What is it about your favorite camera...

ciniframe

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Olympus OM-1 with the 1-10 screen (matte with grid).
The beautiful, big, uncluttered viewfinder.
 

Paul Howell

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My favorite film is or was the Sigma SA 9 and 7. Good single point AF, light, easy to use layout, shutter speed dial, lens range from not too bad to pretty good, up to 3.5 FPS, top shutter speed of 1/8000, the SA7 same lay out, top shutter speed of 1/2000, slower motor drive, less powerful flash. Both have very good metering, and will work newer sigma lens, well the VR does not work. Only reason I had to give them up was the dreaded orange death. The viewfinder turned orange, some say it is oxidation and can be cleaned, Sigma told me it adhesive they used turned orange with age. Current favorite is the Minolta 600SI, called the classic, dial driven, same metering and AF as the 800si, lighter, smaller motor drive. Only downside is it uses lithium CV5 battery. There is a battery grip, hard to find and expensive.
 

Chan Tran

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It's kind of hard to say why. I have the Nikon F2AS, F3HP, F4S and F5. And among them my favorite is the F3HP. It's hard to tell why. Among them the one that is my least favorite is the F4S.
 

MurrayMinchin

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jnantz said:
probably K1000, cause I know how it sees and it knows how I see
Click to expand...

Picture if you will...6 months by sea kayak on BC's coastline. Three cameras; a 35mm "waterproof" point & shoot which failed right away, a 4x5 Wista, and a Pentax K1000 which lived in a Tupperware container while the 4x5 got a Pelican case.

Part of our trip was during winter, so it rained...a lot!!!! The hot shoe on the K1000 got rust on it. Rock steady in all respects. It's a beast!

Cameras with more complicated features have more opportunities to fail on a trip like that.
 

Sirius Glass

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The Hasselblad for many reasons stated before, however I also use Nikons and other cameras too. Usually the favorite camera is the one in my hands.
 

MattKing

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I never say - my cameras might hear.
 

narsuitus

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During my decades as a professional photographer, I preferred manual/mechanical cameras because they seemed to be more durable and reliable when compared to the automatic/electronic cameras that I used.

My favorite large format camera was a Calumet 4x5 inch monorail view camera.

My favorite medium format cameras were the Mamiya C220 TLR and the Mamiya RB67 SLR.

My favorite 35mm small format cameras were the Nikon F2 SLR and the Leica M6 rangefinder.

All of my favorite cameras were well-made, dependable, rugged, and capable of producing excellent images.

Of all my favorite cameras, the Nikon F2 SLR was my personal favorite of all my favorites because it was small enough to transport easily and versatile enough to configure to a wide range of assignments.


Nikon F2 & Leica M6 by Narsuitus, on Flickr
 

markjwyatt

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Horatio said:
that makes it your favorite?
Click to expand...

The lenses first, and in terms of operations, precision. I put up with some lesser operability for lenses (e.g., Kodak Retina IV with Schneider Kreuznach lenses).
 

wiltw

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narsuitus said:
During my decades as a professional photographer, I preferred manual/mechanical cameras because they seemed to be more durable and reliable when compared to the automatic/electronic cameras that I used.
Click to expand...

Methinks the mechanical cameras were made in an age of robust materials, while the newer electronic cameras cut back on the amount of metal in the chassis and body, and resorted to plastics for the body and 'chrome paint' over plastic for the top rather than metal.
The further 'cheapening' was also manifest in elimination of features deemed unnecessary in amateur bodies, like elimination of DOF control, or mirror lockup.
 

Paul Howell

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Really, Minolta 9, zinc and aluminum frame with stainless steel or titiumum body, weatherized, flash sync 1/300 of a second, top shutter speed 1/12000 of a second, with battery grip runs on AA batteries. Only feature it does not have is mirror lock up, Minolta did not think it was needed as the mirror was well buffered.
 

madNbad

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Having owned a lot of different and some really nice cameras, the two that were all time favorites were the Olympus XA and a Polaroid SX-70. When the XA first came out, I was riding a motorcycle every day. It was small enough to take everywhere and it held up to vibration well. I owned several over the years and was never disappointed by the results. I bought the SX-70 used about a year after they were introduced. Like the Olympus is was rugged enough and in the pre digital days, an instant picture. I had it for years and finally gave it away when Polaroid stopped producing film. I tried some of the Impossible film in a SLR 680 but it wasn't the same.
 

BradS

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The associated lenses, its relatively small size and weight and feeling confident that it works perfectly and is reliable.
 

cullah

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Feb 1, 2004
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I also like the sx70.Fun camera. I formally shot Alpas. Perfect fit in my hand. Bad shutters and meters. For the past 20 or so years I've been shotting with a M6. I like it very much. It is simple and I have access to some truly fine lenses
 

gone

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My favorite camera has less faults than the others. That's the only way I can describe it because every camera appears to be a compromise on some feature or other. My Leicaflex has this big, bright viewfinder, but I had to go back to an old N8008s in order to see the whole frame in the viewfinder. The Nikon is the better tool, but the Leicaflex is more fun to shoot. In the end, perfect exposures, a spot meter and the better (for me) viewfinder won out.
 
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4season

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So many good 35mm choices out there, but maybe Olympus Pen-FT will be my pick: 72+ exposures per roll of film gives me freedom to carry little more than the camera plus the film it contains, it gives me the accuracy of TTL composing and metering, but in a compact package.
 
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