The only time-honored brand "Zhongpei Photography Equipment Store" that opened in Tudanli Street in Central in the 70s of last century and still stands today, has witnessed the rise and fall of "Camera Street" for half a century, experienced the change of photography culture, traveled through the changes of the times in black and white and color, and survived the three-year epidemic.

Helpless to face reality, the owner of the "second generation of the store", Chung King Lin, recently announced the closure of the store, and expects the store to operate until June 6, bringing an end to his family business and marking the end of the era of "Camera Street" in Central. Zhong Jinglin sent a message to his colleagues: "I hope that the 𠵱 family can continue to work hard and carry forward the camera."

The second-generation owner of the 57-year-old store on Yili Camera Street inherited his father's business and taught photography without a teacher

"Chung Pei Photography Equipment Shop" has been in Tultanley Street in Central since the 70s, commonly known as "Camera Street", located at the corner of Stone Street, the name of the shop is taken from the name of the founder, Chung Kam Pui, who is the father of the current second-generation head Chung King Lin. Chung Jinglin, the owner of the "second generation of the store", posted the words "53 years of completion and retirement to clear the goods and sell them flat" in the store, but he laughed and pointed out that the 53 years of operation was his own calculation, and the actual time should be longer, explaining: "My mother told me that it was not 57 years, but in essence, it should be <> years."

Chung said that his father started selling telescopes in his early years, and then jointly founded "Dazhong Photographic Equipment" with his cousins, and after more than 20 years of operation, he set up his own portal and founded "Zhong Pei Photographic Equipment", the original store was located at 56 Stanley Street in the front, and in the early 90s, due to reconstruction, it was relocated to the current store at 44 Stanley Street.

From the age of 10, he accompanied his father to the counter to help take care of the store, which can be said to be the same as "Zhong Pei", and at the age of 14, he followed his teacher to the photo workshop to learn the drying work as an apprentice, until he officially took over the operation of the store at the age of 18.

Even though all walks of life have faced operational difficulties in recent years, Chung Kenglin still struggled to persevere, but he confessed that he did not have a soft spot for photography, laughing: "I don't want to take photography, of course, I don't want to completely resist it, but because my father is doing it, it is logical to continue to do it."

In order to inherit his father's business, Zhong Jinglin gradually became proficient in various photographic equipment and drying steps. He said that he was forced by the environment and had no teacher, saying: "If you have more contact with yourself, you will naturally become familiar with it, and you must know each other when you do business with you, and you will know all the way when you do it."

Witness the Camera Street from the peak 10 shops to the last one Uphold honest marketing

Zhong Jinglin has been in the industry for half a century and has witnessed several important turning points in the photography industry. In the 80s and 90s, Tudanli Street could be said to be the "Camera Street" that photography enthusiasts knew in those years, and on the road about 300 meters long, there were more than 10 shops selling photographic equipment and rinning film during peak hours, which was very famous, just like the Mong Kok "Star City" shopping mall that now specializes in photographic equipment. In the era of no information circulation, people only knew that camera stores were concentrated on this street. In the past, photography was a specialty, and customers relied on salespeople to know product information, and he recalled the scenery of the past and said, "In the past, you may not have been able to walk for a day."

In addition to the Central main store, "Chung Pei" has opened a branch in Mong Kok, and also has a photo studio in Tai Kok Tsui, because most of the business in the early years came from photo studios, Chung said: "In those days, there were many photo studios on Castle Peak Road in Sham Shui Po, and there were photo studios upstairs, and there were passport photos, New Year pictures for the whole family, etc., and there was a stall on the bottom floor to collect prints."

Zhong Jinglin pointed out that in the past, the customers of the photography equipment store on Stanley Street were mainly locals, and he laughed that he would not be like those experts in the tourist area, "uh

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Photography in black and white and color Journey through the changing times of film to digital

In the sixties and seventies, film began to switch from black and white to color, and Chung recalled the change in photography culture: "At that time, I was very detailed, and the news gradually changed from black and white to color, and black and white film was quickly eliminated." He remembers a large number of expired black and white film films discarded in the store.

He added that before the introduction of the "one-hour machine" (express camera), they would receive an overwhelmed number of orders from photo studios. The cost of buying a dryer is expensive, and in the seventies it cost more than 100,000 yuan, saying: "On average, there are more than 300 tubes of film in a day, if it is Christmas and New Year, several consecutive days of holidays, there are more than a thousand barrels in a day, and it takes a few days to finish it overnight after the New Year."

In the nineties, before the advent of digital machines, the traditional film was replaced by a new film, by Kodak, Fujifilm and other film manufacturers jointly developed a built-in chip APS (advanced photography system) film, unlike the traditional film to use their own rolls, but like a cassette plug and play, users do not have to worry about "white rolls", but can also set three framing frames.

