Balance, ergonomics an extension of you!!!

[Mongo Park]

Regardless of camera type that you favour for particular styles of photography, be it street, available light, landscape, portrait, surreptitious etc etc - have you found a camera that just feels right when you grab hold of it? If and when this happens I'm certain it must add to the quality of shots that you take. In my case I've recently returned to using my Leica R6.2 with half case after a lengthy foray into rangefinders - M2, M6TTL and Contax IIA, and it just feels bang on right - and I've been blowing away film like there's no tomorrow. Which camera does it for you?

 

[emasterphoto]

Hmmm . . . my Nikon D3 is that way. I'm always amazed how a camera that size can drop into the background so effortlessly and transparently when out shooting. It just doesn't get in the way, so I'm more attuned to my work and can concentrate better.

My rangefinders, for as much as I like them, always are a bit distracting and I rarely get my best work when using them, though I still enjoy them anyway.

 

[gavinlg]

Funnily enough I feel that way with my 5d. I've been using a 5d (have had 2) for probably 4 years now, and it feels second nature to my hands. I can do anything I need to do on that camera with my eyes closed. The other camera that is very much an extension of my hand is the OM1 and OM2 - I don't think about what I'm doing when I use them.

 

[nikon_sam]

Nikon F5...it feels right no matter which lens is on it...

 

[Keith]

Maitani's dream ... the Olympus OM-1.

It just nestles into the hands with everything at your fingertips ... with little need to take it from your eye as you adjust focus, aperture and shutter speed!

 

[Mablo]

My Nikon F100 comes to mind. I get more keepers per roll with it than with any other camera I have. Once I tried my friend's F5 and it felt surprisingly good in my hand(s) as well. I just wish they would both be a bit smaller, not lighter but definitively smaller.

 

[raydm6]

M6 Classic w/35 Summicron (v4). Camera nestled in my left palm: left index finger to focus/adjust aperture; right index finger to trip shutter; thumb to rewind. 🙂

 

[thegman]

My ZI maybe, but perhaps that's just because I've had it the longest and use it the most.

 

[jsrockit]

Leica M always feels right to me... followed by the Leica X1.

 

[GSNfan]

For me its the Nikon Fm2n. Even though I cannot stand its loud mirror slap in my hands it feels natural. With RFs, I'm comfortable with almost all of them, but I prefer the focus tab in some of the fixed lens RFs.

I have lusted after R6.2 for long time now, but its has pretty formidable competition from Nikon Fm3a. Right now I cannot justify neither due to the fact that I don't need them.

 

[John Lawrence]

I've always found my Leica M cameras to feel 'just right'. If I was being super picky then I'd have to say that I find my M2 just a weeny bit more 'just right' to hold than my M6 TTL.

John

 

[hexiplex]

Leica M4-P, Leica IIIf and the Klasse W all feel "just right" to me. The IIIf felt a bit small at first, but now, I just get the most solid grip of that little marvel. I can hold it loose, I can hold it like a vice... Just so many little bobs to lean your pressure on.