What is your most tactile camera

[ABrosig]

So now my go-to easy-carry camera has proven to be a Rolleiflex 2.8C Xenotar.
Few rolls of film and a Gossen exposure meter in the coat pockets and I'm happy as a pig in mud.

I feel that way about my Yashicamat 124G. It was my late father's camera and just picking it up brings back yards of memories of he and I just taking off down the road with no set destination in mind except cameras and a bag full of film.

I also find myself just fondling my compacts - Olympus 35RC (also inherited from my dad) and my new (to me) Rollei 35. There's just something about those two cameras, tiny though they are in my big mitts, that feels good.

 

[Keith]

The little Leica screwmount seems to be featuring quite regularly here and I can see why. They caress your fingertips in a way few cameras can ... a very unique little machine.

 

[ABrosig]

I loved that machine. It proclaimed the shot with a forceful and sonorous k'shlock. And then you checked the scene, looking over the camera while winding film and shutter. After 12 shots, in went the dark slide, the magazine clicked off, and you snapped on a fresh back. On the Planar, you chose an EV value, and then you could choose the speed or the aperture required. Panning disoriented me so much I still have trouble distinguishing left from right. Slow and ponderous and heavy, but still elegant, in a primitive sort of way.

fifteen years on, I still dream of it.

For build and image quality, can't beat the 500C. But I still have nightmares of working for a newspaper, shooting Hassies, trying to follow a basketball game. My eyes still roll at the memory.

 

[zuiko85]

My Olympus Pen, the original film Pen from 1959 (although mine was manufactured April 1960)
Absolute simplicity. A 4 speed shutter, 1/25 through 1/200 plus 'B', 4 element 3 group 28mm f3.5 lens with whole click stops to f22, scale focusing to just under 2 feet and a .5X projected bright frame finder. Just enough control to handle a variety of light. The cleanest design I know.

 

[Timmyjoe]

The Leica iiif for sure, and the M2. Nikon FM2n with MD-12 just fits my hand perfectly. Nikon F.

And the humongous brick that used to be my Canon F-1n with Motor Drive. Thing was huge, weighed a ton, but just felt good in my hands.

 

[Kent]

Oh yes, you got me there. I also have bought and sold many cameras (and even more lenses)!

But there are some in my "collection" that I will never (if that is possible) give away:

Nikon F (Because it was a generous present of a very nice friend! And it's an amazing machine.)
Yashica Electro 35GS (For the very same reason.)
Leica M8 (Because I just love it and it was the camera that I took the last photos of my dad with, a week before he passed away.)
Pentax K100D (Because that was the last camera my dad has shot with.)
Franka 125 (Because that was the camera on which my dad taught me the basic of photography.)
Agfa Super Silette (Because it was a present from an uncle of mine who shared my enthusiasm for photography, it was his camera.)
Nikon F3 (Because I love this cam and it's a perfect film complement to the next one on the list: )
Nikon Df (Because that is - probably - my favourite camera of all!)

 

[oftheherd]

Interesting thread. Thanks.

In 35mm:

Well, I will be the first (and no doubt the only) one to mention the Fujica ST901. It was so much smaller than my Yashica TL Super, and had AP exposure with LED readouts of the shutter speeds in the viewfinder. It just seemed to fit my hands so well.

Four or five years ago I got a Contax 167mt. What an easy camera to wrap one's hands around when it has the 50mm f/1.4 lens on it.

In MF:

I think my Zeiss Ikon 6x9 non-RF is the one that is most fun to fondle. I have others I enjoy using, but there is just something about the Zeiss Ikon that feels good to the touch and it's (when closed) slender profile is fun to my eyes.

In LF:

Has to be my Voigtlander 9x12 with Skopar lens and after-market RF. But the non-RF Kodak (by Nagel Works) is a pleasure with its metal construction (although heavier than the Voigtlander).

My old all metal Orbit has more knobs, turns, angles, and movements than an evening can absorb. Someday I will get the new bellows it needs and see if I get photos as exciting as playing with its controls and folding construction.

 

[lxmike]

Once again thanks for all the replies chaps, its very interesting to see l am not alone with regards to the tactile nature of cameras

 

[wjlapier]

iPhone 6s. Feels great in the hand, excellent screen and one thumb can do it all.

That and the Leica 1f.

Close. 6s+ and the IF. The iPhone is my most used camera I have.

I really like the way the Fujica GS645W feels in my hand too.

 

[Mute-on]

Leica M2 with a 35 Summaron. I actually really like how the original vulcanite feels in hand. Smooth but not slippery. Form factor of camera and lens is basically perfect.

