Two Ps Are Better Than One

When I find a vintage camera I really like shooting, a little bit of worry creeps in. When a camera has been out of production for 20, 30, 40, 50...60 years, replacing or repairing a favorite shooter isn't easy. They aren't making any more of these things. So I worry to myself: "Gosh, I really like this camera. What if I drop it off a cliff? Will I ever find another?" 

When I stumble on a camera I enjoy using, I start snooping around eBay and Craigslist for a back-up body. The back-up might replace the primary camera should that one fail or, at the very least, contribute parts during a repair.

I've written how I enjoy using my Canon P, a mechanical rangefinder from the late 1950s. I sourced my original P from Japan and had the Japan Camera Hunter (Bellamy Hunt) find me a Canon LTM f/1.4 50mm lens for it. The lens Bellamy found me, by the way, looks like it's never been used. Trotting around happily shooting my P, I got to thinking that I should acquire a back-up body just in case. I trolled around eBay and found another decent P on the East Coast. It was a bargain. I was thinking I might send my original P or the recently acquired one off to Youxin Ye for a CLA. October maybe.