Photography fans and elite hipsters could do a lot worse than visit the camera museum at the famous Michaels retail store on Elizabeth Street in Melbourne. We visited this museum, which includes a display of over 2,000 products from a collection of 5,000, and was greatly impressed.
This museum has an entry at tripadvisor.com, the well-used online tourism guide, and although there are only two reviews, it makes Michaels one of the absolute few, if not the only, electronics retailer to be cosidered a tourist destination.
Apologies for having to take these photos through the glass cases – for a better look one should check out the store in person.
Here’s what on show at the museum:
Classic Canon SLRs with prominence given to flash accessories from a bygone era.
The Mamiya brand is still kicking around, 72 years after first launching photography equipment.
Pentax, currently distributed by CR Kennedy, still attracts a cult following.
Considering how retro-cool Nikon’s SLR lines were, it’s strange they haven’t attempted to capitalise on the hipster craze more.
Classic gear here from Olympus, the brand that revolutionalised product placement with its sponsorship of Licence To Kill.
Some of the classic brands sold at Michaels in the past include Beauty, Pax, Welmy and Samoca.
Classic Ricoh cameras. Ricoh is currently in the CR Kennedy brand stable in Australia.
Some absolute classic camera designs from Leica (top left), Minox (bottom left) and Minolta.
Yashica camera production was retired by then owner Kyocera in 2005.
Contax was another Kyocera camera brand that ceased production in the mid-2000s.
The oldest photography brand in the world: Voigtlander – this Austrian name has been around since 1756.
It’s hard to know for sure what the most valuable piece in the collection is, but this Leica camera from 1927 must come close.