McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras – Catalogues, Histories and Price Guides

By Gary Smith

While I’m sure that from the perspective of somebody who is satisfied with using their single cell phone to take photos, I’m likely bordering on the lunatic fringe, but I suspect to those of you reading this I’m just a guy. I don’t “collect” cameras (despite having a few more than might be considered normal). I also like books, so it’s only natural that I have (more than a few) on cameras.

Ranging from the coffee table-sized “Camera” by Todd Gustavson to the more compact “A History of Photography in 50 Cameras” by Michael Pritchard. While visiting an unfamiliar bookshop during a trip to the coast I came across a HUGE tome hidden in the back of the shop entitled: “McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras“. I don’t think I even took it down from the shelf since (as I said) I don’t collect. On a more recent trip I had decided that I’d go back to the shop and at least take a look at the book. Inside the cover the price was marked in pencil: $150 ($600 on Amazon). I browsed it for a bit and at two and a half inches thick with 1250 pages I thought it would add to my growing library (despite the fact that the prices in the 12th edition published in 2005/2006 are sorely outdated).

The book is ordered alphabetically beginning with two numerical entries: 3-Dimension Technology Ltd. (Hong Kong) and the 3M Company (St. Paul, MN – USA). The last being: Zulauf (G.Zulauf, Zurich) followed by: Zunow Optical Industry Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan). In between are claimed to be over 40,000 cameras. The pages are laid out in 3 columns with as many as 9 or 10 photos (or drawings) per page. The contents are quite dense.

Typical 2-page layout.

Many of the entries from less well-known brands have a short paragraph that describes the history of the company while the initial page of a well-known company may have an in-depth discussion of the company, its founder, chief designer, etc…

Longer description preceding the Leitz section.

In the case of some of the largest makers there is also discussion of prototypes and other oddities. Nikon apparently created section cut away display models for some of their dealers. In some cases there is a count of these while in others they are simply mentioned.

Description of a Nikon F4 Cutaway
An actual F4 cutaway.

With the advent of online resources selling functional used gear the value of seven pounds of paper as a price guide has all but vanished. Online searches for a 13th edition of the McKeown’s Guide don’t turn up any actual books but rather lead to a promise of something better yet to come: a 4-volume printed set with 100,000 cameras described on 4,000 to 5,000 pages or a searchable, online version available by subscription. In the 19 years since the availability of the 12th edition there doesn’t seem to have been any progress.

As yet to be made available 4-volume set.

For anyone interested in a comprehensive catalogue of 40,000 cameras, I have to say that this is likely going to be the last of its kind. For the non-collector like me an interesting look at the history of cameras. For an actual collector of cameras, this 19-year-old edition isn’t going to provide you with anything close to accurate prices and I suspect that you’ll have to rely on your contacts at Christies or Flints.

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About The Author

By Gary Smith
Lived in various US metro-areas from the east coast, south, Midwest and Pacific Northwest while chasing a career. Currently retired and living outside Portland, Oregon. Shooting film again (as well as developing). Have a mix of digital and film cameras and lenses in various formats.
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Comments

Paul Quellin on McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras – Catalogues, Histories and Price Guides

Comment posted: 02/04/2024

What a find Gary. Possibly not so useful but lovely to keeping skimming through I imagine. I'd be happy to have on on my bookshelf.
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Gary Smith replied:

Comment posted: 02/04/2024

It is certainly interesting Paul! It also gives me the ability to do research when someone is trying to date a camera.

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davesurrey on McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras – Catalogues, Histories and Price Guides

Comment posted: 02/04/2024

Gary, I’ve also got a copy of the 12th Edition, given to me as a present not long after it had been published. If I remember correctly it sold then for about £120.
As you pointed out, it’s not very useful, if at all, as a price guide. Ebay and auction sites are much more relevant for up to date pricing.
But to identify rare models, look up spec and sometimes ident models by serial number it still has its uses.
However just as a record of so many old/retro cameras I find it unique, a pleasure to occasionally just scan through its many pages and I would never part with my copy.
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Gary Smith replied:

Comment posted: 02/04/2024

I recently tried to help somebody nail the date on a Voigtländer Bessa. They started making them in 1929 but they didn't assign any further ID to them. So you needed to know certain details (and the serial number). Lens, shutter, physical configuration, embossing on the leatherette, etc... can all be seen in the 7 variations between 1929 and 1950. The book is indeed a marvel!

