Why do you prefer specific brands?

[kiev4a]

It's interesting to read the post on various SLR brands by members. Ron, of course, is "Mamiya Guy." There also seems to be a lot of interest in Fujicas and Olympus. I have often wondered why different folks gravitate toward specific brands

I have a couple of Petri Fleees and screw mount Mamiyas and three pre Spotmatic Pentaxes. But as you probably realize from my posting, my favorites are the Nikons. Why?

Well, back in the late '60s and early '70s, when photography was part of my job requirements, I started out with Petris, Mamiyas and Pentaxes for financial reasons--apparently a driving force for most of us in our youth. But in photojournalism in those days, Nikon reigned supreme. All the big names were shooting with Nikons and, as a twenty-something, I was convinced that I wouldn't make the big time until I, too, had Nikon equipment.

Don't know how many times I went to the local camera stores to fondle the Nikon gear. Eventually I traded in every piece of equipmet I owned, got nothing for it and walked out with one Nikkormat FTn and a 50m f2 lens (and a year's worth of payments) I really couldn't afford on a salary of about $360 a month. A year or so later, we sold the house that we had purchased for $7,200 for the unbelievable sum of $11,900!. I was able to convince my mate that there would never be a better time for me to get a Nikon F.

I ordered the camera from a New York Photo discounter. I remember the day it arrived all brand spanking new. It was a Nikon F with the recently-released FTn finder. If I remember correctly, it cost about a month and a half's salary! (We didn't have kids then).

The Nikons were the first cameras I used that metered without stopping down. I think that improved my photos -- of course they gave me the proper attitude, too.

About 15 years later, when my job was more management and I never used my cameras, I traded off my Nikons--including the nearly mint Black FTn with motor drive that I had acquired along the way. (I briefly had an OM-1 because of the size but didn't like it.) Video cameras had come out and we thought that was the only way to record family doings. For a time, the only film cameras we had in the house were a couple of cheap point and shoots. Oh yeah--there was the Canon P with lens that was stored under the house for about 10 years and then sold at a garage sale for $10!

Then, in early 2002, one of our daughters was getting married and we decided to sell some investments (just before the market dropped) and take the couple and her two sisters and two husbands to Maui for the wedding. I had just discovered Ebay and decided it didn't make sense to hire an expensive photographer over there when I could pick up some equipment on line for a lot less and do it myself. I wound up with an FM and and FE (cameras I had never owned) and several lenses and got great pictures.

At some point in the trading after the wedding trip I acquired a Nikon F100. Liked it but not as much as a mint F3 that I came across (I still had an FM) so I sold the F100 (wish I hadn't). Then, last year I got an F4s which is a great manual focus camera but does have limited AF capability.

Why do I like Nikon? It's not because I think they are that much better than any other camera. I suppose it's because I'm "comfortable" with that equipment. Even the newer film models have a lot of that same feel the F had -- solid and dependable.

I really don't have any need for any more shooting gear. But the price of the F2 has dropped. Never had an F2 but always thought it was a spiffy camera. I knew a UPI photographer who bought three new F2 bodies and stashed them in his closet when he heard the F3 was coming out because he wanted to finish his career with the F2 -- a "real camera."

And, sometimes I get the hankering to handle an example of the camera that started it all for me--the Nikon F. Probably wouldn't use it much but. . . . .

How about everyone else? Why do you like specific brands?

[heath]

For me, I am a Canon man through and through. It all started back in the early to mid 90's when all I had was a 5yo P&S made by Hanimex. I needed something better. A friend had a Canon T50, and I knew I wanted something similar. The EOS system was beyond me finantially at the time. I then found a used T50 at a local photographic shop at the right price, so I bought it. I used it for a few years and had so much fun. It ended up going missing in a move I did back in 2000.

In early 2001 I found another T50 in a hock shop (pawn brokers) at a very attractive price, so I was then back in the photographic scene. Soon I discovered the limitations of this model. While looking for used FD lenses, I found a used T70 at a reasonably good price, but not the best. The guy in the shop knocked the price down a bit, so I purchased it. Manual exposure was now a part of my photography vocabulary.

