Most Elegant & Beautiful: Poco Long Focus No. 18. A true masterpiece of wood and brass.
Best Output: My current favorite setup: Poco No. 18 + Wollensak Verito 8 3/4" for that dreamy pictorialist glow, or the Dallmeyer 8x10 DRR for classic sharpness.
Most Reliable: Zeiss Ikon 520/2 and the bulletproof Box Tengor 54/15.
Most Beloved (Past): Mamiya RB67 Pro SD – a wonderful machine that I still remember fondly.
I've come a long way with different systems over the years. For a while, I used a Canon AE-1 and an Olympus 35 RC – both were great for saving film. Instead of one or a few frames, I got 36. But is photography about quantity or quality?
Later, I tried the
Start 66 and
Yashica Mat-124 G, but I realized the 6x6 format just wasn't for me. That led me to the
Pentax 67II, and eventually to the
Mamiya RB67 Pro SD, which is a truly wonderful machine. After that, I moved into large format with a
Graflex 4x5.
Currently, my absolute #1 setup is the
Poco Long Focus No. 18 paired with a
Wollensak Verito 8 3/4" and a
Dallmeyer 8x10 DRR. For medium format, I’ve returned to the basics with a
Zeiss Ikon 520/2 and a
Box Tengor 54/15."
I'm attaching a sample photo taken with this setup. It's shot on
expired ORWO MA51 from 1983. I love how the high contrast of this old technical film interacts with the soft, dreamy glow of the
Verito lens. It creates a truly unique, pictorialist look.