Cameras you bond with, or that have "soul"

Love at first sight:
Minolta XE-7 (but the old girl has suffered the ravages of time)

Still attached to:
Fuji GW690 and GSW690
Bessa R2 and R4
Nikon F100

Separated from:
Mamiya C330
Mamiya 6
My no name 4x5 field camera

Hired a hit man to get rid of:
Bronica645
 
I don't know how I missed this thread before.

I was surprised to see someone bonded with the Fujica ST 701 and 801. Anyone here at RFF liking anything in the Fujica ST series is rare. I liked the 801 as well, but I didn't really bond with it. I did bond with my Fujica ST 901. And I especially like the 50mm f/1.4 lens that came with it.

I have surprisingly begun to bond with by Contax 167mt, but I really bonded with the 139Q I had before it gave up the ghost. And truthfully, much of the bond with the 167mt is due to a set of inexpensive, but good zooms from 18mm to 150mm and the 50mm f/1.4.

Bonded:

Fujica ST 901
Contax 139Q
Yashica 124 MAT G
Mamiya Super Press 23
Minolta 16
Welta Welti

Didn't bond but liked:

Yashica TL Super
Rolleiflex (actually just couldn't bond, even I tried)
Olympus XA
Pentax ME Super
Mamiya Six
Welta Weltini
 
Bonded Early:

Brownie Hawkeye (age 7)
Leica II (age 13)
Leica IIIf (age 16)
Leica M2 (age 19)

Presently:

Fujifilm X100
Fujifilm X20
Nikon D700
Hasselblad SWC
Hasselblad 500CM
Leica M2
Leica IIc
Leica MP
Leica M9

Bonding in Process:

Leica M5

Ambivalent:

Hasselblad/Fuji XPAN (Few subjects fi this format)
Rolleiflex (any model)
Pentax 67

Non-Bondo:

Mamiya 7II (Great finder, great negatives; shutter release too touchy)
 
One year later... Using FED-2 even more often.
Nobody needed my M3 DS ELC , I kept it and became attached to it after using it instead of M4-2 which is in and for service since late 2016.

New to me in 2016 new M-E is once in the lifetime gift I'm bonded with and it gives very sharp images if I'm lucky and outdoors under good light.
Yet, next to ten years old Canon 500D under my ownership is my most trusted, most used digital camera I'm bonded with and getting predictable and controllable results.

Not James Bonded with:

I can't force myself to use Oly Trip 35. Just can't. Next to it Kiev-19. Paid for Nikon FG-20 (Funky G-20) to use with worth to keep and use sometimes Kiev's lens and this thing is growing on me as cute and capable SLR, but I'm not sure, yet. I need my eyes to get learned how to focus it quick and shot like Bond. James Bond.
 
Bonded

X100- the original version which I still use
Contax 139 - small but perfectly formed
M2 - heavy but perfectly formed its exquisite
Rolleiflex 3.5F- another jewel that's a pleasure to use

Unbonded
Zenith EM- too crude
Praktica MTL3- tinny

Uncertain

D700 - great camera but too heavy
Olympus XA- too light and RF patch not the greatest but lens nice.
XE-2 -capable camera but VF seems too dark when I use it out of doors. MF more difficult than it should be
 
Cameras I have bonded with in the past.

Canon F-1 both old and new
Hasselblad 500 C/M
Worked with (job) but never owned but still bonded with
Mamiya RZ
8X10 Deardorff
Leica M3


Digital I have bonded with
original MM
M-E
M 262
and I am working on bonded with the M 10.

Never fully bonded with Nikon F-3. Great camera I just preferred my Canon F-1s
Bronca 645
Mamiya 645
I never really bonded with Canon 1DsMKIII, Canon 5D, 5DII & 5DIII
 
yes: Nikon F, F2. Leica M2, M4...the black paints, Leica MP film. Deardorff. Rolleiflex T, & 2.8F.
The giant Fujis GW & GSW 670.80.90)

not:.... Canham & Ebony (beautiful as they are). Pentax 67. Mamiya RB67. Leica R. Nikon F4
 
Leica M4-2
Leica M3
Oly OM 1
Leica IIIc
Kiev 4
Praktica LTL
Nikon S2
Minolta SRTs
Canon IVSb2
Olympus XA 1
 
Looking at some of these camera lists, I'd say some photographers could best be described as camera fickle.

