What is "enough" in a camera for you?

Arthurwg · Mar 27, 2022

I'm enjoying my Leica IIIF tremendously. Fully overhauled, it's a joy to use with the 50mm Elmar F3.5 collapsible lens. Very compact and mechanically excellent. Shooting SFX with a dark red A36 clamp-on filter. Love it.

Huss · Mar 29, 2022

Started using a Fuji Klasse W on March 4. So far shot 11 rolls of film through it in 25 days. I guess this is becoming "enough" camera for me. Stunning lens, accurate focus (zero OOF shots), accurate exposure with the ultimate piece de resistance - an AE override dial on the front of the camera. The built in flash is powerful enough for daylight fill-in. Plus the camera will remember the flash setting even after you turn it off.
Downsides? Slow focus/pic taking action. Shutter speed LEDs pretty much invisible outside in daylight. Body while metal feels 'delicate'. Current going rate price.

Arthurwg · Mar 30, 2022

Wow! Looks up the Klasse W on Ebay. Not exactly giving them away.

Paul Howell · Mar 30, 2022

Yeah, I've been looking for one for a while, prices on all the better point and shoots have gone up. Last week I sold a box of my point and shoots to a local camera shop that is catering to analog shooters, got $600 for 9. He will resell and more than double his money. I still have 6 that I do use, might still get the Fuji.

Cholentpot · Mar 30, 2022

Huss said:
Started using a Fuji Klasse W on March 4. So far shot 11 rolls of film through it in 25 days. I guess this is becoming "enough" camera for me. Stunning lens, accurate focus (zero OOF shots), accurate exposure with the ultimate piece de resistance - an AE override dial on the front of the camera. The built in flash is powerful enough for daylight fill-in. Plus the camera will remember the flash setting even after you turn it off.
Downsides? Slow focus/pic taking action. Shutter speed LEDs pretty much invisible outside in daylight. Body while metal feels 'delicate'. Current going rate price.

Not enough gas stations.

Excellent results aside from lack of petrol.

Ayne · Mar 30, 2022

Olympus Stylus but it broke
Yashica T* but it broke
Inherited Leica is enough,
Whole Hassleblad System (also inherited) is enough
Leica and Hassleblad are too clinical and heavy so I never use and might unload them on someone for a shelf status symbols
Yesterday enough for me was a Thrift Store beauty had for 10USD
today I begin to HackenFranken my own cardboard version of Genius camera from behind Iron Curtain.

George Mann · Mar 30, 2022

Ayne said:
Olympus Stylus but it broke
Yashica T* but it broke

Well, luckily for me, my Pentax Espio/IQZoom 120 with it's world class lens has yet to break.

Ayne · Mar 30, 2022

George Mann said:
Well, luckily for me, my Pentax Espio/IQZoom 120 with it's world class lens has yet to break.

Repairshops always told me "NEVER THE ZOOM" heeded their advice

warden · Mar 30, 2022

Huss said:
While out shooting, I had an M3 with me. I just like the size and how quiet it is. In public settings you are not 'that' guy w the big camera and bazooka lens. I passed a gentleman using an Olympus OM1 - and man it was the SLR equivalence of the Leica. Beautiful, small, discrete.
I've had small Pentax SLRs, and liked them, but not enough to keep them. Just my deal, nothing against the cameras. But it made me think, what is "enough" camera for you as a daily carry to have fun with, without you feeling limited? As in, you don't want to think 'if only I had my..'
It's making me think as to why I'm keeping my Nikon Fs.. awesome cameras but I really don't use them as they are in the middle - too big for 'fun' - too small for serious (AF, motor drive etc like with the F4 and F6).
I guess its part of the paring down of gear that is being used, not collected.

I like discreet and small too, with a normal field of view. 35mm with a compact 50mm lens would be enough, or medium format with an 80mm. I feel self conscious when carrying larger, more noticeable gear.

George Mann · Mar 30, 2022

Ayne said:
Repairshops always told me "NEVER THE ZOOM" heeded their advice

Well, cameras such as the Nikon EM/FG series, or the Pentax MX may suit one better if reliability in something small and light is a concern.

Huss · Mar 30, 2022

Arthurwg said:
Wow! Looks up the Klasse W on Ebay. Not exactly giving them away.

I bought mine from a Leica dealer - Camerawest - who often have remarkable deals on the used gear they are selling. The Klasse W was about $500 less than the going rate on ebay - I was lucky because I set up an alert with Camerawest to let me know when they'll get one. Total luck (i didn't think they'd get one in).
The lens really is the star of the show, but as much as I love the camera, even at the $750 price point it seems nutty given that these things (from all the mfgs) are not robust. Want loony? The Leica CM is now at least $2500!
The advantage of the Klasse W or S is it is the most recent high end P&S, so hopefully will last the longest.
p.s. the original Klasse is very different (apart from appearance and perhaps lens) as it has a much more limited shutter and customizable features like remembering flash settings, manual ISO settings, no EV compensation dial etc.

