Camera brochures - do you miss em’?
p.1 #1Camera brochures - do you miss em’?
I posted the same question on another forum and got interesting responses.
Back in my poor student days I could never afford the shiny new (film) cameras. So often made do with collecting the brochures instead and dreaming .
Today I never see brochures. I miss having something to hold and read. Screens are a very poor substitute in my opinion.
I’ve started collecting brochures for the cameras I already have. I find it fascinating tbh.
Anyone else missing brochures??
Back in my poor student days I could never afford the shiny new (film) cameras. So often made do with collecting the brochures instead and dreaming .
Today I never see brochures. I miss having something to hold and read. Screens are a very poor substitute in my opinion.
I’ve started collecting brochures for the cameras I already have. I find it fascinating tbh.
Anyone else missing brochures??
Jul 15, 2026 at 11:04 AM
p.1 #2Camera brochures - do you miss em’?
I am 35, so I was coming of age when the transition from physical media to digital began in earnest. Because I was a kid, I never had to deal with any of the downsides of physical ownership, since none of it ever seemed to be the useless detritus it probably appeared to be to my parents. I was 14, it wasn't "my" house, so I wasn't aware of "random stuff" being everywhere. I think because of this, I have an incredible nostalgia for the physical things of yesteryear, e.g., camera manuals, video game/movie inserts, posters, magazines, etc.
Would I want any of that stuff lying around now, were it available and ubiquitous? Yes and no, although the older I get, the less I want. That said, I think the fact that you *can't* get them at all, that they literally are no longer made, belies more troubling trends. A 500 page manual was nice in part because someone who was an expert sat down and wrote it out, and then the company saw fit to bind it, however cheaply, into a book, and you could go back to that book 1,000 times a year at no cost whenever you wanted, or hand it off to someone else when you no longer required it. It demonstrated a level of care and consideration that I think has deteriorated writ large over time. It's not like we stopped getting physical manuals and everything else stayed the same; in my opinion, the attitude that said "physical manuals are no longer important" is the same one that today considers craftsmanship and design elegance less important by the year.
Moreover, when I was a kid, physical manuals, inserts, magazines, etc. all contributed enormously to both my literacy and my interest in reading. Because I *could* grab something like an instruction manual, I often did. I don't think any right thinking person in 2026 would argue that literacy in America is on the climb, and while the loss of everyday physical books/manuals/newspapers/magazines is not the primary driving force behind that decline, I don't think I can be convinced it hasn't played at least some part.
So, I dunno. I don't think I'd want them cluttering up my drawers, but I do wish they still existed, and I'd be willing to buy a larger filing cabinet if we could all collectively have them back.
Would I want any of that stuff lying around now, were it available and ubiquitous? Yes and no, although the older I get, the less I want. That said, I think the fact that you *can't* get them at all, that they literally are no longer made, belies more troubling trends. A 500 page manual was nice in part because someone who was an expert sat down and wrote it out, and then the company saw fit to bind it, however cheaply, into a book, and you could go back to that book 1,000 times a year at no cost whenever you wanted, or hand it off to someone else when you no longer required it. It demonstrated a level of care and consideration that I think has deteriorated writ large over time. It's not like we stopped getting physical manuals and everything else stayed the same; in my opinion, the attitude that said "physical manuals are no longer important" is the same one that today considers craftsmanship and design elegance less important by the year.
Moreover, when I was a kid, physical manuals, inserts, magazines, etc. all contributed enormously to both my literacy and my interest in reading. Because I *could* grab something like an instruction manual, I often did. I don't think any right thinking person in 2026 would argue that literacy in America is on the climb, and while the loss of everyday physical books/manuals/newspapers/magazines is not the primary driving force behind that decline, I don't think I can be convinced it hasn't played at least some part.
So, I dunno. I don't think I'd want them cluttering up my drawers, but I do wish they still existed, and I'd be willing to buy a larger filing cabinet if we could all collectively have them back.
Jul 15, 2026 at 11:35 AM
p.1 #3Camera brochures - do you miss em’?
I still have all the brochures I collected back in the late 80’s Amanda throughout the 90’s
I then stopped.
But over the past few months I’ve been buying .. yes buying !! Old out of print brochures for former DSLR’s . Namely Canon and Pentax.
Have to say I love spending a hour sat down reading and looking at the accessories that were available back then.
Just bought Canon 50D, 5Dii, 5Diii, 7D and 7Dii brochures. Also just received Pentax K1, K1ii, K70, K5, K5iis.
Hoping to add more over the coming months 👍🏻
I then stopped.
But over the past few months I’ve been buying .. yes buying !! Old out of print brochures for former DSLR’s . Namely Canon and Pentax.
