The accidental addiction

The accidental addiction

I suppose it started a couple of years back when one of those browses through eBay led me to owning a fine example of an Exakta VX-1000 that came all the way from Kiev. Last year, and Exa 500 joined it, and more recent recruits have included a VX IIa and an American market equivalent. As I write, a VX IIb is on its way from an eBay vendor, and there may be more to come.

I didn’t actually intend to become any sort of collector, but it sort of crept up on me because prices seem to be quite low at present. I certainly don’t want to become a camera collector in general terms, but I seem to have specialized in Exaktas. Please refer back to the article I wrote shortly after getting the first one!



It’s been an interesting learning experience, to say the least. It certainly taught me not to worry too much about imperfections: the instant return mirror that has a good long think about it before leading up to its name; the cracked shutter blinds that led light through if you leave the camera with the lens uncapped; the interesting variations in how you rewind the film or opened the back.

I wonder if this is what old age is going to be like, stiff – stiffer – joints, various bits that are no longer 100% reliable. And it’s the same when you’re shopping, wherever you place the blame (and I’m placing a firm bet on the government): shelves that always used to be full now have days when you can’t get everything on the weekly shopping list.



It’s easy to give in and give up when things don’t work out perfectly. When we can blame someone else for our failure to get to the picture that we had hoped for – but if we do that, we’re letting ourselves, our art and our craft down. Human ingenuity and the ability to work with imperfect tools are wonderful things, and we should encourage them in ourselves as well as in others.

Now, I’ve got to go out and if after firing a few dozen frames the latest addition to the stable will close its shutter fully – at least, most of the time.