Cameras you bond with, or that have "soul"

[YouAreHere]

The Minolta CLE is an easy choice for me.

Work in progress: Nikon SP, Leica M3, Leica C, Plaubel Makina 67W, Canon L1.

Waiting in the wings: Hexar AF, Nicca 3L, Agfa Clack.

 

[gavinlg]

Bonded with:
Nikon f3hp
Leica m6
Olympus OM1n
Olympus MJUII
Pentax 67
Fuji x100
Fuji x-pro1
Canon 5d mk1
Hassy 501cm

Just a tool:
Fujifilm x-t1

Didn't bond with:
Nikon FM2n
Nikon d300
Olympus e-p1/e-3
Epson R-d1
Contax G1
Canon 5d mkIII
Sigma DP-1s

 

[aizan]

i like all of them. i'm the casanova of cameras. 🙂

 

[michaelwj]

Bonded:
Leica film M's - to me they're all so similar.

Not Bonded:
Everything else I've tried; ALL compacts, Nikon SLRs, Nikon DSLRs, Minolta SLRs.

I find it interesting how some people seem to react to the subtleties. For instance, bond with an M2/6 but not M3; bond with F5, not with F6, etc... "It's a fine line between pleasure and pain..."

 

[Ronald_H]

Camera's that I tend to bond with are usually very fit for purpose and/or have an instinctive UI

Bonded:

Nikon FM > simple, sturdy, always good results.
Nikon FM10 > it may be plastic, but looking at ergonomics this is the best camera ever. Punches way above its weight.
Olympus Mju-II > A true, foolproof, blazing fast point & shoot.
Polaroid 195 > knobs, levers galore, yet easy to understand, use and love.
Nikon D70 > My first digital workhorse, practically was married to it.
Olympus PEN EE-3 > So lovely and retro and simple, has no right to work this well, but it does.
Minolta Dynax 7 > The best 35mm camera I have ever used, manages to pull off that very difficult trick of merging high-tech with a great UI. Besides, world class auto focus.
Yashica Mat 124 > Fantatstic lens, surprisingly easy to use, portable medium format.
Canon Canonet GIII QL17 > Quintessential small rangefinder, extremely well suited to my style of photography, impossibly good lens for the price.
Polaroid SX-70 > Weird yet sexy, great concept.

Not bonded:

Sony NEX-3 > Odd ergonomics, terrible UI. Good results though.
Nikon D600 > Great sensor, but feels big and clunky. Unforgiveably poor auto focus with older 'screwdriver' lenses. Impossibly long winded menus.
Olympus XA > Too small and fiddly and fragile.
Werra 3 > Just too weird.
Fuji Instax 210 > Oversized, clunky, primitive.
Hasselblad 500 C/M > Wonderful engineering and results, but ergonomics were not considered. Clunky.


As for my Leica M2, I am on the fence. It is a solid and beautiful camera, capable of great results. But is also fragile and slow. In my mind it is no match for any decent mechanical Nikon SLR. Heresy, I know.

 

[CMur12]

I'm not sure I've had a camera that I really didn't like.

Questionable: I used these for travel and loved them for this purpose. Otherwise, I never use them.

Olympus 35 RC
Vivitar 35 ES
Canon GIII QL 17

Bonded to TLRs: I love TLRs and I have Minolta Autocords, Mamiyas, Rolleis, Yashicas, and a Ricoh. In order of bonding:

1. Minolta Autocords, especially the CdS-III
2. Mamiya C330f, C220 plus lenses and accessories
3. Rolleiflexes (T and 3.5f)
4. Yashica-Mat EM, D, and Ricohflex

Bonded to 35mm: I really like Minolta manual-focus prime lenses and SLRs, though I'm probably more bonded to the lenses than I am to the cameras. In no particular order:

Minolta SR-T 101
Minolta SR-T 102
Minolta X-570 + Autowinder

An Anglefinder greatly facilitates use of these SLRs on a tripod.

- Murray

 

[joe bosak]

Lomo LCA

Too soon to tell with Fuji X100T, Olympus Pen EPL7, Lumix LX7 but maybe.

 

[JP Owens]

Interesting thread.

