What would you consider a rugged camera ?

[raytoei@gmail.com]

I was reading up on the Nikonos underwater camera in Wikipedia and caught this passage:

""The Workhorse of the War"

Because of its waterproof housing, lens options, and toughness, the Nikonos was an important tool for photographers working in the steaming jungles, flooded rice paddies, and rain-lashed battlefields of the Vietnam War. The wire services loaded their Nikonos cameras with Tri-X, Ektacolor-X or High-Speed Ektachrome."

I know that the M3 was used by Kyoichi Sawada in the Vietnam War.

What would you consider a rugged camera today ?

 

[eric rose]

The Nikonos is truly the toughest 35mm camera ever made IMHO. I have both the IV and V. My Leica's are among the most finicky cameras I have ever owned. One good bump and the rangefinder is out of adjustment.

 

[not_in_good_order]

Since the Nikonos is out of production, I'd say that the professional weather sealed bodies from Nikon and Canon paired with each company's weather sealed lenses are pretty rugged.

 

[semilog]

Well, my M6's rangefinder is in factory adjustment a decade from purchase (and I'm not gentle with the camera), but of course the plural of "anecdote" is not "data." I also have a Nikonos IV, though, and that thing is The Camera of Last Resort.

 

[nikku]

My Nikon Action Touch is pretty damn rugged. That's my true "take anywhere" camera.

 

[BillBingham2]

Nikonos is at the top of the list. They've been customized for the government and still rock solid.

Oddly for me, I think a Nikon FG or EM might be up there too because of the costs (so low).

B2 (;->

 

[bobkonos]

Nikonos! By the way Ray, do you own a TOEI bicycle?

 

[rbsinto]

Among my Nikons, I'd say the most rugged cameras are my F, F2 and FM bodies.

 

[ZeissFan]

And of course Robert Capa had his Contax II at the D-Day landing at Normandy, France, during World War II.

And I believe he was killed holding a Nikon RF.

The pro models from Canon and Nikon were always extremely rugged.

Larry Burrows shot with Nikon F2 cameras during the Vietnam War. They took a beating and kept on clicking ... as Timex used to boast ("takes a licking and keeps on ticking" -- was that what the commercial said?).

The Rolleiflex is a very sturdy camera, as long as you don't shatter the focusing screen. A friend of mine ran over a Rolleiflex Automat. Literally, backed over it with his car. Shutter still fires.

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

I've had two of these from new, one - I take pictures with....the other is on a four foot rope - for felling wild boar.
Dave.

 

[oftheherd]

Truthfully, I never paid that much attention to what PJs were carrying in Vietnam, those few that saw personally. But my recollection of reading about it was they mostly carried SLR in Vietnam. And of course, there were motion picture cameras as well. One of the last PJs I remember seeing was using motion picture for his story. He had a Vietnamese as a cameraman. He was trying to document Vietnamese taking over (stealing) buildings from us, and we were trying to artfully get him out of there so we could deal with the situation in the way we thought best.

EDIT: As to rugged cameras, most PJs in Vietnam didn't go far afield with the troops. They wouldn't have been likely to have been crossing flooded rice paddys (usually never more that 12-18 inches deep in water, not counting the mud). I'm not saying they never did, I just don't think it was common.

 

[emraphoto]

i was just using my nikonos V yesterday. absolutely love that thing!

i have used pro nikon bodies pretty heavily and they are TOUGH as nails. for the longest time the d2xs was my nikonos cameraa. when things were really ugly out it came and never failed.

 

[Vince Lupo]

Nikon F, Nikon D700, Leicaflex, Leica M2, Leica III, Nikonos III, Contarex, and my trusty Ricoh TLS-401!

 

[Sparrow]

I'll bet a Olympus mju 2.8 will withstand a higher fall than any of the above, seriously tough

 

[Ljós]

Larry Burrows shot with Nikon F2 cameras during the Vietnam War. They took a beating and kept on clicking ...

Larry Burrows did indeed use Nikon F-series cameras (for his famous Essay "Yankee Papa 13", following a day in the life of a chopper crew in Vietnam, he mounted a motor driven F with a wide angle lens and remote on a custom made extension rigged to the portside machine gun of the chopper he was riding in, with the camera pointed at the crew gunner.

But, his mainstay were Leica M3s. A photo taken three days before his death in February 1971 (taken by Roger Mattingly) shows him with two M3s around his neck and a SLR on a strap over his shoulder.

I can highly recommend his book "Vietnam" with an Introduction by David Halberstam (of "The Best and the Brightest" fame).

 

[Vilk]

I've had two of these from new, one - I take pictures with....the other is on a four foot rope - for felling wild boar.

😀

Hey Dave, get yasself a motorized F2 and you'll be feeding venison to the whole damn village!

(To an earlier poster: http://theonlinephotographer.typepa...mages/2008/04/02/larry_burrows_camera_top.jpg. I think F2 came out after...)

 

[ZeissFan]

I read an article a few years ago about the Vietnam war photographers. The article said that some of the North Vietnamese photographers were given a single 36-exposure roll of black and white film ... for an entire year. That's three shots per month.

 

[newspaperguy]

I would rate my Nikonos II as my ruggedest (is that a word?) camera.
It is like a cast iron tank.

Next would be my Konica 'tough-job'* rubber armored, weather-proof 35mm auto-focus super point-n-shoot. Looks like a Hexar on steroids, hangs from the end like an M-5.

*I've been told the proper name is:

Konica Off Road or Genba Kantoku or Kenba Kantoku

 

[ruby.monkey]

Well, my M6's rangefinder is in factory adjustment a decade from purchase (and I'm not gentle with the camera), but of course the plural of "anecdote" is not "data." I also have a Nikonos IV, though, and that thing is The Camera of Last Resort.

Pentax K100D, then. Mine survived my son using it as a bowling ball on numerous occasions.

 

[filmfan]

Nikon F5, hands down. They found one beneath the rubble at ground zero in NYC. The camera still worked and the film was fine. No camera has a more renowned legacy for being tough. I have put mine through more than I would like to admit.