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"Nice camera" :)

The OP specifically asked for 35mm SLRs: "So let's start a beauty contest poll - who gets your vote for the nicest-looking 35mm SLR ever made?" However, there are lots of cameras named here that do not meet this description at all!

My vote would have to go to the Nikon F Photomic (first model Photomic head, with incidence attachment), or the Pentax Spotmatic. I also like the looks of the Canon R cameras a lot (example: http://www.collection-appareils.fr/canon/images/canon_R2000_bis.jpg).
 
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Some of those oldies are real beauties. I'd have to say my 'prettiest' 35mm camera is the SRT202, followed by the XD11, Canon New F1 and Nikon F4. (I am also especially fond of the Minolta Freedom Zoom 140EX, but that's my dirty little secret.)
 
Here is another pretty - a Konica FP. You have to see it in person though.
The satin chrome finish is a knockout.

 
Another vote for the Nikon FE/FM cameras. So functional, so well designed aesthetically and functionally. Which is unusual for a Japanese camera
 
I am surprised that noone has mentioned the Bessamatic.

I really like the Kodak Retina Reflex III which is a close relative. I have two.


Steve.
 
I have about a dozen Voigtlanders,my first was a Vito CL bought in Fulda Germany in 1961.I still use it and it takes great pics.I just overhauled the Mecablitz 106 strobe that I bought to use with it so now I have the complete system back in order.
I have accumulated at least 6 Bessamatics and I have one just about finished,all that is left is getting the self timer to work properly,the timer works but does not hold the shutter closed when you cock it.Small detail but the camera has to come apart again to fix it.Then I can put the leather on it for good....I hope).Ron G
 
Best looking of all the cameras I owned: surprisingly, my first Pentax H3v. It had issues, of course, like it'd jam around frame 14 or so, and the X synch would be erratic 90% of the time, etc... Still was a nice little camera. Of the ones I have today, I'd have to say it's a tossup between the F anf the F2A. Yes, both are kinda worn, but they both show the panache that Nikon had in the '60s and the '70s with their handbuilt F-series bodies.

As far as I'm concerned, all of the manufacturers have made nice cameras.

-J
 
My favourite comment which has been made to me when shooting in public with my Olympus OM-2n:

"Nice, how many megapixels?"

/facepalm
 
A waiter saw my Kiev 4a on the table one night at dinner and asked if it was a Leica…
 
Megapixels

My favourite comment which has been made to me when shooting in public with my Olympus OM-2n:

"Nice, how many megapixels?"

/facepalm

Since I digitize all of my color work on a Nikon Coolscan V-ED, the maximum pixel count of the scanner is 23.5 megapixels. I have no qualms quoting that number. You see, I view film photography (except for the B&W work which is done in the darkroom) as "delayed digital capture". The film camera and film is just a different on-location capture device, but since it is an integral part of digital photography I use the number of the A-D device itself. This is a perfectly valid approach.

When you talk about equivalencies, you can get all twisted up and 35mm film, depending on type, will top out somewhere around 8-12MP in usable comparative resolution, but that's not the point. The point is, what is the pixel count at the moment of the analog-to-digital (A-D) process? For me, that's 23.5 megapixels.

This is how I justify using my absurdly fantastic OM gear.

And yes, the OM-3Ti really is a nice camera.
 
Not really related but...
I was shooting with a Pacemaker Speed near Dupont Circle in DC awhile back and someone asked if it was a Hasselblad :/

For a modernish 35 slr I'd say my 1v followed by my FM2

Then my favorite of all i'd say the elegant simplicity of the 'blad 500 series. (500cm w/older C lenses)
 
The Olympus OM-1 is a beautiful piece of design. The Nikon F with a Photomic head may not be beautiful but it's certainly imposing and memorable.
 
Not really related but...
I was shooting with a Pacemaker Speed near Dupont Circle in DC awhile back and someone asked if it was a Hasselblad :/

There's a whole (there was a url link here which no longer exists) for that.
 
My two beauties:







 
The only two Leicas one "needs", IMHO!

yeah, and I have THREE! (I have a IIIa, also ) I haad to stop buying cmaera bodies so that I can afford a lens.
 
I have a IIIa and a IIIc, and have been waiting for the right M2 to come my way for years....
 
Awaiting Two Pentax cameras, a SP1000 and a Program Plus. A SMC 50/ f2 lens came in yesterdays mail just what I needed another 50mm lens.
 
How about these beauties....?

How about these beauties....?
 

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