The best camera is the most enjoyable camera

Huss · Jul 9, 2022

The best camera is the one you have with you. But there are differing reasons why you may have that camera with you. If you have a specific intent for what you are going to do, you pick the best tool for that.
But casually? On paper there are some very sweet cameras, but in reality they just are not much fun to use, or lug around.
One camera (actually two) that I use quite a bit when I just want to have a camera with me is the Konica C35EF3. Funny thing is technically it perhaps is one of the worst of the C35 series. But what makes it so good to use is that even though Konica built it out of plastic, they have given it a feel and heft that is just right. It feels solid. It is a zone focus camera - with the generic easy to understand pictograms on one side of the lens, actual distance markers on the other.
It has a pop up flash that you control when u feel like it. It has a nice lever wind. Nice viewfinder. Uses AA batteries. It's just a 'nice' camera that is super simple to use, gives decent results and the design is very attractive.
Don't read the specs on this one! I thought it was a mis-print when I read the slowest shutter speed is 1/60 sec! But with ISO 400 film (the highest that can be set), 1/60 @ 2.8 allows some dusk-ish use...

And here is a shout out for zone focus cameras - unlike some AF P&S cameras I've owned (eg crappy Olympus Stylus/Mju 3.5) - zone focus cameras have no shooting delay and focus where you have set focus. Instead of AF-ing on something else in the picture..

So yeah, this is a simple, fun camera that you like to take along with you. I felt the same way about my Nikon LW35AF until it broke just sitting there...

pthornto · Jul 10, 2022

I agree with this! The feeling of a camera hand and how I feel about using it are big reasons why certain cameras get used and others stay at home more often than not. I had a couple work trips in May and brought my rollei 35- size was a big factor but I took it over an electronic p&s as I prefer the rollei haptics and viewfinder. Your point about the speed of scale focus cams also applies- I use it with my kids for just this reason. Other cameras that get used are bigger pro slrs where I just like the feel and responsiveness.

Tel · Jul 11, 2022

My grab-and-go cameras are my Rollei Baby and my F2. The baby for street photos and the F2 (with the 55mm micro-Nikkor) for literally everything else. If I want Zen i plan ahead and load up some 5x7.

Nitroplait · Jul 11, 2022

Olympus Trip 35. I love that camera.

Chan Tran · Jul 11, 2022

Of course I don't make a living with cameras so why do I have cameras? It's for fun so obviously the best is the one that gives me the most fun. However, those P&S never gave me any fun but only frustration.

gone · Jul 11, 2022

For a long time my best camera was a Nikon N8008s, but it was big and heavy. Now I have a tiny little Pentax SLR. It has nowhere near the features of the big camera, but it's more fun to take w/ me and shoot. It's also my only camera now, the remaining two are on their way to the classifieds.

It's tempting to keep the Nikkormat EL (which is the exact opposite of the little Pentax), but that's a slippery slope. For me, the best camera is not necessarily the most enjoyable to shoot, it's the one that's light and small.

Paul Howell · Jul 11, 2022

When I was a working JP what matter the most to me was functionality, availability, reparability, and last feel. For a walk around camera I do like point and shoots, my current fav the Chinon 35F-MA, I have 2, no manual mode but the exposure can be twikked by changing the ASA/ISO setting, it takes filters and with the exposure sensor inside filter ring auto adjust for filter factor. Has a distance scale in the viewfinder so I know if AF is correct. A sharp fast 35mm 2.8 lens with decent MC. Reparability, not so much, the 2 I have the flashes are not working. If weather is an issue Pentax WR, if I need wide lens for travel, the Konica Zup Wide with 28 to 50mm zoom. Nether will take filters and all auto with DX coding, so box speed. Both have a good feel in my hand. Last, walk around I currently use Sigma SA7, has the dreaded yellowing viewfinder, other wise, light, many advance features, auto bracket, mirror up, matrix, average and spot metering, motor will shoot 2 FPS, uses CR2 batteries, top shutter speed of 1/2000 of a second. Downside, not weather sealed, led read out is somewhat dim in bright light, and limited to Sigma SA mount lens.

Cholentpot · Jul 11, 2022

Sacrilege, but when I feel the frustration kicking in I pick up a full auto plastic whizbang Canon or Nikon with autofocus and everything else. There's something about the auto advance twwwwwip! and the focus locking on when you need it to, solid metering and no worries about quirks. Every so often I need to shoot a roll with no complications and the modern cameras give that.

However the Nikon F with a motor drive is amazing.

Sirius Glass · Jul 11, 2022

When I want to take photographs without being concerned with settings I will use my Nikon N75 for C-41 negatives and Nikon F-100 for black and white. While both are AF cameras at anytime I can go back to choosing at anytime including going to manual focus.

Huss · Jul 11, 2022

I guess it's not just about ease of use but which cameras are plain enjoyable to use so you overlook what may be faults?

