What makes a certain camera special to you?

[FrankS]

In another thread, member Livesteamer posed an interesting question tangential to that thread and worthy of its own thread:

...certain cameras have a magic that attracts users to them. The Pentax Spotmatic and H3v are very similar and yet the H3v is "wonderful" to me and the Spotty is just another camera.

What is it that makes a camera "magic" to you?

 

[FrankS]

I'll start: I think that part of me must be a closeted industrial designer because I value simplistic functional design in cameras. This draws me to the classic Leica M and ltm cameras for examples, as well as the Nikon F/F2, Hasselblad CM, and Rolleiflex tlr. also on my list are the Pentax SV, and Canon F1.

So, functional and simple design, as well as something superficial: density, which for me, hints at high quality materials and build.

Of course, sometimes a camera's history - how you acquired it, the time spent with you or it's previous owner, makes it special- Sentimental attachment.

 

[back alley]

merlin's touch?

 

[FrankS]

merlin's touch?

Bah-dah-boom!

I've always thought it was fairy dust.

Now that that's solved...

🙂

 

[matthew J Shaw]

I think there are various things that make a camera "special"...
I am a camera user, and a collector... but my entire collection is not built around a make, or type, it's down to feel.
I pic up a camera and very quickly I know if it's right or not.
My favourite "special" cameras are the Edixa Mat Reflex. They are very simple, build quality is up and down, reliability is poor... but despite all of this, as soon as I pick it up, every little thing is in the right place. The weight, build and in my opinion the style is also perfect.
I think cameras are much like cars... today everything is styled by computer and the end results are all pretty similar, some cameras (especially older ones) have a style, and this combined with layout and features is what influences us.
Any camera is special, but it is all subjective, my special camera is somebody else's junker...

 

[back alley]

sorry frank...words like magic just add to the craziness of cameras...to me.

have i liked some cameras better than others? sure...but magic had nothing to do with it.

 

[cjbecker]

Rolleicord iii is the camera that does it for me. It started becuae I wanted to try a tlr, when I go it, it was love at first sight. It was a camera that melted into thin air when I use it, I never have to think when I use it. The pictures just happened. Then I took it to el salvidor, Mexico, India, and Canada with me and now has its own place up front. Best camera made on my opinion, better then rolleiflex, hasselablads and leicas. 8)

 

[FrankS]

sorry frank...words like magic just add to the craziness of cameras...to me.

have i liked some cameras better than others? sure...but magic had nothing to do with it.

"Magic" was meant to be taken figuratively.

 

[Livesteamer]

"Magic" may not be the best word but what is it that make a camera stand out to you. I think it is hard to define but easier to recognize. For the past few years, the camera I have wanted to use most is the Leica IIIc with the little 50mm Elmar. Small, high quality, just what I need, nothing more. Joe

 

[1750Shooter]

For me, it's how it feels in my hands. After 30+ years with Nikon SLRs, I finally bought an M4-P - wow! Every time I'm around it I have to pick it up & hold it. It just feels right.

 

[daveleo]

For me different cameras each bring their own magic to the party.

First to mind is my HexarAF. Supremely elegant on my shoulder (making me look ever so charming) or making its beautiful pictures. For me, the best there is.

Next would be the Nikon FM3a. Solid mechanical workhorse that makes me feel I can make pictures of anything out there.

The Digilux-2 . . . the grand old lady on the shelf in her red leather. At ISO100 her B&W jpg's are better than anything I can make on a computer.

Most recently it is the X100. If I don't slam it against a wall in rage, it may become my favorite all time camera. Maybe. Maybe not.

 

[Vics]

I recently sold my Rollei 3.5F and kept my MX Automat purely because of what you're talking about. The MX (rather its Xenar) does pure magic on the film, and the 3.5F only gave me the technically perfect picture of the frame as it appeared on the focusing screen. Feels like magic to me.

 

[back alley]

my faves have been all over the map.
i loved the little minolta cle but also the much larger canon T90...if it feels comfortable in my hand, does not get in my way...those things add to my enjoyment.

 

[Roger Hicks]

If you could analyze it rationally, it wouldn't be 'magic'. And, by the same token, if it were quantifiable, manufacturers would design 'magic' into cameras. On top of all that, 'magic' varies from person to person and even, for the same person, from time to time.

They don't even have to be 'good' by any commonly agreed standard -- think of a backwards-lever-wind Alpa -- and the 'magic' can exist in one area but not another: staggeringly good looks, excellent ergonomics, 'heft', historical significance, image quality...

Cheers,

R.

 

[Vickko]

Well, I've got my favourites, but, amongst those favourites, the ones I bond with the most are the ones I disassemble, restore and repair, and re-assemble to fully functional condition.