 

[skucera]

I enjoy the precision of my Leica M3, but I may still be in the "smitten" stage, having just gotten it this summer. Everything that moves is silky and precise. The controls are right where they should be. The viewfinder is nice and bright and super clear. It's a joy in every way.

I've always enjoyed the user experience of my Canon EOS cameras, but their plastic feel isn't the best in the hands.

I got a Bell & Howell Dial 35-2 this summer that feels great in the hand, and its spring-loaded motor drive is delightful to use.

Oddly, the camera I use most has good feel in the hand, but an awkward user experience... the iPhone 5. The aluminum and glass feels great, but the small size and fiddly on-screen controls are not pleasant. However, it takes great pictures and it is always in my pocket, ready for use.

Scott

 

[vladimir]

F 100

F 100

Rather embarrassingly l have owned far too many cameras and have chopped and changed far to many times however part of the fun is that l have come across a few great beasts that have been great to just sit with and hold. Another member on a different thread highlighted that sometimes a camera just by being there creates a need to fondle it, to hold it...l get this l really do, sometimes l use the excuse that l am just exercising the shutter speeds but deep down l know that l really just need to hold a certain camera, why because certain cameras just need to be held...and so what camera do you just hold, or what cameras have you used that were so special just holding them made you feel good.......just realised that maybe on rereading this thread l need to get out more or get therapy for me to hold a Barnack is a joy, holding and playing with my IIIf gives me great pleasure

The most tactile camera become my Nikon F100 literally, the rubber cladding became bit sticky. I sold it and regrated selling it. My Leica M 240 in a halve case is tactile in a different sense of the word.

 

[Santtu Määttänen]

For me this question comes in two very different parts.

First are the cameras that feel at home in my hands and tangling on my fingertips. The ones that have been used more then I can remember over the years.
Olympus 35RC my first camera. It works like a champ and it simply disappears in my hands and out comes pictures.
Yashica-Mat, when used in prolonged sessions it makes my brains do the switch from left to right so well that I'm disoriented after looking up to the real world Besides it has everything at the exact right place. Amazing ergonomics (same as rolleiflex).
And the "recent" new-comer. Nikon D700. Yes it's digital. But it has been grown onto my hands. I can have it dangling on a single index finger with a long heavy lens and I have no fear of it falling off. It's balance is perfect. Everything in logical places.

And then there's the second part. Which ones I like to fondle Mostly the ones that I haven't shot with extensively enough to know them inside out. They still have that "freshness" in them.
FKD18x24, I love the gearing and the low-fi feel of the thing. Pictures are dreamy and lovely. Perfect companion to a portrait shoot with tons of time to kill. Not for the faint of heart.
Kiev 4a, Contax clone and amazingly beautiful camera. Handling it is like having a warm woolen cardigan on your shoulders while sitting by the fire. Even if it's outside in the rain, trying to capture the picture while there's cars rushing by and mud flying everywhere.

There's plenty of nice cameras to fondle and to handle. But for me, the ones that stay with me the longest get a special place in my heart. They're most likely not perfect nor even close at times. But since I know them so well I can always trust them to get the results I want.

 

[Anthony Harvey]

Pentax SP1000, ME Super, MX
Olympus OM1n
Leica M4-P

Best for me is the Pentax ME Super, the smallest of them all and the best for balanced coordinated manual wrap-around sensuous quality that at the same time has the most natural, gentle and soothing lift-to-the-eye sensation with an infallible accuracy of eye positioning, all of which seamlessly integrate with visual composition, mental timing and shutter-clicking. A masterpiece of design.

 

[mdarnton]

The most ergonomic camera I've owned is the Nikon FG, but my Leica Ms aren't bad. Worst one I ever had was the Olympus OM1, but when I got an OM2SP, the fingergrip on that one made for a pretty nice camera, too. I'm debating an adhesive fingergrip on one of my M4s, but worry about ripping off the vulcanite.

 

[paulfish4570]

pentax me super with 50/1.4, olympus em-5, leica iii ...

 

[summar]

Leica IIIf and M4-P, Nikon FE, Rolleiflex and, strangely enough, a Graflex SLR.

 

[Greyscale]

Nikon F2 with Nikkor S 50/1.4. Everything about it is perfect. Weight, size, balance, sound, and feel. Perfect.

 

[David Hughes]

Interesting, few modern cameras and few tiny little or lightweight ones. Most seem elderly and so, perhaps, from the days of brass gears? And how about rounded vs square ends?

If I get a spare hour I'll be listing and checking them...

Regards, David

 

[gilpen123]

Also the IIIf so good in the hands......