We sometimes read about film camera bloggers “thinning the herd”. Accidentally, I “drowned” my herd.

The Chicago heavy rains of July 3, 2023 solved that problem for me.

Perhaps 30 of my cameras (and lenses) drowned in the flood. Soggy cameras don’t work well. What was lost? Easily 20 point and shoot cameras from garage sales were soaked. And perhaps half a dozen Argus film cameras and two brand new Kodak cameras in their original boxes were lost. Most importantly, my fresh Minolta XE-7 and Minolta XD-11 were a bit soggy. They were on the floor in a cardboard box. Not my best plan.

Currently 3 Minoltas are being assessed by a Morton Grove, IL camera repair shop. $340 to repair two cameras and the third camera will be too expensive to repair. Yikes.

Lessons were learned, the hard way. Good news, my over 100 film cameras were “off the ground” by over 3 inches to a foot. But I could not help but hear the old Bible passage in my mind: ” “…where moth and rust destroy…”

So camera collectors, immediately get all your cameras 6 inches off your basement floor.