The Camera Of My Dreams-

[jlw]

I guess I'm not as imaginative as the rest of you. All I want to do is go back 20 or 25 years and re-photograph some of my own past, but with the cameras and films available now...

...being under the stars at a Westport Ballet performance in Kansas City and seeing Susan Hard dance for the first time, but with a 75mm f/2 ASPH Summicron instead of the crummy lenses I was able to afford then. (I can't afford a 75/2 Summicron now, either, but hey -- this is a fantasy, right?)

...being able to use T-Max 3200 and getting actual shadow details, instead of pushing Tri-X beyond its limits and just pretending I could see shadow details.

Oh, yeah, I'd also like to go back in time and tell myself NOT to trade away my Minolta CLE (one of the few cameras I bought brand new, in the box) or the pristine Contax IIa and 50/1.5 Opton Sonnar that had seen me through college (I could have just put it in a box until I could send it Henry Scherer to revitalize the shutter, which had stopped working at any temperature below 70 degrees and which I was told could not be fixed by anyone, anywhere...)

 

[rbiemer]

Rob you are naughty...naughtier than myself 😀
I did not think about making underwater shots...i swear i didn't!

I'm not the one in the tub...darn it!
OK, dream camera: Zorki 3m with perfect Quality Control(blueprinted as the hot rodders say) and a set of Leica glass--21,35,50,90.
Still can't decide the when part. So I won't. First I'd like to shoot some photos of my dad's father--he died long before I was born. Second, I'd like to spend some time where I grew up but about a hundred years earlier. After that it gets very tough to choose. I'm not so much interested in the big historical moments but rather the mundane day to day stuff.
Rob

 

[Nikon Bob]

I'm lucky to have found my dream RF and lenses to go with it so I'll settle on being physically able to use it in the here and now.

Bob

 

[Mike Kovacs]

Not so much a camera as a lens but I must have a Carl Zeiss 21/4.5 Biogon + viewfinder for my Contaxes. Prices on them have become quite ridiculous, especially on the 21mm viewfinders.

 

[einolu]

I think a mint Leica M2 and the new collapsible elmar would serve me well. But for now I can settle for my zorki 1 (tried a number of cameras over the period of this year and didnt like them nearly as much). Maybe after I buy everything I need for college next year Ill start hunting around for one as a christmas gift.

jlw, what about a noctilux?

 

[BJ Bignell]

A dream camera? Anything that shoots 8x10, a tripod to put it on, and a Sugar Mama to pay for the slide processing! 😀 If it were a RF camera, I suppose an M3SS with a built-in TTL meter would be nice, preferably in black paint.

 

[wlewisiii]

A dream camera to me would be a fully modern folder. Poloycarbonate body over a magnesium frame, Kevlar reenforced leather bellows, TTL metering, on-the-fly format switching from 6x45 to 6x6 to 6x9, fast three focal length Sonnar derived lens - F2.8 & 50mm, 100mm and 150mm , 120 and 220 supported, aperture and shutter priority AE modes, and costing less than $1000 retail.

Then use the OP's time machine to give one to me on my 12th birthday and a lifetime supply of Tri-X and Plus-X... 😀

William

 

[Pherdinand]

William you are cheating, such camera does not exist(alas). I think you have to choose from what is available. It sucks, i know🙂

 

[Beniliam]

One Rangefinder camera with viewfinder and waistfinder, like the old Exaktas...

 

[wlewisiii]

William you are cheating, such camera does not exist(alas). I think you have to choose from what is available. It sucks, i know🙂

Well, he said "dream" camera, right :angel: ?

A GA645Zi comes close as does the GS645 folder...

William

 

[Biber]

An M6 that I wouldn't have to worry about getting damaged or stolen. 🙂

 

[existrandom]

hello all,

like many posted here, the choice of camera and lens is easier:

a Custom MP (O.72, black paint, no markings on toplate)
lens choice is a bit tricky: if i can bring only one lens, it will be Leitz 35/2 Pre-Asph (7 elements, Germany) if i can bring more than one i will have these in my bag:

Zeiss Biogon T ZM 25/2.8
Leitz 35/2 Pre-Asph
M-Hexanon 50/2
Canon 50/1.5 LTM

and i will stick with Fuji Neopan 400

i gave some thought to the most tricky part of the questions.... and despite all the grand historical moment and time, places and people i missed; i come to agree that it should be here and now

lee

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I can't make up my mind between thse two.

And I kept my promise not to take my "Dream Picture":
Nikki's Birth, Loreo Stereo Camera; 3D Coming right at you "BABY".
I however did use the line when asked if I want to cut the Umbilical Cord: "NO! That is what I am paying you for! Clean her up and hand her over!"

 

[einolu]

Both can be your dream camera, it just depends on what your wearing that day.

Question: What is that little viewfinder like thing to the right of the actual viewfinder?

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The SP has two viewfinders: 1) 1.0x RF coupled with projected framelines for 50-85-105-135 lenses and a separate 0.4x viewfinder with framelines for the 28mm and 35mm lens. The eyepieces are close, like on a Leica IIIF, so that you focus with the 1x finder and shift your eye for the wide-angle finder. I tend to use the full finder for the 35mm lens, its actual full-finder coverage is that of ~40mm lens.