What's in your pocket?

As I have a weakness for classic folders, I alternate between 2 Zeiss Ikonta 35s (one with a Tessar, other with a Xenar), a Voigtlander IIa (Color-Skopar), a Retina Ia (Xenar), & an Agfa Sollinette (Solinar), although I must confess to a preference for the Zeisses. The each fit in a pants pocket, though they might be a tad heavy for some ( I wear a good belt!). I wear either a Gossen Pilot or Super-Pilot around my neck for periodic exposure checks or rely on the Sunny 16 rules. These cameras offer me the aesthetic pleasure of shooting with nothing between myself & my subject but a shutter & a lens. Eliminating all in-camera help-aids allows me to approach subjects somewhat differently than I might with another instrument. For more exacting closeup wide open shooting, other interpretations, inspirations, and/or whims, I have rangefinders, TLRs, & a new-fangled Spotmatic/SV SLR system. The beauty of today's digital world relagating previously expensive film equipment to bargain basement levels allows people like me to be able to afford different high quality cameras for different purposes. Lack of demand for these scale focusing gems allowed me to pick them up cheaply. Let them eat digital cake!
 
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Leica M6 with 35mm CV f/2.5...big pockets.

....in all the other pockets - film, lens cloth, more lenses, string(???), chewing gum, a very thin wallet and any other gumpff I can fit in
 
Olympus 35 RC or Ricoh GRD. I bought an Olympus 35 SP yesterday but that's a bit too big for my pocket.

Ian
 
I waver between all manual and all auto for the "pocket cam":
Either a Pentax UC-1(Espio something to the rest of the world) the fixed lens P&S. Or a Kodak Retina 1a with the f/2.8 Xenar.
I pick which one depending on how much "work" I want to do; if it's just a day/night of not wanting the bag with me, I'll take the Kodak. If it's a (usually;) ) night out carousing, I'll take the Pentax.
Rob
 
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Well, although I have a Rollei 35 and an Olympus XA, the one I use most often is my Canon SD600 Digital Elph.

It is really a fanstastic little camera, and as another poster mentioned, it is actually so small that you will have it on you. I have it in a LowePro belt pouch that is sized perfectly for it, so I don't even waste pocket space on it. This camera is good if you want to have a camera on you, but you're not sure if there will be any opps worthy of film.

If you're pretty sure, or you don't mind spending the money and/or time to shoot film, and if you don't mind that it's a lot bigger, I like the Rollei 35. They have a well-deserved reputation.

With the SD600, I am so happy that I have it on me when I need it. It is probably 1/3 the size of a Rollei 35, and 1/2 the size of an XA.

With the Rollei, I get excited that I may have just made an image worthy of enlargement. It has a serious lens, capable of making images worthy of serious treatment.

The Rollei is a brick to have in a pocket. It'd have to be a big coat pocket or carried in your hand. One disadvantage to the Rollei is that whenever it isn't completely enclosed, the light meter is on, so (for me at least) I hesitate to carry it in my hand, out of it's case, as I would the XA or SD600.

The XA kind of splits the difference between the Rollei and the SD600. Its 35mm lens is more useful (for me, at least) than the 40mm of the Rollei. Also, its unique design makes it an f/2.8 in half the size of the f/3.5 on the Rollei 35. (the f/2.8 on the Rollei 35S is even bigger) It is sharper than the SD600 lens by a mile.
 
Take a look at the Fuji Natura S, 24/1.9 lens, smaller than a pack of cigarettes. VERY pocketable, fast and wide.


:)
 
Now: Ricoh GRD set to snap mode.... love this camera and even with the additional viewfinder I have had no problem fitting it in my jeans pocket. Proven itself to be pretty tough as this is my regular going out/party camera.

Past: Rollei 35 with Tri-X. Great camera which I used a lot when travelling while studying.

Minox IIIs... got this while still at High School... will never get rid of it. Just too cool and amazing piece of industrial art!
 
On my left pocket, Finepix F11 - A and S modes - up to 1600 ISO with litle Noise!
0.1 sec. start up time at 35mm f2.8!
Allways ready specially when the RF's arrive in the mail!!
 
In my pocket, XA or Olympus 35 EC.

A lot has been said about XA, but none for the underrated 35 EC. This camera produces beautiful pictures. The color saturation and bokeh is superb (it has an E. Zuiko - 5 element-lens)


364228179_c0ae3e08e9.jpg
 
Yeah, you're lucky, you can get an Oly 35 EC for a couple of bucks, now after reading this sub-forum, my long-subdued Rollei 35 GAS starts to bubble up again :bang:
 
Yes, but not all at once...

Yes, but not all at once...

Contax T
Minox 35GL
Minox 35ML
Olympus XA
Olympus XA2
Pentax Espio Mini (black UC-1)
Petri Color 35
Ricoh FF-1
Sear Mini 35 (Ricoh FF-1s)
Yashica T4 Super
Fujica GS645 (larger pocket)

Chris
 
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Ricoh GR1 if I carry a separate camera, flat, light, superb lens. In truth it's generally my cameraphone - quite adequate for the average snatch shot.
 
Actually, I don't have a small enough film camera.
(My Agfa Optima 535 I could not fix yet.)

So, I have to admit that I have a Pentax Optio S digicam in my pocket.

EDIT: Meanwhile, I carry around my Minolta Hi-Matic F a lot. What a nice snapshooter!
 
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I used to carry a Welta Welti, folding 35mm camera. Wonderful little things. However for Christmas, my daughters got me a Sony 500 series, 530 I think (obviously it isn't in my pocket now, lol, work doesn't allow it) that I am most often likely to carry. Auto everything and 6 MP is a quick and easy way to shoot when you don't want to take more time. Still, I liked the Welti. Smaller even than the QIII if no auto anything, and a good lens.
 
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