I then found a canon Speedlight 199A that is dedicated to the FD line of cameras at a phenominally low price, but I didn't know if it worked. They just happened to have a T70 body there, so I asked if I could test the flash. They said it was ok, so I hooked them up and fired off a fewtest frames (withoput film). It worked great. I looked the body over and found it to be in better condition than the one I had at home. The price was $250 for the T70 and the flash was $60. I asked how much for both and the guy went away for a few minutes, came back and said that the best he could do was $50 for the flash and $190 for the camera. A quck calculation told me that the total for both was less than the original asking price for the T70 alone by $10. Needless to say, I ended up owning them too. So now I had a T50,and 2 T70's. Great, as I was due to photograph my cousins wedding a couple of months later.

In the mean time I had been given a Mamiya 35S2 rangefinder by my cousin. This started me off on my vintage and classic camera collecting. I love the Ensign cameras, and have a few folders and 2 Ful-Vues too. The reason I started on those, was when I discovered eBay, I found a Selfix 420 in remarkable condition, did some research and found the parent company was started by a guy with the name Houghton. I have relatives with that name, so I had to have this camera.

A couple of TLR's, 35mm rangefinders and M42 SLR's have also come my way in the past couple of years, plus a few Polariod's (and the Kodak copy too).

My first foray into digital was a Canon Powershot A10. A great little P&S compact. When Canon introduced the EOS 300D, I knew I had to have it. I got a good tax return and went out and purchased it, only the third time I had ever brought a brand new camera for myself. But I needed more lenses, so off to ebay I went. Found a few older EOS's with the lenses I wanted, so I bought them, mainly for the lenses. So I have the 300D, a 100QD, a 1000FN and a 1000F (which is being sold to a friend) in my EOS collection. As I said, I am a Canon man. They have never let me down, very dependable. When I decided to get a video camera, I went for a canon as well. I have the MVX 250 Mini DV. A great little camera that doubles as a 1.5MP P&S if needed.

I have also been bitten by the FSU bug. I have a Moskva 2, a Lubitel 2, several Zenits (including 2 Fotosnaiper models), a Zorki 4 and a Kiev 3a. I am in the process of buying a Kiev 88 TTL MF SLR (Hassy copy).

Heath

[herron]

I supose I started out like a lot of folks...envious of those who could afford a Nikon. This was back in the 60s. I could not afford one, so I bought a used Voigtlander Bessamatic at a local camera store. It took great pictures, but extra lenses for it were hard to come by, and they were pricey.

Then, in 1968, I got a job (while still in college) as a photo editor and photojournalist of sorts, and decided I just HAD to have a couple of lens changes to be able to do my job right!

I bought a new Mamiya 1000 DTL, partly because I had heard great things about it, but mainly because I could afford it. I could also afford (by pawning a couple of things) to buy a wide angle and a telephoto lens for it. I discovered it took great pictures. When I won a local photo contest with one of my entries, I was convinced the camera had helped me do it! I was hooked on Mamiya! I bought several more models as they came out, and was delighted with them all. My favorite was the Mamiya NC1000...still is.

I did stray a couple of times. I had a Nikon N65, a 6006, and an 8008...all of which I gave to my son, as he became interested in photography. I thought they took good shots, but none had impressed me as being better than my old Mamiya's...so I went back to them, and started collecting more and more of them!

My collection has grown to cover an amazing (to me) number and type of camera...while remaining true to my "first love" Mamiya! ;)

[PeterW]

Hi,

Most of you know that I too like Canons. I first got acquainted with them back in the 1960s. My wife was a freelance photojournalist working mainly for the smaller magazines using a Super Ikonta for cover shots and an Exakta for feature work. She decided she wanted something more up to date than the Varex, and we went to Dixons professional shop just off the Strand, in London. This was in the days when Dixons was a serious photographic business, and in their pro shop you didn't go to a counter, the place was laid out with small tables and a salesman would sit down with you to discuss cameras.

Valerie couldn't make up her mind between a Nikon and the newly introduced Canon FX, so the salesman suggested she hired one of each (for a ridiculously low desposit) for a week to try them. The thing that swayed her towards Canon was the ease of changing lenses. If I remember correctly you had to fiddle with an external pin connection on the Nikon and do something with the stopping down every time you changed a lens.

The upshot was that she settled on the Canon FX. At the time I was using a variety of secondhand cameras which I kept changing, but borrowed the FX from time to time, liked it and decided that when I could afford it I also wanted a Canon but as Valerie was earning money with her cameras and at the time I wasn't (I was a full time journalist) her cameras came first.

Much later Valerie had acquired several Canon lenses and traded in the FX to get an A1, and as we had a little money to spare at the time I bought myself an AE1. Fast forward a few years and as I too had become freelance I traded the AE1 in against an A1 and also started selling pictures as well as writing.

