Figuring out which cameras you use the most

[Huss]

I use this website filmtrackr.com to keep track of what film is in what camera.

It offers crude reporting so out of curiousity I ran a report to see which camera I used the most.

Out of 124 cameras - all used! (but many since sold), the Leica M7 has had 62 rolls through it, with the Nikon F6 at 52. Leica M5 @ 32, Fuji GW690III @ 31, Lomo LCA-120 @ 27, Fuji TX-2 @ 24, Rollei A110 @ 27, Hasselblad H1 @ 20.
It is easy to put more rolls through medium format cameras, as they have fewer shots per roll. But this indicates that the M7 is my favourite camera, and cameras like the F2, F3 etc which I think I love are actually hardly used!

My Fuji Klasse W which I bought maybe 2 months ago has had 17 rolls through it - more than any of my Nikon SLRs apart from my F6. And I've had those Nikons for years. That is a reflection to how good and fun to use the Fuji is.

This will be a good way to declutter...

 

[Pieter12]

Over what time period?

 

[Huss]

124 cameras over a 5 year period (I think). All had at least one roll shot through them, the most 62.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

124 cameras over a 5 year period (I think). All had at least one roll shot through them, the most 62.

lmost exclusively Hasselblad 501c, followed by NikonFM

 

[Sirius Glass]

In descending order of use:

1. Hasselblad 503 CX
2. Hasselblad 903 SWC
3. Nikon N75 and F100
4. Nikonos V
5. WideLux F7
6. 4"x5" Pacemaker Speed Graphic and Graflex Model D

 

[Moose22]

which I think I love are actually hardly used!

You can love something and not use it.

That said, I neither shoot as many rolls as you nor have I owned nearly as many cameras. This numbers game might help you to say goodbye to the ones that aren't bringing you joy. And if you start pulling away the clutter of completely unused cameras, you might use some not quite at the top of the list more. Or never. And you'll know for sure how much of a loss it really is.


The telltale for me is when I have a camera loaded and am annoyed because I haven't finished the roll and I really want to play with a different camera. It happens a lot. Even the F6 and F4 compete, now, as I love the F4 but the F6 drives the VR on a favorite lens. Anything else autofocus probably needs to be sold. Really, I don't need more MF Nikons, I have an F3 and an FM3a. I don't need another rangefinder, I have an M3 (though one with a light meter might be nice). These are the cameras I always want to pull out before I've finished the roll in any of the ones I bought on a lark.

Right now I'm jonesing to use the C330 more. That and the ETRSi get all the love right now. Probably shouldn't look at other MF gear, I'll just want to get back to those again. I always do.

 

[JerseyDoug]

It's not too hard for me to sort out the camera system, if not the particular camera by looking at the negatives. The Hasselblad and Rolleiflex negatives are easily distinguished by the spacing between the frames, as are the Nikon F and Barnack Leica negatives.

Looking through my negative files I can see that I go through extended periods of shooting 35mm almost exclusively, and then briefly switching to MF, and then back again. And the same happens with the 35mm. Extended periods with the Barnacks with brief use pf the Nikons in between. And of the Barnacks the most used by far is the IIIf RDST I have been using since 1965.

 

[Paul Howell]

Good question, took a few hours to do a rough count. As I index my negative files and keep in chronological order I can see that over the past 15 years, the Sigma SA 9 and 7, about 207 rolls, as the SA's developed yellowing in the viewfinder I moved onto Minolta, pretty evenly divided between the 800si, 9, and 7, around 120 rolls. In the same time period, 23 rolls in various point and shoots. A few rolls though my M42 and K bodies, Konica T3 and 4, seems like 12 rolls, then two or three with a variety of odd and ends, Topcon 100, Kowa ST, Argus C3, Canon QL 1.7. Then came COVID, all over the map, a lot of point and shoots, C3, Nikon F4, but a lot of film around 100 rolls, most of which I have not bothered to print, not even contact sheets. In MF, 210 rolls in Mamiya Universal, 81 rolls in Kowa SL66 and super. 11 rolls in Yaschia 124 and 4, 5 in Kodak Tourist. Need to double check but 600 or a 150 negative pages, 4X5, most in Crown Graphic, followed by Brand New View and Speed Graphic.

Past 3 months, Minolta X700 and 101.

The rest of my negatives going back to 1965 are in storage.

No idea how many digital shots I took, likely in the 1000s.

 

[Cholentpot]

Huh.

I have no clue which camera gets used most. I think this year so far the XA had the most rolls through it.

