RF Camera Beauty Contest: GROUP A

[Rich Silfver]

Before you cast your vote please read up on the rules here: RF Beauty Contest Rules

These are the cameras in GROUP A.

The top THREE cameras in this group will go on to the semi-finale against the top three cameras in GROUP B.

(You can vote once in all groups).

Try to disregard price, rarity, etc and simply vote on the camera that is most pleasing to YOUR eye..

Please keep in mind that this is all for fun and to of course finally find out what camera is the hottest one on the block 🙂

This poll will be open for two days so please get your votes in before it is too late 🙂


NOTE: THE SAMPLE PHOTOS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH CAMERA IS IS JUST THAT - A SAMPLE - I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO BROWSE AROUND THE INTERNET FOR MORE IMAGES IF YOU ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH A PARTICULAR CAMERA MAKE

 

[sf]

I don't see how I'm supposed to vote here. Is there meant to be a link somewhere in this message?

 

[Rich Silfver]

Should work now....

 

[cp_ste.croix]

for pure aesthetics, I voted QL GIII. Little touches like the black shutter release, subtle badging and uncluttered top plate really do it for me.

 

[Rich Silfver]

So far Leica M3 is kicking some serious butt in this group.

Where are the Bessa R2 lovers, the Kiev fans and The Vitomatic fondlers? 🙂

 

[RayPA]

So far Leica M3 is kicking some serious butt in this group.

Where are the Bessa R2 lovers, the Kiev fans and The Vitomatic fondlers? 🙂

RFF Camera World Cup!

I like the R2 (suggested it, in fact), but the M3 is a hard one to vote against.


🙂

 

[StuartR]

I think the M3 is pretty hard to beat in this group. It's just so auspicious. For me it was between it and the IIIf. The M3 is just better looking to me.

 

[sf]

The M3 is to that format what the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud is to passenger cars. Perhaps not the fastest, sleekest, most modern, most ergonomic, most cost efficient, etc., but finesse in design and unparalleled attention to quality - truly superior mechanics, reaching beyond mechanical into organic.

I don't know how else to put it. It seems that thought went into the most minute details of the M3 - and not just engineering thought, but artistic thought. Like the maker held it and thought "does this camera feel like a machine or as if it grew from a tree or sprung from the soil or was borne from some half camera half human goddess?" Does it live even when its parts are still? Does it have a soul?

Those questions can be asked about many things. Sometimes, our most beloved personal possessions, like those from our childhood, or those that send us back to some particularly sweet moment in life are given souls and never seem still, even in an empty room on a silent night. But, the M3 is inherently alive, and remains unique in that respect, among all machines. Silver Cloud included.

 

[Rich Silfver]

The M3 is to that format what the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud is to passenger cars. Perhaps not the fastest, sleekest, most modern, most ergonomic, most cost efficient, etc., but finesse in design and unparalleled attention to quality - truly superior mechanics, reaching beyond mechanical into organic.

I don't know how else to put it. It seems that thought went into the most minute details of the M3 - and not just engineering thought, but artistic thought. Like the maker held it and thought "does this camera feel like a machine or as if it grew from a tree or sprung from the soil or was borne from some half camera half human goddess?" Does it live even when its parts are still? Does it have a soul?

Those questions can be asked about many things. Sometimes, our most beloved personal possessions, like those from our childhood, or those that send us back to some particularly sweet moment in life are given souls and never seem still, even in an empty room on a silent night. But, the M3 is inherently alive, and remains unique in that respect, among all machines. Silver Cloud included.

Pure Poetry.

 

[amateriat]

I have something of a "beauty is as beauty does" bias. Talk road bicycles, and I'll point to Alex Singer or Rene Herse. Talk chronographs and the first thing that springs to mind is Omega's Speedmaster Pro. In all the above examples, form indeed follows function, but what lovely form! Purposefulness does not obviate beauty, and these examples came into being long before terms like "industrial design" and "form factor" became true buzzwords outside design houses. The M3 is firmly in the pantheon of beautiful, purposeful, and time-tested design.

(And my Konica S3 isn't slighted in the least)


- Barrett

 

[rover]

Yeah, the M3 is the class of this the weaker of the conferences.

 

[Socke]

I vote

none of the above

 

[Rich Silfver]

Socke, hopefully you can find one camera that you find attractive out of the 79 that got nominated here: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=236120#post236120

 

[Film dino]

I know it's too late to add any more RFs- but maybe we could've had an M2 in Group A instead of the M3; and the M3 in Group B instead. The rationale being one LTM & one M in each group might have made an interesting contest.
2 cents..
David

 

[Rich Silfver]

I know it's too late to add any more RFs- but maybe we could've had an M2 in Group A instead of the M3; and the M3 in Group B instead. The rationale being one LTM & one M in each group might have made an interesting contest.
2 cents..
David

David, good point and it was a pain trying to structure the groups in some way that made sense. In the end they ended up being about 90% randomized and some manual adjustments.

And don't worry - there are more M's and LTM's coming and I just checked - you have M's AND Leica LTM's in the same group in groups A and E. In addition to that there is either an M or a Leica LTM in every single group.

 

[Socke]

I think a Group C would be nice. There are so many missing! I own just two of the mentioned cameras, a Kiev 4 and a Linhof MasterTechnika and at least compared to the Linhof I think my Contax Gs are more of a rangefinder 🙂

 

[jonasv]

Socke, I think there are a couple more groups coming.. C, D, E and F.

 

[VinceC]

No fair! You picked the ugly Kiev instead of the meterless one!

 

[wrenhunter]

Even though I love my R, I had to skip the R2 and vote M3.

Looking at the R2 photo, I realized that I love Bessas because they are a bit dowdy, yet a great practical camera. It "does what it says on the tin".

But the M3 is beautiful precisely because it is practical engineering raised to the highest level. I guess the M3 is the tin itself!

 

[Rich Silfver]

No fair! You picked the ugly Kiev instead of the meterless one!

🙂 Please read the disclaimer at the top:
"NOTE: THE SAMPLE PHOTOS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH CAMERA IS IS JUST THAT - A SAMPLE - I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO BROWSE AROUND THE INTERNET FOR MORE IMAGES IF YOU ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH A PARTICULAR CAMERA MAKE"

🙂