 

[randolph45]

Lots of cameras but one will never leave

Lots of cameras but one will never leave

My fathers Canon L1 rangefinder
Bought in a pawn shop with a 50/1.2 and 28/2.8
He was not a photographer but liked old victorian houses.
When redevelopment of older downtown Sacramento was starting he photographed all the buildings and as an oil painter did many canvases of downtown buildings.

 

[lxmike]

For me, it's how it feels in my hands. After 30+ years with Nikon SLRs, I finally bought an M4-P - wow! Every time I'm around it I have to pick it up & hold it. It just feels right.

my journey is also down the same path, I have used various cameras, systems/formats over the years and after 30+ years I too bought a Leica M, an M2 and it just fits and is the sum of all photgraphic needs and desires

 

[Phil_F_NM]

The Yashica 124 is the camera that piqued my interest in photography over 30 years ago when I was very young. Mom used to let me look through the viewfinder and see everything backwards. There was some kind of magic to it that I still feel when I shoot a TLR.

Mom's Spotmatic is the camera that I seriously began to learn photography on so there is a connection there. I still love Spotmatics to this day.

My Leica M4 that went through hell with me is probably my dearest possession. Both of us went through combat and the camera suffered both external and internal wounds. Myself, just internal.

My Nikon SP is very new to me, but is growing on me. I'm very fond of it as it seems a near perfect amalgamation of what I'd put into a camera.

When my D2x starts making me money, it will go onto the special feeling list.

Not to make this a film v. digital conversation but it's a new year and full of reminiscence. When I grab a roll of Plus-X (yes I still have a few bricks left) there is some feeling that I get that I'm doing something. Maybe it's the hypnotizing yellow or the smell of the newly popped open plastic canister. The camera that I stick a roll of Plus-X into has a special feel to it, for sure.

Phil Forrest

 

[Timmyjoe]

Great thought provoking question. Here's my criteria:

1. A camera I can look through (not down into the top of or at an LCD)
2. The viewfinder and how focus "Pops" for my eyes
3. The size and weight of the camera and how it feels in my hand
4. How my shutter finger interfaces
5. My history with the camera
6. The industrial design of the camera

Examples, my M3 with Tom's mini-Softie hits 1,2,3,4,6 and is one of my favorite cameras. Am still developing a history with it. My Canon F-1n, where I've installed a bright matte screen and custom diopter hits 1,2,3,5 and is probably my second favorite shooter as we have a tremendous history together. A very close third is my Nikon D4 which hits 1,2,4,6 though it's quite heavy and we don't yet have much history.

A camera that I dreamed of owning for many years was the Rolleiflex 2.8. The industrial design is stunning and it has been involved in making so many historic images that I love. But once I had one, I found it very hard for me to focus, images didn't pop, I hated looking down at the top of the camera instead of through it, the image moved in the opposite direction than what I was used to, and my hand and shutter finger just didn't fit it at all, so it got sold. I needed a MF camera though, so I found a Hassy, and with the addition of a prism finder, I was able to make it work as I can now look "through" the camera and the focus pops.

Guess the question provoked quite a number of thoughts. 🙄

Best,
-Tim

 

[Griffin]

Well, the prettiest camera I own, an olive R2 with Nokton 35/1.4, is not my favorite. Great viewfinder, easy to operate shutter dial, but for some reason it's not my go-to camera anytime.

After using that R2 for a while I came back to my Pentax MX with 50/1.4. Looking through that viewfinder is just amazing. You actually see the image right there. BUT the shutter dial is annoying. It's too stiff and too difficult to operate with one finger, so I always need to take my eye off the viewfinder and wrestle that knob with my thumb and index finger. I could just go for the aperture dial, but that would change the look of the image I'm going for too much imo. Yes, I am a bokeh-junkie.

Then there's the Yashica GX with which I bonded immediately on all levels, but it seems to have a battery drain and a slight light leak.

The Olympus Trip feels hollow and I don't like the action of the shutter button.

The rollei 35SE is difficult to get out and shoot quickly, so you need to keep it in hand, uncollapsed with the cap off.

The D-Lux4 was my first serious camera and buying it in $$ it was the same price as an LX3 here in €€. That one gave me the love of wides. 24mm and with the wide angle converter you get 18mm. But still something is missing. Maybe because of that STUPID joystick and that IDIOTIC RETARDED computer delay (retard) you get when you hold the joystick up (for focusing or whatever) and the motor moves a little, stops and then continues on moving. You know, like when you hold a key down on the keyboard, there's a slight delay before it continues on. Shouldn't happen when you're focusing.

Then there's my mom's Canon Ftb -too bulky.

In final, my favorite at the moment, where everything seems right, is the little GRDI I just bought. I like the 28mm fov. I like the solid feel. I like the look of the CCD overexposing (most of the times it's set at +1.3, depending on the lighting range of the scene). I like how the manual focus is continuous with the button press. The two dials are genius and the camera remembers your settings when you switch it off. If only it would also remember the focus position when switching off in MF, then I would give it ten out of ten.