I had two Cosina CX-2s - which the Lomo LC-A was based on - and those were just so fun to operate and hold. I really should have kept one of them but I was in a purge. Still am..

Cholentpot · Jul 11, 2022

Huss said:
I guess it's not just about ease of use but which cameras are plain enjoyable to use so you overlook what may be faults?

I had two Cosina CX-2s - which the Lomo LC-A was based on - and those were just so fun to operate and hold. I really should have kept one of them but I was in a purge. Still am..

Nikon F, Olympus XA, Olympus Pen F, Olympus MJU.

These are fun cameras to use and all have some shortcomings, some have very large shortcomings but still get pulled off the shelf. Honorable mention to Minolta Autofocus cameras. They're a blast to use.

Beyond 35mm, TLRs are a joy to use. They're light, small and fun. The Yashica Mat I own is fun mainly because out the fold out crank to advance. And I forgot the best one, Pentax Spotmatic II. It's lovely.

MattKing · Jul 11, 2022

I always have fun with my Mamiya C330 and my Olympus OM bodies.
Perhaps because I have been using them or their close cousins since my late teens.

Huss · Jul 11, 2022

Ya know, my little Pentax ME w the 50 f2 was so much fun. Much more so than my LX.

Huss · Jul 11, 2022

Opposite of my ME - My Zenit TTL and Zenit 212K. Geeesh.... The TTL had a really sharp cold shoe edge that could cut your brow. And with both I'd convince myself to give them another shot - load them with film, manage to take maybe 5 pics before having had enough. I'd carefully rewind it and load the film into another camera!

Cholentpot · Jul 11, 2022

Huss said:
Opposite of my ME - My Zenit TTL and Zenit 212K. Geeesh.... The TTL had a really sharp cold shoe edge that could cut your brow. And with both I'd convince myself to give them another shot - load them with film, manage to take maybe 5 pics before having had enough. I'd carefully rewind it and load the film into another camera!

My ME has metering issues. I like the camera but it's unreliable. Time to find another copy of it.

Huss · Jul 11, 2022

Cholentpot said:
My ME has metering issues. I like the camera but it's unreliable. Time to find another copy of it.

Insert sad trombone sound effect.

wjlapier · Jul 12, 2022

Lately it’s been my Rolleiflex Old Standard. I brought 4 medium format cameras, my Leica M2, and a Sony A7R2 on vacation. So far, I’ve shot three rolls through the Rolleiflex and barely touched the other cameras.

guangong · Jul 12, 2022

Right now a Leica IIIa w coated 50mm Elmar. Camera recently resurrected from smoke damage and now looks and works like new. Now hold with wrist strap. Next in line is my Rollei 35, purchased first day offered for sale and still dependable. This camera requires Rollei wrist strap for practical use.
By the way, anybody remember Minicam store on 32nd st, nyc? Near the long gone Spiratone store.

Alan Edward Klein · Jul 12, 2022

Any 35mm camera is fun to shoot handheld on P mode. Just aim and shoot. Let the camera do the work.

Cholentpot · Jul 12, 2022

Alan Edward Klein said:
Any 35mm camera is fun to shoot handheld on P mode. Just aim and shoot. Let the camera do the work.

You'd be surprised how many 'Pros' do this. And why not?

Paul Howell · Jul 12, 2022

Over the years I've come to trust P mode, in most cases the computer picks the same setting I would have. I use shutter speed preferred auto when shooting sports and action, A mode for landscapes when I want to control depth of field. Other wise I'm in P mode most of the time.

VinceInMT · Jul 12, 2022

Huss said:
I guess it's not just about ease of use but which cameras are plain enjoyable to use so you overlook what may be faults?

Exactly, fun to use. When is come to fun, I always opt for going vintage. I have a Bolsey B2 rangefinder that I got decades ago at an estate sale with every option one could squeeze into the camera bag. The other is a brand-unknown folding camera that shoots 6x7 images on 120 film. Not only are they fun but it keeps me in touch with the past traditions in our field of interest.

(Sort of unrelated but maybe not, when I want to go out for a drive and do it for fun, I have several options but I find myself taking my 1965 Triumph TR4. It checks all the boxes.)

Alan Edward Klein · Jul 12, 2022

Paul Howell said:
Over the years I've come to trust P mode, in most cases the computer picks the same setting I would have. I use shutter speed preferred auto when shooting sports and action, A mode for landscapes when I want to control depth of field. Other wise I'm in P mode most of the time.

+1

Sirius Glass · Jul 12, 2022

Paul Howell said:
Over the years I've come to trust P mode, in most cases the computer picks the same setting I would have. I use shutter speed preferred auto when shooting sports and action, A mode for landscapes when I want to control depth of field. Other wise I'm in P mode most of the time.

+1 unless I am using the Hasselblad and then I just use box speed and trust the PME meter's EV setting most of the time.

Paul Howell · Jul 12, 2022

That's true, when shooting my older all manual cameras, I'm the P mode.

The best camera is the most enjoyable camera

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