'Coolest' Medium Format Camera?

[Dismayed]

Is this the cameras as fashion accessories thread?

 

[Roger Cole]

No harm, no foul. (or is it fowl?)... This is APUG. Perhaps I remember the days when a camera was a tool in the eyes of a serious photographer. A 'cool' camera? Givemeabreak. I shoot what works for me.
1.) The only camera I have bought new 1985 Nikon FM2.
2.) Mamiya rb67 Pro with about 7 lens, both waist and prism finders.
3.) Borrowed Mamiya 645 (borrowed from my daughter whom I gave it to).
4.) Mamiya C220 65mm lens.
5.) Various 3x4 and 4x5 Speed and Crowns.
6.) 3x4 Graplex
7.) 8x10 Deardorff.

Any 'cool' cameras in the lot?

An 8x10 Deardorff is mega beyond cool! Drool worthy, in fact.

I find the rest pretty cool too, but particularly the Graphics, the Graphlex and the Mamiya. Love TLRs and press cameras. But that's just me.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

An 8x10 Deardorff is mega beyond cool! Drool worthy, in fact.

I find the rest pretty cool too, but particularly the Graphics, the Graphlex and the Mamiya. Love TLRs and press cameras. But that's just me.

It isn't medium format though. And, to be truly ultimately cool, the Deardorff must be mounted on a wood tripod and be fitted with a Dagor (preferably German version) lens.
They're a pretty good chick magnet, too - they don't attract the nutty ones like a Harley does.

 

[Roger Cole]

It isn't medium format though. And, to be truly ultimately cool, the Deardorff must be mounted on a wood tripod and be fitted with a Dagor (preferably German version) lens.
They're a pretty good chick magnet, too - they don't attract the nutty ones like a Harley does.

Truebut...

The 3x4 Graphics and the Mamiya are MF and pretty cool. Any TLR or Graphic is cool just by being a TLR or Graphic.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

Truebut...

The 3x4 Graphics and the Mamiya are MF and pretty cool. Any TLR or Graphic is cool just by being a TLR or Graphic.

The FM2 aint bad neither.

 

[k_jupiter]

Rolls Eyes...

YOU might think they are cool but I bought them because they are what works for me. They are tools.

And the Deardorff sits on a Bogen with a Gitzo3 head. Cool? Who cares?

tim in san jose

 

[Dismayed]

How do you accessorize when you're heading out to shoot? No white before Memorial Day, of course. Anyone wear a beret, or is that more appropriate for 35mm street photographers? Who wears a photo vest? Any suggestions for coordinating shoes and camera bag? What about changing the camera leather to match shoes? I'm looking for camera leathers that are interchangeable - I don't really want separate camera bodies for every possible outfit!

 

[Diapositivo]

Ultimately the coolest camera is the one which was laid in the fridge sometime, or in a wine cellar. To preserve the coolness factor a thermal vest is advised.

 

[Bertil]

Now you have a long list of suggestions; I agree, much depends of your notion of coolness!
May I suggest: Reflex Korelle (made in Dresden 1935, probably the very first medium format SLR; hard to get but not totally impossible; just wish mine hade a more reliable shutter, needs some CLA)
Then we have the hold bunch of folders (not hard to get), at least some would fit any idéa of "coolness": my favourite is a Zeiss Super Ikonta, 6x,6 with Tessar 3,5/75mm, with coupled rangfinder; not just cool, also really SUPER! As to sharpness, I can't really see any significant difference between this Zeiss Tessar lens and the Zeiss Planar 2,8/80mm to my Hasselbald.
But when it comes to people looking at you, I would recommend a HB 500 EL(X or later)
Good luck with the "cool factor"!
/Bertil

 

[graywolf]

Truebut...

The 3x4 Graphics and the Mamiya are MF and pretty cool. Any TLR or Graphic is cool just by being a TLR or Graphic.

Actually, Graphics of any format were considered medium format in the old old days. Apparently, the film size was not the point, there were seemingly a million different roll film sizes, but handholdability that was the deciding factor. If it had to be on a tripod it was large format, even if it used really small film. Miniature format seemingly used motion picture film. It was only after everything other than 120 roll film was gone that those definitions changed. I have a book from 1960 where they still listed the 4x5 Speed Graphic in the medium format section.

For what it is worth, I think the Speed Graphic and its ilk were considered pack film cameras that could be converted to use other formats: sheet film, film plate, roll film, etc.

 

[Roger Cole]

Rolls Eyes...

YOU might think they are cool but I bought them because they are what works for me. They are tools.

And the Deardorff sits on a Bogen with a Gitzo3 head. Cool? Who cares?

tim in san jose

Well of course you bought them because they work for you. They wouldn't be cool otherwise, they'd just be an affectation.

I think you just don't understand others concept of And that's ok.

 

[graywolf]

Then we have the hold bunch of folders (not hard to get), at least some would fit any idéa of "coolness": my favourite is a Zeiss Super Ikonta, 6x,6 with Tessar 3,5/75mm, with coupled rangfinder; not just cool, also really SUPER! As to sharpness...

The chrome face Zeiss Super Iknota (532/16) 6x6 was not just cool, it was the epitome of cameras. Likenesses of it were used as Christmas tree ornaments, as indications of cameras, etc. That was for more than 20 years, and long after the quit making the camera. Mostly by folks that had never used one, because they really had their idiosyncrasies, 11 exposures per roll, 5 foot minimum focus, etc. What they were in their time, I think, is the most expensive folding roll film camera, in the days when roll film cameras were the norm.

 

[Slixtiesix]

Anybody already came up with a Night Exakta and its super-fast 80/2 lens?

 

[theycallthislife]

Coolest looking? Rollei SL66 simply because it looks like a Hasselblad, but a bit classier.
Coolest to use (in my experience) Mamiya 7 with 43mm lens.

 

[tkamiya]

Cool to whom and what's your definition of it?

I'd rather have people NOT notice my camera for many reasons. I've been thinking about camera with movements AND use roll film. (Like Horseman) I just can't afford it. I'm contradicting myself, I know.

 

[NJS]

first I bought a Pentacon Six and I thought it was a cool piece of camera. then I got a M645 1000s and I thought it had the best ergonomics and handling... then I saw Bronica SQ-A on some photo and thought to myself 'what kind of alien piece of gear is that!?' so I knew I had to get one eventually, too, just as I did.
Now I'm eyeing a Rolllei SL66E.

 

[camperbc]

For me, the "coolest" camera has got to be my quite-possibly-one-of-a-kind Yashica 635, as it seems to be the only known 635 to come from the factory with black radial control wheels. Truth be told, I think all TLR's are cool!

Glen

 

[wilfbiffherb]

graflex speed graphic. mmmmmmmmm

 

[Discoman]

Here we go, the strangest one I could find, thanks to Roger Cole in the Seagull TLR thread.
The Seagull 3d camera. http://www.camerachina.com/productxx.asp?id=1564
Just look at that heap of magnificence (joke.)

 

[Leon]

... or this:

 

[revdocjim]

Yes Leon; that one is distinctly beautiful!:wub:

 

[Jerevan]

I agree with revdocjim - "wub" at first sight!

 

[JerseyDoug]

For me, it's an Art Deco Rolleicord. I'm still looking for a clean example that's 100% functional.

 

[Discoman]

What about the Hasselblad EL? Having gone to the moon makes that model camera interesting and the moon camera specifically quite cool.

 

[Slixtiesix]

For me, it's an Art Deco Rolleicord. I'm still looking for a clean example that's 100% functional.

Definitely!