Camera collection a record of history

Avid Waikato camera collector Mike McIntosh has a special message for the younger generation.

‘‘We need to appreciate the historical value of things, not always the monetary value.’’

It’s an appropriate comment given the number of old cameras he’s collected. He can’t put a number of it but through it was ‘‘several hundred’’ with some dating back as far as the 1880s.

McIntosh, now 80, began collecting cameras when he was about 10 years old.

When his uncle returned from navy duties in South Africa, he was given his old camera.

‘‘I started developing and printing my own photographs, in an outside toilet would you believe.

‘‘It was the only access to running water I had,’’ he laughed.

He recently moved to Morrinsville from Cambridge, and attends the Lion’s Trash ‘n’ Treasure Market in Cambridge every month.

‘‘I don’t sell though, I only buy, but I have them on display.’’

He said younger people often ask him what the cameras were, and what film was.

Some adults recognise the cameras, and it sparks nostalgia for them.

McIntosh moved back to the UK - where he was originally from - after a stint in the airforce.

He started collecting movie cameras and 16mm move films.

When the digital era kicked in he kept up with the play, but also kept all of his old cameras safe.

Many of them have been given to him, and others he has purchased at markets.

‘‘They range from 1880s to present day, but it’s not just cameras.

‘‘I have sound projectors, movie projectors, and early big brass projectors,’’ he said.

He also has militaria and a genuine sword dating back to 1835.

Some of the cameras are so old they don’t have a shutter - the user has to manually take the lens cap off, count, and pop it back on again.

He doesn’t plan to collecting any time soon.

‘‘But now because of my health, I’m going to have to make some decisions, but I will be very fussy as to where the cameras go,’’ he said.

If he ends up with more than one of the same camera, he gifts it to a man in Auckland.

‘‘We used to be neighbours, and he’s quite passionate about cameras too.

‘‘I just want to keep these collections alive.

‘‘I’m a great believer in that if something was given to you, you must then gift it to someone else if you don’t need it,’’ said McIntosh. stop

EMMA JAMES Mike McIntosh has been collecting cameras since he was 10 years old. Some of them date back to the 1880.

EMMA JAMES This is a Ticka Watch camera, which was made in about 1904. It looks like a watch one would wear around their neck on a chain, and has a tiny lens inside.