What would you consider a rugged camera ?

[Arjay]

The most rugged camera is IMHO the Leica II or III, and I can back up this claim with a rather macabre family memory:

My father used to be an avid mountaineer. One day in the summer of 1963, he was on his way in the Bavarian alps alone when he apparently mistook a deer pass for a hiking trail. The trail led him into a scree which began to move as he was walking on it. Eventually, this developed into a debris slide which tore him down over a 300ft high cliff, killing him in the process.

In his rucksack, he had his Leice II or III (I don't recall which), that had served him during the war in Scandinavia and France.

My father had been reported missing, and searches for him had been conducted for six weeks. We had already given up finding out anything about him, when his shattered body was found by accident by a hiker.

His Leica was found to be in working order, and my brother is still using it today, having taken it to Central America and South-East Asia for several times.

 

[Bill58]

If I was in a "survival situation", I'd want a Nikkormat FTN first and an F2 second, hands down.

 

[Ljós]

Burrows

Burrows

He regularly used a 28mm & 50mm on the Leicas and a 105/2.5 and 200/4.0 on the Nikons.

Thanks, JSU. From looking at the Mattingly-photo I figured that the lenses/external viewfinders were most likely a 50mm and a 28mm. Not that it REALLY matters - but I find it entertaining as well as educating to try to guess the focal length used in pictures. So a bit of cheating 🙂 sure helps.

 

[semilog]

Tim Page was anything but a typical photojournalist in Vietnam. He has published several books and been referenced in a few more.

True! But his camera setup does seem to have been quite typical.

 

[ferider]

I like reliable cameras, so it's a bit hard to pick.

It's not a Nikonos, but if I had to pick only one, for a few weeks in the mountains or so, it would be my M6 (with SL2 rewind).

Roland.

 

[Calzone]

Rugged could also mean "disposable" in which case I'd load up on a bunch of old user Nikon F3 bodies and a rack of Olympus Stylus point & shoots.

Nikon F3's are very cheap right now. Seems like they refuse to die; and as a result there is a major oversupply and very very cheap prices. I was told by one dealer that they sell them at auction for $70.00 because they have too many in stock. A year ago I bought another minty one with a MD-4 for $190.00 from a dealer. I already owned two, so a third was like loading up with spare extra ammo.

A F3 with a MD-4 motor drive also makes an effective weapon. I imagine being able to smash someone in the head, and then beinig able to take a picture of them laying on the ground with the same camera. Two shots, but only one would be taken with film.

Either of my two F3's with motor drive weighs about 5-6 pounds depending on lens and hitting someone with my camera would be like swinging a motorcycle helmit by the strap into someone's face. I imagine it would take only one shot to put someone down.

The addition of a AH-4 hand strap further suggests aggression because it advertises that I am wearing a huge set of brass knuckles, especially in the summer when the camera is attached to a long muscular arm that is ripped from doing 100 sloppy pushups in one set.

So far the NYPD hasn't stopped me from getting on the subway, but when I walk around Manhattan with a deadly lethal weapon in plain sight I never get bothered. LOL.

One of my F3's (I own three) is a F3P that was owned by the newspaper "Newsday." I bought it after it recieved a total rebuild, just after the camera came back from Operation Desert Storm. The brassing on this camera is especially nice.

I guess owning three Nikon F3's is like having a lot of ammo. My other cameras are a Leica M, a Leica screwmount, and a Rollieflex BTW; but, when I need a weapon I always reach for one of my Nikon F3's.

Calzone

 

[drpops]

The Nikonos II is a tank....I dropped it once on the concrete sidewalk.......cracked the sidewalk. No seriously it gave one bottom corner a little rash. Drop my M3/M4.....I would have a serious repair bill.
David

 

[narsuitus]

What would you consider a rugged camera today ?

