Jason's 20 Greatest Cameras of all Time -- Hits? Missess ?

check out his just re-published list from 2018

Does Noteworthy always translate to Greatest?

Why not the Epson RD1 instead of the trouble prone Leica M9?

Why not the Konica Hexar RF as the first of the NON Leica M mounts?

Why not my favorite Canon SLRs - the T90 and RT?

The Pentax K1000? Really? Does best selling = Greatness?

Why not the Hasselblad V?

as the usual suspect greatest cameras duke it out among their fans ...

Stephen
 
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Well, it seems to find a few turning points, misses a few - but most of these are picked up in the sequel list linked at the bottom.

This is a 2 year old list, though. And as I say there's an update based on the kind of responses already posted here - like including the iPhone.

For Pentax cameras, the original Asahi Pentax has got to be the pick. We often get our history reflected wrongly. Asahi had the Pentax 2 years before Nikon had the F, and there is nothing in the F that wasn't available elsewhere before. An SLR with interchangable prism and removable back? Exakta Varex/V 1950.

I kinda like the Asahi design/production process through the 50s and 60s. In many ways, they start with a Leica III and build a Pentax K- incrementally releasing versions 0.1 through 0.9 until they get the simple-to-use, fully-integrated SLR interchangable lens camera. The Pentax is a great step, but they were basically tinkering their way to greatness, and this starts before and continues after pretty much any point you chose through 2-3 decades. I own an S3 from 1961, but the models just before, or just after, are essentially the same with only some small change. Even the Pentax (AP) is just an Asahiflex with a couple of tweaks. An S3 is an AP with a single speed dial and refined aperture trigger. A Spotmatic is an S3 with a built-in meter, a self timer and a self-zeroing frame counter. I have jumped at least half a dozen models in this list!

The K 1000, however, is a Spotmatic in most basic form but with a K mount. It was a deliberately simple (and cheap) regression of the tinkering model. It isn't an historic camera.
 
It seems to be much more of an innovation list than a greatest list.

The most glaring omission to my mind is the Hasselblad, a camera that was a true workhorse in the advertising and fashion industries, and a modified version was chosen by NASA to go to the moon.
 
Hey, it's one man's opinion. Given all the intemperate zeitgeist against voicing opinions, he's allowed his.

Some of the ones named were ground-breaking, like the Nikon D1 and Canon 5D. But the SX-70 really deserved mention.

I agree with the omission of the M8; half-baked, small sensor and deeply flawed. More of a proof-of-concept. Epson RD-1 was a bit like that too.

Mention of the M9M would also have been merited.
 
Wow, I’ve had two of those cameras, the OM-1 and Sony Mavica.
Still have the OM-1, the Mavica was long ago dropped off at a Goodwill.
 
Not sure I agree with that list. I suppose it boils down to what one considers GREAT

The FUJI GF670 should certainly be on that list, as should the Ricoh GR1.
 
The Leica M2 should be included. It was the basis for all the .72 finder models that followed. And I would add the fuji X100. I think that highly of it!
 
Scrambler said:
Well, it seems to find a few turning points, misses a few - but most of these are picked up in the sequel list linked at the bottom.

This is a 2 year old list, though. And as I say there's an update based on the kind of responses already posted here - like including the iPhone.

For Pentax cameras, the original Asahi Pentax has got to be the pick. We often get our history reflected wrongly. Asahi had the Pentax 2 years before Nikon had the F, and there is nothing in the F that wasn't available elsewhere before. An SLR with interchangable prism and removable back? Exakta Varex/V 1950.

I kinda like the Asahi design/production process through the 50s and 60s. In many ways, they start with a Leica III and build a Pentax K- incrementally releasing versions 0.1 through 0.9 until they get the simple-to-use, fully-integrated SLR interchangable lens camera. The Pentax is a great step, but they were basically tinkering their way to greatness, and this starts before and continues after pretty much any point you chose through 2-3 decades. I own an S3 from 1961, but the models just before, or just after, are essentially the same with only some small change. Even the Pentax (AP) is just an Asahiflex with a couple of tweaks. An S3 is an AP with a single speed dial and refined aperture trigger. A Spotmatic is an S3 with a built-in meter, a self timer and a self-zeroing frame counter. I have jumped at least half a dozen models in this list!