Zhong Jinglin said that cameras using APS systems are generally designed to be lightweight and avant-garde, and advanced features have set off a boom: "But unfortunately, after a few enduring, digital machines were introduced, and APS was eliminated." As a result, the popular APS standard camera has become a crab product. But he believes that the most memorable value in the store is a CanonAPS system camera, which was priced at more than $4800,97 that year: "The 60 came out when Hong Kong was returned to the motherland, and it coincided with Canon's <>th anniversary production." Many customers rushed to "treasure hunting" when they heard that the shop was closing, and the "crab goods" became "sought-after goods", and now only one "non-sale item" is left as a souvenir.

Digital machine advent, photography is no longer "men's patent"

In the past two decades, photographic equipment has been transformed from traditional film to digital, and Chung King Lam has also followed the trend of reselling single-lens reflex digital cameras launched by Nikon and Canon from traditional film machines, he pointed out: "The film is a consumable product, and the sales volume itself is very large, but with the emergence of digital machines, the film market has shrunk sharply; Another problem is that the tanning market is contracted, and in the later stage, people have already washed and sunbathed to see the phase first."

Chung Jinglin said with a smile that one of the major changes since digital cameras is that in the past, photography could be said to be "men's patents", and most women were only as models, just "subjects": "But today, it is not a big change, in fact, many girls are good at photography, interested in good photography, and digital machines are also convenient."

Old-style photography equipment physical stores lack living space

Asked about the reason for the closure, Zhong Jinglin admitted that he actually planned to retire more than a year ago. In the past three years, under the epidemic, his photography equipment store, like other retail industries, has experienced a stage of eclipse money: "(The epidemic) is the biggest problem, because I have been doing it for more than 50 years, and I have all the inventory, and I can support it all the way."

He lamented that the main reason for the closure of the business is the transformation of the entire environment shopping mode, he has begun to be unable to catch up with the market changes, with the development of the Internet, physical stores gradually lose their existence value; On the other hand, camera manufacturers have long implemented online stores, and the younger generation generally buys cameras online, and they no longer provide discounts when agents supply them, and the price naturally cannot compete with online stores. He said helplessly that the old photography equipment store has almost no room for survival: "It is already difficult to do it, and laymen do not know that I sell and make a small profit."

Another reason is the lack of manpower in the store, from the scale of more than ten people in the early years, now there are only two old courtiers who have worked in the store for more than 20 years in the store: "In the past, there were already three net department workshops, one was a master, one was responsible for the black room, and one was responsible for doing chores, the company's plan was exaggerated, a large round table was sitting and drying, there were more than a dozen people, not a single guy, and there were buried wholesalers and delivery." He said that even if his children were interested in taking over, he would not agree: "Because it really has to be done."

He said frankly that rent is not too much of a burden, but rather his daily coping with a large number of processes, one person doing several people's things, hard work but not earning a few labor, feeling that income and labor are not commensurate: "Rent is expensive, but counting the number of strips, you can tie a word, why do you work hard for beggars?" I myself am starting to get older, and I will always finish the day, but my family decided to solve it."

"I hope that the 𠵱 family can continue to work hard and carry forward the camera."

After the launch of digital cameras, film machines were silent for a while, and the film factory "Kodak" also reported the closure of film. Unexpectedly, the re-emergence of new gadgets for young people in recent years has also led to an increase in demand for flushing services. He laughed and said, a bit like "salted fish turning over": "When a circle returns, the old becomes new." However, he said that the current production of film is a world away from the past, and because most users are playing tickets, he estimates that the film craze will subside in the near future, and film will decline again: "It is always too heavy, from thirty or forty mosquitoes a tube in two years, and the price is increased to hundreds of mosquitoes a tube."

In addition, CCD digital "point-and-shoot cameras", which were once popular in the millennium, have also become a treasure sought by mainland tourists in recent years. The CCD effect is similar to the film effect." He believes that most young people will only play with old things after pursuing trends, and from time to time mainland customers visit the store to look for memory cards and batteries for CCD: "Electronic gadgets always have a lifespan, and they may be used when they buy them, but they may break down after a few returns; Another biggest problem is that in the early days of digital cameras had low pixels, memory cards could only be tied to a low Meg number, in fact, they had been discontinued and sunburned, and they couldn't be bought."

He expects the store to be open until June 6, and because there is too much stock in the warehouse, it will also be sold online in the future. The most reluctant thing he is is actually to establish a relationship with acquaintances for many years: "If you have been doing it for many years, you must have it, but the department is nostalgic, because they are all old, if the completion of the course is always tied to a day." He also sent a message and encouraged his peers who are still persevering: "I hope that Yijia can continue to work hard and continue to carry forward the camera."

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