The camera that you use much more and less than expected

[Meyer Trioplan]

I'm sure many on here are guilty (as am I) of working with multiple cameras at any given time, particularly since film cameras are much more affordable than they once were. I have at times felt like a kid in a candy store picking up an item here and there, either because it has such impressive specs, or because it was just a decent deal and you might find a use for it some day.

Ultimately, you might find that the camera you had such high hopes for did not really suit you as you had expected, or conversely, that the one you just picked up because it was a good deal also turns out to work really well for you.

So my conversational questions are:

1 - Which camera do you have that you find yourself using a lot more than you ever expected, and what about it surprised you?

2 - What camera did you get that just hasn't worked out to be used as often as you planned, and why?

For me:

1 - The Balda Pontina (6x9 folder) shocked me with its color rendition and sharpness, and I am now finding it to be the first one I reach for, even over my Zeiss Ikontas, when I want a camera I can trust to give me a well exposed and sharp color image.

2 - My Yashica 12 TLR has not seen nearly the use I'd expected. It's a great camera, and takes a wonderful image, but it's also very bulky and difficult to see the shutter/aperture settings in dim light. Still, it gets first call when trying an oddball film for a test, and when I want to be sure focus is good when using limited depth of field.

 

[M Carter]

I really fell in love with the cheapie 60's rangefinders, settled on the Minolta Himatic, and bought a few to build one super-clean unit. Really beautiful little brick of a camera to my eyes. Loaded one up with film for my Mrs. to take on her walks.

But dang it - all I wanted to shoot was more textural closeup kind of stuff... and the wife is often the same way. I don't guess rangefinders are for me...

 

[snapguy]

dozen

I own maybe a dozen different models of Nikons going back to the original F. These cameras were made from the 1960s to the 1990s. I seem to always be going back to my N2000. It's very small in size, and comes without the autofocus and autoexposure whistles and bells. Gee whiz, you hafta set the camera yourself. It uses eight AAA batteries and they last forever. I can keep it in the trunk of my car at all times and is always available when I drive by and see that great photo op. I'm having fun with it with my new (to me) Sigma 50mm f2.8 Macro lens. Another steal from KEH.

 

[Hatchetman]

1. Kodak Tourist 6x9 with "Anastar" lens. Very good lens, but no rangefinder. Portable.
2. Kodak Medalist II 6x9. Bigger than above, no infinity stop, hard to hold, has not been CLA'd so shutter speeds are not known exactly.

 

[gone]

I'm down to just a few cameras, so they all get used: An Argoflex TLR, Nikkormat FTn, Diana clone, Agfa Isola, and a Nikon FG that's been hacked to use my two non AI lenses from the Nikkormat. I could easily just keep the FTn and the Argoflex. Sometimes I like a light, small camera though. All the cameras deliver wonderfully sharp photos, even the Diana.

My favorite is the Nikkormat, hands down.

Here's a shot from the Nikkormat, then the Isola. We're talking $50 worth of gear, combined total for both cameras.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I shoot a lot more with my Canon EOS 3 than I had anticipated. Still learning how to use it like I'm used to using 35mm cameras, which might explain the behavior, but for some reason I just get along with this camera well.

I shoot a lot less with the Leica than I had anticipated. Not because I dislike it, but mostly because of needing a separate light meter. I shoot a lot in challenging lighting, so I end up having to separately meter every shot. That's an extra step that is sometimes an impediment, and sometimes I don't mind it.

 

[Ricardo Miranda]

I own maybe a dozen different models of Nikons going back to the original F. These cameras were made from the 1960s to the 1990s. I seem to always be going back to my N2000. It's very small in size, and comes without the autofocus and autoexposure whistles and bells. Gee whiz, you hafta set the camera yourself. It uses eight AAA batteries and they last forever. I can keep it in the trunk of my car at all times and is always available when I drive by and see that great photo op. I'm having fun with it with my new (to me) Sigma 50mm f2.8 Macro lens. Another steal from KEH.

This must be a F-301 built specifically for you to use the double the batteries than a normal one uses. And they must have forgot to give you a manual so you haven't figured out how to use the auto-exposure system.

