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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I can’t really argue about the first film cameras on the list (I have no real experience of the digitals, so can’t comment on these).

However, I am surprised there’s no Hasselblad - groundbreaking mechanically, and an iconic image maker revered and loved today.
 
Thinking about the K1000 I would say it's a basic "neutral" camera like - f'instance - the Soligor TM etc. Nothing to do but take photo's and it had a built in meter and decent lenses. Also well made and difficult to find fault with; that makes it a classic but where in the list of classic cameras is beyond me. Best to put them in alphabetical order...

Regards, David

PS Of course, once they are in a list like this people will argue about them and draw attention to them and a few more will be sold and that then justifies the listing and so on, and so forth.
 
And the 1Ds should be replaced with the Contax N digital - truely the first full frame Dslr. And I‘m not too sure about the Panasonic either... the Sony A7 seems to be a better choice - mirror less full frame. And what about the first digital rf, the RD 1?
 
The Canon F1n was my greatest camera of all time for many, many years. I had two bodies and a basket full of lenses. The camera is indestructible; it’s bomb proof. Match needle meter, clear bright view screen, fits perfectly in the hand… heaven on earth.

I sold all my Canon film cameras and lenses when it became obvious to me that because of the digital revolution things would never be the same again. Was that a mistake? Maybe, maybe not, too late now.

In all honesty, the rangefinder film cameras I have now are more collectible things and a good excuse to buy M-mount lenses that I’ll probably only use on my Sony A7 cameras. Sigh, I guess I’m a fake, a phony when it comes to the film photography world now, but, there it is; that’s me. Scanning film (whatever the process) in my opinion sucks. Otherwise I’d still be slinging a Canon F1 over my shoulder like a gun-fighter’s favorite pistol loaded with slide film and ready for a shoot-out!

I have my annual physical tomorrow (ugh), maybe my chest x-ray will count as film photography.

All the best,
Mike
 
Thinking about the list some more, the pick I'm most puzzled by is the Sony A7rII.

Great camera - sure. Great development of the A7 line - sure. Another iteration to be forgotten in a few years - sure.

Top 20 greatest cameras of all time - absolutely not...

The original A7 was a once-in-a-generation game changer, and much like the Panasonic G1 it introduced a concept which would come to dominate the market (mirrorless for the latter, full frame mirrorless for the former).

The A7 represented a serious challenge to the dominance of both FF dSLR's and CaNikon amongst 'serious' photographers.

Was it flawed? Definitely. So was the G1.
 
When you Google or YouTube the 20, 10, 5, 3 greatest cameras ever made, you'll find a plethora of lists. All of them make some sense to some people. Does it matter?
 
xayraa33 said:
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.
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You know, i was thinking about that too. Where i come from these cameras were flooding the sunday open markets and could be had for peanuts. Hundrent of thousands of people where introduced to photography by them (i would also add the Practikas).

This will definately make them historically significant but i am not sure if they are "Great".

Edit: By the way, on the original link there is a note with "10 More of the Greatest Cameras of All Time."

Edit II : Another highly subjective opinion would be to omit the 7000. Yes it was a very significant camera as it marked the moment the AF SLR technology landed on our lap but it had load of teething problems with that technology being in it's infancy. If i had to include an AF SLR of that period, that would be the Nikon F4, had the AF issues sorted, great compatability and build quality and did persuade many professional to switch to AF.
 
Brian Atherton said:
I can’t really argue about the first film cameras on the list (I have no real experience of the digitals, so can’t comment on these).

However, I am surprised there’s no Hasselblad - groundbreaking mechanically, and an iconic image maker revered and loved today.
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I suspect the Rolleiflex took that spot.
 
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