The only camera I would keep.

[paulatukcamera]

On another thread (Autumn) I said that I would take some fresh photos for the Fall section on my Retina lllC

So I hope the IDCC members will forgive me for "making the link" and posting this story here as well (This months topic on the IDCC is rare cameras)

This is not about a rare camera, it is about one that is unique, but not in the limited production sense.

As a teenager I bought an Agfa Silette because that was all I could afford - from Bruton the chemist in Addiscombe, near Croydon (yes in those far off days, Chemists kept a good selection of cameras of all prices) and he always let me handle others in his shop. One of which was a Retina lllC. Once I picked it up, I knew that one day I would love to own one.

Fast forward fifteen years - Children and a large mortgage meant that in the 1970s, money was pretty tight. So when I saw a Retina llc (small "c") in the local papers cheaply, I was off like a bat out of hell! Nothing ever arrives singly does it? In a couple of months, an advert in Exchange and Mart led me to the East End and a lllc (Small C). Again, only a small amount of money changed hands - probably £20. Neither camera was mint - reasonable, but nothing special. I fully intended to sell the llc and restore the exchequer to balance.

Then a friend came along - you do hate them sometimes! I proudly showed him my purchase and explained that one day, when I could afford it, I would like a nice lllC (Large C). He said "do you know I'm certain I saw one of those in a camera shop on Waterloo station". I asked him to get details and when I heard what he had to say, just had to go and see it.

What he had related to me was true, the dealer (LCE?) had, to all intents and purposes a brand new - totally unmarked - lllC with Heligon lens. The snag? Well, a large one, it was a £140 - and in the early 70s that was a great deal of money - far, far more than I could afford, without starving the children!

I reluctantly went away. Three months later I went back. Would he reduce the price? No! Take mine in part exchange No! Same tale several months later. I then put it to the back of my mind until this friend (about a year later) said "he'd still got it - not in the window now, but on a back shelf".

Once more I took the train to Waterloo, but this time I had a plan. "What about my two Retinas for that lllC, after all, no one else is interested in it as its too expensive?" He agreed that it was too dear, but he said it was so nice that "I gave the old gentleman what he wanted for it as I thought a collector would appreciate the condition". After a lot of discussion, I thought I'd lost it, but in the end he did a quick phone call to somebody and said "OK, its yours, but you do drive a hard bargain!"

So that's how I ended up with a brand new Retina lllC in 1974 for £40! I still have it, but you can't let a camera as nice as that sit on a shelf. until fairly recently, I always took it holiday but though it is no longer absolutely mint, it still has pride of place on my shelf

And you know what, my son said to me last year "I wouldn't give you houseroom for all your collection of cameras except for that one" - says he pointing at the Retina. That's why I bought a Retina lllC for my son's Xmas present.

I have bought rarer cameras, but that Retina is the only one I would keep, even if all the others had to be sold.

Paul

Added a picture to show my "little treasure"



Fullsize picture here:

(www.ukcamera.com/collect/images/originalretina.jpg

[Randy]

Very nice Paul. I have a Retina Reflex S that I paid way to much for, but I treasure it as if it were gold plated. I've always wanted a Retina rangefinder, but haven't found one I could afford.

[PeterW]

If I could keep only one camera what would it be? Oh my, Paul. what a terrible decision to be faced with. I suppose it depends on whether the one I chose was for usability or sentimental reasons.

I suppose for usability and versatility it would have to be one of my Canon SLRs, probably the F1, with a 'short' zoom lens - plus more lenses from 28mm to 300mm if that were allowed.

Choosing for sentimental reasons would be much harder. It would have to one of four:

A Super Ikonta 530/2 (model C) with f/4.5 Tessar, the camera with which my late wife started her freelance career and which gave excellent service.

A Leica II with f/2 Summar. Not the best lens Leitz ever produced, but it was the first Leica I ever owned and I loved it. I just couldn't stop shooting roll after roll in the first few weeks.

A Contax II with f/1.5 Sonnar. I'd wanted a Contax ever since I was a teenager but could never afford one. They seemed to be priced more highly than Leicas in those days. At last I found one I could afford, dirty and cosmetically very poor with half the leather missing. But it worked! It was the first camera I ever restored.

You talk about Retinas. I love them. Indeed, I love any camera designed by the much under-rated but brilliant August Nagel. I've got five Retinas, including a IIa rangefinder, but my favourite, and one I often get out and use, is a plain ordinary Retina I Type 118 with an f/3.5 Xenar. It takes brilliant pictures, colour or black and white and it's so handy to slip into a pocket. Again it's got sentimental value because It's the first Retina I owned.

I realise that apart from the Canon they're all from the 1930s, and all very collectable, but that's not the reason. I've got later European and Japanese cameras that are more convenient to use, and more versatile, with lenses of higher definition. But they don't hold the same place in my affections. I would hate to make a choice between the four!

Peter

[vintageslrs]

I realize that this was posted in the rangefinder section...............
but the statement was the only "camera" I would keep................
so I would like to answer the question..........if I could only keep one (heaven forbid) which would I choose to keep?
I think it would have to be a Konica T3N...........feels best in my hands, takes great photos, uses super lenses, built like a tank, I'm most comfortable with it, it is extremely versitile, and if it ever needs servicing.....Konica users have a tremendous resource in Greg Weber.
so for me...it would be one of my T3N's.