BTW, the F-301 (N2000 for US) was the first Nikon to use polycarbonates in the structure and the first to not have a film advance lever.
More modern than you thought it was!

 

[Ricardo Miranda]

Now, to answer the OP questions:

1- Last year it was the Nikon EM: sublime ergonomics, no fuss camera.
This year it looks to be the Olympus OM-1.

2-Nikon F4 and the F90X: heavy, especially the F4S. If I take one, I can only lug it around with one lens.
Superb cameras, just too cumbersome for what I normally do.

 

[flavio81]

1 - Which camera do you have that you find yourself using a lot more than you ever expected, and what about it surprised you?

The Mamiya RB67. Initially it appeared to be a "tripod-only" or "studio-only" camera; in the end I ended up using it handheld and outdoors a lot.

2 - What camera did you get that just hasn't worked out to be used as often as you planned, and why?

a. Rollei 35: I thought i was going to carry it everywhere but due to its coarse focus scale, i need to use it at f8 or narrower. Additionally, it is very suscepible to camera shake, which means that i need to use rather fast (>1/30) shutter speeds. So, in the end, its use is limited to outdoors. At the end this camera got little use.

b. Rolleicord: I thought this was a great buy, until I realized that i could hold the C330 steadier.

c. Agfa Record III and Ensign Selfix 820: both are 6x9 medium format folders. The extra narrow depth of field of 6x9 means that I should use f11-16 if I want to get perfect focus. And this severely limits the use.

 

[Nodda Duma]

I always grab my Nikon FE with its 50mm f/1.8 lens. I choose it way more often over my F3 or my Pentax 67 (both of which are in the camera bag with the FE and both of which I expected to use a lot more).

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

The go-to camera for me is my Rolleiflex. It's the camera I didn't expect when I got it. I originally bought it because I had 90-ish rolls of FP4+ sitting in a box in my basement going unused and I wanted SOMETHING to burn through them with. My initial experience with it didn't sell me on it, so it sat for a while. Then I got it overhauled because it was just sitting there forlorn in the closet, and I thought maybe if I got it into tip-top shape I'd be happier with it and use it more. Well... that was an understatement. Since getting it overhauled, I have fallen totally in love with the camera and it is my first choice. I love it so much I got a second one to use as a backup/other-film-type body (one loaded with b/w, the other with color).

My camera I thought I'd use more but don't is my Contax G2. Once upon a time, I did shoot a lot with it. But between the rise of the Rollei and the disappearance of a good local lab to make machine prints and quick scans at an affordable price, I really don't use it much any more. I hang on to it because it has some amazing lenses, and out of a sense of nostalgia. I might sell it off though to fund another camera project, either an upgrade to my DSLR (I know, heresy!) or some additional glass for the RTS III (another camera I almost never use, but I got one because I always wanted one and now they're insanely cheap, relatively speaking).

 

[David Brown]

1 - Which camera do you have that you find yourself using a lot more than you ever expected, and what about it surprised you?

2 - What camera did you get that just hasn't worked out to be used as often as you planned, and why?

1 - Minolta Maxxum (Dynax) 7. I bought it because it got so affordable (less than $200). It is the 35mm slr that I like the best of all I've ever used, and I do, indeed use it more than I thought I would. It's just a lovely little machine and a pleasure to use.

2 - Horizon. (swing lens 35mm) This camera is great and I probably got lucky at the "Russian Roulette" part, since it works flawlessly. However, it is a very specialized tool, and it just isn't suited to every-day shooting for me. YMMV

That being said, my "main" camera is an RB67.

 

[Pioneer]

I have several cameras loaded with film at any time and, usually, they all get used. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but they all tend to go through a normal rotation.

The surprise for me though has been with my TLRs. I have a very nice Rolleiflex 2.8F that I enjoy working with. If you would have asked before I had checked I would have said I preferred it to any of my 6x6 cameras. It produces great photographs and I just can't seem to get enough of the square format.

But the surprise from last year was that I was walking out the door far more often with my Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex Favorit, and (surprise, surprise) my Ikoflex IIa. It seems to make no sense. In reality the Rollei has a faster lens and, when you check the specs and reputation, it is unarguably the better camera. But, I have shot 4 rolls through each of the Zeiss Ikons to every 1 roll shot through the Rolleiflex. That is 8 rolls to 1 total.

