Kosmo Foto launched an online shop at the end of 2017, with the release of its first 35mm black-and-white film Mono.
Since then, we’ve slowly been adding more products into the shop, including a 120-format version of Mono, t-shirts, postcards, leather cases, gift boxes and, last year, our new 400-ISO film Agent Shadow.
Towards the end of 2021, Kosmo Foto started selling a small number of film cameras aswell.
This was the test for our next project: a standalone online camera shop called Cameraburo.
What’s Cameraburo?
Cameraburo is an online camera shop selling used film cameras, lenses and other film photography-related accessories.
It’s not the kind of shop where you are likely to find a mint collector’s rare Leica or a boxed Hasselblad Xpan. What you’ll find instead are 35mm SLRs, Soviet and East German cameras and compacts, as well as lenses and other bits and bobs.
The core of Cameraburo’s range will be cheaper cameras that have been film-tested and come with a 90-day warranty. While online auction sites like eBay offer a bewildering array of cameras at any price point, only a few sellers have the time to prove the cameras are actually working by putting a roll through it. Yes, you can (usually) get your money back if you’re sold a dud, but if that happens too often when you’re just getting into photography, it can be pretty deflating.
Apart from the cheapest toy cameras on offer, Cameraburo will test every camera with a roll of film to check exposure. Images from this film will included in the product listing.
Film-tested cameras come with a three-month warranty too, for peace of mind.
Cameraburo, just like Kosmo Foto’s film shop, is based in the UK but ships internationally. We’ve already sent cameras to customers as far away as Australia.
Cameraburo was launched (quietly) at the end of February. We currently have nearly 100 cameras to test, with more arriving over the coming weeks. Here’s just a few of the cameras you can expect to see appearing on the site soon:
Canon MC
Chinon CE-4
Cosina CX-2
Lomo LC-A
Minolta Riva 135EX
Nikon F50
Olympus OM-10
Praktica MTL 3
Ricoh FF-70
Zorki-4K
Cameraburo offers some simple cameras for little more than £10 and film-tested compact cameras for as little as £25. We’re always keeping our eyes peeled for interesting memorabilia and collectables too.
Camera prices have continue to rise as film enjoys its second wind, and we think it’s important to have some options available for photographers who don’t have £500 to drop down on a hyped compact or must-have classic SLR.
Some of our cameras will be priced a little higher, but that’s because they will have been sent to our favourite camera repairer – PPP Cameras – to be brought back to full working order before going on sale.
Personally, I remember getting into film in the early 2000s and being able to buy a decent manual starter SLR (in my case a Praktica MTL 5B) for only £50 – leaving me plenty of cash for film and development. With the price of film rising dramatically over the past few years, I’d like to make sure at least a decent number of cameras are as affordable as possible.
Expect to see new cameras and/or lenses every week as they’re tested. There will be changes to the Cameraburo page as things progress, allowing you to see all the cameras or lenses in certain categories eg 35mm, Pentax, 110, M42 etc.
Thanks for reading and please check Cameraburo out – hopefully there’s something there that will take your fancy.
I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).
I’m doing everything I can to promote film photography in the 21st Century, and help it survive and thrive. If you want to write something for Kosmo Foto, please drop me a line at foto.dowling@gmail.com.