Here is what I select when I need a rugged camera:

Nikonos III – when shooting in hostile environments

Nikon F2 35mm SLR – when I need a dependable small format camera

Fuji 6x7 or 6x9cm rangefinder – when I need a dependable medium format camera

Nikon N70/F70 35mm SLR – when the camera is likely to be damaged, lost, or stolen

Canon QL17 Giii 35mm rangefinder – when the camera is likely to be damaged, lost, or stolen

Argus C3 35mm rangefinder – when shooting long timed exposures and the camera must be left unattended for hours

Nikon L35 – when I need to loan a dependable camera and not worry about getting it back

 

[ferider]

The Nikonos II is a tank....I dropped it once on the concrete sidewalk.......cracked the sidewalk. No seriously it gave one bottom corner a little rash. Drop my M3/M4.....I would have a serious repair bill.
David

Likely the M would still shoot. Of course it might not be as pretty as before the drop .....

Question is what rugged means ? Reliable in operation, or expensive to bring back to "minty" condition 🙂

 

[TWoK]

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.

I agree. The least reliable camera I own is my M6. I'm about it 86 it, but hopefully Sherry will work a miracle. I'm 6'5" maybe 280 lbs and I fell right on my Nikonos V the other day down at the ocean taking pictures of my kid. I bent the filter ring and everything else is fine. It is a beast of a camera.

 

[johannielscom]

The book, "Lost Over Laos" tells of the efforts to locate the crash site of the Huey carrying Burrows and the other photographers (Henri Huet/AP, Kent Potter/UPI and Keisaburo Shimamoto/Newsweek), I found it an excellent read.

The remains of one of Burrow's M3's, confirmed by the serial #:

Just bought the book off eBay. Never heard of it, but recently saw a clip that was linked to from here on Burrows, which I found impressive.

I reckon a rugged M3 was no match for the force of that blast. Poor fellows.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

Found this faded photo, scanned and adjusted the contrast. Observe the rubber slippers.

 

[TWoK]

When were you shooting in Cambodia?

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

Finally got a first test roll out on the Nikonos IV-A with 35mm lens.

This camera is built llike a IS-2 Tank (to use a different tank metaphor).
It doesn't float and despite its sturdiness, I still felt a little paranoid about bumps and nicks.

(Ilford XP-2 Full Stand in Rodinal)

Some observations:

* a moving subject can be quite difficult to capture

* water qualilty is very important to getting a clear shot.


raytoei
(I am going to use the Nikonos next week to support a sporting event.)

 

[FallisPhoto]

If it's rugged you're looking for, check this out: http://www.bnphoto.org/bnphoto/KodakMedalist.htm

"... and these cameras were incredibly durable, with reports of them being swung as weapons for personal defense without damage to the Medalist."

 

[viridari]

I reckon one of the members of the Pentax Optio W series would give a good run against any of the more serious cameras mentioned here. If I thought I might be fording rice paddies and hanging out in the rain forest for months on end, I'd probably opt for one of these instead of the more professional type cameras.

 

[charjohncarter]

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 ?

The US Army used Nikon Fs for daily use and even tough use during Viet Nam. The US Navy used the Bessler Super D but that was at the beginning of the War I don't know about later. I saw some Leicas being used by the Army but they were mostly in Mission outposts (South and Central America) that still had them from before the VN conflict. I had a Nikonos II during the VN years but for personal use. I never saw one in our tropical testing facitlity in Panama' during my years there. But as they used Japanese cameras at that time it is certainly possible that Nikonos could have been used. I just never saw any.

 

[charjohncarter]

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?).

One incident that I heard, so it maybe made up, is that a US Army photographer was caught behind the Cong and carried his Nikon F to safety in a bucket of water just in case they caught him. Later the film was developed and the camera dried out to work again. Maybe a prevarication though.

 

[Harry Lime]

I agree that the Nikonos is very tough, but it is a specialty camera...

As far as normal SLR cameras go I would have to place the Nikon F2 and F3 (F3-P) at the top of the list. You could probably place the whole F-line up there from the original F to the F6. I have the F, F2 and two examples of the F3-P. If you asked me to pick one camera to take to the end of the universe and bring a picture back it would probably be the F2. You are likely to experience 'operator failure' , before that camera gives in...

I think the Nikon FM series is probably the toughest prosumer grade SLR out there.

Also the original Canon F-1 and F1n (?). Many veteran repairmen have commented on just how overbuilt the F-1 was.

You could probab

 

[fbf]

To me, olympus mju2 is a rugged camera. I used to carry it everywhere. Dropped it more than a dozen times. I have used it in heavy snow, heavy rain.
I have never had any problems with it.