Once I got past the Hawkeye and Instamatic stage, my first 35mm camera was my father's Exakta VXIIa, which I never bonded with. Fortunately, in high school, I moved on to a Pentax SP500 which I really liked. A few years later, I traded it for the then new Olympus OM1 owing to better lens selection, and I have been faithful for going on 40 years. I supplemented my OM1 with an OM4Ti and haven't had any desire or need to change.

I have been using my father-in-law's Minolta Autocord since the mid-1970s. If I shot more medium format, I'd pick up a Hasselblad, but the change is not gnawing at me.

I went through a couple of models of Wistas, but finally settled on a Linhof Technikardan 45. It is not much heavier, but is significantly more versatile and easier to use.

For digital, I had a couple of entry level Canon compacts which could best be described as servicable, but a few years ago moved to a Fuji XE2. I rented and used Nikons, Canons, and Sonys, but when the time came for an upgrade I bought the Fuji XT2. Though not full frame, I vastly prefer the Fuji haptics to other brands. I kept the XE2 as my second body.
 
"Bonded" with:
Pentax Spotmatic
Pentax ME Super
Konica Hexar
Nikon F3
Nikon F4
Nikon F2
Leica M4
Leica M4P 70th Anniversary
Mamiya 6
Kodak Retina IIa
Nikon D2Hs
Speed Graphic

Really liked and used seriously, but never "bonded" with:
Leica M2
Konica Autoreflex
Nikon D2X
Nikon D2H
Leica IIIF
Nikon D3
Konica Hexar RF
Contax RX
Rolleiflex 3.5E Planar (not enough time)
Nikon D300s

Still bonding:
Nagaoka Seisakusho 4x5
Nikon FA
My various pinhole cameras


Phil Forrest
 
The only camera I have that I will NEVER part with is my grandfathers black spotmatic F. He was a camera repairman as well as photographer. He probably has 5,000 or more slides of railways and trains that should be in a museum. My Spotmatic was his very first camera and the one he learned on. I happened to have a collection of Takumar lenses that work flawlessly on it and it still takes fantastic photos. I rotate between that, my M2, and my beat around camera is an Olympus 35Sp, But those are replaceable.
 
To say bonded with is pretty serious. It's these:

* My first *expensive* camera: Mamiya 645 and the 35mm Sekor C. I used the wlf, and the pd prism, and had a grip. I loved that camera.
* First digital camera: Nikon Coolpix E900. It had a twisty body, and I still have it.
* Custom digital: Nikon D70 with a custom infrared pass internal filter, and the original kitlens, the 18-70/3.5-4.5. This camera made magic pictures. No, really. Magic. (Stolen. It was unique (filter added by a very clever friend) so I couldn't replace it. Even if I could, it wouldn't be magic.)
* First big digital camera (and still my favorite digital): Nikon D2x, usually with a 35mm f/2 Ai lens, but often with a 60mm f/2.8 micro lens. When this camera was stolen, I replaced it with the exact same thing, which is sitting on my desk right now.
* First Leica: M4-P (1983) with 35mm ultron ltm. This camera was my favorite camera ever. It fit in my hand like it was born there. I took a few thousand pictures with it before it was stolen.
* Light field camera: Lytro 8GB graphite - I shot this camera into the ground - the rubber is coming off, and the rear glass is broken, yet I keep on shooting it. It's got a bit of that magic too, but not as much as the D70. (It's the camera in my avatar.)


A few more camera/lens combos qualify for the LOVE:

* My first camera: Kodak Instamatic 104 - it's pretty underpowered, but hey! I was 12. I took it everywhere.
* First commercial camera: Canon A-1 with the 50mm, 200mm, 15mm, and (my favorite) a Sigma 21-35 f/3.5-4.2. I haven't been able to live without a 21mm lens since. Both of these cameras were stolen.
* Replacement camera: Olympus OM1n with 21/2, 50/3.5 macro, 50/1.4, and 100/2.8. I really got into black and white printing, and still use the methods I worked out in the early 1980s with this camera. The 21, 50 macro, and 100mm were stolen. I have replaced them with a 21/3.5, 35/2, and 85/2.
* Replacement Leica: M4-P (1979) with 50mm summicron IV, and 15mm heliar I, and coming literally tomorrow, a 35mm summicron III. This is my current film camera. Interestingly, this camera is in much better shape than my original, but younger M4-P. Hopefully, once I put the 35 on it, it will move up into the bonded category.
* Nikon FG (silver, aka the first one) - I used a 43-86/3.5 Ai'd lens exclusively with this camera. Camera and lens were stolen along with the rest of them.