Klasse W w C200

Marcelo Paniagua · Mar 31, 2022

Enough for me is quiet simple. A reliable shutter, a clear and bright way to focus (mostly manual) and thats about it. A built light meter is a bonus. My most used cameras are full mechanicals, like Olympus OM1 Leica M6 and RolleiFlex 2.8C, followed closely by an assortment of Kiev cameras. Don't really dislike or have anything against electronics (enjoy a OM4T and Bronica ETRS), just prefer the other more.

Sirius Glass · Mar 31, 2022

A good THWACK or TA-THUMP is nice to have for the shutter activation.

Huss · Apr 1, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
A good THWACK or TA-THUMP is nice to have .

Agreed.

alanrockwood · Apr 3, 2022

Enough camera? As film cameras go a Canon Rebel series SLR is fine for me. I mostly use a T2, though I have a 2000 and a Ti. I have a 7NE that I never use. It's bigger than my T2, and it doesn't really offer much that my T2 doesn't have. It has mirror lockup, which I thought I would use, but never have, and eye-control focusing, which is a nifty feature, but not really necessary.

I could probably get by with a nifty fifty f/1.8, though I don't actually have one. I have a Tamron 45mm f/1.8 with image stabilization, which I really like. It could serve as a one-lens solution, or a 28-135 zoom with image stabilization might be an even better one-lens solution.

By the way, a little off-topic, but in my opinion the most over-rated feature on a SLR camera is instant return mirror. Back in my old Exakta VX iia days I was envious of cameras with instant return mirrors, but after owning and using cameras with instant return mirrors I find that for me it doesn't much matter.

M-88 · Apr 10, 2022

Seems to me that at my current pace, a mechanical, fixed lens rangefinder is enough. Battery-dependent semi-auto mode is an added bonus, but definitely not an essential feature.

jvo · Apr 10, 2022

the one i have...

never been a camera accumulator... got a new one, and passed on the old one.

(except for the rolleiflex which i still have, but sits on the shelf.)

Alan Johnson · Apr 10, 2022

I was using a Canon 24-105 f3.5-5.6 IS lens but it is a bit bulky so I am trying a Sigma 24-70 f3.5-5.6 to see if its expected lesser performance is adequate for my purpose. It happens to fit on my Pentax MZ-60, which , unlike Canon Rebels, does not wind all the film onto the take up spool on first loading. With the Pentax short lengths of film can be shot and chopped off 36 exposures.

Huss · Apr 12, 2022

jvo said:
the one i have...

never been a camera accumulator... got a new one, and passed on the old one.

(except for the rolleiflex which i still have, but sits on the shelf.)

I wish I had that discipline!

Marcelo Paniagua · Apr 12, 2022

Huss said:
I wish I had that discipline!

My wife wish that I had that discipline.

Sirius Glass · Apr 12, 2022

Huss said:
I wish I had that discipline!

Marcelo Paniagua said:
My wife wish that I had that discipline.

Hey someone has to stimulate the economy.

RezaLoghme · Apr 12, 2024

"Enough camera" for me is a former world champion now available for pocket money. I am looking at you, Hasselblad V-Series. Yes, digital came and all, but in (MF) film, has there been anything "better" after the V-Series? I am not sure.

And when it comes to my R5, I know that there are many "better" 35mm SLRs and RFs (e.g. current M range), but somehow that old faithful feels "good enough".

So, being allowed to use a big bucks top-of-the-range camera for (relatively) small change, that is more than enough for me.

Oh, and my Leica X (113) is "enough digital camera" as I did not see how a Q (let along its more expensive siblings) could give me any additional value that I could actually see and feel. The X1 felt "not enough digital camera" and with the X I got all I needed. I am not even tempted to add a X Vario (107).

Pioneer · Apr 12, 2024

I have been selling a lot of my cameras over the last few months so for the past 8 months enough for me has been my Pentax LX. Been working with the Voigtlander Cosina Ultron 40 most of the time but occasionally I'll take some other lens out for the day. Probably more than I need but it feels nice to have options and there are always lots of lens options with a Pentax.

JerseyDoug · Apr 12, 2024

My first "good" camera was a Leica IIIf with a 50/3.5 collapsible Elmar I bought in 1966 or 1967 from a Mom & Pop camera store on 14th Street in NYC. In the following 55+ years my ready to use, i.e., loaded with film (or memory card), cameras have always been just one Barnack Leica and one other camera. The other camera has ranged from a 16mm Mamiya to a 4x5 Crown Graphic with a Hasselblad, a Rollei, a number of Nikon SLRs and Fuji digitals in the mix. But the majority of my pictures in any given year have been taken with the Barnack. My current on-call Leica is a wartime "stepper" IIIc factory converted to a IIIf.

ic-racer · Apr 12, 2024

I'm partial to Rolleiflex SL35 right now.

What is "enough" in a camera for you?

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency