People tend to think digital cameras are the rage; forget about film cameras as a hobby to take pictures. Film cameras however has better(finer) resolution than digital sensor pixel size.

Antique cameras are only for museums. Decco cameras are made of bakelite. Earlier 35 mm cameras are of great value; brand name is Leica. Lens resolution is about 40 line pairs per millimeter. It is expensive hobby to collect Leica. Learn how to repair or restore Leica maybe great fun.

Later cameras have better resolution and contrast. Typical Nikon F slr has lenses of 80 line pairs per mm resolution. And contrast can be saturated by half a stop more in diaphragm settings.

Before film cameras lost their popularity, their mechanism uses batteries. and the capacitor(electrolytic) often dried up in ten years in air conditioned homes. Ebay is full of defunct cameras for sale. Fortunately, you can buy it cheap, then use fresh batteries to cure the dried up capacitor, and make it function again. Battery lots from China is extremely cheap on ebay.

Never invest in digital cameras? Defunct digital cameras are usually having lens movement problems; they are hard to fix. New high ratio aspheric lens designs are full of optical compromise within the range of zoom function. You have to select some zoom ratio for the best resolution. Plastic lenses are often better optical quality than glass ones due to production methods using replication molds(similar to lost wax process). Contrast is enhanced by optical coatings. Diffraction is best controlled usually at f5.6. Wide open lens or f16 do not give you best detailed picture.

Some people still swear that point and shoot cameras deserve consideration in your camera collection. But the picture quality is limited to 4x6 inch reproduction. These cameras are just not usable for 8x10" enlarging.

Tune in for more camera collection discussions. It is a wonderful hobby with all that is available on ebay. You can certainly trade up, buy and sell for profit as well.