Have to say I love spending a hour sat down reading and looking at the accessories that were available back then.
Just bought Canon 50D, 5Dii, 5Diii, 7D and 7Dii brochures. Also just received Pentax K1, K1ii, K70, K5, K5iis.
Hoping to add more over the coming months 👍🏻
Jul 15, 2026 at 12:36 PM
p.1 #4Camera brochures - do you miss em’?
I found the old EF Lens Work useful; brochures not so much.
Generally I threw them out after moving, and also destroyed plenty of junk during viral pandemonic.
EBH
Generally I threw them out after moving, and also destroyed plenty of junk during viral pandemonic.
EBH
Jul 15, 2026 at 12:50 PM
p.1 #5Camera brochures - do you miss em’?
EB-1 wrote:
I found the old EF Lens Work useful; brochures not so much.
Generally I threw them out after moving, and also destroyed plenty of junk during viral pandemonic.
EBH
Ooh… still have all three EF Work Books
Had the Eyes of Nikon too, but gave it away to a Nikon user.
Edited on Jul 15, 2026 at 10:09 PM · View previous versions
Jul 15, 2026 at 12:52 PM
p.1 #6Camera brochures - do you miss em’?
I don't miss printed anything. If I had a printed manual, I'd lose/destroy it. I really enjoy being able to get information on any topic, electronically, and immediately. I never read camera manuals. The downloaded PDF is a way better way to go.
Jul 15, 2026 at 02:51 PM
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p.1 #7Camera brochures - do you miss em’?
TomSchriefer wrote:
I don't miss printed anything. If I had a printed manual, I'd lose/destroy it. I really enjoy being able to get information on any topic, electronically, and immediately. I never read camera manuals. The downloaded PDF is a way better way to go.
Tbh
I’m polar opposites
I’m so sick of looking at screens, be it phone, tablet, laptop, TV….even the rear screen on cameras. Just had a gut full.
I think that’s part of the reason I’m going to shoot a roll of film… just to feel the excitement of seeing the 6x4 enprints once again.
Jul 15, 2026 at 03:14 PM
p.1 #8Camera brochures - do you miss em’?
I enjoyed brochures. I liked to scrutinize the images and specifications, repeatedly.
tom
tom
Jul 15, 2026 at 11:16 PM
p.1 #9Camera brochures - do you miss em’?
I got into photography as a kid in the 80s, back when printed material was about the only option. I loved the brochures and would pore through them at home and at school. It was literally camera p*rn in my eyes. 
Yeah, I was a camera geek.
When I worked in photo retail, right at our store's entrance was a big rack on the wall with brochures. Literally the first thing you'd see coming in and last thing going out the door. However, my favourite brochures were the technical guides that sometimes accompanied new releases intended for staff training purposes. These were never given away as we'd only have one copy that was kept in the respective brand's binder. Some of those binders were pretty big and stuffed full of a lot of that kind of information. It was our 'wiki' and during that era, we actually did field a lot of calls and spent a lot of time either on the phone or with customers in person either going through the pros and cons of a given camera, lens, film, paper, system, etc. or trying to solve some sort of technical or creative problem a customer encountered. That was when the internet was nascent and the job required fairly deep knowledge of a wide range of technical photographic matters. At the time I did feel like I was a walking photographic encyclopedia.
Things have really changed. I do all my research online and participate in this forum as a form of information exchange that somewhat resembles aspects of that retail job. I never go to the camera store (where I used to work, or most any other camera store) for information from the staff. When I go to the store it's either to buy something I already decided on (I still like to support the store whenever possible), or if I'm somewhere with a 'mega' camera store, like Yodobashi in Tokyo, I'll spend time trying out as much gear as I can. The actual specs I can get from the manufacturer's website, or an online store such as B&H.
As for manuals... I don't miss the physical books and much prefer PDFs that I can bring along on a laptop, phone, etc. and quite quickly find what I need with a text search. I think the last manuals that came with cameras I bought were already ridiculously into 500+ pages territory. And now those PDFs approach 1000 pages. I don't agree that this represents a loss of care by the manufacturer as they're still publishing the manuals, in virtual book form, electronically. Some team is still doing the graphic design, collating all the information, making translations for umpteen languages... at least for now before AI replaces them.
The camera and lens brochures were cool back then but I don't really miss them. I agree with the sentiment that sooner or later it becomes part of the detritus collecting around the house. And I too did a pandemic-era purge of probably >90% of all the old brochures, manuals and magazines I had collected. A lot of it wasn't anything special and I did keep some that was more nostalgic or sentimental. But the majority was cleared out along with boxes and other packaging.
