Cult cameras - what is on the list?

[JOE1951]

old Alpa, hands down cult camera...for wierdos only!!

old Alpa, hands down cult camera...for wierdos only!!

I know someone with two Alpas. One camera is an early waist level viewfinder 35mm SLR, w/a built in rangefinder, in almost mint condition. This same person also has a later date model that is beat to sh*t, the focusing screen seems to be "melted" with burn marks on it, but he still still takes photos with it, and it still seems smooth in operation. I can confirm as I've seen these camera and played with them, these are cameras from some sort of strange, alternate, parallel universe or something.

This same person told me a story of Alpas being used in some kind of Canadian CANDU Nuclear Reactor tests, where a camera would only survive taking a couple of photos before it failed. He claimed the researchers claimed that Alpas were the only camera available to get those few shots before failure.

My friend is a real eccentric, but I believe every word he says, even his storys about meeting Fidel Castro in Cuba in the late 60's, when he was kid... um yeah, I'd put up w/ being called a weirdo if I owned an Alpa.

 

[rumbliegeos]

I'm not a member, but I think that Exakta owners comprise something of a cult.

 

[JOE1951]

Yes, Exacta is a very much a cult camera. Jimmy Stewart used one in Hitchcocks "Rear Window"!!!

Also Robot is a cult camera!

 

[paulfish4570]

I'll weigh in here with this thought: most of the cameras listed so far are classics, around which cult-like worship has organized.

Real cult cameras? The Mju; Holga, Diana and others of that ilk; CLE; Yashica Electros and their cousins; Olympus trip; that midget Rollei zone focus 35, Konica S series ...

The trend for cult cameras seems to be KISS - and relatively cheap. But hey, what do I know? I shoot a FED-2d, Minolta A5, Yashica Lynx, Pentax SP1000, Fujica ST605, and I now have in my possession a Petri 2.8 and Yashica A. A Tower 120 box camera is on the way. Maybe a cult will develop around that. What a minute, it IS a toy camera, so maybe I can get in on the Holga thing ... 🙂

 

[PatrickT]

Yashica T4 was the first thing that came to mind...

 

[Keith]

My recently arrived Pentax 67ii ... nothing I've ever seen or held has a presence like this camera!

Awsome ... for me anyway! 😀

 

[retro]

Graflex Crown and Speed Graphics.

Some variations of more common cameras sporting higher end
lenses like the Agfa Super Silette with f/2 Solagon and others

 

[silverbullet]

Two cameras from both worlds:

Nikon F

Polaroid SX 70 (aka Aladin)

 

[CameraQuest]

There are some cameras that have "cult" status and following. What are they?
I can think of one at the moment:

Konica Hexar AF.

What else do you think belongs on a "cult cameras" list?

the Hexar RF a cult camera?
Only to Konica diehards.

Compared to in production M cameras, the Hexar RF is a complicated hard to repair automated film advance M camera with a relatively dim viewfinder and no parts availability outside Japan - if its still being repaired there by Konica. To top it off, some had non Leica lens spec registrations problems - like mine until it was repaired and adjusted by the Konica factory while Konica was still a camera company.

Stephen

 

[dovevadar]

A real cult camera seen almost everywhere even on T-shirts -
Leica's M3 and Nikon's FM2

 

[jarski]

Lomo's and Lomography seems to me more like a marketing stunt than any "real" phenomenon. but "cults" may vary 🙂

 

[FrozenInTime]

Minox 8x11mm cameras - as used by several cold war spies.
Also featured in many '60s and '70s films. Pretty Poison is one of my favorites (Minox B).

I used to carry mine every where - but with the camera phone they've faded from view.
There are some really quite good used bargains around.

 

[kzphoto]

How about Winogrand's M4? People talk about that thing like it had a cult of it's own...

 

[nemjo]

Did I read the thread without care, or Hasselblads really missing?

 

[Roger Hicks]

Minox 8x11mm cameras - as used by several cold war spies.

Apparently only in movies. The camera of choice for most spies was probably the Tessina, preferably with wrist-strap. The 14x22mm image contained a LOT more information than the Minox.

Then again, I knew one spy who swore by a Rollei TLR. His view was that a search would reveal ANY camera, so you might as well (a) get a good quality image and (b) have a camera that didn't look as if it was a spy camera, so you could say, "Come on! D'you think a spy would carry a camera like this?". This was in Germany in the late 1940s.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Vobluda]

Stephen, Krosya said Hexar AF, not RF and I agree with him 100% - Hexar AF is definitely a cult camera, at least to me🙂

the Hexar RF a cult camera?
Only to Konica diehards.

Compared to in production M cameras, the Hexar RF is a complicated hard to repair automated film advance M camera with a relatively dim viewfinder and no parts availability outside Japan - if its still being repaired there by Konica. To top it off, some had non Leica lens spec registrations problems - like mine until it was repaired and adjusted by the Konica factory while Konica was still a camera company.

Stephen

 

[murpograph]

rollei 35
Topcon RE super
Contarex
Super Ikontas
Welta Weltur

 

[murpograph]

I did not see
Kodak Retina IIIC
Kodak Retina IIa
Argus (the brick)

 

[Calzone]

If I buy a cult camera, will I suddenly attain coolness? Or do I also have to wear black?

You will know that you have reached cult status:

When the salesmen at B&H, and Adorama know you by first name, and the salesmen at KEH recognize your voice over the phone.

When at the Mermaid Parade you become a tourist attraction because you are shooting a Rolleflex 3.5F and a Tele Rolleiflex.

When you respond to "That's an old camera," with a "They don't make German cameras like they use to."

When people are scared of you because of the camera you carry, almost as if they are thinking, "Don't bother that guy carrying the Leica screwmount. Somethings just not right with him."

When carrying a Nikon F3 equipt with a motor drive and handstrap the aggressive personality of the camera is projected like when wearing a Beret.

When all of your friends make fun of you because you don't shoot a digital camera; and you not only don't own a cell phone, you don't know how to use one.

When you lay out your gear your girlfriend calls your collection a camera farm because it keeps on growing.

Welcome to the cult.

Cal

 

[dmr]

Uh, couldn't we just say that RF cameras in general are kind of cult cameras? 🙂