Cameras you bond with, or that have "soul"

[Dogman]

The only camera I ever really bonded with was a black plain prism Nikon F2. It was the first new Nikon I ever bought (in 1974) after owning a couple of used Nikon F models for a few years. When I dropped and damaged the camera, I was told it was unrepairable. My insurance company totaled it but I bought it back from them for $50--it meant that much to me. Some years later I sent it to Nikon Professional Services a second time and they repaired it fully. I haven't used it in over 25 years and I'm unlikely to ever use it again but I never intend to get rid of it.

Among the other cameras I've used over the years, I've really loved using a Canon EOS1n, a Pentax 645 and a pair of Leica M6's.

I'm working on building bonds with Fuji X-Pro1 and X100S.

There have only been a couple of cameras I really disliked intensely--the Nikon F3 and Nikon FM. They were huge disappointments after using the F and F2 models.

 

[Nokton48]

Minolta SRT SRM XK
Plaubel Makina III and IIIR
Plaubel Makiflexes
Hasselblad 500/CM and 500 EL/M
Sinar Norma 6x6cm to 8x10"

 

[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...

Add Fujifilm X-T2 and X100F to the list.

 

[summar]

Leica IIIf
Leica M4-P
Nikon FE
Nikkormat FT3
Mamiya C330s

 

[Talus]

I'm still waiting for enough magic to have one make the list. Perhaps I haven't owned enough cameras in my lifetime to have enough of a comparison. For now I am feeding a romance with my M6, leaving my 6D cold and alone.

 

[Daryl J.]

I bond with lenses more than bodies.

1.5/50 C Sonnar
1.5/50 Summarit M
1.4/35 Nokton Classic SC
2/50 Summicron V.3
1.4/50 Summilux V.1
A trashed and scratched, wobbly 2/50 Summar
1.8/85 Rokkor MC
1.5/55 Rookor PF
3.5/55 Micro Nikkor

Bodies:
Scratched, dented and peeling M4-2
M4 near mint
F3HP
SRT-Super

Holga

Brownie No.2 box camera

Zero Image 2000.

 

[Range-rover]

Let's see these are the ones I really bonded with, everything else I pretty much
sold after using for awhile.
35mm

Leica M6
Nikon S3
Fuji X-Pro-1

Medium format

Rolleiflex 3.5f, 6002

 

[Talus]

I bond with lenses more than bodies.



1.5/50 C Sonnar

1.5/50 Summarit M

1.4/35 Nokton Classic SC

2/50 Summicron V.3

1.4/50 Summilux V.1

A trashed and scratched, wobbly 2/50 Summar

1.8/85 Rokkor MC

1.5/55 Rookor PF

3.5/55 Micro Nikkor



Bodies:

Scratched, dented and peeling M4-2

M4 near mint

F3HP

SRT-Super



Holga



Brownie No.2 box camera



Zero Image 2000.

Funny, my initial thought was the same: lenses over bodies.

 

[skucera]

I thought I replied to this thread, but looking through the pages I see that I haven't yet. It must have been another thread.

I've been thinking about this idea of bonding with a camera lately, and I don't know why. I inherited my dad's Konica T3n, which he clearly bonded with and used for more than 20 years before his death, and while it has great sentimental meaning for me I haven't bonded with it.

My most prized camera, my wife's grandfather's Leica M3, was his prized camera. He used it and added to the kit for 30 years, but set it in a closet for his last 10 years. I like it a lot and find it fun and challenging, but I find I'm not bonding to it either.

I had a Canon EOS 650 for 15 years, and I used it a lot. Somehow, I just zenned with it, and when it fell off a table and was destroyed I found I was bonded to it, and felt its loss. That was at the beginning of the ascendancy of digital photography, and I replaced it with a Nikon CoolPix 950, which I really enjoyed. When it was stolen from a car in Los Angeles, I realized I wasn't bound to it, and not to the Panasonic Lumix with a Leica lens that we bought to replace it.

