old but working fine. I also have a Canon T50 film camera that I bought back in 1985.

During our most recent move, my dad found his old film camera. This is a Yashica Lynx-14E from the early 1970s. It's all manual: exposure, shutter speed, and focus. The fixed 45mm lens is huge and can shoot down to f/1.4. The lens also has an old-school mechanical butterfly shutter that can expose at 1/500th second. The only problem is that the exposure meter (over/under) uses old mercury batteries which have been banned for many years. After searching the web, I found a cheapo adapter which allows you to use a modern Li-ion battery. Now all I gotta do is find some 35mm film so I can try out the camera.


The one I have is a lot cleaner. My dad always kept it in a leather (original?) case. He also has a flash for it that still works.