What was the MOST BEAUTIFUL camera?

GRHazelton · Jul 14, 2015

MartinCrabtree said:
And you're a bad bad man Les.

Pentax glass is cheap compared to Nikon.............dammit. But the LX commands a price like a Nikon so it must be all it's said to be..............again dammit.

It is all it is said to be......and more! You KNOW you want one. Yield to temptation.....

Theo Sulphate · Jul 14, 2015

Nodda Duma said:
Right now I'm lusting after a silver Nikon FM3a. So my pick is for that. Beautiful on the outside and the (engineering on the) inside. The design team was very attached to this camera and poured their heart and soul into it. The older engineers as the culmination of their careers and the younger engineers as an opportunity to be part of a dying legacy. That's a good mix for something great.

Mine is black and it's just beautiful. It's astonishing that Nikon even made the FM3a; it is the last and one of their best manual cameras.

RobC · Jul 14, 2015

Since everyone else is posting pics....

Canon Demi, the perfect pocket camera.

Les Sarile · Jul 14, 2015

ciniframe said:
Pentax Spotmatic, from early to Spot F, does not include ES or ESII, they are too tall.

The ES and ESII are actually not much taller than the Spotmatics. They got taller after the original, S & K through the first K mounts. As you can see they figured out a way to make the LX - an interchangeable viewfinder SLR, the same size as the original AP. The only thing the LX lacks is the original Asahi Optical Co logo on the prism.

flavio81 · Jul 14, 2015

I think i'd better do the list by brand

Agfa
Beautiful:
Colorflex
Ambi-Silette
Karat IV
Clack

Ugliest:
Click

Zeiss
Most beautiful:
Contarex bullseye
Contessa 533/24
Contax RTS
Contax rangefinder

Most ugly:
Contarex bullseye...

Rollei
Beautiful:
Rolleiflex 2.8 models
Rolleiflex SL66

Ugliest: Rolleiflex SL35

Leica
Beautiful:
Leica M3
Leicaflex original

Ugliest: Leica M5

Hasselblad
Beautiful: 500C
Ugly: Hasselblad Lunar

Canon
Beautiful:
Canon F-1, F-1 New
Canon EF
Canon A-1
Canonflex R2000

Ugliest:
Canon T50

Nikon
Beautiful:
Nikon F w/plain prism,
Nikon F3,
Nikon F4
Nikon SP

Ugliest:
Nikon F with Photomic heads (all of them)
Nikon F5
Nikonos models
Nikkorex

Mamiya
Beautiful:
RB67
Mamiyaflex C2

Ugliest:
1000DTL

Minolta
Beautiful:
XK
SRT-101

Ugliest:
X-370, X-500 and similar

Pentax
Beautiful:
Spotmatic SP (in black)
LX

Ugliest:
K1000

Olympus
Beautiful:
Olympus Pen S
Olympus 35SP
OM-1
Ugliest: that AF 35mm SLR they made

Other
Beautiful:
Bell and Howell Foton
Ensign Autorange 820
Polaroid SX70

Ugliest:
All Argus cameras
All ALPA 35mm SLR cameras
All Yashicas
All Ricoh cameras (award for most consistently ugly designs)
Ensign Ful-Vue
Most polaroid instant cameras

... AND THE WINNER FOR MOST BEAUTIFUL CAMERA OF ALL TIMES IS:

35mm fixed lens rangefinder:
Zeiss-Ikon Contessa 533/24

35mm interchangeable lens rangefinder:
Nikon SP

35mm SLR
Too many!

Medium format TLR
Rolleiflex 2.8F

Medium format SLR
Rolleiflex SL66

Large format
Linhof Kardan Color

... AND THE WINNER FOR MOST **UGLY ** CAMERA OF ALL TIMES IS:

Tie: Ricoh TLS 401 with Yashica 230AF

... AND THE WINNER FOR MOST AESTHETICALLY VERSATILE:

Nikon F -- goes from "ugliest" to "prettiest" by just changing viewfinders!

blockend · Jul 14, 2015

flavio81 said:
I think i'd better do the list by brand....

