Best 35mm Camera. Ever.

[Paul T.]

To reply to the OP, there is no such thing as a single best camera: only the best camera for a given application and for a given photographer.

Cheers,

R.

Well, Kirsty will certainly never have you on Desert Island Discs, Roger!

 

[Viktor Sebastian]

Not really -- and I've been using 'em almost 40 years, on three continents, travelling by motorcycle, Land Rover, Jeep, train, bus, air, foot...so I have some idea of what I'm talking about. Never banged a rangefinder out of alignment, either.

R.

Funny, I have already done it three times... and the worst part is, there is no body anywhere that can service it on the road • Everytime the answer is to send it to solms. :bang:

 

[Jack Conrad]

The best? I don't know... I haven't tried them all.

My favorite so far is the F3, the Konica III, the Konica FC-1, and the Konica C35, so I'd probably like the Hexar AF. Those Hexinon lenses are cheapskate awesomeness. I just need to find one in the bargain bin at the thrift store.

 

[santela]

Agreed.

Until mine's vertical alignment got worse and worse...

My Leica M7 is no match, so I guess I'm gonna be counting on the Zeiss Ikon, which I don't own yet own.

 

[cosmonaut]

My M3 is by far the smoothest I have ever owned.

 

[Samouraï]

I love my M3, but I found one in great mechanical condition. Before I even had a lens for it (now a 50sumDR), I got the chance to handle a few others, and none of them felt as solid as mine. Youxin Ye told me it was previously cla'd by a woman who doesn't work on Lecias so much anymore. Mine is no. 999,976 or within 25 of that number.

 

[Tessar.]

In no particular order. Nikon F or Leica M2 or Konica Hexar AF.

 

[raid]

Konica Hexar AF

I sold the Silver and the Black, and I am still very hapy with the camrea sthat I have. I did not appreciate at all the small buttons and the automatic functions in the Hexar. I prefer the Hexar RF to the AF, for example. The 35mm lens is not my prime choice of focal lengths. This is also a major problem (for me) with the Hexar AF camera.

This is not "the best 35mm camera" at all (in my opinion).
It has many fans, but these fans do not make up the majority of 35mm camera users, I think.

 

[raid]

My M3 is by far the smoothest I have ever owned.

I agree with this statement. I have been using side by side the M3 and the M6 for the past weeks, and there is a difference in how smooth and perfect the M3 seems to be. The Hexar AF is a "kiddo" compared with the M3.

 

[Benjamin Marks]

F4 and M6 -- just have to limit to what I know. If someone wants to send me an F6, I would be happy to re-evaluate my world view.

 

[nobbylon]

I had an F100 for a while and thought it couldn't be better... until I picked up an F5.

When I hear "best" with no qualifications, I think of the relevant camera that does it's job (to take pictures) most effectively - a workhorse, basically. To that end, the F6 and EOS 1V came too late in the game, so it would have to be the Nikon F5 - long production life, very effective journalistic camera.

Of course if you are a camera manufacturer, your definition is probably centered around number of sales or profit, in which case maybe it would be something like the Canon AE-1? 🙄

just sold my F100 as it got no use whatsoever since I got the F5. F100 is good and does pretty much the same as the F5 but feels cheap in comparison 😀

 

[shadowfox]

Ricoh GR1s

I still can't, for the life of me, figure out how they are able to cram a full-frame sensor into that little thing. 🙂

 

[Fraser]

Eos 1v or M2

 

[horosu]

Simple: Leica MP 😉

 

[heliographer]

In my case, Leica M2.

Runners up (in order of preference):

Leica M4
Voigtlander Bessa T
Nikon 8008s
Nikon F3 (NOT HP & with red dot focusing screens)
Olympus XA
Olympus mju II/Stylus Epic
Nikon F2
Nikkormat FT2

 

[Gary Sandhu]

If I interpret this question to be which of my cameras I find to be the best , it ends up being a super hard question to answer.
Skipping past all the qualifications ... And limiting myself to 35mm and film...
I guess I would maybe pick the Minolta tc-1 overall.

But if I could pick a few more in different weight categories, they would be :
Nikon fm3a
Leica MP
Nikon f6

 

[JohnTF]

Well, have to leave all digital out, the question was "35 mm" right?

35mm Cameras that have felt good and given me confidence and results that allowed me to concentrate most fully on what I am shooting-- Nikon F3, N90s, and Contax G2.

The Contax G2 with three lenses and two bodies represent a terrific serious travel-- and compact one-case shooting kit. I might have to sneak in a Bessa L with a 12mm CV, but it does not take much space and really is a special use item.

Cameras owned, probably TNTC. Leicas, from my Avatar to M9.

Regards, John

 

[dabick42]

Best 35mm camera. Ever ?

That's a toughie.
I can't pin down one particular camera as best overall.
I regularly use Nikon F and F3, Canon F1, Leica M3 and MDa / Viso, 111G and 111 F, Voigtlander Prominent and Pentax M42.

These are the 35mm cameras I have left after 50 years spent searching for the ever-elusive perfect camera.
I'm happy to use any one of these any time.
They're all good tools and they all give very satisfactory results.

What more can a photographer ask for...?

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

The best camera ever? Might not be the most fully featured. And, might not be the most popular.

In my case, the best were the small SLRs, the Nikon FE and FE2. It was Olympus that gave the nudge with the OM series, but OMs never felt quite as nice in use as the FE/FE2. Once I got these cameras, I never used by F2 again. None of the autofocus bodies (except possibly the F100) feel as good.

As for cameras that might not have been so popular, I recently got a couple of Yashica FR1's for chump change based on tips here. They were not in the running for me when new, but I can see now that these are awfully nice cameras. The Contax SLRs must be very nice as well.

 

[Cyriljay]

I had tried several and now what I have is the best,

F5
X-Pan 11
M6
M8:

...D😀😀