THESE old cameras are sure to bring fond memories of family holidays, weddings and other occasions into focus from the days long before smart phones.

Remember when you had to wait to your precious negatives to be processed at the chemist or send them off in the post?

Old single-lens reflex cameras have seen a resurgence in popularity recently, alongside other pre-digital products such as vinyl LPs.

These cameras are among 250 lots of photographic equipment which are going under the hammer at Stroud Auctions today, Thursday, and tomorrow, Friday.

Expert Mark Rozelaar, who is in charge of the sale, said: "Cameras which take film may sound like redundant technology, but these cameras are still popular with collectors and photographers alike.

"Out sale features more than 250 lots of cameras, lenses and accessories."

Among the items are five Leica cameras ranging from a 1950 IIIf - a very similar model to those produced during the 1920s - through to the more modern CL.

Both take 35mm film, still available today, and estimates range from £200 up to £1,000.

Also included is a large private collection of SLR cameras, lenses and accessories including some rare Olympus and Nikon shift lenses, where the lens shifts so the front and rear of the tube are no longer aligned.

Used in the photography of buildings they reduce the parallax effect, preventing a building from appearing to taper towards the top.

Rolleiflex are also popular (there a three in the auction) and these take 120 film, still available today, which uses a much larger area for the photograph thus giving a similar effect in quality to buying a digital camera with more pixels.

"If capturing an image isn’t your thing then perhaps a good pair of binoculars might be of interest, Zeiss are a reliably good quality maker and with an estimate of £30-50 the 7x50 examples in the auction would be an excellent buy," added Mark.

Details about the sale can be found here

Stroud Auctions is located at Bath Road Trading Estate, Stroud.