I never thought I'd see the day when a Canon A-1 and a Nikon F4 would be described as pretty. You'll be describing the Canon T70 as pretty next! (contender for the ugliest SLR ever?)

flavio81 · Jul 14, 2015

blockend said:
I never thought I'd see the day when a Canon A-1 and a Nikon F4 would be described as pretty. You'll be describing the Canon T70 as pretty next! (contender for the ugliest SLR ever?)

You don't consider the Canon A-1 pretty? I do.

See:

Dead Link Removed

flavio81 · Jul 14, 2015

Nikon F4 -- so pretty, the only thing that could make it prettier is a "Canon" logo!!

ColColt · Jul 14, 2015

Yep, that is right purdy.

RobC · Jul 14, 2015

The list might have been a lot shorter if the question was "which is the ugliest camera of all time?"

Les Sarile · Jul 14, 2015

The OM3 beauty is not only skin deep due to it's sophisticated spot metering on an otherwise fully manual body.

DCB12 · Jul 14, 2015

Peace

RobC · Jul 14, 2015

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there's no accounting for taste.

Hatchetman · Jul 14, 2015

Personally, none of the Japanese SLRs are that handsome. They all look pretty much the same.

AgX · Jul 14, 2015

-) Minox EC

-) The type 110 Agfamatic range.

(Also a bestseller with model 2008.)

moranjr · Jul 14, 2015

Everybody knows it is the Nikon F2 Titan!

Theo Sulphate · Jul 14, 2015

moranjr said:
Everybody knows it is the Nikon F2 Titan!

Yeah, that's hot.

http://mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/nikonf2/f2/variants/f2titan/

4season · Jul 14, 2015

Right now I'm thinking this looks pretty nice:

PCC · Jul 15, 2015

Nikon 35Ti
Nikon F2 through F4
Nikon FE/FM and the various variants (except the FA)
Olympus XA
Early Leica rangefinders
Pentax LX
Contax RTS III

These are my favorites.

albada · Jul 15, 2015

The Kodak 35 RF (from the late 1940's) is the ugliest one I've seen. Even uglier than the Nikon F with the metered prism.
Regula Cita is one of the prettiest.

Mark Overton

River Studio · Jul 15, 2015

M3
Contax RTS

+1

Also.....Contax S2

Nodda Duma · Jul 15, 2015

The Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super is one that I love the looks of in all its 50s-era chrome splendor and German precision:

From its chrome-lined molded leather case with red velvet interior

to the black and chrome body with interchangeable front elements on the Zeiss Tessar

As an added bonus, the meter can be relatively painlessly adjusted as the Selenium detector ages.

baachitraka · Jul 15, 2015

In my dreams a beautiful Rolleiflex with Xenotar and without a meter.

Brett Rogers · Jul 15, 2015

Nodda Duma said:
The Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super is one that I love the looks of in all its 50s-era chrome splendor and German precision:

From its chrome-lined molded leather case with red velvet interior

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to the black and chrome body with interchangeable front elements on the Zeiss Tessar

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As an added bonus, the meter can be relatively painlessly adjusted as the Selenium detector ages.

The Super is nice, but personally I think the original and the III are both cleaner looking, as well as the Rapid (although I'm less enamoured of the cursive script Zeiss used for the name plate).

How do you adjust the Supers meter to the cell? I've worked out a way, but I'm curious if it is the same as yours.
Cheers,
Brett

Nodda Duma · Jul 15, 2015

Hi Brett,

Yeah I like all the knobs and gadgets, and the aperture ring on the front top is actually really ergonomic at least for me

Gosh that's really stretching my memory. I don't recall the exact process but it involved aiming at a uniform white scene which I measured the Ev on, verifying what f/# and exposure I should get, then adjusting the aperture/exposure rings. If I remember correctly, they're secured in a type of clutch assembly, so you can loosen the rings, adjust, and re-tighten. Sound familiar?

What was the MOST BEAUTIFUL camera?

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