Trash-Cam

A few months ago I drove by a local Goodwill Outlet store.  The place was massive, and I had some time to kill, so I would wandered in.  Holy cow, the place is a second hand clothes, book, shoe and odds & end paradise.  Basically, the place is row after row of big blue bins on wheels filled with "stuff".  The rows are divided by type of article, i.e. clothes, odds & ends.  They rotate the bins about every 2 hours with new merchandise.  The thing that's so cool, is that the items sell for $0.69 per pound. 

Romor R-2, Chinon Flash II & Windor RX-3 Goodness

Well, while wandering around this swap-meet like environment looking in a few of the odds & ends bins and POW an old Polaroid camera.  Bought it.  Over the past few months I've stopped by about twice a month and just dug through the bins, with a single objective.  Find camera stuff.  I've purchase about 20 assorted Polaroid cameras, flash units, Brownies, etc.  And what's even more fun is that recently I've found 3 completely plastic "toy" film cameras.  They look very much like the higher end Leica cameras, of course, if you are looking from far away and squinting your eyes.

I've found a camera called a Chinon Flash II, a Romor R-2 & recently a Windsor RX-3.  Yes, boys and girls my collection of Trash-Cams.  Just for giggles I've loaded them up with 35mm film, and you know what - they all work.  Not bad for a grand total of less than $2 for all 3.  I've gone on line to find out information about these guys, and basically nothing.

OK, understand I'm a serious digital photographer, but I love these little cameras.  They are totally impractical, and the build quality completely sucks, but the image output is so aweful its great.  I mean light leak city, moire pattern on the Romor, apeture ring pops off the Chinon and black electric tape minimizes the light leaks on the Windsor.  And to think I just paid $2,400 for a Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 VRII - go figure.

Chinon - P-51Mustang

Chinon - Holding up a Pole

I've even thought about painting a red circle above the lens on the Romor so people think I'm toting a Leica.  Photog humor.

So if you see me around town taking street shots toting a Leica, think again, its actually one of my Trash-Cams.

Romor - Hand In Hand

Romor - Side Street Bar