A camera store in the south-west of England is selling a major collection of cameras left after the death of a longtime collector.
The collection was initially thought to be around 400 cameras, but the number catalogued has doubled to more than 800 – with more still to be added.
Russell Soper of Plymouth’s Soper Photographic said of the collection: “It’s an incredible cross section of analogue history – from simple point and shoot cameras right through to beautiful medium format systems. For anyone who loves film photography, it felt like opening a time capsule.
“The owner sadly passed away and the family weren’t sure how to handle such a specialist archive,’ he told Kosmo Foto. ‘We were recommended to them by one of our customers, which we’re always very grateful for. The gentleman had been a long standing member of PCCGB (Photographic Collectors Club of Great Britain) and was clearly a passionate photographer and dedicated collector.
“You could see the care he had taken over the years; it wasn’t just a collection, it was a lifetime of enthusiasm.”
The collection included many rare and cult film cameras, he said. “It’s rare to find two cameras the same – every box revealed something different. Among the highlights were a Contax T3, a Yashica T4, a Contax G1, a Fujifilm GA645, alongside many other gems from a wide range of manufacturers. It’s been a brilliant reminder of just how diverse and innovative the analogue era was.”
The massive haul has started making its way into the physical shop, but has also prompted Soper and his team to revamp the shop’s website. Two photos he shared with Kosmo Foto showed
“The scale of this collection gave us the perfect reason to invest properly in a new website. My daughter has done a brilliant job building it, and it’s already generating strong interest and sales. It complements what we do in store rather than replacing it.
“Our bricks and mortar shop has always been at the heart of what we do. We’re lucky to have a large university at the end of the street, and students who absolutely love film photography. That face-to-face interaction – letting people handle cameras, ask questions and learn is invaluable.
Soper said the new website, which launched in early 2026, has “opened us up to a wider audience while still keeping that same personal touch”. He said he wanted the store to feel like “stepping into an analogue specialist’s world”.
It has been a challenging time for physical camera stores in the UK in the last few years, with one of the most popular – Leeds’ West Yorkshire Cameras – closing at the end of 2024. Soper Photographic is one of a number that have doubled down on analogue photography. “We are 100% analogue, that’s our focus and our passion and we’ve seen a steady stream of new photographers discovering the magic of shooting on film, alongside seasoned enthusiasts returning to it.”
“We’re a real, bricks and mortar shop where customers can see, handle and try cameras before they buy. If there’s ever a problem, they know exactly where we are,” Soper added.
“We load and unload film for customers every day. We offer 35mm starter kits with everything someone needs to begin shooting, plus an instore workshop to get them confident with their camera. New film photographers inevitably make mistakes (we all did) but because we’re hands on and accessible, we help keep those mistakes to a minimum.”
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.
What a remarkable collection!
Soper concentrating on analogue photography only is similar to Blue Moon Camera in Portland, Oregon, USA. That is a fun place to meet young enthusiastic photographers, buy chemicals, etc.