Digital cult cameras?

[burancap]

I like curveballs...

Sigma DP1 & 2.

Nobody likes them but the owners. Is that not a cult?

I LOVE mine and it could easily be my only camera.

 

[grandallj]

It seems to me that the OM-D EM-5 is building a cult. It remains to be seen whether the cult will maintain its attention span.

 

[SteveM(PA)]

I think of crappy toy cameras like the VistaQuest VQ1005...

http://jpgmag.com/stories/2288/

 

[icebear]

....For these reasons, its most likely that the Leica Monochrome will be legendary! 🙂

It's not even in the hands of users yet but you might be right 😉

 

[Godfrey]

Yes, because we all know that electronics cannot survive that long... 🙄

Uh huh. My 1965 transistor radio seems to not believe in your assertion. ;-)

 

[Godfrey]

This is not a Fuji Xpro1.

Should have added the L1 to my list too. Wonderful camera, sold it to a friend when I bought the Olympus E-5 and he's still using it producing very nice results.

 

[Todd.Hanz]

cult = cool = cool people. I think the only one that qualifies is the iPhone.

Absolutely, match it with Hipstamatic or Instagram...classic cult following! Not really considered a camera though. RD-1 stands out to me.

Todd

 

[Jamie Pillers]

If the rumour is true that M10 is equipped with CMOS, EVF, video, etc, I can see M9 achieving a cult status.

Good points. I forgot that about that EVF rumor. Leica M + EVF? Hard to imagine that they'd do that, though. 😕

 

[Jamie Pillers]

Olympus E-1... interesting! I agree with you that pixel count is not a deal-breaker if the camera produces great images. R-D1 is a good example of that. I'm going to flickr now to have a look at those E-1 images. 🙂

 

[Jamie Pillers]

Don't forget the 5d was out at about two years before the d700, was the first affordable full frame body, and noise performance was only a stop worse.

The 5d is also known for color - wedding photographers often refer to it as the classic wedding camera for it's colors/tones.

The 5D continues to be on a lot of people's list of great image makers. And as the price drops, it comes closer to my cult camera closet. 🙂

 

[Jamie Pillers]

Leica Digilux 2/Panasonic DMC-LC1 has it's fans.

Dark horse possiblity here! Its price certainly stays constant these days... a sure sign that it remains in demand. 🙂

 

[Jamie Pillers]

Early Petax DSLR's - istD, istDS and istDS2 for their pentaprism enhanced viewfinders. istD even has top mounted LCD for shooting parameters and PC socket. Sure there are later cameras also good at this but three particular models still keep the price.

This issue of price stability certainly points to the possibility of a camera achieving cult status, in my opinion.

 

[Jamie Pillers]

Another measure of cultishness

Another measure of cultishness

Gary, thanks.

Your mention of the Sony R1 led me to go to dpreview to look at the specs of that camera. While there, I was reminded of the cultishness measure dpreview provides. Its the "User Reviews" average score. If there are a lot of user reviews (129 for the R1 is a lot, by dpreview standards), and if the average score is above 4.5 out of 5 (4.69 for the R1), and if the user reviews continue to pour in years after the camera has been discontinued, then I think the camera deserves to be called a 'cult favorite'. 🙂

 

[Jamie Pillers]

Perhaps the forerunner of the Sony R1 - the DSC-F717. Quirky and fun. Has a real following modified for IR work.

by Thegreenj (Own work), from Wikimedia Commons

Super cool! Gotta put this in the same cult sub-category as the Mavica! 🙂

 

[Jamie Pillers]

How about the NikoFujis - The S2,S3,S5Pro. They seem to have retained a following for their color renditions in people photography.

Yes indeed! They remain very popular, if one can judge by the bidding competition on eBay for these models.

 

[Jamie Pillers]

Olympus 5060 / 7070

Tough, full of features, bright lens, great IQ

These models remain popular/pricey on eBay. Cult favorite. 🙂

 

[Jamie Pillers]

Yashica EZ F521.

I don't know about this camera. Its got a lot of distortion in that lens! But then Holga achieved cult status... so why not the Yashica? 😀

 

[Godfrey]

Super cool! Gotta put this in the same cult sub-category as the Mavica! 🙂

I had the pre-digital version of the Mavica ... essentially an analog video still camera. It was certainly a niche product, but I don't know that it will ever achieve "cult" status. I haven't seen any Mavica enthusiasts wailing about its disappearance these past twenty years ... ;-)

 

[Jamie Pillers]

- I doubt there will be a SINGLE digital camera working after 30 years...

Most likely true. And with the innovations being made in phone cameras, god knows... we may have lost all contact with the notion of "camera" by then! 🙁

 

[Jamie Pillers]

The Nikon-mount full frame Kodak DSLRs have already achieved cult status in some Asian countries.

The Kodak SLR/n and the Kodak 14n are highly prized, sought after and are still used for picture taking. Prices dipped for a while but are now steadily on the rise.

China, Korea and Japan are good markets for them.

Great cameras for landscape, where it can be used at low ISO on a tripod. Definitely candidates for "cult".