What do you think is the best used camera today/price-performance wize?

[ChrisPlatt]

I have noticed that used Nikon F2 bodies are priced very reasonably nowadays.

Chris

 

[Pál_K]

And what, pray tell, could possibly be wrong with having your camera room look like a Nikon retail store? It's a point of honor! 😊

That was over 25 years ago and I have a lot more brands besides Nikon in the room now.

What successfully stopped my buying obsession was the deliberate thought that I should not buy yet another camera that I already own, and instead let someone else discover and enjoy it.

One camera that I wanted when I first saw ads for it in the 1970’s was the Mamiya Sekor Auto XTL. A few years ago I saw one at a camera show. I was really disappointed - the viewfinder was so small and dark. The magic was gone. As they say, “don‘t meet your heroes.”

 

[Contarama]

As they say, “don‘t meet your heroes.”

Maybe that's why I've never bought a Leica??? 🤔

 

[Godfrey]

You folks are making me nostalgic for my Nikons. I lived with a Nikon F Photomic FTn for seven years (middle high school through the end of College), had Nikons again for a huge bit of my life from the early '80s to early '00s. And somewhere around 2010, I rescued an early plain-prism F from one of my Pentax friends' basement where it was rotting, had it overhauled, and have it and two lenses now .. my last Nikon gear. I'll have to pull it out tomorrow for a portrait, and maybe run a roll of film through it again.

I had an F2 plain prism for a year or so back in the middle '80s, but the F is/was my favorite. 😀

G

 

[Dogman]

I still have the first F2 I ever bought new--a black plain prism model in 1974. And the last F2 I bought--an F2A. Both are beat to hell from being overworked. They were my favorite all time cameras for decades despite my using various Leica, Olympus and Canon models as well as newer Nikon models. Today they're just sentimental value for me. I'll never use them again but I'll never get rid of them either.

 

[splitimageview]

I got my F2a in 1979 when I was 18. Still have it. Sent it to Sover about five years ago to freshen it up, it's ready for another 40+ years. I'm not. 😛

 

[Godfrey]

You folks are making me nostalgic for my Nikons. I lived with a Nikon F Photomic FTn for seven years (middle high school through the end of College), had Nikons again for a huge bit of my life from the early '80s to early '00s. And somewhere around 2010, I rescued an early plain-prism F from one of my Pentax friends' basement where it was rotting, had it overhauled, and have it and two lenses now .. my last Nikon gear. I'll have to pull it out tomorrow for a portrait, and maybe run a roll of film through it again.
...

Here it is:

Early Nikon F "Plain Prism" - Santa Clara 2023
iPhone 11 Pro
Moment Camera - DNG output
ISO 250 @ f/2 @ 1/70 @ 6mm lens​

Enjoy! G

 

[DownUnder]

Maybe it was Mark Hansen? Mark Hansen's Classic Camera Blog He also doesn't think much of Leicas; on the contrary, the Contax is king in his opinion. I got a Rolleiflex T maybe two years ago and find it a lovely camera to use. But I like the Rolleicords a lot also.

But as to the subject of the thread, I'm not convinced a camera is truly a "bargain" unless it's $100 or less. That's just the cheapskate in me talking. So in that regard, a Nikon F100, N90s, N80 for well under $100 is a spectacular bargain, when you consider how competent those cameras are. Some guy near me has an N90s with Nikkor 28-105 for $60. Very tempted.

Here I go again, late in the piece as usual, defending the Rollei TLRs. Both the 'flex and the 'cord. Horses for courses, as they say.

The Rolleiflex Ts (I own two) are fiddly but give beautiful mid-tones. The Rolleicords are indestructible and just on giving good images. Harry F may well dislike them because they never break down and he doesn't make any $$ repairing them... 🙀

The Rollers are amazing cameras. The Ts have an accessory 16 exposure kit which is great for ad hoc landscapes. The 'cord has both a 16 exposure kit AND a 24 exposure kit, the two kits give horizontal images and Rolleis must be the one and only such camera to do this.

Mark Hansen must have his reasons for not working on Rolleis (maybe a spare parts issue?), but to my mind it's his loss. I have a Rolleiflex 3.5E2 I bought new in 1966. Has been serviced one time only, in 2001 in Melbourne. It cost me $195 and the repairman (a wizard German with a small shop behind the iconic Windsor Hotel in the CBD) CLA'd it and fixed the shutter speeds to perfection. Even 23 years later the 1 second clicks spot-on.

I would be using these cameras a great deal more if the cost of 120 roll film in AUS wasn't more an investment than a purchase.