When I first saw the numbers I was a bit confused. It really didn't seem to make any sense. But then I went back over the photographs and it dawned on me almost immediately what was happening. On paper the Rolleiflex is an amazing camera. And it is true, it does make some very nice photographs. But in real life I cannot work with it quickly. I mean mechanically everything works fine, I just cannot focus easily with it. The Ikoflexes on the other hand work quite nicely as well, but the focus snaps visibly into and out of focus. When I am on the street or on at a ball game it is quick to focus and use.

I think you can all see where this is going already, but I hadn't really given it any consideration. All my portrait work is done by, you guessed it, the Rolleiflex. Wide open that lens produces some great portraits. And I usually have the time to pull up the magnifier to ensure I have sharp focus on the eyes. But all my action work is done with the Ikoflexes, either one work well in fact.

I do have to say that all 3 cameras work very well. Mechanically the Rolleiflex has a great, and well earned, reputation. But from my experience Zeiss Ikon did a great job with the Ikoflex as well. Mechanically and optically neither one has stuttered and I have not been particularly gentle on them.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I'm sure many on here are guilty (as am I) of working with multiple cameras at any given time, particularly since film cameras are much more affordable than they once were. I have at times felt like a kid in a candy store picking up an item here and there, either because it has such impressive specs, or because it was just a decent deal and you might find a use for it some day.

Ultimately, you might find that the camera you had such high hopes for did not really suit you as you had expected, or conversely, that the one you just picked up because it was a good deal also turns out to work really well for you.

So my conversational questions are:

1 - Which camera do you have that you find yourself using a lot more than you ever expected, and what about it surprised you?

2 - What camera did you get that just hasn't worked out to be used as often as you planned, and why?

For me:

1 - The Balda Pontina (6x9 folder) shocked me with its color rendition and sharpness, and I am now finding it to be the first one I reach for, even over my Zeiss Ikontas, when I want a camera I can trust to give me a well exposed and sharp color image.

2 - My Yashica 12 TLR has not seen nearly the use I'd expected. It's a great camera, and takes a wonderful image, but it's also very bulky and difficult to see the shutter/aperture settings in dim light. Still, it gets first call when trying an oddball film for a test, and when I want to be sure focus is good when using limited depth of field.

I bought three Hasselblads 501c and one would have been plenty but the Nikon D800 finds even less use thsn I thought.

 

[cliveh]

2 - What camera did you get that just hasn't worked out to be used as often as you planned, and why?

For me it was a Voigtlander Prominent that looked nice with a good specification and Ultron F2 lens, but in use, it is like trying to take photographs with an Imperial typewriter with a legal carriage.

 

[Moopheus]

Lately I've been shooting relatively a lot with either the RB67 or the Fuji GW690. I got an Olympus OM 1n because I always wanted one, and now that I have one I hardly use it. Likewise I got a nice little Konica rangefinder, and it's a great little camera but if I ever feel like shooting 35mm I still reach for one of the Nikons. I'm thinking I may have to pare the collection a little, organize it a little better around the stuff I actually use. Stuff piled up because it wasn't very expensive and I wanted to try it, but some weeding is in order, I think.

 

[StoneNYC]

Seems I shoot with my Mamiya7ii much more than just the original purpose which was for Landscape work, even now that I'm mostly shooting LF landscapes I still cary my Mamiya7ii often and shoot everything from events, model shoots, and sometimes landscapes with it, it just works.

The camera I thought I would use a lot more, probably the Canon 1V, I bought it in 2010 for my Kodachrome trip around the country, it was amazing and outperformed my 5DmkII in every way, but once I started shooting Medium Format, I just stopped using it, 35mm doesn't seem to have the detail I really crave in an image and so I hardly use it unless there's a natural disaster where my medium format would just be destroyed, so the last time I REALLY used the Canon 1V was during hurricane sandy because it was the only thing that would survive the heavy wind and rain... LOL

 

[BrianShaw]

Nothing controverial in these questions in my opinion, but I have one of each also:

1. Nikon FE. Inexpensive yet reliable and capable of utilizing existing Nikkor lenses.
2. Hassy. Wonderful camera but not well suited to much of the general-purpose photography I do. But when it is suited it is a dream to work with.

