35mm camera weight for hand held shots

cliveh · Aug 30, 2014

How important is camera weight to you? Manufacturers often point out how lightweight their cameras are, but heavier cameras help cut down vibration. What camera is the optimum weight for you? For me it would be probably be any of the Leica M series.

Alan Gales · Aug 30, 2014

I prefer 35mm cameras to be small and lightweight. I always thought my old Contax 139 to be about perfect. I've never shot a Leica M series though.

If you have really large hands you will prefer a larger camera which will weigh more. Weight isn't bad if the camera is well balanced and ergonomic. Plus whatever camera you shoot you will get used to.

NJH · Aug 30, 2014

I prefer lighter to be honest. The M7 I had was noticeably heavier than the M6, I weighed the two in the same state and the M7 was 80g or so heavier, certainly enough for my wrist to notice carrying the camera around. I also had a Bessa R4A for a while, that was very light and quite nice to use because of it. A big part of the film Leica bodies is the cloth shutter IMHO, its so smooth and well damped compared to the digital M bodies or for that matter most other camera bodies I have tried. I think this is more important than the weight.

RalphLambrecht · Aug 30, 2014

cliveh said:
How important is camera weight to you? Manufacturers often point out how lightweight their cameras are, but heavier cameras help cut down vibration. What camera is the optimum weight for you? For me it would be probably be any of the Leica M series.

I don't have the use of my left arm and hand anymore.So being a one -armed bandit, I appreciate heavier cameras.my current Nikon D800is around 1kg and that's just about rright for me.for medium format,I would take the Hasselblad and mount it on a tripod.It's the only MF camera I can reasonably operate with one hand when on a tripod.Others are to fiddly

Alex Muir · Aug 30, 2014

I think you need a bit of weight. I once filmed a Wedding with a Canon 514XL Super8 camera. It was far too light to hold steady. The resulting movie was awful. It didn't help that I was recovering from a few drinks at a Wedding the day before. Even so, with one of my older wind-up cameras, I would have been fine. The same applies to still cameras. The Nikon manual cameras are all a good weight, as is the F100 and, I assume, the F4,5 and 6. Lightweight is good for carrying around, but not necessarily for hand held shots.
Alex.

Hatchetman · Aug 30, 2014

I like "smallish." Of the cameras I own I like my Spotmatic or Leica III. Although I have a Canon EOS 3 and good lenses for it, I never use it. Too big and clunky. Almost as big as my Pentax 6x7.

benjiboy · Aug 30, 2014

I prefer heavier cameras to lighter, ones because of the laws of inertia you are able to hold them much more still, I have a Canon A1 which is light, (1lb 14 oz with the f1.4 lens) and a Canon F1N-AE which is much heavier (2lb 4oz with f1.4 lens attached, I find I can hold the heavier camera much steadier than the lighter especially at slow shutter speeds.

Gunfleet · Aug 30, 2014

RalphLambrecht said:
I don't have the use of my left arm and hand anymore.So being a one -armed bandit, I appreciate heavier cameras.my current Nikon D800is around 1kg and that's just about rright for me.for medium format,I would take the Hasselblad and mount it on a tripod.It's the only MF camera I can reasonably operate with one hand when on a tripod.Others are to fiddly

Sorry to hear that Ralph. I have had the relatively minor inconvenience of a frozen shoulder for a year and found an xpro1 works pretty well right handed only.

gone · Aug 30, 2014

It's not the weight of the camera, it's the steadiness of the photographer. You need good technique.

benjiboy · Aug 30, 2014

momus said:
It's not the weight of the camera, it's the steadiness of the photographer. You need good technique.

What we are saying is given the same technique which can you hold the steadiest.

markbarendt · Aug 30, 2014

My favorite lens for 135 is a nice old heavy auto focus push-pull f/2.8 80-200 I mount on an F100 or F5.

Also have the lighter newer 70-300 with vibration reduction and IMO it's a good thing it has VR.

David A. Goldfarb · Aug 30, 2014

I guess an SLR with a motor drive is what feels most natural to me when shooting 35mm, but that's just because it's what I've used the longest--Canon New F-1. I also have an EOS 1-N RS, and a 5D MKII, and neither feels as intuitive to me to use as the New F-1, so even though I've sold off most of my FD lenses at this point, and I don't even shoot that much 35mm anymore (usually MF or LF), I can't bring myself to sell the New F-1.

Oren Grad · Aug 30, 2014

cliveh said:
Manufacturers often point out how lightweight their cameras are, but heavier cameras help cut down vibration.

What cuts vibration is well-damped shutter (and, if applicable, mirror) mechanisms and smooth, well-tuned shutter release actions. There's no correlation between that and camera size - there are well-designed and crudely-designed mechanisms in cameras of all sizes. One of the reasons the OM-1 was such a revelation when it came out in the very early '70s was that it showed that a lightweight SLR could be less vibration-prone than heavier ones.