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cmf on McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras – Catalogues, Histories and Price Guides

Comment posted: 02/04/2024

The picture of "An actual F4 cutaway" depicts an F or F2 cutaway! The F4 does not have the ASA ring on the prism!
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Gary Smith replied:

Comment posted: 02/04/2024

You can blame that on me. The image entitled "Description of an F4 Cutaway" is from McKeown's but the image of the "actual" camera I grabbed from Google Images by looking up Nikon Cutaway.

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Bradley Newman on McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras – Catalogues, Histories and Price Guides

Comment posted: 02/04/2024

Thanks for sharing. What great reference guide! You can turn yourself into Cliff Clavin and amaze your friends: "Here's a little known fact about the Lordox Junior B..."
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Gary Smith replied:

Comment posted: 02/04/2024

Just so you know Bradley, there is no "Lordox Junion B" (but I'm sure you knew that). It is an interesting pile of data. It has to be in digital format someplace and it seems a shame that they haven't been able to find a home for it.

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Peter Roberts on McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras – Catalogues, Histories and Price Guides

Comment posted: 02/04/2024

Thanks for this Gary.
It brought back memories for me. You see my local camera shop, which had a strong line in secondhand and collectables, always used to keep a copy of McKeown's on the counter for customers to refer to.
Sadly the shop went the way of all things about ten years ago. Quite a blow as I'd been using it for about forty years.
I would dearly like any copy of Mckeown's to drool over but they have acquired a collectable value in their own right with a high price to reflect this..
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Gary Smith replied:

Comment posted: 02/04/2024

This copy was hiding in the back of a shop in Astoria, Oregon. I tried to get the kid at the counter to drop the price as I suspected the $600 on Amazon was bogus but he went and checked and wouldn't budge. Then I spent quite a while trying to determine if there was anything happening with regard to an updated version but I don't see how you can update 19 year-old prices.

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John Biskupski on McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras – Catalogues, Histories and Price Guides

Comment posted: 03/04/2024

Thankyou for your interesting article. Lovely to be reminded of those magical days of visiting real old camera shops and consulting these old world camera guides.
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Gary Smith replied:

Comment posted: 03/04/2024

I'll be visiting a shop on Friday (to pick-up a serviced 645 1000s). While I'm there I'll ask about their copy!

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Roger on McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras – Catalogues, Histories and Price Guides

Comment posted: 03/04/2024

The 9th and 10th editions (1994 and 1996) are available on archive.org. They cannot be downloaded, but if you register (no cost, though you will very occasionally get an email asking whether you would like to donate) you can borrow it for an hour (have an hour's access on their website).
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Gary Smith replied:

Comment posted: 03/04/2024

I'm not familiar with archive.org. Maybe I should be?

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Alan Simpson on McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras – Catalogues, Histories and Price Guides

Comment posted: 03/04/2024

The early editions of McKeown's Price Guide were bulky paperback books. Sitting on my bookshelves is the 7th edition (published in 1989, with cover date 1990-1991) in paperback with 832 pages. It's still useful on occasions, but the prices are no longer relevant. I guess well-thumbed paperbacks soon fell apart, and I wonder which edition was the first to be published in hardback.
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Gary Smith replied:

Comment posted: 03/04/2024

I imagine that these guides were useful to camera shop owners who would likely have to fend off the occasional individual claiming his camera sat under the bed (or in the closet) and was only used by his mother on Sundays so was therefor worth so much more than was offered by the last shop he visited.

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Tony Warren on McKeown’s Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras – Catalogues, Histories and Price Guides

Comment posted: 05/04/2024

I bought this edition new and it is now held together by picture framing tape it has had so much use (and misuse). The prices never were very relevant for me, quickly out of date, the information it provides is so much more valuable. Hadn't realised it was no more, such a shame. I still chance upon interesting facts when browsing the pages in less busy moments. Glad to see that many value it as much as I do. Well done.
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Gary Smith replied:

Comment posted: 05/04/2024

You are so right Tony! This is truly a treasure.

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