Do you use all of your cameras?

whlogan · Jun 3, 2015

Oh no and I beat myself up over not doing something about that. I have a lovely Rolleiflex collection that really should be used. About 35 to 40 flex's that want to be used that just don't get used. Now I have begun to give some of them away in hopes they will get used. I gave away a Hasselblad 500Cm Whole kit. Yes! Lenses and all to an aspiring young photographer whom I had trained since she was a child and now she has published a book! Now there's a success story for you. One that worked. Perhaps I shall give away more of them as I get older and the heavy ones are so hard to use.....Arthritis takes its toll on us does it not?

Logan

ic-racer · Jun 3, 2015

The only ones I don't use are faulty or broken. Otherwise each camera has something to offer, thus warranting its use.

Sirius Glass · Jun 3, 2015

For serious work I use the Hasselblad. For on the fly work that I will probably not bother to print enlargements I use 35mm. To play with I use the 4"x5" cameras. I have a panorama camera that gets very little exercise and a Tessina that I do not use and there is not enough of a market to sell. I have two cameras that are versions of early camera i used and those constitute a collection that keeps dust off the shelves.

anfenglin · Jun 3, 2015

The ones which are not being used get sold, apart from the Rolleicord from 1936 that my grandfather bought in 1938 and the Seagull I learned to shoot with in China where I lived for a while. I also don't really want to sell my Pentax SFXn which I fitted with a new grip and my Olympus OM-2n in black which is beat up but so lovely to use. Also, the ones which would not fetch five bucks if I tried to sell them are allowed to stay, a Voigtländer Avus, an Agfa Standard and a beat up Praktica MTL 3 which I like but don't use. I have better 35mm gear.
I also don't really use my Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta C but I just can't bring myself to sell it.

Chan Tran · Jun 3, 2015

No! Some cameras I own I never even use once.

munz6869 · Jun 3, 2015

I'd like to, but I'm not exactly going to worry if I don't - cameras are beautiful things and there's no law against owning them (sometimes more's the pity!!) That said, I am still indecisive about which ones to take on travels this year - but oh, what a nice dilemma to have.

Marc!

dpurdy · Jun 3, 2015

It literally can be a dilemma to have multiple similar cameras.. at least for me. The whole reason I haven't bought a fuji 690, even though I am lusting for the 6x9 120 format, is that then I have to decide whether to use one of my two 2.8 Rolleis or my Pentax 67 or fuji 6x9. Because I know from experience that I can't switch my brain from format to format while trying to immerse myself or tune myself into a photographic type vision while carrying multiple options. I need to stop thinking of my options and just work with what I have.
Dennis

benveniste · Jun 3, 2015

Effectively Never Use -- Coolpix 995, Holographic Camera
Use 1-3 Times a year -- Pentax 110, Pronea S (currently broken), Nikon FA
Use 3-6 Times a year -- 4x5, Nikon F100, Pentax 645n, IR Converted D200
Use Regularly -- D800, V1

cobbu2 · Jun 3, 2015

I had to chuckle a little when I read the OP's post; I could have written it myself verbatim! One month it's my P67, then my ETR, the Leicas, Pentax Ms, the list goes on. Currently I'm in my Canon RF phase. I have yet to figure out what triggers the transfer from one camera to the next, it's usually quite random! But yes, eventually they all get used then the cycle repeats.

Bill Burk · Jun 3, 2015

Michael R 1974 said:
Yes I use all 2 of mine. 1 4x5 and 1 35mm.

I am impressed with your restraint!

Bill Burk · Jun 3, 2015

Rick A said:
I sold off nearly all my cameras, kept only the ones I shoot. I have my OM-1 with a couple of lenses and accessories, Fuji GW690ii, and my view cameras.

Haa... Well I use one of YOUR cameras!

ambaker · Jun 3, 2015

Uhhhh.... No.

Considering thinning the herd, and consolidating.

However I will not sell a camera until it has been tested with film recently, to ensure it is working properly.

Therein lies the rub...

If I have used it recently, I don't want to let it go, because I like it. If I haven't used it recently, then I need to use it before I can sell it. Then when I use it, I like it.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

dynachrome · Jun 3, 2015

I don't know anyone who would have time to use all of my cameras but I enjoy using them when I can. Today I finished a roll of CVS (Fuji) 400 color print film which was in a Minolta X-700. I used a 17/3.5 Tokina, a 50/3.5 Minolta Celtic macro and a 75-200/4.5 MD. The 50/3.5 has lens elements which were transplanted from a 50/3.5 MD Rokkor-X. Last week I shot a roll of 120 Agfa Ultra 50 color print film (12/99 Exp.) in a Bronica GS-1 with a 65/4 and plain prism finder. The results were good. I think I will shoot my next roll in a recently overhauled Miranda Sensorex II. I plan to use 35/2.8, 50/1.4 and 105/2.8 Auto Miranda lenses.

Theo Sulphate · Jun 3, 2015

Yes, I use them all - every one, and they all work. It takes a while, but each camera gets its day in the sun. I just enjoy the variety, the features, the differences. They are fun.

blockend · Jun 4, 2015

I use too many of my cameras, to the detriment of my photography. It means a re-familiarisation with the controls and as soon as they become instinctive, I feel the need to give something else a try.

Overall the Canon's that use FD lenses are used most, followed by Nikon and Yashica SLRs, although the Olympus MjuII wins out in the compacts. As it's my only camera that's weather sealed it takes the brunt of bad weather. I had it from new seventeen years ago and it still works, but last weekend's drenching saw it missing frames for the first time. It seems fine again now, which ain't bad going for a plastic clamshell P&S designed to last about three years.

