Classic camera and lens, which one if only one or which one is your best

for the fun of it.... I know it goes against the collecting/using grain, but which classic

camera and lens would you keep if you could only keep one. Or to put it another way

which one, as in which camera and lens is your best? Please explain why.

 

Is it the ergonomics? the lens? the simplicity and ease of repair? is it because it was your

first camera or one given to you by a relative or is it the one you wanted but couldn't

afford when it and you were young?

I've got a couple of old Nikkormats, one is an FT2 and the other an FT3, that are built like tanks. They may not qualify as "classics" in the sense that both were probably built post 1970, but there it is. Nikkor glass, especially the manual focus stuff, is extremely good and relatively affordable.

My Medalist II.

That's a nasty question. Nasty!! It sort of presupposes that your classic cameras are a luxury adjunct to your regular photography. In my case, my main camera is a good ol' Nikon F, a Photomic FTn, so I suppose I'd have to keep that, and probably the 50/2 AI lens, if nobody notices that it's a little too new for classic status. Otherwise, perhaps the 105/2.5 which I think is just on the classic cusp.

 

Reasons? Because it is still a great camera and does almost everything well. It is the camera I craved for a long time before I could afford one (in fact, the first time I saw an F I wanted one), bought before I could afford one, and have kept long after I could afford newer.

 

I am, of course, assuming that cash value is not a criterion here, and that we're not allowed to cheat and keep the most pricey one so we can sell it and get multiple replacements. If that's the case, then of course I'll keep my very pretty and clean Leica IIIb, with the rather ugly Summar lens, sell it and buy a fresh F or F2 and some more glass.

If it had to be one, I'd probably go back to where I started, my Topcon Super D (which I bought used at Olden Camera in the early 1970's), but with the 58mm f:1.4 lens I got recently, rather than the 58mm f:1.8 lens I bought it with. I'd sure miss the 85mm f:1.8 lens, but if there's only one, that's the most general purpose camera I have. It's the most likely to retain film availability, and the lens is the fastest one I have.

A dangerous question.

 

For us, the Topcon Super D or Super DM is the camera of choice. Built like a tank, excellent lenses, good range of accessories, and fully manual. I introduced my wife to Topcons when we met and had to buy another because she immediately adopted my Topcon Super D. She has six Topcon Super DMs and allows me to use some of them.

 

We are biologists and make a lot of wild flower images. Thus, the lens of choice is the Macro Topcor. Excellent macro lens and good for landscapes, our other photographic pleasure. Living in the Great Basin desert of Utah improves the opportunities.

Hmm. For what I'm doing, two cameras are necessary. I think I have more-or-less the right two for me. 2x3 Pacemaker Speed Graphic for lenses in barrel and long lenses, Century Graphic (2x3 Crown would have done as well) for lenses too short to focus on the Speed. Bracketry to combine the two into one long camera that will focus lenses as long as 480 mm.

 

Just one lens? Are you nuts? What's the point of having systems cameras if you can't use more than one lens? Some of my lenses were made no later than 1970, others later. Most of the later ones are, I think, process lenses. Much the same as similar pre-1970 lenses.

 

The most wonderful of my lenses is, on the whole, a 47/5.6 Super Angulon. Next most wonderful, and second only because it doesn't cover 2x3, is my 38/4.5 Biogon. To use it is to love it.

 

Why use 2x3 Graphics? They're reasonably well-supported quite flexible systems cameras that shoot a format I like. Yes, they can be a pain to use at times, but that's the price I pay for low cost and flexibility.

 

Why use the lenses I do? They're all better than good enough, they were all affordable.

Topcoflex. Decent camera with a decent lens. Why I like it?

 

Because it looks cool.

Leica IIIc with Summitar 50/2

It varies from time to time - at present it is a Nikon f2 with 50mm f2 (OK so its 1971, but it harks back to a earlier time) and before that it was a Pentacon six, but the longest love affairs I have had had have been with my Leica IIIa and Summitar f2, and a 1947 Crown Graphic with a 150mm Xenar lens - both are still going on despite occasional infidelities with new purchases................

 

Nick

Zeiss Super Ikonta A. Tiny camera, big negative.

Pentax Spotmatic with Super Takumar 50mm f1.4 because it is very close to the model of SLR I first used. Simple, elegant, fits the hand.

 

The lens I first had was either a 50mm f2.0 or f1.8, can't remember which.

 

I would also consider the Contaflex Super B with Pro Tessar 2.8 50mm, for solid, quality feel and lens quality.

 

From a purely sentimental view, and not exactly classic, the Nikon FM and AI 50mm f2.0, which my late Dad bought as he tried to get into photography after he retired. I remember going to the camera store with him to buy it.

Of my pre-1970 stuff, it would probably have to be the Minolta Autocord. Contax II and Praktisix have the advantage of interchangeable lenses, but the reliability concerns that come with the greater complexity. Hard choice though. It gets easier after 1972, the Olympus OM1 trumps them all.

I'd keep my Nikon F with plain prism and pair it with my 85F1.8 Nikkor lens. Why? Because it will last for ever, looks good, takes superb photos and it was used in one of my favourite movies "Blow Up".<div></div>

This is a tough one, Bill. I have several Leica screwmounts, an M3, multiple Retina's, Vitessa's, but I think my choice woule be a Voigtlander Vito III, a gorgeouse camera that definately belongs to the classic era.<div></div>

Probably my Olympus OM-1. It's just so reliable and easy to use. Hey, I'm lazy!

My OM-1<div></div>

I'd keep my Rolleiflex 3.5E Planar. It's more portable and easier to hand hold than most of my other medium format rigs, and I love to use it. It's not just my favorite among my classic cameras, the Rollei is the camera I would choose among all of my cameras, modern and vintage, if I could have only one.

Horror, just to think of being allowed only to keep one camera. Got so many nice ones, some of it I would like to keep just to look at (the 1920s plate cameras are very beautiful), some to work with but it's going to be either my Yashica D TLR or my 1968 Hasselblad 500C. Only one lens? Hhmm, for the Hasselblad: 80mm for general, 50mm for cities and landscapes and 150mm for portraits.<br><br>Don't ask this kind of questions anymore, it doesn't make me more happy, just want to keep 'em all<br><br>Oh, and I'm not a "real" collector, it just has happened that I've bought a few beatiful items and I currently only own a little more than 40 cameras. That's not a collection, right? :o)

<br><br>

Mischa - <a href="http://www.3106.net/photo/cameras.htm">No, this-is-not-a-collection</a>.

I would go along with the votes for the Nikon F and F2 (and assorted Nikkormats) but I've owned them since new and it is difficult for me to think of them as "classic". Indeed they haven�t been supplanted by my F3 and F4.

 

My vote therefore would go to the Contax IIa which has been my standard 35mm RF outfit since I sold off my Leica M6 bodies and lenses some ten years ago. The Contax IIa has all I value as the ultimate "classic camera": history, great workmanship and quality, fine lenses yet still suitable for modern use.

Folks, we're straying a bit. Lotta post-1970 favorites out there.

Aaaaargghhhh! If you twisted my arm then it would have to be my M3 with the 50mm Sumicron because it really is (just) the nicest camera to use. Could I keep the 90 as well?<div></div>

Tough question! I wobbled between my Nikon Ftn 1.4'50 and my Pentax/Spotmatic/H1a.....probably H1A with 1.4 Super Tak...Very simple, no meter, light weight great lens!

No Way, Jose!

Contarex Planar 50 mm F2