The K 1000, however, is a Spotmatic in most basic form but with a K mount. It was a deliberately simple (and cheap) regression of the tinkering model. It isn't an historic camera.
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I agree with what you say about the early pre Spotmatic Asahi Pentax cameras and advocated much the same as you in my post below. I also agree, and have often myself said, that the form factor of these cameras is especially nice and in the hand (and to the eye) they feel rather like a Leica LTM camera. My only gripe is they do not quite have the same feeling of solidity but that's no doubt down to them being essentially designed as cameras for the masses - not cameras built to withstand the test of time. (Having said, remarkably that they DO stand the test of time unlike most other cameras of their era).
 
The claim to fame for the K1000 was that it became the de facto film camera for students studying still film photography....I don't fully know why that model of camera was chosen...maybe the ratio of price to quality for that model of 35mm SLR was well balanced?
 
james.liam said:
K1000?? I see them all the time around the necks of college students studying film. Lord knows why, because an FM2n is a far better camera to learn on. Even an OM1 or Pentax MX and its relations.

Minimalist, hipster chic.
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The K1000 camera has been the suggested camera for photography students for a few decades now as the basic functionality they possess ensures that photography students have the best chance of learning the basics of their craft. And probably as a result, over the years they seem to have also acquired a certain cachet of desirability with the hipster dude crowd.

Speaking personally I have always preferred the Spotmatic cameras and as I have said elsewhere in this thread what I refer to as the Asahi Pentax "pre-Spotmatic" cameras. I always think that the M42 mount Takumar lenses have the best combination of functionality, optical quality and sheer brick outhouse build quality of any Pentax lenses (subject only to the improvements that come with new coating technologies). Which is saying something because they have made some fine lenses but I get the feeling that some early bayonet lenses let the marque's name down a little.

On the subject of young photographers and hipster dudes, I very frequently get a lot of attention because of my (chrome) Leica M8 especially when using an older lens. Young folks notice it and make appreciative comments about it. The odd thing is that in perhaps 90% of cases it comes from young women. Clearly they are not interest in me given I am about 40 years older than them but I suppose I seem friendly and approachable. And perhaps I remind them of their grand father. :(

In any event, invariably at first they think its a film camera which is what piques their interest. It is clear that shooting film is the thing to try to be amongst the in crowd within a certain age group (early to mid 20s).
 
The K1000 is on the list because it’s just about indestructible. A few years ago there was an article by a high school photography instructor. At the beginning of the year, he handed out some Canon AE-1’s, Nikon FE’s and K1000’s. At the end of the semester, only the K1000 were still in working condition.
 
The Zenit E should be on that list....not the greatest quality camera ever made but the low price got many to afford a 35mm SLR for the first time...millions were made and sold.

Seen them in Canada, France, UK, Italy and in Holland in the 1970s in the hands of teenage photographers ...even the Jackson 5 had one.
 
To be fair, everyone would have a different list of great cameras, with different criteria.

Try making a list of only 10 film and 10 digital GREAT cameras
- its not as easy as it might seem
 
Erik van Straten said:
I add the Nikkormat FTn.


Erik.
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Glad you mentioned the Nikkormat.

Really, I always hated that camera, all models. Just not good enough to play 2nd fiddle to compared to the F2. 5th fiddle, maybe.

Yet Nikkormats had, have, plenty of fans.

We all have different ideas on what makes a good camera,
and that is a good thing!
 
As with a couple of comments above, I would personally include the original Asahi Pentax (‘AP’) due in part to the role it played in bringing 35mm SLR photography to the masses, and in part because it’s beautiful and lovely to use.

I somewhat disagree with the critique of the K1000. It certainly isn’t the ‘best’ of anything (it isn’t even the best of the K series), but due to its popularity and longitivity amongst photography students I think it’s undeniably one of the most significant 35mm SLRs.

Ironically though, it’s precisely lists like these which means the K1000 now routinely sells for 3-4x the price of a KM, KX and K2, all similar and much better cameras...
 
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