I look at what is in the house today and the sheer amount of stuff we have now totally eclipses what we had even ~30 years ago. Sometimes it just feels like a burden to store and manage it all. Like we've been trained, groomed, to become collectors of stuff. To a degree, I will also include in this sentiment all of the photographs I've ever taken and are filed away in the house, either physically or digitally.
Anyway, when I worked at the store, the most coveted manufacturer's collateral we could obtain were the annual calendars. Some of them were really well done, such as the one from Hasselblad each year. Sometimes I got that one. Typically I got the Canon one because I was the store's resident Canon fanboy. I remember Ilford was sometimes also very good, or the other film brands, such as Kodak, Agfa, Fuji... I'm sure it will pain PP to hear this, but a lot of those were also recently purged along with the manuals and brochures, though I did keep the Hasselblad and Ilford ones.
Somewhere I still have the Canon Lens Work books.
Yeah, I was a camera geek.When I worked in photo retail, right at our store's entrance was a big rack on the wall with brochures. Literally the first thing you'd see coming in and last thing going out the door. However, my favourite brochures were the technical guides that sometimes accompanied new releases intended for staff training purposes. These were never given away as we'd only have one copy that was kept in the respective brand's binder. Some of those binders were pretty big and stuffed full of a lot of that kind of information. It was our 'wiki' and during that era, we actually did field a lot of calls and spent a lot of time either on the phone or with customers in person either going through the pros and cons of a given camera, lens, film, paper, system, etc. or trying to solve some sort of technical or creative problem a customer encountered. That was when the internet was nascent and the job required fairly deep knowledge of a wide range of technical photographic matters. At the time I did feel like I was a walking photographic encyclopedia.
Things have really changed. I do all my research online and participate in this forum as a form of information exchange that somewhat resembles aspects of that retail job. I never go to the camera store (where I used to work, or most any other camera store) for information from the staff. When I go to the store it's either to buy something I already decided on (I still like to support the store whenever possible), or if I'm somewhere with a 'mega' camera store, like Yodobashi in Tokyo, I'll spend time trying out as much gear as I can. The actual specs I can get from the manufacturer's website, or an online store such as B&H.
As for manuals... I don't miss the physical books and much prefer PDFs that I can bring along on a laptop, phone, etc. and quite quickly find what I need with a text search. I think the last manuals that came with cameras I bought were already ridiculously into 500+ pages territory. And now those PDFs approach 1000 pages. I don't agree that this represents a loss of care by the manufacturer as they're still publishing the manuals, in virtual book form, electronically. Some team is still doing the graphic design, collating all the information, making translations for umpteen languages... at least for now before AI replaces them.
The camera and lens brochures were cool back then but I don't really miss them. I agree with the sentiment that sooner or later it becomes part of the detritus collecting around the house. And I too did a pandemic-era purge of probably >90% of all the old brochures, manuals and magazines I had collected. A lot of it wasn't anything special and I did keep some that was more nostalgic or sentimental. But the majority was cleared out along with boxes and other packaging.
I look at what is in the house today and the sheer amount of stuff we have now totally eclipses what we had even ~30 years ago. Sometimes it just feels like a burden to store and manage it all. Like we've been trained, groomed, to become collectors of stuff. To a degree, I will also include in this sentiment all of the photographs I've ever taken and are filed away in the house, either physically or digitally.
Anyway, when I worked at the store, the most coveted manufacturer's collateral we could obtain were the annual calendars. Some of them were really well done, such as the one from Hasselblad each year. Sometimes I got that one. Typically I got the Canon one because I was the store's resident Canon fanboy. I remember Ilford was sometimes also very good, or the other film brands, such as Kodak, Agfa, Fuji... I'm sure it will pain PP to hear this, but a lot of those were also recently purged along with the manuals and brochures, though I did keep the Hasselblad and Ilford ones.
Somewhere I still have the Canon Lens Work books.
Jul 16, 2026 at 02:00 AM
p.1 #10Camera brochures - do you miss em’?
Well I’m actually in the process of tracking down all the brochures for all the cameras I have.- I doubt I’ll ever sell now. The money is spent and I’ll write te cost off….. It does add up to a fair bit, but I console myself that others blow their money on fags, booze, drugs, gambling etc etc. At least I have something to show for what I spent.
Just out of curiosity… did canon ever release brochures for the M system?
Edited on Jul 16, 2026 at 10:22 PM · View previous versions
Just out of curiosity… did canon ever release brochures for the M system?
Edited on Jul 16, 2026 at 10:22 PM · View previous versions
Jul 16, 2026 at 02:04 PM
p.1 #11Camera brochures - do you miss em’?
I never experienced camera brochures, having gotten into photography in the digital/Internet age. The closest I can relate to are car brochures. I still remember the feeling I got as a teen from studying every page of a car I wanted.
Jul 16, 2026 at 02:14 PM