Looking back to 1959, what camera would you buy?

Mike Gammill · May 25, 2015

If cost was no object, a Nikon F (for SLR) or a Leica M2. If on a budget a Praktica FX-3 for SLR or a Ricoh 500. If I wanted medium format a Hasselblad 500 C or on a budget a Yashicamat.

MTC Photography · May 25, 2015

What I actually used was Leica IIIf and Contaflex I

robert_marvin · May 25, 2015

What I ACTUALLY bought in 1959 (or maybe early 1960) was a Yashica YF. This wasn't a bad choice–really a Nicca, it combined a Leica screw mount with a copy of a Leica M body. The YF was my first interchangeable lens camera and provided a lot of bang for the buck. It's only fault was a very short-stroke, highly geared film advance lever. The film advance mechanism needed repair during the warranty period. I replaced it with a used Canon VI T body a couple of years later which, IMO is a far more reliable camera. I think the Yashica is a fairly rare and costly collectable now, so perhaps I should have kept it, but I really don't miss it at all. What I SHOULD have bought was a Rolleiflex. I still use the 2.8E I bought used a few years later as my main camera.

anthony_brookes5 · May 25, 2015

A Corfield Periflex - the poor man's Leica. I bought one. Marvellous.

Glenn McCreery · May 25, 2015

I was in high school in 1959, and paying off the purchase a used Canon IV-Sb with a Leica Elmar lens that the local camera store was holding for me. It replaced my well used Argus C3. The Canon and lens cost me $90, and I made payments from my lawn mowing, etc. jobs for at least six months. In retrospect, since all my photos were home developed black and white, I would have been happier with the results if I bought a (well)used Rolleiflex or Rolleicord.

Karim Ghantous · May 26, 2015

It would depend on subject matter. So, if I was a commercial or fashion or portrait photographer, I'd pick the Hasselblad, no question - though I love TLRs, too. But for photojournalism, concerts or sporting events, the Leica M3.

murray_kelly · May 26, 2015

That year I was still at university and had worked my way to a Contaflex via a Retina Ia.

The very next year (60) that went for a Yashica Pentamatic which served well for over 10 tears.

What would I have bought with cost as no obstacle? Never entered my student pauper's mind :-( My friend bought a second hand Leica and it capped so I wasn't attracted that way and having gotten over MF perhaps I would have bought a Minox. I was having a lot of fun with a Minolta16 so maybe I'd've gone that way.