A great fair this year despite a nightmare getting there with cancelled trains, alternative routes - also with line closures, meaning a simple journey turned into a right pain. Arriving an hour later than planned, it took only a few minutes to find the first gem…

This 1985 Lomo Almaz 103 is one of only 9508 copies made. This particular version though is even rarer being the Chameleon type paint, which is actually brown under bright light and not the standard black. It comes with the MC Volna 50mm f1.8 lens, removable prism and the seller said he will send me the original box too!

It is a camera I have wanted for a long time, but never expected to see one today. It is fully working, and I did shoot a roll of Kosmo Foto’s new Diktator black & white film around London after leaving the fair.

I know it is not in perfect condition, but I knew instantly I had to have it…

The best thing about going to these fairs is you never know what you will come home with! Like this 1957 Leidolf Lordox which is very nice with the black front plate. The fact that you can handle literally thousands of cameras is incredible, and something which doesn’t appeal to you in an online image may just grab your attention.

The Lordox features a tiny double stroke winding lever, shutter speeds up to 1/300th and Weltzar Trioplan 5cm f2.8 lens. It is the looks that sold it to me!

The seller of this Kodak Bantam f4.5 had three different versions, but it was this later Walter Teague styled more angular one which looked and felt the best. It takes 828 roll film which will cause me to have to work around the fact film is very uncommon and will be very expired. Maybe re-roll some 35mm somehow!

I am sure a lot of people will say - why did you not just get a FED 2 with the rangefinder?, but I actually like the more minimalist look of the Zarya. And the shutter is so smooth on this one. The Industar 26M is a good lens, so it should produce some nice images.

The Zarya was made between 1959-61, and this has a late serial number, and had it’s lovely brown case with that distinctive Soviet smell - if you know, you know!

Finally, and maybe my favourite from the day is the 1934 Eichapfel Noviflex 1 - and what a beauty it is!

The Noviflex is the first 6×6 SLR camera, pre dating the Reflex Korelle by one year. My one has the mid-range Meyer Gorlitz Trioplan 7.5cm f3.5 lens. Only a few hundred of these were ever made making this a very rare camera.

The waist level viewing screen is surprisingly bright, but focusing is a bit of a challenge - I will probably just zone focus when I run a roll of 120 through it.

One disappointment from this years fair is that when I got home and unpacked my bag I was sure I bought a Diax! As it turns out I didn’t. I had it in my hand to buy, but then something else caught my eye - it was the Zarya. Oh well, there is always next year…

Photographica London 2026

Half frame Ricoh EF2