Cameras You Wish You Still Had

[doubs43]

Wayne mentioned the other day that he wished he still had his Mamiya M645 camera. That got me thinking of cameras I regret letting go. The ones I REALLY would like to have back include:

Miniature Speed Graphic with Graflok back and 101mm f/4.5 Kodak Ektar lens. The Kalart rangefinder was accurate and the images sharp as a tack.

Koni-Omegaflex M TLR in 6x7 format. Heavy duty, worked perfectly and smoothly and wonderful images.

Original 1973 Olympus OM-1. A non-MD model, I should have had the meter fixed rather than trade it in.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

What camera(s) do you wish you'd not gotten rid of?

Walker

[mickeyobe]

One and only one.
The Exacta 66.

Mickey

[galenk]

my first minolta, I know it was a beginners camera but I really liked my XGA

[PeterW]

My big regret is trading in my 1930 Nagel Ranca, the first 'precision' small camera I ever owned.

PeterW

[Randy]

Sigh....I've still got all of mine, and then some.

[galenk]

Yea well I kinda lied, I still have the XGA too I just wish it still worked!! ;D

[craigh]

My Nikon F2

Craig

[doubs43]

Mickey, I agree that the Exakta 66 would have been worth keeping. Sometimes it's much more obvious in hindsight than in the moment which explains my own regrets.

Peter, I had to look up the Nagel Ranca as I'd not heard of it. Now I know why you want it back and why I hadn't heard of it. There were two models - according to what I found - with a combined total of only 2200 pieces made. That makes them a rare camera. The camera itself is an attractive design and should have sold well IMO but I suppose competition from Zeiss and others was too much. An ad for the camera says it uses vest pocket film. I'm guessing 127 size or maybe smaller?

Walker

[PeterW]

You're quite correct, Walker, the Ranca took 16 pictures on 127 film and was fitted with an f/4.5 'Nagel Anastigmat', probably made by Schneider. It was a lovely little camera, beautifully made, small enough to fit in a pocket and very nice to use. I bought mine in 1945 and kept it for about 8 years. Mine was the second version with the small circular pieces either side of the viewfinder. There are some pictures from it in the Picture Gallery on my website taken in 1948 when I was in the RAF, and at the Festival of Britain in 1951.

There were probably a number of combined reasons why production of the Ranca was low. It was the 'economy' version of the Pupille which had a choice of more expensive lenses including the f/3.5 Leitz Elmar, and f/3.5 Schneider Xenar and Xenon, so it had competitors in its own stable, and I suspect dealers tried harder to sell the more expensive Pupille.

Also, when Kodak bought Nagel Werke in 1932 the Ranca and Pupille were among the Nagel cameras continued for a short time under the Kodak badge, but the factory was being enlarged, and the Retina with disposable 35mm cassette was being developed and the factory production lines being made ready for semi-mass production of it (over 60,000 in the first year). This would bring 35mm to the same market sector as the Ranca and Pupille, and I don't think Kodak pushed production and sales of either of them very hard. Both are quite rare - and quite pricey - today.

PeterW

[mickeyobe]

Walker,

"Sometimes it's much more obvious in hindsight than in the moment which explains my own regrets."

Indeed, Walker. I am always amazed at the 100% accuracy of my hindsight.

Mickey

[doubs43]

Peter, if the picture of your friend (engine mechanic?) in the RAF was taken by the Nagel Ranca then I'd say it was a fine camera in spite of being the "economy" model. I looked at your gallery months ago and have always intended to mention what a fine picture that is.

Mickey, I'm not so sure that my hindsight is 100% but it's a lot more accurate than my foresight!

Walker

[casualcollector]

Since I've acquired an interest in private labeled cameras, I wish I hadn't sold or traded off the J.C. Penney SLR 3. An undistinguished M-42 mount SLR of the early-mid 70s manufactured by Petri.

Bill

[kiev4a]

The M645, My MIOJ Leotax, one of the three Leica M3s I have owned, the Canon IV SB. Of those listed the Leotax is the one I most wish I had.

[herron]

I'm like Randy...I still have most of the cameras I've ever owned. But if there was anything I'd like to have back, it would be the Nikon's I gave my son many years ago, when he decided to return to school to pursue photography as a career. Dad treated him to an N6006 and N8008. They were not exactly earth-shaking cameras but they were the newest 35mm I had (and the only Nikon equipment I've ever owned), and I figured he would put them to better use than I would. I also gave him a Mamiya NC1000, and eventually bought him a used Sinar 4x5.

He uses digital almost exclusively now, and still has the Sinar. But the only 35mm film camera he still has is the Mamiya.




-----
(Edit): almost forgot the Nikon N65 that was part of the stash I gave my son.

[nikkortorokkor]

All the 120 cameras that I've either let go or busted:
but especially the
Yashica 124G
and
Mamiya Press Universal

and in 35mm, my
brassy old Nikon F3


All are replaceable, but common sense will probably prevail, and I won't attempt to.

The F3 was a fine friend that accompanied on my first big adventure, a bicycle ride through Thailand and Laos. The camera, a ridiculous Sigma 28-200 superzoom and the faithful Manfrotto 190 weighed more than all the rest of my luggage combined. I always reckoned that if I got mugged I'd hold the rig by the zoom and clout whoever was within reach with the body! What a trip, what a camera. *sigh*