(Very) old photographic cameras in the "Camera Museum-Takis Aivalis" in Mystras village, Lakonia, Peloponnese, Greece.
(Very) old photographic cameras in the "Camera Museum-Takis Aivalis" in Mystras village, very close to Sparta ("Sparti"), Lakonia, Peloponnese, Camera Museum - Takis Aivalis was inaugurated in March 2013. It is the dream of a lifetime and the culmination of efforts by Takis and Anastasia Aivalis. It is the world's largest private collection of cameras. This is the personal collection of photographic cameras of Mr. Panagiotis Aivalis. Panagiotis Aivalis started collecting in the middle of the 1940s, when his father brought him a small Kodak 1A pocket camera of 1923 from America as a gift. At first he regarded it a toy-since it had no film but later on it turned out to be his lifetime interest, his “obsession” as he said. In 1952, being in America, he bought his second camera a Billy Clark of the Agfa industry and from then on his photography career begins and his personal collection grows. In 1967 he returns to Greece with more than 300 cameras, including 6 air cameras. These cameras come mainly from America, where in the 1960s they were called “black garbage”, were not regarded as collectibles and sold in extremely low prices in antique shops and bazaars in New York. He would buy them in all states and hence he would repair them by himself when damaged. Later on, Panagiotis broadened his purchases from other parts of the world, such as Holland, France, Kanada, Italy making his own personal collection and enriching it with anything relevant to photography. All cameras are second-handed having their own certificate. Only few of them are brand new. His collection is mainly based on the evolution of the 20th century cameras, addressing mainly the amateur user. One of the oldest cameras is a Kodak N2 Plico of 1885 whereas great variety of cameras, typical examples of their date, brand name and type follows. Among the brand names, we can see Kodak, Agfa, Ansco, Argus, Coronet, Zeiss Ikon, Bilora, Dacora, Ferrania, Minolta, Ilford, Yashica, Nikon, Canon etc
Size: 3534px × 5319px
Location: Mystras, Lakonia, Peloponnese, Greece, Europe
Photo credit: © Hercules Milas / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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