Founder of our collection, Mick Tighe, was a Royal Marine Commando and he bought this camera in 1971 when based in HMS Condor, a Naval/ Marine base near Arbroath on Scotland’s east coast. The camera was a constant companion during his Marine days and later when he became a Mountain Guide in ‘civvy street’. A fabulous little camera designed for Rollei by a German called Heinz Waaska. Not much bigger than a fag packet, it was for a while, the smallest full frame camera on the market- millions were sold. Still much sought after by collectors some 50 years after it first appeared we are delighted to have this little time piece in our collection.

Though perhaps fading from memory a little as the world moves on, Walter Poucher was perhaps the best mountain photographer around in the 1950/60’s and famously used a Leica camera to take many images. He did however suggest, on many occasions, that a cheaper camera could do just as good a job as his Leica and seems to have put his money ( albeit less of it) where his mouth was, by acquiring this camera for his son, John. Whether or not it was one of his own that he passed on, or he bought it specifically for John, we are not sure. The camera was eventually passed on to Walter’s grandson who in turn gave it to a guy called Fred Nicholson, a great fan of all things ‘Poucher’. Fred completed the chain of events by kindly passing it on to us in 2016 along with a collection of Poucher’s books. Balda was a German company who started making cameras in 1908, though we suspect ours dates from the 1930’s. It looks to be in good working order and according to the internet is worth around £60 in 2017.

“If they ever pass a law against owning more than one camera, you’d wish you had a Mamiya Super 23” The thoughts of professional photographer, Louis Meluso which pretty much sums up this iconic camera which appeared on the market in 1967 to almost universal acclaim though another photographer described the cameras as a cheap attempt to win the press market. Indeed the cameras were often referred to as the Mamiya Press camera. They did enjoy a bit of a cult following for a decade or so but 35mm cameras became the norm for press photographers with Nikon, Canon and Olympus sharing the market. Interestingly, some 50 years after they first appeared there is a healthy second hand market with Mamiyas selling for 2/300 pounds. The one we have here in the collection was donated by our old friend, Hamish MacInnes who used it for pictures that were used in his various mountain guidebooks … cheers Hamish!

We had this little camera lying around so thought we’d put it in the collection for posterity. These Junior 1 cameras seem to date from the 1950’s, one of the many Kodak models which were developed for the mass market. It’s in good working order and Mick Tighe thinks he bought it in a sale – way back – for a few pence. Seems this type of camera has been around for rather longer than we thought as the January 1934 Hiker and Camper magazine (cover opposite) tells us the following:- “” The Carbine cameras, with folding leather bellows, are, in effect, enlarged V.P.K.s. An example is the All-Distance Pocket Ensign No. 2, with three-speed shutter and taking 3¼” x 2¼” roll-film, and sold at £1/12/6. A similar camera is the Six-20 Kodak Junior, priced at £1/17/5. Of both makes there are more expensive models with larger lenses and more elaborate shutters.” VPK seems to be a Vest Pocket Camera (Kamera/camera!) either way we still think ours is a later 1950’s version.

Frederick Sanderson patented his first camera in 1895, there followed an amazing array of models and variations over the next decades, reflecting the progress of photography in general. The various models are rather confusing but we think ours is a ‘Hand Camera’, exactly which of the ones in the advert above we are not sure. It’s a quarter plate and we bought it a while back for a display along with lots of glass plate slides and a Victorian lantern slide projector – which you’ll find elsewhere in the collection.