Mum’s Cameras
The camera on the left is Mum’s latest camera. The one on the right is her first camera – a Canon Demi half-frame 35mm camera she and Dad bought on the boat from the UK to Canada in 1965, so it’s more than 45 years old. I ended up with it because it’s really a beautiful little camera. After borrowing Mum’s camera when I was younger, I bought my own camera in high school – a 110 pocket instamatic – everyone had one of those things. I thought it must be better than my Mum’s ancient old camera. At some point during my college years I came across some holiday snapshots I’d taken with Mum’s Canon before getting my Instamatic. The old pictures were MUCH better. The colors were better, the clarity was better; they where just better in all aspects. So of course I offered to trade Mum my ‘new’ instamatic for her old camera next time I was home.
These old film cameras still have a following. There are collectors, or folks like the blogger http://tokyocamerastyle.com, who just likes to take pictures of the old cameras he sees on the streets of Tokyo. He even ran into one of these old Demis back in March.
The new camera she got when she was visiting is certainly a nice little camera, but part of me wonders…. Does it really take better pictures than the old one?
