Which cameras did you make your favorite / best photos with and vise versa?

jsrockit

jsrockit

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I've been doing an hard edit of all of my photography recently from when I re-started doing photography in 2008 until now. Prior to 2008, I either used film (Leica, Contax) and printed in a darkroom or I used very consumer grade digital cameras of the low MP variety (and was not doing photography seriously). In 2008, I started to photograph again and started to use a Leica M8...and then went onto many cameras from there. This editing has allowed me to see which cameras were ultimately very good for me and which were not my style...

Multiple models of Fujifilm X-Pro and X100 were best for me, but also my most used. The Nikon Df was very good to me too. The Ricoh GR (original APSC) worked well for me for awhile too.

Unfortunately, the Leica M8 and M9 were ultimately not beneficial to my style even though I remembered I loved using them. DSLRs other than the Df came and went quickly. Sony cameras gave me the odd great photo here and there, but ultimately were a waste of my time due to not really liking them.

Basically, it appears I like dedicated shutter speed dials and aperture rings plus auto-focus.

I still use many Fujifilm cameras... but now I think I need to buy another Df just to have around. How about you guys... what have you made your favorite or best photos with and what were your worst made with?
 
Best photos I made are with my Leica M6 w/ZM Sonnar 50mm and Contax S2 w/28mm
Worst photos were with Sony a7s, just didn't gel great with it.
 
I've thought about this question quite a bit because what it means is that if I find a definitive answer then I'll never want another camera again!
Over the years I have had very pleasing photos out of my Olympus OM1, generally with 35 and 21 mm lenses, with my Rollei 35, with my metered M film cameras, CL and CLEs and my M9s. I think the common traits are manual focus, built-in meters, manual or adjustable auto-exposure, great lenses, and compactness.
Having said that, I have recently got into fixed lens Sigma Merrills (DP1, 2 and 3) and even though they are auto everything, with manual selectivity, I like the picture results so much (colour, resolution, detail, mood) they could be the ultimate answer to all my needs. Today anyway.
 
Ricoh GR (I and II)

The size meant that I could carry it in a pocket or attached to a rucksack harness while travelling in some very interesting places, which meant I was more likely to point it at things.

The quality meant meant that the things it was pointed at tended to look pretty good :)
 
I've owned (and still have) cameras of every imaginable type, brand and style. I think some of my best are from Rolleiflexes, just due to the ability to hold and focus. But really I've had fantastic photos from my Nikon's, Leica's, Pentax's, Exacta's, Sears and Roebuck, 4x5, 5x7, Ikoflex's, Mamiya's, etc, etc. It is the camera or the lens that makes the photograph.
 
Leica m2

Ricoh GR

Olympus OM1

Nikon F3

iPhone

But by far my best photos came out of a Nikon D700. Every now and then I look to see it’s prices and I get tempted. But, I don’t like the heavy dslr anymore. If I shoot digital I am more than content to use my GR or my phone, biggest I print is 8x10 and with good light the iPhone can manage that in all fairness.
 
My 6x6 photos from Rolleiflex are my favorites. I am a street photographer but prefer a pictorial look like a carefully composed painting. The 6x6 format suits me fine. I am most inspired by American painters like Hopper and Wyeth and seek out that look in my photography.
 
Worst would be with my first SLR, first real camera actually, which was a Mamiya Sekor 1000 DTL. I don't think I ever got what I'd call a 'Good' photo out of that camera.
I think the best is yet to come with my Sony A7iii. I haven't had it very long but it is far and away the most capable camera I've had the pleasure to own and use.
 
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Favorite to myself and best photos I consider to be best? Not those I won contest with or been asked for prints?
Favorite and best to me were taken with Canon 500D and kit zoom lens and with 5D, 50L. 5D are out for support now and 50L EF is lens with build flaw. I don't have them anymore.
DSLR AF with minimal gears to turn seems to work best for me. But I just keep it for home now. One year it became too bulky and heavy to hold. I have 5D MKII and bunch of heavy L zooms. Keeping it on the table next to kitchen, family room to take quick pictures once in awhile if high ISO is needed.

