Just one camera, No 2

[jan normandale]

In the spirit of the question I can narrow my choices down very quickly (first, it’s Rangefinder Forum and second the question is what is a second choice for a camera to travel).

Cameras that can be used without electronics. For example an Olympus RC or similar camera. If the electronics go or I run out of battery power I can still take shots.

The two cameras I would take have glorious big 120 sheets of film. A Mamiya 6 RF with the 50mm and 75mm lenses and use it for my colour shots. The second would be a folder that is relatively the size of a 35mm RF; my Zeiss Ikonta 531, a 6 x 4.5 MF camera that has a true rangefinder. I would fill it with B&W. On the street I would carry both and a small bag with the Zeiss in the bag along with the 120 film and the 75mm Mamiya lens. That would cover it well for my purposes.

No worries as the Australian members would say.

Jan

 

[Todd.Hanz]

It would have to be a M3/M4-P and my 28 ultron, 40 rokkor and 50 summilux. I would love to add a 75 summilux to the trip........but then I would have to stay home 😀

Todd

 

[cbass]

Bertram, it's so cool that this thread has so many responses! I started the first thread because I am indeed taking a two-week long trip next month (across the USA, not the whole world 😉 ) and I was trying to get some advice on buying the "one perfect travel camera." Now, I'm not sure such a camera exists.

For my trip across the USA I may still bring my FED-2 and the I-26M, but I'm also leaning toward my trusty Minolta XG-9 with the dependable 50/1.7 and a 24/2.8. The XG-9 is small, light, has a great VF and uses common S76 batteries. It beats the FED-2 not becasue the images are better but because it offers real-world useable features like aperture-prioty AE, a self-timer, slow shutter speeds and a standard size tripod mount.

The first thread actually cured me of a GAS attack (a first for RFF! 😛 ). I was all set to buy a Bessa R and the 35/2.5, but I realized that during travel I probably wouldn't use that camera as much as I would use a quality p&s like an Olympus Stylus Epic or a Yashica T-4 zoom. A good p&s with a decent lens can probably be used for 80-90% of typical travel photos.

 

[back alley]

chris, it would also depend onhow i was travelling as to what i might take along.

by car, i would take lots. bus or train, very little and by plane to one destination, yet another kit.

for my trip to new york later in june i will be taking 2 bodies with a lens attached to each, a 35 and a 50 and also an 85 in the bag. travelling by plane.

joe

 

[wlewisiii]

A good p&s with a decent lens can probably be used for 80-90% of typical travel photos.

That's one of the reasons I feel I'd go with my Iskra - for all practical purposes the old folders were that generations p&s. Drop in a roll and go shoot. Just as there are better and lesser p&s cameras today, there was an amazing range of folders back in thier day. In the case of the Iskra you get a camera that folds up nice and compact, has a great lens, great finder, automagic film advance, can still get film many places, and last, but certainly not least, is that big honking negative you end up with.

Plus no need to worry about where your lenses are. Just put a few rolls of film inside number PM-10 pill bottles (they fit just perfect) and put them in one pocket and the camera either over your shoulder or in another pocket and go put the 2 foot zoom to good use... 😛

William

 

[DaveSee]

In regards to the Bessa R and the Bessa L:

I sure wouldn't want to drive nails into wood with them. There is a reason Leica's are SO expensive in comparison to the Voigtlanders. Mind you, you can buy quite a few Bessa L's for the price of an M6!

Thanks for the tangent/OT reply... I should have been more clear.

As another has hinted, this question *does* speak to the present contest for an essay
on the merits--and seductive qualities--of RF cameras. It, and the "If you must choose
one" query before, also touches a nerve with all of us: do we have what we need, or
too much, too much GEAR(as in GAS attacks)? A very nice topic, really. And that's what
has kept me here: like finding a good news group in the old days, people are behind
all of this and it's great finding cooperative folk.

Back to the subject of your reply, and my "which body" dilemma...

So, it's the M6 with Skopar 25, and 50 Summilux(2nd gen)...time with the
Nokton 40SC may prove me wrong: I chose it for the width and "one for
all" limit I'd set. I'm *next* set on a "tele" 75-90 purchase, but that's after this
thread is through. 😉

 

[DougK]

This thread definitely tells me I have too many cameras 🙂

I'm restricting myself to one lens, as I've found I'm much better off if I'm not worrying about what focal length lens to use. I've also chosen cameras that are fast to operate, since I'm assuming that I'll probably be traveling with a person or people for whom photography is not the overriding passion that it is with me and I'll need something compact where I can get my shot quickly and not hold up the group.

