Your Top 5 Favorite Cameras Ever!

Leica IIIf (the best)
Voigtländer Vito III (beautiful and well made - best folder ever)
Robot II (great design and very cute)
Diax II (favourite fixed lens RF)
Zeiss Ikon Contaflex II (bad reputation but mine never broke - the only SLR I don't hate)

(it all went downhill from the mid-50s :rolleyes: )
 
I sat down and made a list of 50+ cameras and tried to distill down to 5 "favorites".

I discovered that I had used multiple criteria to come up with the list, that produced different results:

Top 5 based on images produced with that camera, in no particular order:

1. Leica M240
2. Nikon D3x
3. Leica M6TTL
4. Hasselblad 500 C/M
5. Nikon F5

Top 5 based on "fun to hold and use", in no particular order:
1. Contax G2
2. Nikon F2as with MD-1
3. Canon F-1n
4. Leica M240
5. Hasselblad 500 C/M
 
Top honors:
Nikon F2
Canon EOS 1n
Leica M6
Fujifilm X100s
Fujifilm X-Pro1

Honorable mentions:
Pentax 645
Nikon F/FTn
Olympus E-620
 
Order subject to change by the moment:

Mamiya C330f
Minolta Autocord
Minolta SR-T 102
Minolta X-570
Canonet QL 17 GIII

My main cameras have become my TLRs, and I have quite a few of them. I have a couple of Rolleiflexes, too, but they don't enthuse me like the Mamiyas and the Autocords do.

Next in priority are my 35mm Minolta SLRs.

Compact fixed-lens RFs (Canonet, Vivitar 35ES, Olympus 35 RC) served me very well for travels and living abroad. For this, they were perfect and I was totally satisfied with their performance and convenience. The only one I still have is the Canonet, and I find that I never use it back home or traveling by car.

- Murray
 
1.Nikon FM......till it broke with Helios 44
2.Nikon FE2.....till it breaks with VC 58mm 1:1.4
3.Olympus 35 RC
4.Contax IIa with Jupiters 8 & 9 and a Helios 103
5.Nikon D700 with AF 35-70 f2.8 and VC 58mm 1:1.4
...........honorable mentions M6 + VC 21mm f4, Minolta XD7(XD11), Kiev 4 with black J12
 
Leica MP precise, responsive, great mechanical feel
Nikon F4s goes against everything I think I like in a camera, feels indestructible
Leica IIIc small size, pocketable, very capable
Camera attached to Phantom 3 Advanced for opening up new perspectives
Hasselblad Xpan cinematic look, just a bit different
 
From what I have used :

Nikon F2
Nikon F
Leica M6ttl
Nikon F5
Nikon F4s

What I would like to have :

Mamiya 7 II , Nikon F6 , Leica M240 , Hasselblad V , Nikon D810
 
Leica M 2/3/4/6
Nikon F 2/3/4/5/6
Rolleiflex E/F
Hasselblad 500 series
Speed/Crown Graphic 4x5
 
1. Leica M6
2. Rolleiflex 2.8C
3. Rollei 35S
4. Leica M262
5. Zeiss Ikonta 521

The M6 and Rolleiflex are certain, whereas I'm not fully sure about the order from number 3 onwards. The digital Leica is wonderful but very new in comparison to the others. The Zeiss Ikonta 521 has a new challenger in the form of a Voigtländer Bessa 66, but it has already won out against a super ikonta and other more "advanced" folders. The Rollei 35S is a special camera, and as much as I like the M262 it will have to last some decades as a classic to challenge the humble scale focus Rollei.
 
In no particular order that I've owned or used;

M6 - once the battery is out, classic.
M2 - as above
M4-P - as above (M4, M4-2, MP would probably all be here too, but I've never used them)
FM2 - just gets the job done (I haven't used an F or F2)
iPhone - too convenient to not be there.

Rolleiflex 2.8C and Nikon D60 get an honourable mention. I think if I spent more time with the Rolleiflex it would push the FM2 off the list though.
 
1. Leica M
2. Rollieflex Planar f3.5
3. Linhof Tech V 2x3
4. 8x10 Ebony
5. 7x17 Wisner

The ones that get the most use..
1. Panasonic GH1 & G7
2. Sony A7
 
Wow, only 5. Hmmm.
The list is not in any particular order, it just kind of depends on what I want or need at the time.
  • Pentax K1000
  • Leica MA
  • Graflex Auto RB 4x5
  • Pentax Q (certainly not a Leica Q.)
  • Wanderlust Travelwide
The real truth is I have lots of favorites but they certainly don't fit on a 5 camera list. The ones above are the ones I reach for the most frequently...though my Pentax PZ1p belongs there as well.

But that would make it a 6 camera list, wouldn't it?

Of course then there is the Pentax LX (but that would be a 7 camera list...rats!)
 
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