YouTuber Tours Enormous Camera Market in Pakistan
A travel influencer recently took a fascinating look around a gigantic camera market in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi.
New Zealander Karl Rice, better known online as Karl Rock, took viewers for a tour around the Hashmi Electronic Center, a sprawling market that hawks all sorts of classic camera brands, including Widelux, Rollei, and Zenit.
“This camera market has been selling cameras since the days of film. It’s probably one of the last great camera markets left in the entire world,” says Rock. “It’s certainly Pakistan’s biggest camera market. I’ve never seen anything like it outside of Pakistan.”
As well as speaking Hindi, Rock also appears to have a strong grasp of Urdu, Pakistan’s main language. This helps him navigate the many stalls in the market.
One shop has a Zenit 122 and a Yashica Electro 35. The merchant explains that in the old days, a bride’s family would gift the groom that particular Yashica model as it was “considered a status symbol.” He says that it was equivalent to gifting a Mercedes-Benz today.
But it’s not just vintage cameras available: modern cameras with 100-megapixel sensors can be sourced at Hashmi, along with action cameras. One store owner says he supplies technology to DoPs working in Lollywood, Pakistan’s film industry.
To get an idea of prices there, a Sony a6400 costs 66,000 Pakistani Rupees ($237). A Canon 700D costs 20,000 Rupees ($70). While those prices are difficult to beat in the United States or Europe, it’s still worth haggling with the shopkeepers. It’s best to have a price in mind and aim for it.
“A lot of these point-and-shoots and the camcorders and the older stuff, it’s not new; it’s second-hand,” Rock says. “So you’ve got to make sure it works before you buy it. A lot of the stuff has been repaired. You know, it was broken and they repaired it. And now they’re reselling it. A lot of the cameras won’t have a warranty as well.”
As well as selling cameras in the market, there are also skilled technicians capable of repairing broken cameras. Rock spoke to Mahmood Hassan, a repairer who says the biggest issue he sees is problems with shutters.
“When you come to us with an expensive camera, we use new parts to repair it,” Hassan says. “So, after the repair, it’s like brand new.”
Amazingly, Hassan has handwritten a manual for repairing old film cameras, complete with diagrams and illustrations, which he began writing all the way back in the year 2000.
It’s great to see passionate camera enthusiasts in different corners of the world, and Rock’s video is well worth checking out.
Image credits: Photographs by Karl Rock
