Well, I actually found these a few weeks ago but just got around to taking pictures...
Kowa Kid by
Antony J Shepherd, on Flickr
This "Kowa Kid" was one of the earliest cameras I remember using back in the late 60s. It took 127 film, at some point there must have been a blanking plate to let you choose 8 or 12 exposures but the blanking plate was lost before I used it, and had simple controls of three aperture holes (sunny, not sunny, cloudy) and instant or bulb shutter. Not to mention the extraneous glassware either side of the viewfinder. No, that's not a lightmeter, it's a fake!
With some red cellophane to stick in the back (the red windows are damaged) and a roll of 127 film I'd give it a go!
Sadly, I've no idea what became of the photos I took with it back in the day, apart from a small few.
Ricoh AF-2 by
Antony J Shepherd, on Flickr
This Ricoh AF-2 was my first auto-focus camera and I think I bought this to replace the old Zenit EM I had when I got fed up of lugging it everywhere. I eventually replaced it with a zoom compact and left it for my parents to use. So when I found it was still pretty much where I'd left it I decided I'd have it back. Haven't run a film through it yet but it does seem to be in working order.
A few photography related things I found at the same time:-
Sheffield Photo Co. Ltd by
Antony J Shepherd, on Flickr
This old advert from 1959...
Also, do people remember when there were people going round at the seaside taking pictures of people for them to collect and pay for at kiosks?
Wrates by
Antony J Shepherd, on Flickr
Google tells me the company is still going having moved into a more sustainable business!