Cameras you are nostalgic about but never owned

What camera(s) are you nostalgic about but never owned?

 

I'll start with one: Topcon Super D.

 

Actually, I recently owned a Super D for a few days but had to send it back

because it was defective.

One of the really nice Rollei TLR's. I had a Yashica and a Mamiya TLR, but it wasn't quite the same.

Nikon F-1

None. And I don't feel nostalgia for cameras I've owned and disposed of as gifts, trade goods, or garbage.

Canham wood 8x10 -- although I think desire is a more accurate word choice than nostalgia.

I'll be the first pedant to point out that Geoff probably meant 'Nikon F'. The F-1 was a series of three Canon cameras.

 

Sometimes I look at the date codes on my old cameras and think about what I was doing when they were made. But that's a different question.

An Alpa, either a 6c or 9d--back when ordinary people could own them. A Tele-Rolleiflex. Any Linhof field camera. A IIIg Leica.

Leica M 3, Nikon SP, Contax D, that 2-1/4 X 3-1/4 Linhof w/o a bellows, Omega 120....

Nicephore Niepces little black box - where would we be without it ?

Kodak Medalist II, Konica Hexar (couldn't afford them then, can't justify the cost now).

Any of the Nikon S series would be cool, or a vintage Contax rangefinder. Or anything I could hang a Canon 50 mm f 0.95 on. That's such a neat chunk of glass.

 

Alan, I would recommend another try at Topcon SuperD--my all time favorite, I have and use a couple of them plus many of their fine lenses.

Nikon SP. The problem is, I can always find something better to do w/$1200.

Rollei TLR, Blad SWC.

Until I started collecting classic cameras, I always wanted a Kodak Retinette. Not because it was such a great, high quality camera, but it was what my dad used on all of our family vacations. Dad always got excellent pictures with his Retinette, and that camera always seemed so much more sophisticated than my Instamatics I was using that I always wanted one. Now that I've got all kinds of Kodak Retinas, folding and Reflexes, the Retinette doesn't seem quite so sophisticated, but that one that sits on my Dad's bookshelf is still very special and dear, and I may still try to acquire one just because. All of the other cameras that I thought were cool in my earlier days I've since acquired; that's not as impressive as it sounds because I just didn't know much about cameras. Now if the original question was "Classic cameras you've learned about and would like to own...", well that's a different story.

Any Alpa, a Leica 111G and yeh, maybe one of those platinum Rollei 2.8's!

 

Tony

Oh, I forgot to mention the Diax 1b like my dad used in the fifties, still have lots of Kodachromes from that beast. I actually have just picked up the Diax which works really well, so might make it the camera for Feb.

 

I see Andy has the same feelings about his dad's camera, so can't wait to give the Diax an airing.

 

Tony

Kodak Ektra, Super 620, and Bantam Special. Also a Bolex H16 Rex that I just missed out on when I waited too long to make up my mind.

This is a terrific thread.<P>I've actually been lucky enough to own many great cameras over the last 60 years. Mostly I miss some of the cameras that I lost many years ago in two separate burglaries: a LTM Stemar set hurt the most. And once I was just back from a trip, and they got away with my bag holding a new Nikon F3HP, Canon F-1AE, and Pentax LX, and several great lenses.<P>The only things that I'd really like right now are a Plaubel Makina 670, and Gandolfi 5x7.

Leica 111g or late nikon range finder. You lot are so lucky in the States. A Nikon SP for $1200!! They would be twice that here and a 111g would start at $2000.

A 1969 copy of modern photography shows a body only Leica IIIg as 129 bucks used; a Leica M3 for 39 bucks; a IIIc for 27 bucks; a 5cm F2 LTM Nikkor for 9 bucks. IIIg's have always been expensive; even when folks traded in their Leicas and added cash to buy a Petri slr in the late 1960's.

Argus C-3 brick. Plebian enough but as an engineer I appreciate all that outside gearing. One of these days I may pick one up; they are fairly plentiful if I look.

I would be interested in having a Leica IIIg and a Hasselblad SWC wide angle camera, plus a Linhof 617 panorama camera with lenses. The IIIg was the masterpiece by Leica designers,and its craftmanship is timeless. The SWC would be a great camera for landscape photography. It is basic, with a fixed lens, and it is awesome because of the distortion free lens. The Linhof is a speciality camera that would allow me truely awesome photos with 6x17 dimensions and amazing lens quality.

 

These are my dream cameras.

Meopta Optiflex TLR. There suppose to be as rare as hens teeth, I've seen it in a book and immediately thought about the fact it must be a great camera to own and use. I would kill to get my hands on one.

That cool old German camera called a "Robot". I think it used 35mm, and had a wind up spring motor drive. Saw one at a photo flea market back in the 80's for around $100.00. Too steep for me back then.

Lecia CL,M2M,any nikon S, SP,S3,S4 w/80mm 1.5 and 50mm 1.1 I,ll Find one one day at a bargin like I found my F2S for a hundred dollars.