Museum shows cream of old camera collection

The camera has been a great invention in human history for recording or capturing images. They have evolved from the camera obscura to electronic models with some old instruments still highly valued by connoisseurs.

In Lanxi County, Zhejiang Province, Pu Zongyuan has established his own museum, showing 1,000 old cameras from his collection. Now, 102 of the old cameras are exhibited in the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History through August 30. Shutterbugs could learn about the history of photography and cameras through the exhibits on view.

Pu has spent years searching for old cameras around the globe with his wife. Today, the couple has a total of 3,200 old cameras, including some rare models of which only a few remain in the world.

The large plate camera "Hunters" is the centerpiece of the exhibition. Measuring 2.18 meters in length, 1.2 meters in width and 0.9 meters in height, the entire body was made of straight-grained, reddish-brown mahogany, which darkened over time. Since the timber resists wood rot, it was attractive for camera making centuries ago.

The other part of the camera was forged by brass, and the nameplate etched with "Hunters."

"I've taken it to professional organizations overseas, inviting industrial experts to identify it. They believe it belonged to a newspaper based in Sydney, produced in 1910," Pu told Shanghai Daily. "It is so rare that you may not even be able to find its information online."

Many of these plate cameras had controls to raise or lower the lens and to tilt it forward or backward to control perspective. Focusing of these plate cameras was by the use of a ground glass screen at the point of focus.

When the focus and composition were satisfactory, the ground glass screen was removed and a sensitized plate was put in its place protected by a dark slide. To make the exposure, the dark slide was carefully slid out and the shutter opened and then closed and the dark slide replaced.

"It took at least 20 minutes to finish all of the steps before pressing the shutter," Pu said.

Another highlight of the exhibition is the domestic Hongqi 20 camera. It was produced in 1969 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

China only produced 271 Hongqi 20, which makes it precious in the present-day market. Hongqi literally means "red flag," and the number 20 indicates the anniversary. The Chinese characters on the camera were written by Chairman Mao Zedong.

"These Hongqi cameras were never sold in the market. Most of them were used by reporters of Xinhua News Agency during that era. The remainder were given to other countries as gifts," Pu said.

Pu found the camera in an Austrian antique shop in 2015. He spent over 480,000 yuan (US$66,272) to purchase it and three lenses. Today, the Hongqi 20 is the top treasure of his collection and is sought-after by connoisseurs by virtue of its rarity.

The Shanghai Second Camera Factory started to produce Hongqi 20 cameras in the 1960s as gifts for the 20th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

At the time, Leica and Zeiss were giants in camera production. Nonetheless, most Chinese people had never had any contact with optical products, not to mention making them. Due to the lack of technology and experience, the production was fraught with difficulty.

Since all of the cameras were handmade with some imported internal components, the factory only produced 271 sets within nine years.

In a bid to meet the market demand of news, sciences, public security and sports industries, China began to produce cameras on a large scale. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Shanghai Seagull Camera Company produced a number of single-lens reflex cameras that were widely used in the domestic market.

At the exhibition, visitors can linger over the Seagull products on view, and learn how the Chinese people started a new industry from scratch.

Date: Through August 30 (closed on Mondays)

Admission: Free

Venue: Zhejiang Museum of Natural History

Address: No. 6, West Lake Cultural Square

西湖文化广场6号