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What's Your Favorite Sleeper Vintage Camera?

Minolta SRT-101. For me, it's 35mm photography stripped to the bare bones. All controls can be operated without removing your eye from the viewfinder, the match needle metering system is very predictable and nothing interferes with getting on with the business of taking a photograph. Glass is relatively inexpensive, plentiful and very good.

For 120, the Kiev 88 or Kowa 6 are equally fun, with a nod to the Pentax 645 for brainless, instamatic-style shooting.

Ah, there are many, many good cameras. No fair to make me choose!
 
As rangefinders go, the Canon ones are probably the best value; albeit most of those centered on the 50mm lens. And then you have the Minolta SRT's and Canon Ftb's which are very capable mechanical SLR cameras. I particularly liked the Ftb and took nice pics with one. Loaned it to my nephew for a photography course, and never saw it again. Probably lost it.
 
Minolta Autocord

Iskra 6x6 rangefinder (if you can find one with the auto-stop film advance still working)
 
Kino said:
Minolta SRT-101. For me, it's 35mm photography stripped to the bare bones. All controls can be operated without removing your eye from the viewfinder,
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The SRT-100 is a "stripped" SRT-101, and the SRT-101 lacks the f-stop in the viewfinder -- so you have to remove your eye from the viewfinder (unless you have the SRT-102).
 
Nikon FE, the original.

It does everything you need and it's pretty well built. It looks like a non descript Nikon but it has aperture priority mode, takes Pre AI lenses and just does what needs to be done. I suspect Nikon over built their first 'electric' camera to stave off the naysayers.
 
My Busch Pressman 4x5 although I have several other "favorites" in other formats.
 
Besk said:
My Busch Pressman 4x5 although I have several other "favorites" in other formats.
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I've been lusting after one of those recently. Seems like a really great value for a 4x5 camera and most of them come with pretty nice wollensak glass.
 
Agfa Ambi Silette. Rangefinder coupled to three absolutely lovely lenses - 35,50, 90mm. Rivals my Leica.
 
Brooks-Plaubel Veriwide 100. Large, sharp panoramic negatives from a light & compact camera. And it looks nice too.
 
How about the Mamiya/Sekor 1000 DTL. I used one extensively in high school for the yearbook
and the school newspaper. It was the school's camera, not mine, and it was a real workhorse of
a camera. I remember that the lenses as being pretty decent.
 
alanrockwood said:
Kodak Signet 35.
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Top level. I have two, one is a bad copy and I was disappointed. Thought the hype was undue, camera was a joy to use but the images just weren't there. The second one I got is amazing. Photos are tack sharp and have great character.

Zathras said:
How about the Mamiya/Sekor 1000 DTL. I used one extensively in high school for the yearbook
and the school newspaper. It was the school's camera, not mine, and it was a real workhorse of
a camera. I remember that the lenses as being pretty decent.
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I was given one of these last year. It's just a barebones basic tough as nails SLR. I bet I can use as a self defense weapon and it'll still work after. Mamiya's K1000.
qqphot said:
The kodak retina cameras have very good lenses, and are mechanically pretty robust and compact.
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My Retinas go toe to toe with any rangefinder out there.
 
OrientPoint said:
Brooks-Plaubel Veriwide 100. Large, sharp panoramic negatives from a light & compact camera. And it looks nice too.
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Does winding film cock the shutter, or it is completely independent? I like cameras with no linkages, less to go wrong
I never seen one in person
 
thinkbrown said:
I've been lusting after one of those recently. Seems like a really great value for a 4x5 camera and most of them come with pretty nice wollensak glass.
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They are great cameras
Lensboards are hard to find
I wish they had a graflock back
 
Chuck1 said:
Does winding film cock the shutter, or it is completely independent? I like cameras with no linkages, less to go wrong
I never seen one in person
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It has double exposure prevention and a frame counter, but shutter cocking is separate.
 
Chuck1 said:
They are great cameras
Lensboards are hard to find
I wish they had a graflock back
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I've got a fair bit of experience with CAD and 3D printing, I can probably knock together a lensboard without too much trouble. graflok back is probably a harder ask though
 
Wista 45D. It tends to be overshadowed by the famous Toyo Field, but it allows you to change the bellows as you like (normal, long, wide angle), and if you have a small lens with a number 0 shutter attached to the center of the Linhof board, you can fold the camera with the lens attached.
 
thinkbrown said:
I'm constantly singing the praises of the Mamiya Press despite half the internet not knowing it exists outside the Polaroid version.
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The Mamiya Press Super 23 travels a lot with me with the 6x9 back and the 50mm and 100 f2.8 lenses. A Widelux 7 also gets a lot of use.
 
gordrob said:
The Mamiya Press Super 23 travels a lot with me with the 6x9 back and the 50mm and 100 f2.8 lenses. A Widelux 7 also gets a lot of use.
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I just lugged my Universal with the same kit of lenses all around Nova Scotia
 

Eh... you're not really accounting for the laziness of your average "new to analog" shooter though. If I had a nickel for every post on Reddit analog groups to the effect of "I'm new to film, looking for a good 35mm camera to take pictures of my friends, and sports, and wildlife, and landscapes, and the night sky, and close-ups, what do you recommend?" And then another nickel for every comment underneath from people who have shot film for 4 months, invariably recommending the K1000, AE-1P, and Contax T3... you get the idea.

In that spirit if you define "sleeper camera" as a camera that is very good for popular types of photography and has a disproportionately small user base these days, and/or disproportionately low price... I'd say Canon EOS cameras, anything from the Minolta SR-T lineup, anything by Ricoh, about 2/3s of the manual SLRs produced by Pentax, Olympus, or Canon (anything that isn't a K1000, AE-1, F-1, A-1, or OM-2n)... the list goes on.

I'd also submit for your consideration the Zeiss Ikoflex TLRs. They get no love compared to the Rolleis and Yashicas of the world, but mine has a really excellent Tessar lens and produces beautiful and crisp negatives.
 
Lubitel Universal 166. Put it on a tripod, focus properly, expose at f16, keep the sun off the lens, and it delivers a sharp diffraction limited image like any other good square shooter.
 
Maris said:
Lubitel Universal 166. Put it on a tripod, focus properly, expose at f16, keep the sun off the lens, and it delivers a sharp diffraction limited image like any other good square shooter.
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Until its shutter explodes, which they all do eventually. I got about a year out of mine before the shutter self-destructed. They are notorious for this.
 
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