Bob

[kamera]

Without a doubt, the only camera I would keep under the requirement of 'only one' would be my Dad's old Kodak Jiffy 6-20 with which he took the pics of all we kids in our early days. Especially now that he is deceased; it would be a sentimental reason.

Next...if...allowed a 2nd. one...it would be my childhood camera...a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash Outfit which I still have.

Other than that...I would have to draw straws!

Ron Head
Kalamazoo, MI

[rover]

Well, I have the two cameras my father bought my brother and I to learn photography on, an SRT 101 and 201, but I don't know if either would be the one I would keep. When I graduated from college there were two things I had on my immediate had to buy list, a new camera was one. After much debate, and a year of shopping, I bought a Canon EOS 10s. It was a great camera for me I have taken a bunch of very pleasing photographs with it, but it isn't the one. I have subscribed to Popular Photography 4 times in my life. The first time when I was in high school, and my current subscription doesn't run out until 2008. Every month I used to turn to the B&H ad and always looked at the Hasselblads and Leicas. I am very happy to say that I now own a Hasselblad 500cm and two Leicas, an M6TTL and M3. Wow, I can only pick one, I don't know if I could choose between the Hassy and the M3. I would have to think about it. Can I have a year or so to make up my mind?

[herron]

Only one?

That would be a tough call. I shoot a lot with my Mamiya NC1000 SLRs and really like how light they are, and how easy to use (since this thread started in the Rangefinder area, could I keep all the lenses for it, or does it have to be just one of those, too?)

I am also fond of a Voigtlander Bessamatic SLR (made by Zeiss Ikon), with a 50mm f/2.8 Color Skopar lens, that I have had since the mid 60s. More of a mechanical tank, and I only have the one lens for it, but what a nice lens it is!

Or maybe it would be that Zeiss Super Ikonta B (532/16) folder, with the 8cm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss Jenna Tessar lens? Or the Mamiya-6 folder, with the f/3.5 Olympus Zuiko lens? Or the Mamiya 35-I SLR (from 1949), with the 5cm f/3.5 Hexar lens, that took me so long to find? Or the Kodak Folding Brownie No. 2 from 1904? Or, given my fondness for scenics and landscapes, the Burke & James 8x10?

Who am I kidding? It would be really hard to decide. I suppose if it came right down to it, I would keep the Mamiya-6, just because of my fondness for Mamiya, the 120 format...and the fact I like how it feels in my hand.

But it would be like giving up children!

[David Silver]

Hi all,

Ooooo, just one.....

The only one I would keep is that funny looking wood boxy thing you see to the left in my member panel. Paul mentioned the "rare camera" thread currently running on the IDCC, and I promised the members there that I was going to reveal the RAREST camera I've ever owned (and I have some absolute doozies!), but the Camera Collector board participants have been looking at it all along, yet nobody has noticed!

Okay, it isn't any sort of rangefinder camera, and it's hardly a practical usable camera on any level today, but it is undeniably the ONE that I would take with me if I was forced to choose. What you're looking at is the 1887 Stirn's America Detective camera. Just two years after the invention of roll film (which was initially used in a special adapter fitted onto the back of existing plate cameras), and a full year before the introduction of Eastman's Kodak camera, the America was the very first camera designed specifically to use roll film alone, and therefore represents possibly the single most important innovation in the evolution of photography since the invention of the process in 1839! Only three were known to exist anymore, and all of those were in museums. Then last October I found the fourth, now the only example in a private collection! Word leaked out over the past six months, and I've received offers basically high enough to put a down payment on a house, but I wanted to keep and enjoy this remarkable treasure for at least a year, I'm creating quite a photographic record of it, and I'm just about done writing a couple of major articles on its unique place in history.

Over the years I've had some of the rarest and most coveted cameras any collector could honestly hope to have, but this is the one that beats them all, and I would choose it without hesitation.

Dave

[melek]

Wow -- that's a tough one. I'd want my top five. However, in the end, probably a Contax IIa or possibly a Rollei 35S or maybe a 6x9 Super Ikonta. Or maybe a Rolleiflex Automat or maybe ...

Good question, difficult to answer.

[kdwall]

Hard to beat David's one, especially since it's practically one of a kind! In my case, sticking to honest-to-gosh 35mm rangefinder cameras, I'd have to go with my Canon VT Deluxe, nicely snuggled in its Haliburton case with its five lenses. I do think it's the finest camera, of any type or format, I've ever owned or used, and despite some very healthy offers from other photographers it's the one camera I've refused to sell.

KD

[kiev4a]

As with some other posters, even though this is the RF section, if I could only keep one of my 72 cameras it would be my Nikon F3 HP.

A couple of years ago I acquired an early M3 in nice working condition. But one owner had engraved his SSN on it and the next owner had tried to sand it off leaving big brassed spots on the rangefinder housing and the lens barrel. So I traded the M3 to a guy in Connecticut for a like new Nikon F100 body. I had the F100 for about a year, liked it in a lot of respects but never could really get used to AF or the bulk. Then one day I walked into a local camera shop and came face-to-face with an absolutely Like New F3 HP. There was no way I could leave without it but also no way I could keep it and the F100. So I sold the F100 and had money left over for a couple of AI NIkkors and the MD-4. I love the F3 and if I need speed I can strap on the MD-4 motor. I would probably miss the M3 more if it hadn't had those brass spots.