If you could keep just one camera...

[Ariston]

I'm sure it's been asked before. You can only keep one of your cameras. Which one will it be?

 

[Dali]

As it is posted in the Medium Format section, I assume you mean Medium Format camera... So it would be my Mamiya C330. Heavy but reliable, a real tank.

 

[Paul Howell]

Kowa Super 66, pro level built, lens are very sharp, not as sharp as perhaps as Zeiss but so close cant tell up to 20 X 24. Interchangeable backs, finders and screens.

 

[Ariston]

As it is posted in the Medium Format section, I assume you mean Medium Format camera... So it would be my Mamiya C330. Heavy but reliable, a real tank.

I didn't see a section that encompassed all formats. I would really like to know which camera everyone would keep among ALL their cameras. Medium format seemed like the middle ground so I posted here.

If the thread needs to be moved, maybe someone can move it.

 

[miha]

My most expensive camera. But if I was to sell the whole inventory I would keep my Mamiya C330. I can not find a fault with this camera.

 

[Luckless]

I really hate to feel like I'm crawling on a bandwagon, but I'll go with my C330 as well.

I also hate to support it's popularity, as I'm still trying to pick up more cheap working glass for it...

But I don't get enough use out of my large format to justify it being the only camera I kept, and I don't own a medium format that I like more than my C330.

I am considering finding something with support for longer lenses, but I really do enjoy working with the TLR style, even if it is a bit bulkier than other options.

 

[macfred]

I would go with the Rolleiflex

 

[Chrismat]

Walking around camera, I guess my Minolta Autocord. But I love the 105mm f2.4 and 55mm f4 lenses for my Pentax 6X7. If I was forced to give up one, I would keep the Pentax 6X7.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Not an MF one

 

[Ariston]

There is a lot of TLR love here! I did not expect that, for some reason. I have an Autocord that I would have a hard time letting go. What's funny is, I use my N90S more than anything, so it must be my go-to camera. But that is not the first camera that comes to mind as an answer for this question.

What does that say about my priorities?

I think I might have to go with my RB... but it is a really tough call for me.

 

[JPD]

Rolleiflex 3,5F

It's not my favourite MF camera at the moment. I prefer the Rolleiflex Automat from 1939. It's plenty sharp and lightweight. But the lens is uncoated. The 3,5F is superior, but not that much.

 

[Marcelo Paniagua]

Probably Rolleiflex 3.5f, followed very very close by my C330f kit. Got 5 lens for it so very practical. Rolleiflex win by sheer weight though.


Marcelo

 

[papagene]

Fuji GW670 II

 

[macfred]

Fuji GW670 II

Oh, forgot mine ... Maybe we can keep two ?

 

[neeksgeek]

If I can only keep one... hmmm.

Nikon F.

 

[chris77]

toyo field view 5x7 inch
some holders and fine glass

 

[logan2z]

I only have two cameras at the moment - a Leica M-A and a Leica M4. Tough call but I'd choose the M-A if forced to keep just one.

 

[Kodachromeguy]

Oh, that is an easy answer: my Rolleiflex 3.5E with Xenotar taking lens. For some mysterious reasons, it has better resolution than my previous two examples (3.5E with Xenotar and 3.5F with Planar).

https://worldofdecay.blogspot.com/2014/08/photographing-decay-with-rolleiflex.html

https://worldofdecay.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-river-arts-district-of-asheville-in.html

 

[Mackinaw]

My Yashica Mat 124G (which costs me $15.00 USD). Talk about bang for the buck.

Jim B.

 

[abruzzi]

I have tried, but haven’t gelled with TLRs, so I’d take my Bronica ETRSi kit (assuming one camera doesn’t mean one lens.)

 

[Sirius Glass]

Who is taking my cameras away? It will be over their dead body! Got that! They will be seriously killed in the effort.

There have been other threads on topics like these. They are the cockroaches and bed bugs of the internet. No matter how often we fumigate they just keep coming out of the woodwork and the mattresses!

 

[MattKing]

My problem with answering this question is that I have several cameras that have both sentimental and practical importance for for me.
If I could only keep one though, it would be the one with the greatest sentimental importance - the old Kodak 616 folder pictured here: https://www.photrio.com/forum/media/portal-of-a-different-sort.14286/
Others have similar dual attractions - the Mamiya C330 I've owned since new in the 1970s, my long serving OM-2s I've owned since the 1980s and the Retina IIIc I bought for my Dad, and then received back from my Dad when he stopped using it.
While I may use the others more, they could easily be replaced with similar models.

 

[Pioneer]

I'm with Sirius Glass on this.

Impossible question to answer. I don't think I can even get it down to just 10 of them. I've got 12 of them with film in them right now.

Heck, just thinking about it has got me headed for KEH to do some more shopping!

 

[antmar]

Maybe my Leica M6 but this doesn't mean that I will ever do such thing.
Maybe for some months.

 

[Nasos Papathanasiou]

Just one to shoot with or own? I will never sell my father's Yashica J, my grandmother's Kodak Brownie Hawkeye flash model, my wife's blue Kodak Brownie No2 and cameras friends have given me. If I am forced to sell the others I have I will be very unhappy. Sentimental again the last to go will be my FT-2 panoramic camera.