 

[BradS]

Meh, cameras come and go.
I've had many short, passionate flings.
The last was with various Leicas. I'm over that though.
The most recent fling has been with a nice Nikon F3HP. We'll see how it goes...
When I get fed up with the latest flavor of the month, I always come back to my well worn Nikon F2.

 

[BradS]

... cameras I always want to pull out before I've finished the roll in any of the ones I bought on a lark...

I know exactly how you feel. I, just yesterday, packed away a camera (and the associated lenses) that I bought not more than a year ago because I realized that almost every time that have loaded it with a fresh roll of 36 exposures, I have taken the film out after exposing only 10 or so frames and finished the roll in the Nikon F2.

 

[madNbad]

I started a long time back with a Minolta SRT-101, then came the Nikons, all Fs’ and a basket full of Nikkormats. There were Linhofs, Horseman’s and an occasional Hasselblad. About a half dozen XAs and various Stylus cameras. The first Leica was a IIIf followed by a CL, years latter a Wetzlar M6. For several years it was a M6 TTL with a 35 Summicron. When it got a case of zinc acne it was traded in on a Millennium. The came a M2 and a whole bunch more lenses until everything was sold. Back to a Nikon F and some digital gear. In October of 2008 the Leica rep was at a local shop and I came away with a DLux 4. I kept it a lot longer than I ever expected to but finally sending it on its way. The was the bargain D2x and what I thought would be my digital of choice, the Df. All the digital was boxed and sent off to camera heaven in Symerna. The handful of Retinas starting with a IIIc leading to a couple of IIcs and a few IIa’s. Finally there is the M4. The camera I had wanted since my teenage years. After a lifetime of chasing the next thing it’s finally settled. The Sony A7II had a brief life with a couple of Loxia lenses but it’s really better suited for scanning negatives. It’s pared down to aRetina IIa, the M4 with three lenses and the Sony for scanning. Maybe I’m done but it’s too soon to say.

 

[gone]

Pentax MV w/ a 50 2 lens, and a Nikkormat EL. There's no lens for the EL, so the Pentax is the only thing w/ film in it.

 

[Huss]

..


The telltale for me is when I have a camera loaded and am annoyed because I haven't finished the roll and I really want to play with a different camera. It happens a lot. ..

Sometimes I will put a roll of film in a camera because I haven't used it in a while, then after a few shots pull it out and load it into another camera that I actually want to use!
That then tells me I need to sell the first camera, and have done this a lot recently.

 

[ciniframe]

My film use is sad these last 5 years. Mostly it has been 35mm run through one of several Olympus half frame cameras. Have a Pen F and a FV plus a couple of viewfinder Pen cameras. Don’t always get to the end of a roll as I’ll snip off and develop what has been exposed and reload remaining roll.
Shot a fair amount of paper negatives in homemade 4X5 cameras, both pinhole and various found lenses.
Have a few 16mm cameras, Kiev and Minolta and Mamyia and have slit down a very expired bulk roll of Pan F when I load any of those. Since my cataract surgery last October have a renewed interest in hobby astronomy but except for the moon and planets and brighter nebula my location is lousy for stargazing. Much clouds and rain and massive light pollution.

 

[Cholentpot]

This thread is making me think I need an F2.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I didn't start keeping track of camera use until maybe a decade ago. Before that, who knows. I use Lightroom, so I input the data when I scan. Since I started keeping track, my most used camera is the Konica Hexar RF with more than 100 rolls it looks like. My most used point and shoot is the Contax TVS. I haven't used that for years though. I'm sure though overall in my lifetime my most used camera is the Canon 1n. I used the crap out of that, and a EOS 3, for years and it has the battle scars to prove it. These days aside from the Minoxes, my most used camera is whatever I feel like that day. I've accumulated a lot of cameras in the last few years and selling is too much of a hassle. Lol. Though I don't have 124..... Maybe 50. I mean jeesh Huss. Anything over 50 is just excessive! Lol.

 

[benjiboy]

I have 2 Canon F1ns and 2 New F1s with AE prisms, I use them all about equally, and they are all in perfect working order, I have been using them almost every day since I retired about seventeen years ago, I would rather have them than any other 35mm S.L.R. cameras because they are robust and reliable, and I am so used to them I can operate them without thinking, that allows me to concentrate on taking pictures, not dissipating my efforts and spending my disposable income (which is minimal these days) by accumulating cameras.