I since bought an EOS Elan IIe, but I didn't bond with it, and some of its UI just puts me off, somehow. I later bought a replacement for the EOS 650, but oddly I haven't bound with it either. It seemed nostalgic and comfortable, but just wasn't the same. So, I learned that bonding with a camera is a fleeting thing, and once that bond is broken it isn't so easily remade.

Oh, I realized a couple of weeks ago when I picked up one of my oldest cameras, a Pentax Auto 110, that I am still bonded to it. It's a shame that 110 film is getting so hard to find, and my local developer grumbles when I bring anything other than 35mm film in to develop, because I just zen with its minimal controls and its excellent lenses. Oh well....

Scott

 

[Tim Murphy]

I get along with all of them

I get along with all of them

Dear Board,

Perhaps I have a fetish? I have way too many cameras but I find that I like them all.

With film cameras I have 2 that really mean something and feel right to me.

The first is my Grandfather's Nikon FTN that I was given to me when he passed away. It was his pride and joy and he documented every single thing his grandchildren did with that camera and he did it mostly on slide film. I can still to this day remember the smell of his Honeywell Potato Masher flash as it warmed up in my Grandparent's living room prior to a Holiday photo shoot of the grandkids.

The second is the Canon F-1 original. I bought one used from a neighbor of mine when I was in high school. I thought my Grandfather would die when I showed it to him because it wasn't a Nikon? But he lived and I used that camera for about 10 years until I traded it on a Canon A-1. I never took to the A-1 and I sold it quickly.

I recently won a Canon F-1 original in an auction and I am reliving my youth.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg, PA 🙂

 

[Tim Read]

It is not my every day camera but I bonded very quickly with the Epson RD 1s with a Minolta M-Rokkor 40mm f2 board. If you get the composition right, the rendering is terrific.

 

[Mackinaw]

I've been using my old Canon L-1 a lot this summer and have come to realize that it is a first-class rangefinder, ranking right up there with my Leica MP. So yes, the L-1 is a camera I've bonded with.

I also just picked up a mint, black Pentax Spotmatic with 50/1.4 Takumar at an antiques show for $35.00 USD. Another camera that I'm very impressed with.

Jim B.

 

[Bar8barian]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[karlin]

leica iiif
m2 , m6, minilux, cl
hexar af
olympus sp35, mju ii
rollei 35
nikon F2, F3
rolleiflex 2.8c , 3.5F
fujica gm670

 

[Out to Lunch]

The Epsons.

 

[SebastienMark]

Hasselblad 500 c/m
Rolleiflex K4A 3,5

 

[maigo]

My Minolta Autocord. I almost cried when I broke the focus lever. Tears welled up but I held it together in front of my family. Saved it for an alone moment.
Stooooopid me, closing the case with the lever in wrong position.
Everything about that camera is just right for me. Size, fit, focus screen. Smell of the rotting leather. Case stitches falling apart. Vinyl cover flaking off.
Grief and guilt has held me back from sending it in to Karl for repair.

When I hold and use vintage cameras I feel it's a trust from the past to present. "Take care of this" the dead men and women of days gone by say to me.

My Yashica 635 is the child I love less. Far less.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rodt16s]

I have one M2 that I will always use, it feels right. I have an identical M2 built the same year (58) actually the first M I bought so should have some sentimental draw, not used it for a considerable time.
There are also nicer condition M's that will be ignored in favour of this M2.
So I cannot generalise to a type, but only to some unknown characteristic(s) or feeling that holds the answer

 

[Chubberino]

My Fuji TX-2. Never thought I'd have a camera I would never consider selling. I guess my M3 as well. I don't use it all the time, but the idea of having a camera with a 50mm 1.4 lens that can always work mechanically as long as film is still available is a nice feeling.

 

[fireblade]

Not so much bond, but my favourite.
Leica 109.
Compact..even with hand grip, 24-75mm FL, manual focus, manual aperture control, a real shutter speed dial🙂, exposure compensation dial, ability to go to preset FL with flick of AF lever, excellent files, and you can change the aspect ratio right on top of the lens barrel quickly.
What more do you need. 🙂