Cameras the Masters used

[Pauly]

Cameras are merely tools for a master photographer. It is still interesting to know what cameras and formats photographers have used. For example Cartier-Bresson used 35mm exclusively and used Leicas and A Minolta 35CL. Diane Arbus liked the Mamiya C3 ,if I am correct, preferring it to a twin lens Rolleiflex. Ansel Adams worked in 35mm rarely but used a Hasselblad in addition to various 4x5s and 8x10s. Anyone else?

 

[Christopher Walrath]

And AA used a contarex IIRC for sometime. The cameras the masters used are plentiful and easily identifiable with a little googling.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Oh, and I use a Minolta sr-T101, sr-T201 and a B&J watson 4x5 Graphic style press camera. ;p

 

[Donmck]

Lester Hayes---

Instamatic

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Did that have a Molestigmat lens?

 

[benjiboy]

Unfortunately I found out many years ago that owning the same cameras the "masters" use wasn't any help since I haven't got their talent.

 

[removed account4]

Miroslav Tichý used a cardboard one ...

http://www.tichyocean.com/

 

[Sirius Glass]

Dorothea Lange used a Graflex Model D.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Galen Rowell was The Nikon Kid.

 

[Jim Chinn]

I have a Kodak Commercial View 8x10. Ansel Adams supposedly used a Commercial View for a few of his more iconic images. Did not know that when I bought it years ago but it's kind of a nice to think about when I use it.

 

[dhosten]

Aaron Siskind

Aaron Siskind used a Voigtlander Avus in his earlier years, perhaps for his Harlem Document project and other similar work. I found this out when buying my first Avus and googling the web to find images made by them.

 

[lxdude]

Oh, and I use a Minolta sr-T101, sr-T201 and a B&J watson 4x5 Graphic style press camera. ;p

Are you baiting? Cuz I know you're a master at that!

 

[lxdude]

The thing with Ansel Adams...No other photographer makes that kind of information as easy to find without directly asking them.

Which is good, because he's a little hard to reach these days.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Oh, and I use a Minolta sr-T101, sr-T201 and a B&J watson 4x5 Graphic style press camera. ;p

Are you baiting? Cuz I know you're a master at that!

Ah! And there it is!

 

[lxdude]

Ah! And there it is!

And I should know. I am an acknowledged master at it!

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Also seems to me AA used a Corona View for a lot of his early stuff.

 

[BrianL]

A Adams also used various Polaroid models as he was a consultant for the company and wrote probably the consomate book on using the film and cameras. Most of the professionals I've known while not being the masters seem to work with a variety of film formats and cameras. None seemed to have nearly as many models as many nonprofessionals have collecting dust.

 

[Pauly]

Let me add a few more. Harry Callahan started using mostly large format 8x10 then moved to medium and then mostly 35mm in his later years. Robert Adams uses all formats from 35mm, 6x6,6x7 and 4x5. I saw him using what looks to be a Fuji 6x7 in a You Tube video. Of course Ralph Gibson with his Leicas.

 

[Merg Ross]

Brett Weston used many cameras and formats over his seven decade career. The majority of his work from the 1930's to 1970 was with a wooden Agfa 8x10 or a Calumet C-1. The Calumet was a gift from Calumet along with a couple of lenses. He used an 11x14 camera off and on from the mid 1940's to mid 1950's.

His first medium format work was with a Mamiyaflex, which was replaced in the late 1960's with a Rollei SL66 and he later used a RB67. He had, but rarely used, a 5x7 Linhof and late in his career used an 8x10 Nagaoka.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

How far back are we referring to as the "masters"?
Michaelangelo used a pinhole camera in the Tower of Winds to tell the time, among other novel uses.
To my knowledge, Ansel Adams used 35mm quite a lot, it just did not feature as prominently in his deep application of the Zone System which concentrated on sheet film.

 

[Sanjay Sen]

George Tice uses (used?) a Deardorff 8x10, among others I would guess.

 

[sdivot]

Keith Carter's health? What health problem?
Steve
www.scdowellphoto.com

 

[2F/2F]

Lee Friedlander likes his Hasselblad Super Wide. William Eggleston uses a Graflex Press camera with a roll film back.

Lee Friedlander might like it, but it is definitely not the camera used for his most noted (and I would argue best) work. That was on 35mm, and from the reflections in some of the pix, my guess is a Leica M, though it could be any rangefinder camera of similar design. I've seen pix of Eggleston with one of the Mamiya Press cameras as well (not sure which model, but it was either a Super 23 or Universal, and not a Standard).

I don't really associate a certain camera with any of my personal favorites. However, when I look at them and think about it, most used Leica Ms or the like (Haas, Friedlander, Winogrand, though Haas used a Leicaflex as well). It is interesting, because I do not favor rangefinders in most cases for my own pix. I guess I kind of associate a Rollei with Avedon, though I don't consider him one of my favorites, and I know he shot 8x10 as well. But for the most part, I don't have much idea exactly what cameras my favorite shooters used.

 

[largely]

Barry Thornton used a Rollei SL66 mostly. He also used 35mm and 4x5 now and then.

Larry

 

[tony lockerbie]

I was just looking at an old advertisement which had 'Gene Smith using, and extolling the virtues of, an Olympus Pen F. I beleive that other famous shooter, John Nanian also uses a Pen F from time to time!