Some cameras I like, but don't LOVE:

* Lytro Illum - I really enjoy playing with it. It's the most digital of any camera I have shot.
* Nikon D700 - I currently use this for work, and it works very well. I have a 35/2 AFD, 60/2 macro, 105/2 DC, and a 17-35/2.8 AFS to go with it. I have made enough money with this camera to pay for all the cameras listed here.
* Nikon D100 - my work camera before I got the D700. I had a 12-24/4 AFS, 24-120/3.5-5.6 VR, 20/2.8 AFD, and a 180/2.8 AFD.
* Nikon F5 - put it on a copy stand and made slides, using the 60/2.8 Nikkor and waist level finder. The camera was stolen, but I still have the finder.
* Nikon FG (black - the replacement) - I've got a 35mm AFD on it, so I can use the Program mode of the camera. And an autowinder. It sounds (and looks) like a classic 60s reportage camera with the "k'jik, k'jik, k'jik" shooting sound.
* Nikon N80 - this would have been a favorite had I not gotten my first Leica around the same time. I bought it new with the cheapest 50/1.8 AFD on it.
* Kodak Stereo Camera - it works, but the body is cracked. I glued it and taped it, yet I still find this camera to be inconvenient.
* iPhone 7 - my most used camera, but it's a phone!

Cameras I don't like that much, yet use any way:

* Burke and James Grover 5x7: technically this camera rocks. I have shot less than 100 photos with this camera. I only like about 5 of them.
* Graflex Crown Graphic 4x5: I tried punking this camera out with extra bellows stops, scale markings, removed the rangefinder, etc. I had a 135/4.5 and a 75/8 lens for it, but still I took very few pictures. The ones I like are all on polaroid, and the new Fuji film doesn't fit the holder.
* Agfa Billie 6x9: with 105/6.3. It's inconvenient to shoot. I still have my third roll in this camera. The burglars left it behind.
* Kodak Signet, cool when it worked, but it broke quickly.
* Rolleiflex Tessar 3.5 A blast when it worked, and I had always wanted one, but it broke. I fixed it once, but then it broke again. I give up!
* iPod 5th gen: I discovered the very cool app, Hipstamatic when I got this music device with a built in camera. Very cool, but I dropped it, and it's very inconvenient to use now.
* GoPro Hero 4: if a camera could be "retarded" this one would be classified this way. However ... used within careful parameters, this action camera can produce usable results.
* FLIROne iOS camera, v1: It's cheap and gives suitable heat images.
* Olympus XA3: this camera is convenient and easy to use. I just don't like using it. I'm still working on it.

Cameras I HATE:

There are some cameras that work so poorly, yet offer something I want so I subject myself to them anyway. Then I want to throw them against a wall. I'm not gonna name them, because I realize they must have their following.

Ok, it's the iPad camera. Why wouldn't a very large, direct view camera be great?

Cause.
 
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I hate to admit it: I love the Pentax K1000!

Others of note: Yashica-Mat LM TLR, Leica II, Canon IIB, Tower 48, Nikon F, Leica M2, Bessa R/R2/R2C, R2S, Bessaflex TM, B&H Filmo (16mm), Arriflex 16mm, Olympus Pen F/FT (Film)
 
David Murphy said:
I hate to admit it: I love the Pentax K1000!

Others of note: Yashica-Mat LM TLR, Leica II, Canon IIB, Tower 48, Nikon F, Leica M2, Bessa R/R2/R2C, R2S, Bessaflex TM, B&H Filmo (16mm), Arriflex 16mm, Olympus Pen F/FT (Film)
Click to expand...

I almost bought a Yashica-Mat from a little shop in old-town Scottsdale in the early 80s, for the then outrageous price of $125.
I passed, and have regretted it e'r since.
I did buy a well made leather bag, marked "Stereo Realist" at the same place though:
realistbag.gif
 
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