R.Gould · Aug 31, 2014

I far prefer ol;d rangefinder cameras, I have never owned or used any Leica, prefering a leaf shutter, and the best I own for weight,light, is the old Ambi Sillette, followed closely by a werra, but all of these cameras I can hand hold down to 1/2 second easily, no shutter or mirror vibrations,

Steve Smith · Aug 31, 2014

benjiboy said:
I prefer heavier cameras to lighter, ones because of the laws of inertia you are able to hold them much more still,

It's the same on a tripod. A heavier camera will stabilise a flimsy tripod better than a light camera.

Steve.

Ian Grant · Aug 31, 2014

For handheld work there's no doubt that the heavier the camera the better, in my case that's an M3 Leica although an SLR with a power winder is close.

I did a lot of handheld low light work a few years ago and it was so easy with the M£. We mustn't that Kodak Disc cameras and also 110 ultimately failed because they were too light and almost impossible to hold steady in lower light levels.

Ian

film_man · Aug 31, 2014

It really depends on the camera. My EOS 3 is 2-3x the weight of my EOS 300 yet the latter has much more mirror slap, I can work the EOS 3 1 stop lower than the 300. I found the FM2n to be just as smooth. It also depends on how hard the shutter release is. I have a Hasselblad and the stiff shutter button and mirror slap mean I can't use it below 1/60 with the standard lens. On the other hand I have a RB67 and the whole mirror assembly is so well damped I can fire it at 1/15 with no problems even with a 127mm lens (which in theory would need at least 1/125).

OldBodyOldSoul · Aug 31, 2014

I love everything about my F3HP, including its weight (but excluding the flash thing which is a minor problem). The only time I need something lighter is when I want to shoot with one hand, and then I grab the Hexar AF, which is why I sold the FM2n and two FM's. The only time I wish to have something heavier is when I attach the 180/2.8, but then I attach the MD-4 (hasn't happened in over a year).

Generally speaking, it depends on which lens I want to shoot with. For all lenses I have and use, except the 180, F3HP is ideal.

hugopoon · Aug 31, 2014

Heavy is nice (M2+DR Summicron being really easy to hold steadily), but I can't do M+brass lens all day — it's simply too heavy. I find an M with something like the Elmar 2.8 or VC 35 1.4 to be ideal, at least down to (& including) 1/30.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

TheToadMen · Aug 31, 2014

In the end I like a heavy camera better. I went to Denmark last week and used my Nikon F4S again. I liked it, as do I using the Nikon F5.

But a light pinhole camera or my small Olympus Mju II is nice also...

Every occasion its camera, I guess ...

benjiboy · Aug 31, 2014

David A. Goldfarb said:
I guess an SLR with a motor drive is what feels most natural to me when shooting 35mm, but that's just because it's what I've used the longest--Canon New F-1. I also have an EOS 1-N RS, and a 5D MKII, and neither feels as intuitive to me to use as the New F-1, so even though I've sold off most of my FD lenses at this point, and I don't even shoot that much 35mm anymore (usually MF or LF), I can't bring myself to sell the New F-1.

I agree David, but as I'm sure you know our New Canon F1's with the AE motor drive FN (which takes 12AA batteries) and with only the 50mm f1.4 lens it weighs 5 lb I can hold it still but not for long

TheToadMen · Aug 31, 2014

benjiboy said:
I agree David, but as I'm sure you know our New Canon F1's with the AE motor drive FN (which takes 12AA batteries) and with only the 50mm f1.4 lens it weighs 5 lb I can hold it still but not for long

I consider my Leica M7 with Leica Motor M a light weight then.

benjiboy · Aug 31, 2014

TheToadMen said:
I consider my Leica M7 with Leica M Motor a light weight then.

Compared with the F1 and the AE motor drive FN yes, although I don't hang it round my neck it's too heavy I use it with a wrist strap. https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=...ve+fn&oq=canon+f1n+ae+with+ae+motor+drive+fn&

narsuitus · Aug 31, 2014

I personally prefer heavy cameras. My heaviest, the Nikon F2 with action finder, motor drive, and battery pack, weighs over 9-pound when a telephoto lens is attached.

https://flic.kr/p/dg2Wza

cliveh · Aug 31, 2014

narsuitus said:
I personally prefer heavy cameras. My heaviest, the Nikon F2 with action finder, motor drive, and battery pack, weighs over 9-pound when a telephoto lens is attached.

https://flic.kr/p/dg2Wza

Now that's heavy.

35mm camera weight for hand held shots

cliveh

Alan Gales

NJH

RalphLambrecht

Alex Muir

Hatchetman

benjiboy

Gunfleet

gone

benjiboy

markbarendt

David A. Goldfarb

Moderator

Oren Grad

R.Gould

Steve Smith

Ian Grant

film_man

OldBodyOldSoul

hugopoon

TheToadMen

benjiboy

TheToadMen

benjiboy

narsuitus

Attachments

cliveh

35mm camera weight for hand held shots

Moderator

Attachments

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency