What is it about your favorite camera...

[jerrybro]

For me it depends what I am doing. That is why in post #11 I said:

Agree 100%. My cameras are tools and I choose the one I need based on the job I am trying to get done. The one that I do treat differently is my Nikon S2, but that's because it was my dad's camera.

 

[chassis]

In 35mm it's my Minolta Alpha/Dynax/Maxxum 9. It's the last of the film camera line, autofocus, metering, and the alpha lens mount bridges into the digital camera body world. Plus it's built like a tank. I have two 9s, one without SSM and one with SSM. SSM allows use of the full range of alpha mount lenses.

 

[ericB&W]

Nikon f2 AS, if one doesn't need autofocus, has everything
one can need, ten seconds esposimeter, is heavy and with motor becomes
a rock , has even a small red light over the prism that shows the exact exposure when
is close the viewfinder window, i discovered by chance after reading it on Ken Rockwell's site.

Among pocket cameras Rollei 35, all manual and a great lens, Voigtlander
Perkeo for the folding 6x6 , is small about as a cigarette box and the color skopar is a good lens.

For medium format i have just a kiev 60 after a kiev 88 went broken.

 

[film_man]

My favourite camera to hold and carry and fire the shutter is the M4, the favourite shooting experience is the 4x5 but my favourite results are actually from the Nikon F5 with the 58/1.4G. Then again the most fun I have with a camera is the Nikonos V simply because when I'm using it I'm on the beach/in the sea.

I think my favourite camera would be an M sized camera with a 58/1.4G (in M lens size) with AF, autoexposure and waterproofing to 10m. Maybe I should try get a Leica Q. Or just enjoy the excuse of owning multiple cameras.

 

[benjiboy]

Canon F1, either my New F1 or F1n.they are both reliable, tough, accurate, and easy to handle, their only fault is they are quite heavy.

 

[gone]

My Nikon n8008s has all the important stuff. Big viewfinder that lets me see the whole frame even w/ my glasses on, takes cheapo AA batteries, has a spot meter, 1/8000 top shutter speed, AE and AE Lock, all that and more......for $40. Unlike another poster here, I gave up on the Leica R bodies. My R3/4/5 cameras were sorta crappy w/ shutter lag issues, and that R3 weighed a ton. Dark viewfinder too.

A Leicaflex is so much better than any of the R bodies (best viewfinder of any camera ever made), but my favorite Leica R camera is the Nikon n8008s w/ an adapter to shoot my Leicaflex 90 lens.

 

[Michael Firstlight]

My Nikon n8008s has all the important stuff. Big viewfinder that lets me see the whole frame even w/ my glasses on, takes cheapo AA batteries, has a spot meter, 1/8000 top shutter speed, AE and AE Lock, all that and more......for $40. Unlike another poster here, I gave up on the Leica R bodies. My R3/4/5 cameras were sorta crappy w/ shutter lag issues, and that R3 weighed a ton. Dark viewfinder too.

A Leicaflex is so much better than any of the R bodies (best viewfinder of any camera ever made), but my favorite Leica R camera is the Nikon n8008s w/ an adapter to shoot my Leicaflex 90 lens.

Funny, I still have my 8008s as well - sits on my display shelf though most of the time as I shoot my Pentax 67II mostly, but the 8008s is a great camera.

 

[Michael Firstlight]

I have/had a lot of cameras over 50 years, Cannons, Nikons, Blads, Mamiyas, Ricohs, Rolleis, 4x5's and more. Can I pick by format class? My all-time fav 35mm all manual is my Nikon F2as hand down. It really represents the pinnacle of manual all-metal SLRs before AF, AE, and plastic bodies were common. As far as all-time fav? I have to say my Pentax 67II with the AE finder the rosewood grip. Mine is still in mint condition and I baby it - nothing like having a Texas-size SLR with all the great things like substantial interchangeable viewfinder screens, handles exactly like a 35mm SLR, wonderful meter, great glass, and oh-those-big-beautiful 6x7 frames.

Mike

 

[Ian Grant]

My favourite camera is not a 35mm camera, it's a Rolleiflex for MF and my Wista 45DX for 5x4. However the question here is about 35mm cameras and in my case it's a toss up between a Pentax Spotmatic F and a Leica M3 both great cameras, there's something about the simplicity of both, ergonomics and feel.

I remember decades ago deciding on the Spotmatic, I did sell up all my M42 kit because I needed fast lens chnaging for professional use, looked at Nikon but didn't like the F series, didn't like the Canons either surprisingly went for the Chinon CE4 I needed Auto as I used a stringer (assistant) at rock concerts with a second camera. A friend a commercial/advertising photographer borrowed one of the CE4s and its 50mm f1.4 Chinon lens and my Vivitar S1 f2.8/4 70-210mm to do a commercial shoot at the Le Man 24hr race for a major motor company. But I preferthe simplicity and slower working of the Spotmatic F or an M3.

Ian

 

[benjiboy]

For me it has to be the Canon F1, both the F1n, and the New F1 I have been shooting with for almost forty years, they are everything I need in a 35mm S.L.R, and I have no desire for any other camera.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

My favorite 35mm is my Contax RTS III. Probably for the viewfinder - it's a 100% finder, and super super bright. Makes it so easy to focus and compose.
My favorite medium format is my Rolleiflex. I have a handful of medium format cameras I like and use regularly. But if you held a gun to my head and said "choose only one", it would be the Rollei.
For large format, it would be my Canham 5x7.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

My favorite camera depends on what day of the week it is.

And this being a Wednesday...

Nikon FM2 - won over: Nikons F2, F3, F4 & N75; Leicas M3 & M5; Olympus OM2; and a large assortment of hangers on.

Why? Well really damned if I know as there is really no outstanding feature, I just like it. It's a very good all around compromise. Sort of like Toyota automobiles, which I also like.

In the P&S catagory: Yashica T4/T5 over Nikon 35ti and Olympus Stylus Epic & XA.

In MF: Zeiss Nettar over Mamiya Universal/Press and Hasselblad 500c.

In LF: Don't really have a favorite, can't say I really like any of them - Sinar, Shen Hao, Speed Graphic and some old Kodak.

 

[Donald Qualls]

My favorite camera is and probably always will be my Anniversary Speed Graphic (4x5). I can shoot 4x5 film holders, Grafmatics (since upgrading to a Graflok back), or roll film (in an adapter), hand held or tripod, with limited movements (front rise and shift, plus some tricks with the drop bed), I have a rangefinder that's easily recalibrated for any lens I choose, and I can use lenses that don't have a working shutter, as long as they lock open and the aperture works (because focal plane shutter). Weighs less than my RB67, though it's a little more involved to use.

Only significant downside is night photography; flash synch only on the front shutter and requires a bracket grip, and the RF is hard to use in the dark (maybe someday I'll make a laser unit to replace the focusing light it doesn't have) -- and I can't buy 3000 speed instant film any more.

 

[Dismayed]

Nikon SP because it's a precision instrument. The wide assortment of excellent lenses that are affordable counts, too!

 

[George Mann]

I am going to have to change my assessment in favor of my Nikon F2 Photomic.

Using my F90x is too much like my D300s, where my F2 is my best mechanical camera, which is a joy to use.

 

[Moose22]

I love MF. If price and size weren't a consideration I'd shoot nothing else, but I'm trying to learn some things so burning a lot of frames. So today the 35mm shooters are my favorites. Today. Ask in a month and you might get a different answer.

I like the needle meter in my FM3A. It makes it easy for me to see how over or under any area is with a quick sweep, so I love t for black and white. Kind of whish I had a spot option in addition to the 60/40 centerweight AND the meter. It handles like all the others of the manual focus era, but that one thing I like better. At least for B&W and taking my time.

But, I'll say this. I walked around with my F6 last weekend with just a wrist strap, holding it in my hand, you don't even have to think about it. No gripping it, no squeezing. it just sort of dangles on my fingertips and never falls off -- ergonomically, it's fantastic. Plus, it just works. However I want it to work. I can work pretty fast. It was a real high point for Nikon. Actually, F5-F6 era I'll call a high point, the F5 was pretty awesome. But, though the manual era Nikons are my favorites in theory, I use the crap out of the F6 and it's my favorite for most shooting.

They're tools more than anything. Most of what makes me happy about them is how comfortable I am getting a result I am happy with.

 

[flavio81]

On 35mm, either my Canon New F-1 or the F-1. At the end it won over all the nikons i've had; F, F2SB, F2AS, F3, many Nikkormats, FE, FM, FM2, FE2, EL, and EL2.

Second choice would be Pentax MX and third choice would be my Nikon F2SB.

On medium format, it was the RB67, now it is the Bronica ETRSi, which is a similar machine but smaller and lighter.

 

[abruzzi]

Second choice would be Pentax MX and third choice would be my Nikon F2SB.

I’m not a big fan of Canon, but I’m with you 100% on these two. Probably the only 35mm I shoot anymore (well, throw in the Retina IIIC as well.)

MF, I love the ETRSi, but after getting a GS-1 I’d give that one my preference.

but all time favorite at the moment is 4x5–Linhof Technkardan 45 (not the later S, which I don’t have.). I love just about everything about it, and I wish they made an 8x10 version.

 

[AZD]

My favorite is also my least favorite - a Zeiss Ikoflex Favorit TLR. The 75mm Tessar is fantastic. I have no idea how technically good or not it is, but I like what it does. Many of my best pictures were made with it.

Unfortunately, it's a temperamental beast with mechanisms for winding, cocking, and firing that seem designed to go out of adjustment and cause problems. I've opened it more times than I can count in order to clean and fine tune it all, and even still I'm afraid it will skip a frame (or entire roll), misfire, jam, etc.

But when it works it's magic. I really should use it more.

 

[Helge]

Right now and for the last year or so the Ikonta 521.

(C) Daniel Wirgård

Just a wonderful camera to work with.
Not having a rangefinder is a revelation and very freeing.
It allows much faster shooting because you are not “obliged” to fumbling with a patch where contrast edges are indecipherable at random moments, and it dictates more precise focusing aids for more precise focusing when you actually need it.
A perfect example that less really can be more.
On a light quality tripod it sings.

Superb and characterful lens which looks likely to be the same one used on the 6x6 model. So any vignette and corner problems is cut off by the masking.

Get a flash bracket handle and you’ll get high speed sync for daylight fill or slow speed sync with very little camera shake for excellent ambient fill.
The shutter alone buys you a stop, without less DoF.
The finder is big and easy to clean.

 

[drkhalsa]

I like the sound of the shutter of my Nikkormat FTN.

 

[flavio81]

I like the sound of the shutter of my Nikkormat FTN.

Indeed it sounds beautiful. And it feels so solid in the hand!!

 

[drkhalsa]

Indeed it sounds beautiful. And it feels so solid in the hand!!

Agreed!

 

[Donald Qualls]

Superb and characterful lens which looks likely to be the same one used on the 6x6 model. So any vignette and corner problems is cut off by the masking.

Every 6x6 Zeiss folder I've seen had an 80 mm lens; that one is 75 mm. Then again, I've never seen vignetting or corner problems with either 75 mm or 80 mm triplets or Tessars (and clones). My 1948 Super Ikonta B with 80 mm f/2.8 Tessar has some overall softness when wider than f/4, but that's a limitation of one of the earliest Tessar lenses that large and fast -- and isn't limited to the corners.

 

[Helge]

Every 6x6 Zeiss folder I've seen had an 80 mm lens; that one is 75 mm. Then again, I've never seen vignetting or corner problems with either 75 mm or 80 mm triplets or Tessars (and clones). My 1948 Super Ikonta B with 80 mm f/2.8 Tessar has some overall softness when wider than f/4, but that's a limitation of one of the earliest Tessar lenses that large and fast -- and isn't limited to the corners.

Well you haven’t seen many then. My Tessars on 6x6 are 75mm.
I’m aware that the 2.8 is 80mm. But I’ve never really been tempted by that model. I’d rather bring a TLR instead then.
Vignette is more pronounced on the 6x9 folders. But it’s still there on 6x6.
Coma and softness in the corners is pretty pronounced even on the Tessars full open.