Take a Picture: More than 1,000 Cameras Found in Abandoned Storage Locker

Picture this: A Massachusetts couple’s talent for organization and eagerness to work resulted in them being asked to clean out a jam-packed storage unit and keep whatever they found. The owner of the unit had died, and the locker had sat untouched for a few years. The owner of the facility wanted it empty. The couple were told there might be “some cameras” in the mountains of cardboard boxes. They found a few cameras, then some more. Within weeks, they had opened boxes with 1,000 film cameras and roughly 1,000 lenses. The collection was described by a photo company as an “entire film camera museum.”

Among the brands now crammed into the couple’s small apartment were: Miranda, Minolta, FED, Voigtlander, Zorki, Zenit, Fujica, Yashica, Pentax, Praktica, Mamiya Sekor, Exakta, Olympus, Exa, Petri, Konica, and TLRs. There were also cases, flashes, tripods, adapters, filters, body caps, lens caps, magazines, mounts, books, pamphlets, price guides, and service manuals to open up a store.

The couple are selling the cameras and equipment. The most valuable so far is a Minolta MD 135mm 1:2 lens that sold for $2,340, a Minolta CLE in a bag with two M-Rokkor lenses, and a Leica lens.

Photo: Kristen Cusumano (via PetaPixel.com)