Five most durable cameras of ALL time?

[darinwc]

Let's pause this thread and come back to it in 100 years.

 

[paul ron]

RB67 (any of the mechanical series)... built like a tank and enough adjustment slack to take up 100 years of wear!

The Mamiya TLRs.. also built like tanks to last another 100 years.

 

[FoidPoosening]

None of the above stand up well in a rainstorm, let alone underwater.

Ergo, I suggest Nikonos V.

It was to my understanding that image quality is poor with Nikonos V's when using its lenses above water?

 

[GRHazelton]

I understand that the 35 and 80 mm Nikonos lenses are well suited for "atmospheric" use, but the really wide angle lenses aren't.

 

[Dr Croubie]

AFAIK, the Nikonos 35mm 'kit' lens and the 80mm lens are for over/under water use. There's a dryland-only 80mm f/4 (and lets face it, it's really easy to design such a slow long-focus lens so I'm assuming that its IQ is great too).
The 28mm and shorter are underwater only, refractive components specifically made for water contact, so yeah, they probably are crap above water.
But the kit 35mm is great, definitely.


Actually, the Nikonos provides a great example for the rest of the thread.
Yes, it's reliable and rugged and waterproof (sandproof too, I usually just drop mine on the beach when I get out of the water and wash it off later).
But only if you take care of it, clean it properly in fresh water, let it dry, lubricate its O-rings, treat it with the respect it deserves.
Same with every camera above, they're only reliable if you treat them with the respect they deserve.
Some cameras can get away with less respect than others though, that's the real definition of rugged.

 

[michr]

I'll second the Kodak Signet 35.

I'll have to disagree on this camera. I've had two, both had shutter issues and it's a known weak point of the series. It's a shame, because they're unique looking, have a sharp lens, and are quite durable otherwise.

 

[michr]

But only if you take care of it, clean it properly in fresh water, let it dry, lubricate its O-rings, treat it with the respect it deserves.
Same with every camera above, they're only reliable if you treat them with the respect they deserve.
Some cameras can get away with less respect than others though, that's the real definition of rugged.

So, I wonder, does what makes a camera reliable make it resistant to abuse? What cameras survived war zones, mud, salt water, etc, and kept on going?

 

[Kawaiithulhu]

What cameras survived war zones, mud, salt water, etc, and kept on going?

For a very short time, the Graflex Combat 45, built like a turtle, but mostly the Graflex Anniversary Speed Graphics.
For a longer time, the Nikon F as seen in the Vietnam War.

 

[ronnies]

Thus I exclude my tank-like nikkormats.

But you would have to allow in the Nikkormat FS.

Ronnie

 

[Down Under]

Rare is the day I thought I would ever agree (in totality) with anything APUGUser19 wrote, but in this case, I second the Nikkormat. Any Nikkormat. As anybody who has ever used one well knows, they are built from cast iron and held together with ocean liner rivets.

OK, so it's an old line. But it's my original line. I thought it up, and I've been using it even in my published articles since the '70s when I bought my first Nikkormat - the dreaded EL, which still works today 99.fraction percent as well as the day I bought it. All three of my ELs do, in fact. Two servicings in almost 40 years. Try and reach this time frame with your new Sony DSLRs...

 

[MartinCrabtree]

I'm curious to see just how durable my F5 is. There are stories but we'll see...............

 

[paul ron]

So, I wonder, does what makes a camera reliable make it resistant to abuse? What cameras survived war zones, mud, salt water, etc, and kept on going?

Kodak Medalist!

 

[RauschenOderKorn]

I have a Nikonos V, too. Yes, with the proper maintenance, it can take pictures almost anywhere. But this baby is really high maintenance and I am not sure whether the built-in electronics will survive 100 year. If you calculate the time and the money involved for the maintenance, you could buy a new camera every now and then. If the question was the most versatile camera, then I would go with the Nikonos, but definitely not the most durable.