There doesn't seem to be any correlation between cameras I like using and the quality of images that emerge from them, I have keepers from manual 70s SLRs, to plastic AF point and shoots, which makes deciding which to get rid of a tricky business.

Sewin · Jun 4, 2015

blockend said:
I use too many of my cameras, to the detriment of my photography. It means a re-familiarisation with the controls and as soon as they become instinctive, I feel the need to give something else a try.

There doesn't seem to be any correlation between cameras I like using and the quality of images that emerge from them, I have keepers from manual 70s SLRs, to plastic AF point and shoots, which makes deciding which to get rid of a tricky business.

That's exactly how I feel, getting to understand the controls again instinctively and as you, I too have no preference of camera type.

I'd like to thin my little collection down, but where to start?

Sewin

benjiboy · Jun 4, 2015

I use all my cameras, I don't accumulate them.

blockend · Jun 4, 2015

Sewin said:
That's exactly how I feel, getting to understand the controls again instinctively and as you, I too have no preference of camera type.

I'd like to thin my little collection down, but where to start?

Sewin

It isn't helped by the fact very few of mine are worth real money, which hardly makes the effort of ebaying them, answering questions and posting them off worth the hassle. I recently paid £5 for a box of 25 compact cameras, two of which I actually wanted. All the rest work and are in good shape, but I have no need for them. The luxurious woes of a post-film camera world!

flavio81 · Jun 4, 2015

Let's see:

Canon EOS 5:
At my sister's wedding, then perhaps 3 other times, then never.

Canon EOS 5D (digital): About 4 times a year.

Mamiya C330 (two):
At my sister's weddings, some events... About 3 times a year.

Mamiya RB67:
Family gatherings, some city hikes, an outdoor retreat... About 6 times a year. Many memorable images with it. I take it outside whenever I can. For me, it's a field camera.

Nikon FE
Frequent use, wearing it daily some months.

Nikon FG
At a trip to Cuzco. I have used it in about 3 occasions.

Nikon F2AS *
Just used it once or twice (got it some months ago)

Nikon F
No use yet (got it some months ago).
My previous Nikon F got frequent use.

Canon F-1 old *
Used it about 2 or 3 times

Canon F-1 New (two):
Frequent use, wearing it daily sometimes

Kodak Retina IIIc
Many pictures, previously got frequent use

Pentax 67:
Just bought last week. I think it will get frequent use!

* Those two cameras (F2AS and F-1 old) are in such great shape that i'm afraid to take them outside.

darkosaric · Jun 5, 2015

flavio81 said:
* Those two cameras (F2AS and F-1 old) are in such great shape that i'm afraid to take them outside.

My Leica M6 was in great shape when I got it (practically mint, from Leica shop with warranty). Now it is dirty, scratched, ugly. I like it that way better.

f/16 · Jun 6, 2015

All of my cameras are usable(except one), although some have minor quirks like a dead meter. I use them all. I try to put a roll of film through each one at least once or twice a year.

Tamara · Jun 6, 2015

I think all of mine that are usable have been used and most will be used again.

Some that probably won't:

A Canon Photura won for $5 on an eBay auction that turned out to be nowhere near as cool to 40-something me as my 20-something self thought it was.
A Leica Z2X that was bigger than it looked in pictures, felt nasty and plasticky, and had weird artifacts from the lens on some of the test exposures.
I'll probably use the Rollei Prego 130WA again, partly because it's so handy and compact, but seriously, with the big LCD readout on the back and the painfully slow zoom lens (slow both optically and mechanically) I have a hard time "connecting" with it. It might as well have an LCD preview screen, too. Hell, my Coolpix P7000 feels more like a "real camera" than the Fuji/Rollei.
Minolta Maxxum 3000i that was a gift from a friend which I'll probably hand on to a Lomographer who wants to dabble with in-focus pictures. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's just an interchangeable lens P&S and I already have an N4004 if I want to play that game.

r.reeder · Jun 7, 2015

Sewin said:
I tend to have a favourite I use for a few weeks and start wondering should I sell off my other cameras and their bits and pieces.

Then for no reason when I'm bored I start fiddling with my other cameras, pick one and class that as a favourite for the next couple of weeks and so the cycle goes on and on.

I tend to use them in some sort of rotation with no favourite apart from the one I'm using at the time which took my fancy.

Wish I could settle on just one or two and have a mini clear out, but I can't see that happening just yet.

Sewin

I use pretty much all of the several dozen Argus C3, Kodak Retina IIc, Ciroflex TLR, Ikoflex TLR, Pentax K-1000, & several others. I've used them so much, that I can drop into the camera's mode without much trouble. There are some that are better than others, that feel better in the hand, but I enjoy their company so much that I use them all.

Strider · Jun 8, 2015

I seem to use my Olympus OM 1n most frequently.

flavio81 · Jun 9, 2015

blockend said:
I use too many of my cameras, to the detriment of my photography. It means a re-familiarisation with the controls and as soon as they become instinctive, I feel the need to give something else a try.

I don't really have such problem, but perhaps this is due to the controls being highly similar on the Canon F-1 old and New Canon F-1, and then similar on the Nikon F and the Nikon F2. On the "medium format side" the Mamiya RB67 is not for the novice, but I already know the camera operation by heart. Same with the C330. The Pentax 67 is a piece of cake to operate.

The only difference is when jumping from the Mamiya C330 to the Rolleicord, or viceversa. Because they have totally opposite control placement; on the Rollei you focus with the left hand, which i'm not used to (in TLRs that is); so it feels strange.

Do you use all of your cameras?

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency