What is the most fabulous piece of film gear you've ever owned?

My best is a vintage 1845 six inch Ross Petzval. I shoot it on my Chamonix 4x5. It barely beats out my 1847 Voigtlander seven inch Petzval though. Wait a minute--this isn't really film gear. It was made for Daguerrotype.


Kent in SD

My Leica III with the nickel Elmar 50/3.5. Simply the perfect, carry everywhere, small format camera.

or

My Deardorff V8 with a Nikkor M 450mm f/9. A magnificent and highly capable large format camera, but not one you choose to carry everywhere.

This would have to be mine. Graflex Graphic View 4x5.
It belonged to my father and I had the original case and film holders but the case was ruined in a flood last year. The camera was safe on a high shelf, and I salvaged the film holders. I have only recently started developing my own B&W 35mm and I plan to learn to shoot and develop 4x5 soon.

film_man said:

...Actually to qualify the last point a bit, I think the Nikon F system is simply amazing. You can buy a lens from 1970 and put it in a modern camera and it works. You can take a modern lens (ok...needs an aperture ring) and use it in a 40 year old camera. You can take a modern speedlight (say SB800 or 80DX), put it on a Auto mode, shove it on an F3 and not only you get proper exposures but even the flash indicator in the finder works. You basically have a system that ensures compatibility over 40+ years. You can even put a modern eyepiece on it.

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I agree. I have a Df that uses lenses all the way back to 1959, and as 90% of my lenses have an aperture ring, I can use my modern lenses on my F, FTn, F3, and my Nikkormat. The best of both worlds

I bought a brand new leica m5 back in the day
Got stolen 2 days later

The gray lump between my ears and behind my eyes.

My Nikon F6, followed by my almost mint Nikon F2a.

What!?! Limit ourselves to one camera only? Get away with you, silly OP. To me that is like doing a lifelong search for the best wine ever, or finding the world's best beach (two obsessions many Aussies I know seem to enjoy indulging in). Enjoyable but inevitably futile, but one can always say the true pleasure lies in the search and not the final choice. Too many variables there.

Like all else in life, the only intelligent and sensible answer to the question "what is the best (whatever)?" would have to be, "well, it depends".

But okay, let's play. The Rolleiflex, without any doubt or question. I have three, I use them often, and they produce the very best results for me, and do so with great elegance and simplicity. What more could I possibly want?

My 3.5 E2 I bought new in 1966 soit's now long in the tooth and shows its age (like its owner), but still works just fine and shoots wonderfully. I added two black Ts in the '90s, more for their lightness and ease of handling than the heavier E2, also for smaller images with the optional 16 exposure kits.

Rollei kits can be delightfully minimal, compared to the paraphernalia newer SLRs and today's DSLRs seem to require. Hoods, a few filters and Rolleinar close ups, a Weston Master V, a handful of other (optional) Rollei bits and pieces like the "Rollei mating device" (as it was called in the '50s and '60s) which clips on and easily attaches the camera to brackets and tripods. I have a lovely Rollei prism I bought for A$100, which fits all three cameras. Also 120 film, of course. One small bag, nothing impossible to carry even on mountain treks. Superb results always.

I can easily convert my Rolleis to use 35mm film by putting on a 1949 Rolleikin back and the interior bits. Using the Rollei Tessars and Planar with "miniature" film takes getting used to, the film covers basically the center of the lenses and images are tack sharp, but the smaller format magnifies the 75mm and 80mm lenses by about 1.5x to a short telephoto. Good for portraits and close ups or candid out of windows shots.

Now to return to "it depends". Whichever camera I have with me at any given time, is by and far my best camera. This can be one of my Nikkormats, which are indestructible and continue to produce fine results for their age. Or my Contax G1s (bought dirt-cheaply in circa2009-2010 when film camera prices in Australia hit the ground and sank out of sight) with any Contax Zeiss lens from 21mm to 90mm. Or my Voigtlander Perkeo I, my most minimalist shooter. Or on the rare occasions when I want to indulge in the cosmic treat of a big negative full of details and mid tones for contact prints, my Zeiss Nettar 6x9.

Like everyone else's, my list could easily be endless. Which to my mind, makes the initial quest of THE ideal camera, simplistic and even naive, but nevertheless fun to indulge in as a sort of "what if" verbal game.

To set the record right in all this, I will now go on record as saying I agree with everything everyone said in every post in this thread. So there!

Erik D Herrmann Sr., you wrote: "...It belonged to my father and I had the original case and film holders but the case was ruined in a flood last year. The camera was safe on a high shelf, and I salvaged the film holders. I have only recently started developing my own B&W 35mm and I plan to learn to shoot and develop 4x5 soon."

If I were in your shoes, I would replace the damaged/destroyed case with another original one. I am sure they are still available as secondhand items, and such a wonderful camera and family heirloom deserves to be stored in one.

Shop around and I am sure you will find one for very little cost.

Good on you, sir, for wanting to learn to use such a superb camera! Also your Nikkormats. One of my FT2s has a Nikkor 20mm D 2.8 on it now, and this combo works perfectly well. I was relieved to realise there are still two of us thinking alike at (literally and geographically) opposite ends of the world, Louisiana and Tasmania.

Sirius Glass said:

Do you really want to start a flame war?
Single camera: Hasselblad 903 SWC
Single camera system: Hasselblad Series V


You just had to ask. Just could not let it go, eh?

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+1

500CM Hasselblad and lens.

ozmoose said:

If I were in your shoes, I would replace the damaged/destroyed case with another original one. I am sure they are still available as secondhand items, and such a wonderful camera and family heirloom deserves to be stored in one.

Shop around and I am sure you will find one for very little cost.

Good on you, sir, for wanting to learn to use such a superb camera! Also your Nikkormats. One of my FT2s has a Nikkor 20mm D 2.8 on it now, and this combo works perfectly well. I was relieved to realise there are still two of us thinking alike at (literally and geographically) opposite ends of the world, Louisiana and Tasmania.

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I have been on the lookout for one on various auction sites, but they are usually in rather rough condition. I still check periodically though. As far as the 20mm D 2.8 on the FT2, I have the same lens, I'll have to give it a try.

I'm going to say my Konica Hexar AF. I have many, many other things that are great, but the Hexar is one camera that I'm still using and have probably put through the most rolls of film. Just something about it is just a joy to use.

Oh, my Gossen Luna Pro F is another. Use it for ambient light, flash and in the darkroom with the attachment. It saved me a lot of time from making test strips. Meter and I get a perfect print in the darkroom.

My brother loved the Konica Hexar system and used it for many years.

You win

As the saying goes: Absolutely Fabulous

where's weston's light bulb when you need it !

ic-racer said:

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Yeah, it is pretty much official. I hate you! lol. Not only for the enlarger, but for the darkroom space!

jnanian said:

where's weston's light bulb when you need it !

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That cracked me up... So true.

What the hell is it? Some kind of lifeform???

MultiFormat Shooter said:

Do you still shoot with it? I know everyone is different, but if I had camera like that, I would have to "pull it out" at least once-in-a-while. Freestyle sells brand new Ilford 2.25" x 3.25" sheet film. Did they have a roll film back for the Busch cameras?

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Regarding the Busch Pressman Model C, to use a roll film at that time in this camera required a roll-film "back" which, at the time I bought it the camera was known as an "Adapta-Roll" or something like that. I never bought one because I was so proud to be using "SHEET FILM" like the big boys used. I have everything that I need to shoot with that camera (holders, film, developing tanks) but the shutter has jammed and needs to be CLAd. When I first bought it, I had a repairman synch the shutter and install bi-post pins for flashcords (X-synch), so I could use it with electronic flash. Before I did that, there was a Kalart device that used a cable release that screwed in to the cable release secket on the shutter, It shot only flashbulbs......Regards!

Erik D. Herrmann Sr. said:

This would have to be mine. Graflex Graphic View 4x5.
It belonged to my father and I had the original case and film holders but the case was ruined in a flood last year. The camera was safe on a high shelf, and I salvaged the film holders. I have only recently started developing my own B&W 35mm and I plan to learn to shoot and develop 4x5 soon. View attachment 177031

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If the case was destroyed by the 2016 floods in our state, you might qualify for reimbursement for the case. I have a Graphic View 2 (Graflok Back, etc.) I think you will have a really tough time trying to wear that camera out.....Regards!

frank said:

View attachment 170323 My fabulous four

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Oh man, a SWC and a 600x Rollei, that would be a great day out shooting.

ic-racer said:

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YES, OMG. You should commission a building around that piece