Valerie was now getting quite lot of magazine colour cover work and the bank agreed to a business loan for her to get a Hasselblad, and at the same time she bought a Canon F1 but kept the A1 as a spare camera for whichever of us needed to use both 35mm black and white and colour on a job. Between us we had quite a range of Canon lenses, and as the cameras were proving utterly reliable it was natural to stay with Canon, and a Canon has been my main user camera for years. Nothing against Nikons, but changing would have meant getting a new range of lenses, and if you're comfortable with a make of camera, and they do what you want, why change?

It was around this time that we both became interested in collecting old cameras as a hobby, but that's another story.

Peter W.

[Randy]

I really have no rhyme or reason, I've never been a photo journalist like some of you folks. I started out wanting a camera I could take to the drag races and an occasional railfanning trip with my father. I spied a Pentax Spotmatic in a camera store in 1966, and the owner recommended it as a good camera for my price range and needs. I needed a replacement in the early 1980s but didn't really go on the lookout for one until one day we happened to be in a pawn shop and I spied a Minolta XG1n and lens in the original boxes. I asked about it and the broker said it was someones Christmas Present and they had never used it. I got the camera and lens for $80.00 and that was the start of my Minolta phase. Fast forward to Ebay, and it's all downhill from there...I'm a camera collector! I now own every model of Minolta SLR going back to 1963. The Spotmatic has been replaced by half a dozen different models of Spotmatic, an H1a, and a couple K1000s. I also have a Fujica ST605 and a Fuji STX2, the Fujicas are easy cameras to use and take great pictures. In my opinion though, the Minolta SRT series cameras are the best camera design ever made. The Minolta MC/MD lens mount is good from the first SR series right up the the last Manual Minolta made, second only to the M42 lens mount. I try to use every camera I own now just to be fair to them.

[kiev4a]

Then there's my FSU gear. Got into that initially when looking for Nikon stuff on Ebay and saw a Zorki 1. It reminded me of the Leotax I once had. I was fascinated by having some cameras that were made when the Soviet Union--a whole different society--was a super power. And I enjoyed communicating with the sellers. Next thin I knew I had 30 different variations of the Zorki 1 (there are more) and was building a web site on the camera. Pretty soon I had FSU sellers asking for permission to use my material!

Eventually, I backed off and sold some of my Zorkis to finance other gear. I was fortunate to get some of the early models before they became really R@RE!, then sold them to Asian collectors for considerably more than I paid.

I blow hot and cold on FSU stuff. Never had much interest in FEDs but then acquired a few and picked up the entire collection of FEDs a friend locally had (traded him for a Nikkor 24-120mm lens)

Now I have examples of about every Zorki and FED major model (the LTM cameras) which are displayed in a case so I can bore the hell out of visitors. Don't have much interest in taking the collection any farther but do continue to do research on the history of the Soviet camera industry. I have also focused on getting all of them in operating condition. I think I only have one Zorki 5 that isn't operational and that's because of a minor mechanical problem that I should fix. Oleg has been a great help in getting some of my cameras working. (I was one of his early customers).

[PeterW]

Hi Wayne,

I've also got quite of lot of FSU gear, no early Zorkis or FEDs, my earliest Zorki is a model C (or S if you Anglicise it) plus several Zorki 4s and 4Ks and one lone FED 4. They all work well.

And Zenits - oh my! A few years ago I seemed to triip over the Zenits imported into the UK by T&OE at almost every car boot sale and flea market I went to, all at loose change prices because no-one wanted them. I must have a dozen or more of them, including a Photosniper, mostly working but some I keep as donor cameras. To my mind they're ideal tinkering cameras. The weak points seem to be that the shutter button can get very sticky and harsh, easily fixed, and broken curtain tapes - not quite so easily fixed but not too difficult. I've also got an early Zenit C, lovely little camera to use, and a 3M, both working well.

Then there are my Kievs, I've got three 4As and two 4s, but only three of them work. Again, they didn't cost me very much, except the one I bought new in the early 1970s and that still works faultlessly. These are not all that easy to tinker with, but not impossible with the help of Peter Tooke's book on the Contax II and III, and help from various websites.

I didn't collect FSU cameras for any particular reason, they seemed to collect me! I don't shoot very often with any of them nowadays, but when I do take one of the working ones out for an airing they produce excellent pics - well, excellent from a camera point of view. Whether or not they're good as pictures is another matter.