My known pictures were taken mostly with film, many with M4-2. Which I haven't used for longest time now since I own it.
Leica film M out of wack prices, overpriced lenses and lack of fast, local, affordable service turning me off from it now. I just don't want to feel like rich elitist. I'm not. I feel cool with cheap Nikon SLRs. They are all cheap. And so are lenses. People saying they are nice, some will say "I had, have one". Every time I encounter locally someone with film or digital M on the streets, many times they act snobby. I guess I'm not as dressed as they are... Nikon SLRs matching my style more :).
I also have some good pictures in public eye with M-E 220, most of them are murky BW, but for my eye old cheap E-PL1 with 15m f8 beats Leica for color, accuracy of exposure and even noise. I like to stroll with M-E and family. It is nice camera. But this old E-PL1 gives better pictures with this 15mm f8 lens. :)
 
Contax G2. And I had owned the couple Leicas (M6, M4), and still I prefer Contax. I regret not bringing one with me when I backpacked in Patagonia. I would've come back with many more well exposed images. And when I scan the Contax images and compare them to the ones shot with Leica glass, I still prefer Carl Zeiss rendition.
 
Ricoh GR2 (Digital).

Ricoh GR1 (Film), which I now regret selling.

Widelux F7 - the more I shoot, the more I enjoy it.

Leica M5.

I think it boils down to which cameras I've used the most. The more I use them, the higher the likelihood of getting good photos with them. And if the camera isn't suited to me for some reason, the less I tend to use it.
 
Unquestionably 35mm rangefinder with a 35 or 50mm.

I started off with a Zorki 4 and 50mm when I got some money together to purchase my first decent camera.

Then, went I started work, I went through a succession of 35mm SLRs (Pentax, Minolta, Canon) ending up with a Nikon F2 kit for work, which I hardly ever used for my own work.

A Minolta CLE with its three lenses was my personal kit for a long time and provided me with a lot of keepers, stuff I love to this day. A pocketable Olympus XA was used extensively when hiking and rock climbing.

Later, Leica Ms (M4-P, M6TTL and M5) arrived and the M4-P and M6 became go-to cameras; lots of favourites from these, too.

Digital arrived in the form of a Nikon 8400 and D90. Since 2016 it's been Fuji’s X-Pro2 and 3… just love these cameras.

In between all of this has been Hasselblad and Rolleiflexes, mainly for professional work. Occasionally I use my Rollei 6008 Integral.

The common denominator for my best stuff is a rangefinder type body with a viewfinder on the left of the body with a 35 or 50; they just feel so natural, suit my vision and fit my hand so well; format-wise it's the 3:2 proportions that I use most. It’s just a real shame that now I don’t use film so much.
 
I don't make the distinction between best and favourite - the ones I like most have been taken with either my M3 with goggled Summaron and with my Leicaflex SL2 (lens less important).

The fact I enjoy using these the most has an undoubted effect on me taking my most enjoyable photos with them, as they go out the most.
 
Not surprising that my favorite photos came from my most used gear. It really could have been any number of cameras, and it was not the 'best' camera that I have ever owned.

Nikon F3P, Ai-S 50mm f/1.2, K-finder, and effective -2 diopter. The camera has been to the repair shop three times:

01) I purchased the body used from a reputable Nikon dealer and found that the shutter was not working properly at higher speeds. The dealer gave me the option of a complete refund or they would pay for servicing... I opted for the latter.

02) the rewind mechanism broke when attempting to rewind the film in sup-zero temperatures while trying to stay out of the wind on the lee side of a structure. Kiitos Camera in Nishiōi, Shinagawa-ku, Tōkyō got me up and running in 45 minutes while I waited. One of my favorite series of photos was from the impacted roll, which was manually rewound outside the camera in the dark and secured in tinfoil.

03) I dropped the F3P off a chair in a coffee shop (while trying to get warm on another winter shoot) and I had to replace the compensation mechanism.

It's like an old battered friend...
 
Ricoh GR1 (film), Leica III and Konica Pop. Whichever I had with me when that moment came along.

I wish I still had the Ricoh, small enough to go anywhere with no fuss.
 
Nikon F2 and F5 , because they were my most used cameras. I still have them, wish the F5 had a bigger back focussing button.
 
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