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If You Could Keep Just One Classic Camera?


mjferron

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I may have already replied in this thread eons ago.. Having suffered GAS and a 35 year obsession with "old" cameras . I just wonder what'S the point here..If you're marooned on desert island you're f-d anyway and you can'T take it with you... My dream setup has always been the Contax IIa with the 21mm Biogon. I still don't have a Biogon...which has to be the later version to fit and of course would be coated etc too. I am a one man one lens shooter, though I may own alternate lenses, you can only shoot "one" . So I seem at the moment to like very much the Werra / Flektogon. I noted at least three Ultron posts.. I need to shoot my Ultron ..
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I may have already replied in this thread eons ago.. Having suffered GAS and a 35 year obsession with "old" cameras . I just wonder what'S the point here..If you're marooned on desert island you're f-d anyway and you can'T take it with you... My dream setup has always been the Contax IIa with the 21mm Biogon. I still don't have a Biogon...which has to be the later version to fit and of course would be coated etc too. I am a one man one lens shooter, though I may own alternate lenses, you can only shoot "one" . So I seem at the moment to like very much the Werra / Flektogon. I noted at least three Ultron posts.. I need to shoot my Ultron ..

There's only one version of the 21 mm Biogon for Contax RF cameras--the f/4.5 coated version that came out in 1954. You're thinking of the 35 mm focal length where the pre-war version won't mount on the post war Contax IIa and IIIa bodies.

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"There's only one version of the 21 mm Biogon for Contax RF cameras--the f/4.5 coated version that came out in 1954. You're thinking of the 35 mm focal length where the pre-war version won't mount on the post war Contax IIa and IIIa bodies."

 

I am indeed. I thought there were 21mm pre-war versions too. I am quite sure there are 35mm "coated" versions as well as 21mm. The Jupiter 13s are plentiful :)

But I guess that'S just not the same now is it? :)

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There are pre war Biogons that are coated, as well as post war from Jena as well that won't mount on a IIa or IIIa. The Zeiss Opton or later Carl Zeiss versions that are coated and were redesigned specifically to fit the IIa and IIIa, but the only thing wider than 35 mm before WW II was the 28 mm f/8 Tessar. It was also uncoated and I'm not aware of any coated versions, although they may be out there. It will fit a Contax IIa/IIIa, and is practically a pancake lens in terms of size. It isn't RF coupled, but with a maximum aperture of f/8 that isn't a huge handicap. The Jupiter
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I am surprised there is not one mention of any of the Leica M models...?

I just skimmed the thread, there were two mentions of 'M' Leicas and two of screw mount (one poster had screw mount as first choice, M as second).

 

With 50 odd posters (I haven't counted), is this a tacit admission from Leicaphiles that there are actually other cameras they prefer, if it really came to only keeping one?

 

There were a fair few other rangefinders mentioned, but nowhere near the expected number of Leicas.

 

Maybe they're too mechanically perfect, lacking in charm?

 

(Tongue firmly in cheek, for the hard of reading. I'd love an M2)

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...

 

With 50 odd posters (I haven't counted), is this a tacit admission from Leicaphiles that there are actually other cameras they prefer, if it really came to only keeping one?

 

...

LOL - I was just wondering if I would choose an M or my Nikon FE2, but now I feel forced into a corner and must choose a Leica ;)

Tough choice between my M2 and M6, but I think the convenience of a lightmeter will be the deciding factor.

50168595133_e653c3a3f4_c.jpg

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Niels
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I am surprised there is not one mention of any of the Leica M models...?

Sir, I mentioned "M4-P" (admittedly as a plan B, in case we weren't allowed digitals on the side) already on page 1.

is this a tacit admission from Leicaphiles that there are actually other cameras they prefer, if it really came to only keeping one?
Leicaphilia is a digitally scratchable itch these days...

And if it gets down to ONE(!) camera, wouldn't it be smart to get the best with a great zoom range? You can't shoot primes, while you juggle them.

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Despite still owning my first serious camera, a Konica 1, a gift from my dad with great sentimental value, it would be my first button rewind Leica M2, though I'd want the 5th gen Summicron 50/2 rather than the original 50/2 Dual range. The DR was a good lens, but I'll go modern on that.

 

If the camera was ONLY going to sit in a display case, it would be the Contarex Bullseye which was a trial to use but awfully pretty.

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If my Contax RTS 1 (or the RTS 2) still worked, I might alternately consider that. It's such an ergonomic masterpiece. Sadly, old cameras are often hard to keep in service, especially early electronic ones. My RTS III is barely hanging on. Second gens are much better, the Contax Aria seems fine for the foreseeable future. I always thought the OM1 and 2s were in that same jewel like category. My friend used an OM1 while I had a SR-T-101 and then a XE-5.
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