Peter W.

[byuphoto]

My first real camera, to use not own, was a Yashica TLR that my high school had. when I was called up by Uncle Sam my firt PX purchase was a Yashica 35 RF camera. I had to sell it for a bus ticket to San Fran. While in SE Asia I bought a Yashica SLR and a 50mm f1.7 Yashinon lens. With it I photographed much of the Pacific rim.
In 1973 I was in Tokyo and had it in my mind to buy a Real Nikon SLR. I was amazed at the prices and could not afford one on E4 pay so I bought a new canon F1. I was thouroughly impressed. at this time the Navy was also using Canon F1's so it was easy to borrow a few lenses.
After I got out in '79 I acquired a Pentax ME and then an ME Super because of the size and I got a great deal on them. But then Canon came out with the A1 and I bought one of the first around here. I used this camera till the EOS system came out and I fell out with Canon and photography in general. I mostly used a P&S and my two Pentaxes were sold but I hung onto the Canon's
I got the digital bug when the DReb came out and bought one then a 20D and then a 1D MK II and several high dollar L lenses. The divorce caused me to have to sell them so out came the old canons and a few new OLD lenses were bought an F1N an EF and finally the best camera Canon ever made I bought two T90's
WQhen I was younger I was always attracted to the sports photographers and those big ol' white lenses. I always said I was going to own one and now I have three

[Rachel]

The largest part of my camera collection is Canon manual focus. Before I started collecting I had a Canon EOS 650 which I was happy enough with but then a local dealer showed me a Canon FTB and I was just hooked on the manual focus Canon's. I traded in my EOS equipment for more Canon manual focus cameras and lenses.

So now I have Canon cameras from their Leica rangefinder copies through compacts, Canonflex, FL and FD to my most modern one which is a T90. I've always found them such reliable and sturdy cameras.

[Just Plain Curt]

Some of the first cameras I ever had were old Kodaks given to the kids as toys because they had developed light leaks. The first real SLR I bought new was a Praktica, I believe an LTL. At the time I was in high school and saw Olympus OM 1's, Mamiya/Sekor (sorry Ron, I forget the model) and Prakticas in a local store catalogue. The Praktica was what I could afford at the time, but I always longed for better/newer/more sophisticated cameras after that introduction. I bought a couple of RF's at an estate auction and these set the hook in me pretty deeply. Never could get too into old Polaroids but like most mothers, mine would faithfully find one or two at yard sales and bring them home since her son liked old cameras.
First time I held a Spotmatic I felt at home and since I already had experience with m42 cameras I bought a few more. Then bought a Ricoh XR-6 to take pictures at the drag strip and so bought into the Pentax K system. After that I discovered a local camera repair shop and became his best customer for used cameras till he closed up shop. Yard sales/pawn shops and estate sales took care of me till the dread Ebay came along. Since then I've picked up more jun.... I mean goodies than I'll ever need but still find a reason to buy that one more lens, or one more SLR. Going to my US mailing address again today to check for jun....goodies ooops. At last count I was approx. at 985 cameras (I know gives new meaning to my avatar) with approx. 172 being SLR's so gobs of lenses in every mount I can think of except Alpa and Rollie. I seem to buy in phases, sometimes FSU RF's, Sears/Ricoh K mount SLR, m42 screw mount, vintage folders or just vintage RF's. Like everyone else I try to use most of mine but I've fallen so far behind that a lot need a good shutter flush by the time I use them again. Keep trying to get photos of each to post and a small website on the go, but time and money never seem to co-exist at my house. Just bought a new (don't crucify me, LOL) Kodak C340 digital camera last week so if I ever get time to take it out of the box and use it, I can actually post some pics a bit faster and easier. Maybe before the fall I will get organised enough to list a few with Ebay, but summer's here, I have 300+ rolls of film in the freezer just calling my name, and that new lens is begging for some use so..... enjoy your cameras everyone. Curt, king of the procrastinators.

[PeterW]

Hi Curt,

985 cameras ... NINE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY FIVE!! All I can think of to say is b....y heck! And I thought I had too many at around 200. Where on earth do you keep them all? It must be a voyage of discovery going through them, "Ah yes. I remember it well" .

When I can get around to it I'll send you an application form to join the Procrastinator's Club; with average luck you might get it in about five years. And if you reply within five years after getting it you'll be automatically refused membership. ;D

Peter W.