I can't think of a camera I've ever "bonded" with. They have always been tools for me, and I've tried to use, over the decades, the tool that seemed most effective at getting the job done at the time.

In general, I just want a camera that gets out of my way, or can be set up to get out of my way, when I'm taking photos.

While I've used Canon DSLR's, for example, since the first one, I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with them because even when set to full manual, they still override my decisions. Engineers have decided I'm too stupid to know what I want, so they have decided to "protect" me from myself. Their ETTL flash systems have become totally unpredictable, even when supposedly in "manual" setting.

Rant aside, I liked the Nikon FM2, FE2 of the 1980's, the Canon F1 (new) of the same era, the Leica M2 and M5, and the digital Canons up to the original 5D. The Canon 1D Mk IV is probably the finest DSLR I've owned, ticks all the boxes, but is too big and heavy for anything but shooting sports on a monopod.

No long-term love for any of them, though.

 

[mdg137]

I find it interesting how some people seem to react to the subtleties. For instance, bond with an M2/6 but not M3; bond with F5, not with F6, etc... "It's a fine line between pleasure and pain..."

It really does boil down to subtle things, many of which I can't quantify-- I still occasionally wax nostalgic about the F5, or my M6TTLs, but never the F6 or M4-P.

 

[airfrogusmc]

Bonded with
Canon F-1
Hasselblad 500 C/M
Leica MM

not so much
Canon 1DS MKIII
Canon 5D
Canon 5DII

 

[Timmyjoe]

I find it interesting how some people seem to react to the subtleties. For instance, bond with an M2/6 but not M3; bond with F5, not with F6, etc... "It's a fine line between pleasure and pain..."

My M3 Double Stroke always caught me out because I used it with the M6TTL (which I had owned for over a decade). When I advance the film, I do it with a swift, somewhat forceful, stroke. Every time I went to advance the film with the M3 DS I smacked into the DS stop, and became fearful that eventually I would break it. So it got sold and replaced with another single stroke M.

 

[papaki]

I love my M4-P and for some unexplained reason, I adore my Zorki-1.

 

[gilpen123]

Leica M6
Epson RD1s/x
Mamiya 7

 

[Bolin27]

Love my X100.

The M2 I had was beautifully made but I just couldn't get on with its ergonomics

 

[leicapixie]

Soul and Bonding very different!
I bonded with my Pentaxes(SP and K series).
Work with my Nikon-F's.
Only use my F3.
But soul!
A camera that comes alive in my hands, eyes, fingers and thought.
Where photographs jump out at me!
That is my M3 .
Ziggy has soul.

 

[narsuitus]

What have you bonded with, and why?

Old vs. New by Narsuitus, on Flickr

The Loves
Nikon F2 SLR with non-metered prism (long standing love affair)
Fuji X-Pro1 mirrorless digital (the new love)

The Hates
Miranda Sensorex 35mm SLR (the "B" failed me too many times)

The Admired (but avoided because they required me to change for them)
Leica rangefinders
Hasselblad

 

[ForestCap]

Yashica MG-1.

...Even though I left it behind at my real home in China and probably would never use it again. It's a camera made me cultivated an attitude that determines my photographing style.

Nothing on soul-level yet.

 

[Brian Atherton]

I don’t believe that a camera has ‘soul’. But I soon ‘bonded’ with my constant companion of the last fifteen years, the one I always go to over preference for anything else I own, my M6TTL ‘Millennium”.

Also my newly acquired (late last year) M5 is an absolute joy to use; a real shooter’s tool. It would be hard to part with it.

The camera I most regret selling was my Minolta CLE, together with its three lenses. Travelled the world together; a great tool.

Dislikes?
M3 DS
Pentax MX
Anything Praktica

 

[FPjohn]

Barnack Leicas have soul as do the Retinas.

yours
FPJ

 

[jsrockit]

Bonded with over the years... i.e. made me happy and used them for more than a few months.

Leica M6
Leica Minilux
Contax G1
Leica X1
Leica M9
Fujifilm X100
Fujifilm X-Pro1 / X-Pro2
Ricoh GR
Nikon Df

Not happy or no bond? Way too many to mention...