What's Your Favorite Sleeper Vintage Camera?

[donetskiy]

What’s one vintage camera that doesn’t get the praise it deserves — but totally delivers in use or design? I’m digging through a dozen older models right now and would love to hear what stands out for others.

 

[JensH]

What’s one vintage camera that doesn’t get the praise it deserves — but totally delivers in use or design? I’m digging through a dozen older models right now and would love to hear what stands out for others.

The first Rolleiflexes!
Aka Rolleiflex Original, Ur-Rollei or Ur-Rolleiflex, K1 611 to 614.
My most used cameras. Light and quiet, but fragile and does not take 120 film uncapped, nor has it a crank for winding. That's why it is often viewed as
excentric to really put film in...
Fantastic f/4.5 Tessar in the 611 and 613.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/136145166@N02/albums/72157665628017552

 

[AnselMortensen]

Eastman 2D 5x7 and 8x10 view cameras.

 

[Chuck1]

Retina iia rodenstock

 

[thinkbrown]

I'm constantly singing the praises of the Mamiya Press despite half the internet not knowing it exists outside the Polaroid version.

 

[Jim Peterson]

I don't know if it is vintage, But the Mamiya RZ/or RB comes to mind. As well as the Mamyia C330.

 

[cliveh]

Leica II

 

[Kodachromeguy]

A forgotten and inexpensive SLR: Sears KSX Super. Made by Ricoh. Partly black plastic. I recently paid $37.50 for body and 50mm f/1.7 lens. The body uses modern batteries, and the shutter works from 16 sec to 1/1000. The lens (probably a Rikenon) is contrasty with minimal distortion. And yes, of course it is "sharp."

 

[GregY]

Voigtlander Perkeo ll with Color-Skopar lens. A great performer 6x6 in a small package

 

[AZD]

A forgotten and inexpensive SLR: Sears KSX Super. Made by Ricoh. Partly black plastic. I recently paid $37.50 for body and 50mm f/1.7 lens. The body uses modern batteries, and the shutter works from 16 sec to 1/1000. The lens (probably a Rikenon) is contrasty with minimal distortion. And yes, of course it is "sharp."

I have a KSX1000 with 50mm f/2. Lots of plastic and timed shutter speeds of 1/8 to 1/000. But it’s light, the lens is good, and it just works like you’d expect.

Retina iia rodenstock

I’ll settle for my Retina Ib with scale focus Xenar (“Tessar”). Not the most practical camera ever, but certainly usable, and the lens and build quality are excellent. In the 30+ years I have owned it, it has never failed to work.

 

[AnselMortensen]

Nikkormat FT3.
Uses a readily-available battery.
Uses AI or non-AI lenses.
Mechanical shutter.
Battery only operates the meter.

 

[benderscameracorner]

Nikkormat FT3.
Uses a readily-available battery.
Uses AI or non-AI lenses.
Mechanical shutter.
Battery only operates the meter.

All the Nikkormats/Nikomats are underrated - I swear they're every bit as solid/well made as a big-daddy Nikon F. Possibly more solid, as the viewfinder doesn't come off/wiggle around.

Batteries on the earlier models is annoying these days, though weirdly my FTN still has a perfectly functional mercury battery. I have no idea how old it is, the camera was my wife's grandfather's who passed away a decade ago. Camera had been in storage since then until about a year ago, when she gave it to me. He was the kinda guy who probably would stockpile mercury batteries and it may have been first installed well after the eventual ban, but either way that battery is decades old and still delivering perfect exposures.

 

[Paul Howell]

Konica T, T3 and T4. Although the viewfinder is not as bright as others such as Minolta 101, metering is good, lens are excellent and shutter speed automation.

 

[Steven Lee]

What’s one vintage camera that doesn’t get the praise it deserves

That's just not possible in the Internet age. There's no information assymetry to facilitate the existence of such camera. During the pandemic I've gotten into the camera collecting rabbit hole, and what I have found is that a camera online reputation is always remarkably accurate. There are no sleepers.

There are weirdos though. i.e. people who're unexplicably and hopelessly in love with shitty cameras. That's wonderful, but objectively we humans tend to like the same stuff. That's why Leica, Hasselblad and Rolleiflex reign supreme.

 

[thinkbrown]

That's just not possible in the Internet age. There's no information assymetry to facilitate the existence of such camera.

There's an awful lot of groupthink though, and it frequently leads to "oh camera x is bad and unreliable because it's electronic" or "paying $1500 for a contax t2 is a reasonable choice".

but objectively we humans tend to like the same stuff

I couldn't disagree more. If that were the case you wouldn't have a 100+ year history of so many different companies making cameras. Some people are willing to lug around an 8x10 field camera, others really love their little lomography 110 camera. The diversity of tools folks make photographs with is wonderful.

 

[gordonrgw]

Current favourite - and carry-around - is the Zeiss Tenax I - compact. pocketable and 50 frames on 36 exposure 135, only downside is the slightly fiddly aperture control, the rest - the winder, shutter button etc all nicely designed. (It was missing its original take-up reel and my hand-fettled replacement isn't *quite* right yet)

 

[Dan Pavel]

Kodak Medalist II - the most accurate rangefinder I have ever tested in a camera and a lovely lens.

 

[AZD]

Kodak Medalist II - the most accurate rangefinder I have ever tested in a camera and a lovely lens.

If these could use 120 film without modification or re-spooling 120 to 620 reels they would be much more popular. Really solid camera with a stellar lens.

All the Nikkormats/Nikomats are underrated - I swear they're every bit as solid/well made as a big-daddy Nikon F. Possibly more solid, as the viewfinder doesn't come off/wiggle around.

That so many have survived in working condition suggests you are correct. I love my FT2. It sees regular use.

 

[qqphot]

The kodak retina cameras have very good lenses, and are mechanically pretty robust and compact.

 

[xkaes]

What do you mean by "vintage"? For some, it means "film", for others it means "manual focusing", for others it means "manual exposure". And for others it means a year, decade, or era of manufacturing.

 

[GRHazelton]

I really enjoy my Konica IIIa. It has an excellent f1.8 lens, a really convenient front mounted advance "lever," and a truly stellar viewfinder: 1 to 1 projected frame, parallax corrected, and with compensation for shrinking coverage! Even the Leica M3 didn't have that feature. See Dante Stella's comments on the Konica IIIa here: https://www.dantestella.com/technical/koni3.html

 

[Chuck1]

I've been eying those lately

 

[Sirius Glass]

What’s one vintage camera that doesn’t get the praise it deserves — but totally delivers in use or design? I’m digging through a dozen older models right now and would love to hear what stands out for others.

Welcome to Photrio!

I have enjoyed using 120 folder cameras over the years.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

Just about every film camera could be considered vintage at this point. The last cameras made by the big manufacturers are fantastic and completely ignored. I have several of them all bought for peanuts. Canon Rebel T2 being a favorite. Nikon N80, Canon Elan 7, Etc. A little Rebel T2 with a pancake lens is absolutely fantastic to carry around. Weighs less than my Leicas and you can't tell the difference in the prints.

For older cameras the one that stands out to me is the Canon 7. Practically the equal of the Leicas of the time but it seems like no one wants them.

There are so many good cameras though.