[herron]

weirdcollector said:

At the time I was in high school and saw Olympus OM 1's, Mamiya/Sekor (sorry Ron, I forget the model) and Prakticas in a local store catalogue....... At last count I was approx. at 985 cameras (I know gives new meaning to my avatar) with approx. 172 being SLR's so gobs of lenses in every mount I can think of except Alpa and Rollie.........

Curt:
Tell me what years you were in high school, and I can probably predict which Mamiya model it was!

985 CAMERAS!
What year did your family leave? My wife threatens to throw things (including me) out on the street whenever I get a new one, and I've only managed about 150 or so! Not to mention the fact that I have completely taken over one room of the house! You must have cameras on the breakfast table! LOL!!! ;D

By the time I got through counting that many I would have forgotten I had the first one!

[kiev4a]

985! I'll bet there no private person in Canada with more. The only collector I know of who MIGHT be in that numerical category is an FSU camera collector, Nathan Dayton (www.commiecameras.com).

[Just Plain Curt]

Hi guys,
Yep, nutty as a fruitcake I may be, but I gots more cameras than ye, LOL. Sounds like old Ben Gunn from Treasure Island, huh? Seriously, none of mine are in such mint shape that they compare to most of yours. I've picked up a few mighty nice ones, fixed a few curs and made my share of parts cameras believe me. Today's trip to the border only yielded a handful of Bolsey and Ricoh 500 booklets, a Yashica Penta J with Enna Lithagon 35 f3.5 in brutalised shape and a lens I bought to try a lens hack with; a Tokina 7.8 inch f5.6 heavyweight that looks to be off some sort of projector I believe. I only bought the Penta J for $1 for the Lithagon, and the Tokina for $1 to tinker with so it's not like I invest enormous amounts in my hobby (although you don't want to see my Visa bill).
Wayne, as far as private collectors with a lot of cameras, four come to mind off hand, Daniel Iggers, Bill Mattocks, C.E. (Doug) Wilcox, and Colonel Bill Arps. Hope none of these fellows mind the infamy but as I've seen many posts by most of them (unsure of Colonel Arps though) I'm sure they realise we've all come to know and envy them a bit.
Ron, the year I bought my first new Praktica was 1975 and the store was a chain of discount stores called Consumer's Distributing which fell by the curb about 5 years later. I distinctly recall it was a Mamiya/Sekor rather than just Mamiya but the model eludes my poor old brain.
Peter, I used to have a small gaggle of photos of my horde but since everything is in a HUGE mess right now, I deleted the pictures from most sites and haven't taken any new ones yet. As a matter of fact I picked up a Minolta SRT 201 from one of my boxes just to trial fit a lens on and I noticed when I cocked the shutter that the rewind knob turned so I guess I have another partial roll to shoot tomorrow in addition to the one in my XG-1. Also need to find a rewind knob to fit my Montanus Rocca as mine detatched itself with a little merry tinkle and rolled to within 3 feet of the edge of Kakabeka Falls, our local Niagara of the north. Wouldn't be such a big deal, but I have a full roll still in the camera and would dearly like to retrieve the pictures to post here. As to the Procrastinator's Club Membership form (HA HA, Peter you slay me, LOL) don't worry, even if you sent it right away Canada Post would gladly store it a year or two before delivery. Also on the to-do list tomorrow is remove the leather I recovered my XG-1 with (blue with little or no grain and it looks childish) and switch the back assembly/locking mechanism with a really nice one from one of my XG-7 parts cameras, then recover with the leather from the XG-7. Did I mention the XG-1 popped open yesterday in mid roll and ruined at least an hour's shooting, grrrr? Anyhoo, I'll try (believe me I honestly will) to install the Kodak software, master my new digital C340 and post at least 3 or 4 pictures of my (hopefully cleaned, dusted and on shelves again) collection, however bent, brassed or pedestrian it may be, sometime in the next week or so.

[herron]

weirdcollector said:

Ron, the year I bought my first new Praktica was 1975 and the store was a chain of discount stores called Consumer's Distributing which fell by the curb about 5 years later. I distinctly recall it was a Mamiya/Sekor rather than just Mamiya but the model eludes my poor old brain....

Curt:
In 1975 the newest Mamiya would have been either the Mamiya MSX, or it's brother, the Mamiya DSX (and the Mamiya/Sekor name was being used on the camera body).



The picture is of one in my collection.