Have you ever bought a camera just because it was so beautiful?

Well, I've owned this camera twice now.............



................so I guess I personally must think it's a "beautiful" camera, LOL!!!! ~ complete with all it's orignal patina ~ it's staying on in my collection now, I think for a long time :)

1945 Leica IIIC K Grey paint/ US Army Signal Corps camera with original Elmar f3.5/50mm lens.

Enjoy!

Tom
 
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Leica M7s. I had one, hated using rangefinders and sold it. A year later, still entranced by both its beauty and the legacy of images made with Leica-Ms, i bought another one. Sold it later because i still disliked composing with a rangefinder.

Two years later, i try to avoid looking at them.

I probably tried Contaxes because they were beautiful. But, they're also just great, functional cameras with great lenses, so the beauty is incidental.

I still use Nikon film cameras, even though i never liked the associated Nikkor prime lenses in the FLs i use most. I had an F6 for a short period, with only a manual focus 50mm 1.8E to use on it.
 
You bet. A beautiful camera is a sure-fire trigger for GAS. For me, it all began with the Leica M4 and black Nikon F with eye level finder. It lead to Hasselblads, Rolleiflexes, Alpas, and Canon F-1's.
 
hteasley said:
My father is looking for ways to spend his money before he goes, and he just bought me a Lecoultre Compass 35 on ebay, pretty much just because he loves nice watches and recently toured the Lecoultre factory, and he knows I love cameras. It takes a custom roll of 828 film (6 shots instead of 8) so I may not be able to shoot it easily. It's on my mantle now.

I've got some 828 on order with B&H, so I hope to soon see if it works well. If I can't get the roll to load, I have a friend of a friend who may be able to fab me a new spool, and I'll try again.
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If you're able to shoot it, please let me know how it goes. I've always been curious about that camera.
 
Yes. I have a Canon P I have used only once to test it. Now if I had a better lens for it than I have on the Leice CL it might see more use.
 
Roberto V. said:
If you're able to shoot it, please let me know how it goes. I've always been curious about that camera.
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Oh, I'll be posting to the gallery, no doubt. The camera is functional, and it looks like everything will lead to the effective taking of photos, I just need to sort out how to load film. I have color film arriving today, hopefully, but I can't develop that myself, and may need to send it out. I have B&W on backorder, and that may take 2-3 weeks to get here.

I have a theory that I can load unbacked 35mm film onto a spool and shoot that, as long as I do that in a changing bag, and if I thicken up the pressure plate a bit. If I can do that, I'll shoot it a fair bit more than I would otherwise. filmforclassics.com is the source of the 828 film I've ordered, and the B&W is $18 a roll. Not going to be buying more than my initial "let's see if I can shoot this thing" order.

The camera, as I said, is fully functional except the rangefinder. No joy with that, no double image at all. So I'll be zone focusing with it.

The most fascinating feature of the camera is the exposure meter: a strip of glass that get progressively more opaque, and you slide that through the viewfinder. When you see just the subject highlights, you read a number off the scale and set the shutter time. It's amazingly nifty.

Photos of the camera at http://www.flickr.com/photos/harryteasley/sets/72157626965702992/
 
Oh yes. An LHSA M6 that I had no need for. I think it's one of the best looking Leicas out there, along with the MP and M6 Millenium. I finally worked up the gumption to sell it. Darned nice camera.
 
Hassy 503CX. That was one beautiful machine. I just couldn't get the hang of using it, since I do a lot of travel photography. I know other folks get along with it just fine for travel photography, but it didn't work that well for me. I sold it in the end, and picked up a Fuji GA645Wi. Not as cool-looking, but much smaller and easy to use.
 
Every single one. But there are some particularly lovely candidates. F2? M6? Plaubel Makina 67?

Or these two?

rollei35S.jpg


20081105_130916.jpg


The most beautiful of all however, is the SX-70!

20110618_091216.jpg
 
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Have you ever bought a camera just because it was so beautiful?

Yes, of course. All of them, but I think I know what you mean. Aside from my Leica cameras, which I bought for their usability (and being gorgeous is a big part of that usability), I bought a Canon P primarily because it is such a stunningly beautiful camera.



/
 
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