 

[Tom Kershaw]

35mm doesn't seem to have the detail I really crave in an image and so I hardly use it unless there's a natural disaster where my medium format would just be destroyed, so the last time I REALLY used the Canon 1V was during hurricane sandy because it was the only thing that would survive the heavy wind and rain... LOL

I've come back to 35mm recently, probably because I feel more comfortable with when the format is appropriate.

Tom

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

I've bought a gorgeous Wista 4x5 a few years ago and some amazing Fuji LF lenses but have used it far less than I thought I would have. As far as more than expected, hmmm, none really except maybe my Contax T2 but no real surprise: It's compact and of such a high quality lens that I grab it most often when not wanting to carry something bigger...

 

[EdColorado]

My surprise on the unused side is my Nikon F4. I'd wanted one for a long time, a friend had one and from a distance I really wanted one too. I picked one up a couple years ago, shot a couple rolls with it, and haven't used it since.

I later purchased a Nikon F5. I bought it mainly to complete my string of Nikon F cameras (minus the 6, I wont spend the money) and figured I'd try it but really didn't expect to use it much. Its now my go to camera for any kind of event/family thing. I love the way it feels in my hand, the ergonomics are perfect, the sound of the shutter just seems so right, I love the thing. What really strikes me as odd about this is that I was preferring the classic knob based control layout, and had moved away from the button and wheel scene, such as the F5 and my old favorite the Canon T90 use. Perhaps it's just time for buttons, wheels, and LCD's but it surprised me.

For those days that I just want to grab a camera and walk around town I generally grab some old folder or rangefinder. These days are mostly about the experience of using the old camera, not so much about the end result. At the moment I have a Kodak Retina loaded and ready and I think a Konica II will be next.

Another that I don't use as much as I expected is my Olympus XA. I bought it for use as a pocket camera when on road trips via truck or motorcycle. It was for quite a while in the center console of my truck and it would get used a bit but I rarely grabbed it. Just wasn't taking many road shots I guess. Now it mostly sits and waits...

 

[removed account4]

OP

i got a 19th century photo lab mailed to me in a cardboard box for like $20 shipped about 15 years ago.
it was filled with enamel trays, a few contact frames dead brayers and ferrotyping stuff and
a ratty beat on camera.
i had been buying, restoring and selling odd shaped falling plate cameras for about a year they were fun...
when i eventually played with the box camera a year or 4 later .. i noticed it was a falling plate ..
i stripped the ruined moroccan leather
off and within 2mins it became one of the main things i use to make
photographs. ...
found in a cardboard box for the price of shipping ...
unassuming, fill with 8 sheets of film, paper or dry plates, and always makes nice photographs ...

camera that wasnt what it seemed ?
they all pretty much do what they are supposed to, i cant complain

 

[pdeeh]

most used, unexpectedly: XA. More "keepers" from this than all my other cameras together

least used: Konica TC, which I bought and had expensively CLAd so I could use all the nice Konica AR lenses I had collected for use on my digital m43 camera. haven't touched it in a couple of years. waste of money and effort

 

[MattKrull]

Use more than expected: OM-40. It fits my hands well, it's light, the light meter works really well, etc.

Use less than expected:
OM-2SP. There's nothing wrong with it, in fact the VF is gorgeous, but it is heavier and the light meter is harder to read than the OM40, so I tend to reach for the OM40 instead.
Nettar 516/17. It was supposed to be my hiking MF camera. It was scale focus, so I got an external RF. Both the view finder on the body and in the rf were painfully small, and I just couldn't get used to using it. Despite taking fantastically sharp photos, I sold it and don't miss it. Now I just hike with my Bronica ETR-S & wlf.

 

[Sirius Glass]

35mm is for when I do not have much time to take photographs such as when I am on a trip and I do not want to slow down others.

The Hasselblad is for fun and when I was to do serious work or to do sirius work.

4"x5" is for experimentation and play time.