Est. 1978 · Brooklyn, NY
The Smith Street Collection
A personal archive of pre-owned Leica M, Hasselblad 500-series, and Contax stock — every body and lens vetted in person by Simon Gold, founder of Simon's Cameras.
Smith Street storefront, 412 Smith Street, Brooklyn. Photograph: Simon's Cameras archive, 2024.
A note from the founder
"I only stock what I would shoot myself."
I started buying and selling used Leica M bodies out of the Smith Street shop in the early 1980s — long before it had a name. Forty years on, the Collection still works the same way: a body or lens comes in, I clean it, mount it, load a roll of Tri-X or Portra, and walk the block. If the rangefinder patch sits right, if the shutter sounds honest, if the negatives come back the way I expect them to — then it earns its place on the shelf.
Everything in this Collection has been through that walk. The Leica M6 you see here is the same test I would run on a camera I was keeping for my own kit. I have signed the back of each inventory card. If you would like to know where a body came from, or who carried it before, call the shop and ask for me — I am usually at the bench by seven.
— Simon Gold, Founder
Currently on the shelf
The Collection
M-mount rangefinders · Hasselblad 500-series medium format · Contax 35mm — twenty-three bodies and lenses, all inspected by Simon this season.
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No. 01
Pre-owned · Rangefinder
Leica M6 Classic, Chrome
0.72x viewfinder · Serial 1884xxx · Body only
Carried by a working photojournalist in the late 1990s. Light brassing along the top edge — honest wear. Rangefinder aligned, meter calibrated, foam replaced last month.
$3,950
View listing -
No. 02
Pre-owned · Medium format
Hasselblad 500 C/M with 80mm f/2.8 Planar
CFV-compatible · Acute-Matte D screen · A12 back included
A studio photographer's second body, traded in this spring. Mirror foam is fresh, lens elements are clean with no haze or separation, and the wind is smooth through the full throw.
$4,750
View listing -
No. 03
Pre-owned · Compact 35mm
Contax T2 Titanium, Black
Sonnar 38mm f/2.8 T* · Carl Zeiss certification sticker intact
The shop copy. Light wear on the corner guards, lens glass clean, autofocus snappy. The T2 is the camera I point tourists toward when they ask what to bring to a wedding — it does not let them down.
$2,280
View listing -
No. 04
Pre-owned · M-mount lens
Leica 50mm f/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH
11728 (current) · Box, hood, and caps included
A near-mint copy, traded in by a portraitist who moved to a 90mm. Front element clean, aperture snicks dry and clicky, focus ring is the smoothest I have felt this month.
$4,150
View listing
Twenty-three bodies and lenses currently in the Collection. The full list, with serial numbers and inspection notes, is on the shelf at 412 Smith Street and updated online every Friday.
What "vetted in person" means
How a body earns its place.
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01
In-person inspection by Simon
Every body is handled by Simon at the bench — rangefinder alignment, meter calibration, frame counter, and serial verified against our inventory card before the listing goes up.
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02
38-point checklist
Our used bodies take an average of 47 minutes across 38 checklist points — shutter speed verification at every setting, light seals, sensor or film-plane condition, AF calibration on mirrorless.
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03
90-day functional warranty
Every used body ships with a 90-day functional warranty — three times the industry-standard 30 days — backed by our in-house Canon CPS Gold and Nikon Authorized repair bench.
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04
Free 30-minute consult
Purchases over $1,500 include a free 30-minute Zoom with a staff photographer before you commit — bring your shooting list, leave with a confirmed setup.
"The Hasselblad I bought from the Smith Street Collection had been walked around the block by Simon before I ever saw the listing. That is the difference between a used camera and a Smith Street camera."
Margaret H. · Studio photographer, purchased 2023
View the Collection
See what is on the shelf this week.
The full Collection — with serial numbers, inspection notes, and the week's intake — is online, and on the glass case at 412 Smith Street, six days a week.
412 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231 · Mon–Sat 10–7 · Sun by appointment