1. Olympus XA. Great lens, extremely pocketable even with flash and flexipod, hands down the quietest camera I own. Very fast operation and a reasonable performer in available darkness. Battery-dependent operation, though, and aperture-priority exposure only. Readily available batteries.
2. Fuji GA645. Another great lens, easy to operate, medium format for that nice big transparency/negative. Reasonably fast to operate in autoexposure mode under normal lighting conditions; the aperture-priority and manual modes are somewhat awkward. Not so compact, though, and if you run out of film it can be a lot tougher to find a satisfactory replacement choice (hell, I have a tough time finding my favorite film even living in a reasonably large city). Like the XA, if the batteries fail, it's kaput, although replacements are readily available anywhere.
3. Pentax MG SLR w/ SMC-M 50mm f/2 1:2 lens. Yet another great lens. As compact and easy handling as a fixed-lens rangefinder, it's my best available darkness performer along with macro/close-focus capability, aperture-priority-only metering with a maximum shutter speed of 1/1000 second, and a mechanical default shutter speed of 1/100 second should the batteries fail. Again, batteries are obtainable easily pretty much anywhere.

So which would I choose for that once in a lifetime trip? Boy, what a tough decision. Looking at my three choices, though, I'd have to go with my Pentax MG as the most versatile option for a balance of photography vs. other vacation activities.

Nice to know that I can't really go wrong with any of the three, though 🙂

 

[jorisbens]

A Fed-2, because it's just a wonderfull little camera. And for the lenses, I am sure that i'd take the collapsible 50mm/3.5 with me, because i'm addicted to the look of the photographs it makes. 😎 And probably a jupiter 9 for portraits and/or low light situations.

Joris

 

[cameramanic]

Nkon FM, 50 mm.

 

[aizan]

my olympus pen s, if i could only get the damn thing to work! 😡

 

[jorisbens]

my olympus pen s, if i could only get the damn thing to work! 😡

Does it have a stuck aperture? My pen EES has that and I have an online tutorial on how to fix that.

 

[DougK]

jorisbens, I'm having a stuck shutter problem with my EE, do you have a link to your tutorial?

 

[Heath]

I will go out on a limb and say my Graphlex century Graphic with a couple of lens/shutter setups. Mine has the 6x9 rollfilm back so the negs are huge, and the clarity on these large negs has to be seen to be believed. Plus it isn't that cumbersom to carry around. But a tripod is a must. The one I am getting is relatively light and very sturdy. Not bad for $115au.

Heath

 

[jorisbens]

jorisbens, I'm having a stuck shutter problem with my EE, do you have a link to your tutorial?

http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/penees2repair.html But it's only a tutorial for the repair of a stuck aperture, not the shutter. (And I didn't wrote it, if you tought that 😉 )

 

[Goodyear]

Tough question.

In the past I've gone digital, with my 300D and 28-135, but that's not the smallest or lightest kit for travelling, especially with charging issues. With a hotel room as a base, add a laptop. It was doable, and fun, and the camera fit in a reasonably small bag.

BUT, the last couple of (admittedly short) trips I've been on, I've had my Bessa R with 35 and 75, and Bessa L with 21. Even with lots of film, they'll go in a smaller bag than the Canon. Nice and light, plenty versatile for me.

But I tend to shoot a lot when I'm travelling, so digital does have its appeal 🙂

Probably the bessas, but I guess I'm not sure 🙁

 

[Bertram2]

Thanks to all for the interesting input ! It's a surprising significant result, tho I really had not any clear expectations how it could look like.
Seems most of you would go with a RF or manual SLR and two primes .
What I find remarkable is that the very most of you don't see the necessarity of a tele longer than 90mm, some even do not want to take any kind of tele with them on a trip around the world.

But exactly the long tele would be the decisive point for me ! IMHO this old saying "if you did not get it with the 50 you were not close enuff" does not work for me under these circumstances of a trip around the world. 90mm would definitively not be enuff for me.

And that means my Bessas are out of the race. Depending from what climatic conditions were to expect I would take a Nikon FM or K1000 with a good Nikon zoom around 28-200 ( some will burn me at the stake for that, I know) for extreme temperatures and extreme air humidity, for less exreme conditions a Full Auto Wonder F80 od Dynaxx7 plus a zoom of the same kind .
Animals, macro and plants, sometimes landscape and sometims also people , architectural details too, that's what I need the longer lenses for, sometimes, not very often as I have to admit.
But I would HATE to miss such a pic on a trip around the world because of a missing tele lens.
RF has it's limitations, but the only one which really counts for me is tele longer than 90mm.

Thanks again and best regards,
Bertram

 

[Honu-Hugger]

Bertram,
Long teles: the one combination I was struggling with, and I have traveled with in the past, is the 50~300 f/4.5 Nikkor. It's a monster to carry, but a very nice lens to use. Presently, I use the lens with an Alpa/Nikon converter. There are some modern wide range zoom lenses that are very attractive in terms of quality and features -- although I don't think I own anything that was made within the last thirty years!!!

 

[Thomaspin]

 

[aizan]

drat, mine has a sticky shutter. doesn't open fast enough and sometimes only closes by working the shutter button. i spent waaay too much time trying to fix it last week.

 

[RubenBlaedel]

there are so many things to do around the world that would if you go for a specific type require different cameras - but it would probably end up a choice between Leica M, Hasselblad SWCM or Rollei TLR.