 

[Huss]

I didn't start keeping track of camera use until maybe a decade ago. Before that, who knows. I use Lightroom, so I input the data when I scan. Since I started keeping track, my most used camera is the Konica Hexar RF with more than 100 rolls it looks like. My most used point and shoot is the Contax TVS. I haven't used that for years though. I'm sure though overall in my lifetime my most used camera is the Canon 1n. I used the crap out of that, and a EOS 3, for years and it has the battle scars to prove it. These days aside from the Minoxes, my most used camera is whatever I feel like that day. I've accumulated a lot of cameras in the last few years and selling is too much of a hassle. Lol. Though I don't have 124..... Maybe 50. I mean jeesh Huss. Anything over 50 is just excessive! Lol.

FYI if your TVS has issues, there's a guy in Portugal who fixes them.

My camera count is stooopid. Most of them were so cheap... and the others were 'such a good deal I can just flip them' purchases. And of course I never did... Anyway, 124 was the peak. It is much less than that now but what was good about running this report was the reality check about what I think I use, and what I actually use.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

FYI if your TVS has issues, there's a guy in Portugal who fixes them.

My camera count is stooopid. Most of them were so cheap... and the others were 'such a good deal I can just flip them' purchases. And of course I never did... Anyway, 124 was the peak. It is much less than that now but what was good about running this report was the reality check about what I think I use, and what I actually use.

Thanks for the TVS tip.

It is funny like you said. I took more images with the Rollei E110 last year than the Pen FT. That was surprising because I thought I was using the Pen FT all the time last year and I was just having fun with the Rollei.

The "good deals" will get you every time. I never sell them either. Lol.

 

[madNbad]

I use this website filmtrackr.com to keep track of what film is in what camera.

It offers crude reporting so out of curiousity I ran a report to see which camera I used the most.

Out of 124 cameras - all used! (but many since sold), the Leica M7 has had 62 rolls through it, with the Nikon F6 at 52. Leica M5 @ 32, Fuji GW690III @ 31, Lomo LCA-120 @ 27, Fuji TX-2 @ 24, Rollei A110 @ 27, Hasselblad H1 @ 20.
It is easy to put more rolls through medium format cameras, as they have fewer shots per roll. But this indicates that the M7 is my favourite camera, and cameras like the F2, F3 etc which I think I love are actually hardly used!

My Fuji Klasse W which I bought maybe 2 months ago has had 17 rolls through it - more than any of my Nikon SLRs apart from my F6. And I've had those Nikons for years. That is a reflection to how good and fun to use the Fuji is.

This will be a good way to declutter...

So what’s the takeaway from this? Keep the most used then start selling off the little used ones first? Keep the Leicas, Hasselblad, the Lomo, a bag of P&S sell everything else and buy a Macan? Or try to incorporate more in to the rotation? We’re all aware of the problem with selling gear, a month after it’s gone it’s exactly what you need.

 

[Pieter12]

I probably shoot 50 or 60 rolls a year with my Rollei Hy6. I have a 6008i body as a back-up, it gets used mostly in studio set-ups, maybe 10 rolls/year. A Hasselblad SWC (because there is no substitute) gets about the same usage. I use 35mm less and less, the Leica M5 the most with maybe a dozen rolls a year, followed by infrequent usage of a Nikon F2--maybe 3 rolls a year. And a Linhof Techinka that might have 20 or 30 sheets go through it in a year. But all that could change depending on what I am pursuing.

 

[awty]

Pffft I have cameras I haven't even used yet.

 

[ericB&W]

i still use most Nikon F2 or Nikon F , F2 with the Md2 mounted but
without battey pack, just to make it still heavier , becomes a rock that doesn't move even at
slow shutter speeds, plus with F2 and F i can use for inside shoots professional powerful
flash without the danger of burning some internal electric circuit with high voltage,
plus i can use on them a bunch of focusing screens and dioptric magnifing ocular
so not to wear glasses .
If i need autofocus, Canon Eos 5 or Eos 33.
Pocket cameras Rollei 35 t or Leica minizoom for point & shoot .
Medium format i use most 2 Kiev 60 with mirror look-up and i'm satisfied
with their lenses , seldom the Voightlander Perkeo.

 

[guangong]

For past couple of years my time consumed with non photo projects, but can say that my most used cameras since early 1960s are: Leica M4, M3, Rollei F2.8, Hasselblad 2000FCM, Nikon F, Leicaflex, and various models of Minox 8x11. Lately been carrying around either a Leica IIIa or a Contax IIa. Also, carry around a sketch pad and fountain pen with flexible nib. Projects winding down and shall start shooting more soon.
Of course, some of above were not around in early 1960s, Rollei replaced Minolta, and Hassy 1000F eventually died in late 1970s.