My choice is the Linhof Technika III. I just inherited one which is about sixty years old and still running very strong. Simple, yet ingenious, easy to operate, all parts which might break can be accessed and replaced easily. And the parts which cannot be replaced are virtually unbreakable.

 

[michr]

Kodak Medalist!

The Medalist and the Chevron are both on my to-buy list. Both cameras look like you could run them over with a truck and they'd keep working.

 

[John Koehrer]

So, I wonder, does what makes a camera reliable make it resistant to abuse? What cameras survived war zones, mud, salt water, etc, and kept on going?

Consider a camera durable if you can drop it from at least 100 feet and it still works.

 

[trythis]

Argus C3. Not an easy camera to see through but the shutter would last.

 

[Peltigera]

Any box camera and any folder except Agfa from the first half of the 20th century.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Correct me if there's a better section for this, but I thought I'd post it here since I didn't want to restrict this question to a specific format.

A lot of companies that manufactured the cameras we use either have gone out of business or ceased production. In your opinion, what are the five most durable film cameras of all time? One way or another, what cameras are you confident will still be working 25, 50, 100 years from now?

Any format is fair game. Feel free to separate it out into 2x lists (purely mechanical vs. electric) if you want.

Factors I specifically think of when I think durability:
-Mechanics
-Electronics (if applicable)
-Ruggedness (can I travel around the world with it and not have to worry about it, maybe drop it, face inclement weather)
-Ease of repair
-Anything else you think applies

GO!

From my experience
Nikon FM
Hasselblad 501c
Mama 6

 

[Besk]

I would think that a Nikon F2 (plain prism) with a 50 or 35mm lens would take more of a beating and keep on working than a press type camera and lens. The shutter would be one of the weak parts. And you had better not drop the press type cameras if the lens is extended.

 

[FujiLove]

Let's pause this thread and come back to it in 100 years.

Or...let's find a thread from 100 years ago.

 

[removed account4]

while most of the cameras mentioned are fun, cool looking and somewhat durable
there are always things to go wrong with multi speed cameras with a clutch &c

the bencini are made of solid metal, simple shutters nothing to go wrong,
will last past an atomic blast, all of them.
i'd also suggest a delmar ( or similar rebranded conley )
plate-box camera. wood, simple shutter, nothing to go wrong.
and if no film is made in 100 years ( unless you find bender )
you can coat paper with antrotype emulsion and do long exposures.

 

[Svenedin]

Olympus OM4-Ti. Mine still going strong after 23 years of unkind use all over the world.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

My beater 1971 Nikon F still takes as good a photo as I ask. A kind member here gave it to me a few years ago. Fun to use and with a 50mm f1.4 Ais it's almost as heavy as the F5 with the same lens. Difference being the F looks like it's been used as a hammer.

 

[jimjm]

My beater 1971 Nikon F still takes as good a photo as I ask. A kind member here gave it to me a few years ago. Fun to use and with a 50mm f1.4 Ais it's almost as heavy as the F5 with the same lens. Difference being the F looks like it's been used as a hammer.

+1 to this. There's a reason it's known as a "hockey puck". Same goes for most Nikkormats and the F2 - all feel like they were overbuilt and can definitely take some abuse.

I have an F2 body that looks like it was dragged down the road for a few miles. The body shell is dented in ways that couldn't be from normal use. Functions perfectly and just keeps going and going.

 

[nosmok]

I have never had a Medalist that worked, and I've had 3. Big problem with the design is if the RF stops working, there is no scale focus on the lens to carry you thru. The RF stopped working on 2 of mine. The shutter jammed on the other. The Medalist, AFAIAC, is an impressive build but not a very good one.

On the other hand, both 6x9 Graflex RB series D's I've owned worked fine with no issues right out of the box, and they both were at least 50 years old when I got them. Exposures were pretty spot on too. That Graflex FP shutter is hard to kill.