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OT: Favorite Obscure Gear?
Nic Coury, Photographer
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Monterey | CA | | Posted: 4:05 AM on 01.08.09 |
->> So I was playing around with my camera tonight at the newsroom with one of my favorite lens:
Nikon 70-210 f/4-5.6 AF-D.
and was wondering what you all have as some of your favorite, off-the-cuff gear that you can't get rid of or is sentimental to you.
Can still be in use or not.
Mine:
- above said lens.
- My black Domke F-2 (I felt like a real-time PJ when I first got it).
- Nikon F100 (yow!) |
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Steve Ueckert, Photographer
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Houston | TX | USA | Posted: 8:46 AM on 01.08.09 |
->> All my Leicas.
I bought a film scanner, in part, to rectify their sitting idle for the last several years.
A Nikon 55mm F-1.2 prime that once again is useful due to the updated metering interface with the D3 & D300. Strictly manual focus, but wide open it is an excellent portrait lens.
My mirror lenses (400/5.6 and 600/8). |
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Stan Cochrane, Photographer
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Charlotte | NC | USA | Posted: 10:20 AM on 01.08.09 |
| ->> My favorite piece is sentimental. It's a lens brush. Gold metal (tarnished), shaped like a lip stick with a pull off cap. It was given to me when I was 14 by my brother. I was visiting him in Washington D.C. shortly after my father had passed away. While in D.C. he introduced me to photography, gave me an old camera and my all time love affair began. Can't remember a thing about the camera, but still have the brush. My brother has since passed away also (Summer 2002), from Multiple Sclerosis. Every time I'm on an any assignment, that brush is in my left pocket. Perhaps superstition now, but I take better shots when I have it. |
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Hal Smith, Photographer
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Sedalia | MO | USA | Posted: 11:48 AM on 01.08.09 |
| ->> An old manual Nikkor 180mm f2.8 |
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Patrick Fallon, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Columbia | MO | USA | Posted: 12:22 PM on 01.08.09 |
->> Hal,
That lens is wonderful. SHARP TOO! |
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Juliann Tallino, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Port Townsend/Seattle | WA | USA | Posted: 12:46 PM on 01.08.09 |
->> My mamiya C330 TLR, I dropped it several years ago but it works every other roll. :)
my brown Domke F2, do those bags ever wear out? |
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Wally Nell, Photographer
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CAIRO | EG | EGYPT | Posted: 1:27 PM on 01.08.09 |
| ->> Hal, ditto. I also still have my first prime lens I bought, an old dented, beaten up Nikkor 180mm f2.8. Did me well during the riot rage in South Africa a bunch of decades ago! Still love that lens. It is too beaten up to sell, but still works as it should and optics still great. Pity I don't shoot Nikon anymore! |
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David Harpe, Photographer
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Louisville | KY | USA | Posted: 1:31 PM on 01.08.09 |
| ->> A Nikon Pronea 6i APS SLR. What a great format :-)... |
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Philip Johnson, Photographer
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Garland | TX | USA | Posted: 1:39 PM on 01.08.09 |
| ->> My first camera, a Pentax K1000. I got that back when I was in high school. It still works and no upgrades reqired. |
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Jonathan Castner, Photographer, Assistant
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Longmont | CO | USA | Posted: 2:07 PM on 01.08.09 |
| ->> Mine is my Nikon AF-D 28mm f/1.4. What a dandy piece of glass. |
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Jason Orth, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Lincoln | NE | USA | Posted: 2:35 PM on 01.08.09 |
| ->> I still love my D70s and its 1/500 flash sync. My Bessa R has grown on me too. |
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Chuck Steenburgh, Photographer
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Lexington | VA | USA | Posted: 5:03 PM on 01.08.09 |
->> Nikon 135/f3.5. Great "soft" portrait lens. Found a minty Ai version on eBay a few years ago and replaced my Ai-converted beater. Even have shiny "Nippon Kogaku" front & rear lens caps for it.
Also have a 500/f8 Reflex-Nikkor C (first version of the 500/f8 mirror) that's in excellent shape as well. |
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Brian Tietz, Photographer
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Fort Myers | FL | USA | Posted: 5:17 PM on 01.08.09 |
| ->> An original Chrome and Tan Leather Polaroid SX-70, possibly the sexiest camera ever made by Polaroid |
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Neil Wade, Photographer
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Taipei | __ | Taiwan | Posted: 6:39 PM on 01.08.09 |
->> My old F5.
My first professional camera and the first one to make me money.
The Sb-25 that was attached to it for most of that work is special too. Unfortunately, we parted ways sometime ago. :( |
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Alan Look, Photographer
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Bloomington | IL | United States | Posted: 7:10 PM on 01.08.09 |
| ->> The dozen to 2 dozen rolls of film I have in the fridge. |
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Jamie Roper, Photographer
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Portland | OR | United States | Posted: 7:28 PM on 01.08.09 |
| ->> A Norita 6x6, with the 80mm F/2.0. Unmatched set-up, until Contax finally introduced a 645 with an 80 f/2, 30 years later. I think. |
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T.J. Hamilton, Photographer
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Grand Rapids | MI | USA | Posted: 7:56 PM on 01.08.09 |
| ->> Another vote for the 180 2.8, mine is about 30 years old, I bought it from J.D. Schwalm, R.I.P., another photographer who died this last year. He sold it to me when I was in High School in the 80's when I was just getting into the biz. I also cherish my prime 35mm 2.0. Those are still sharper than anthing else in my bag. |
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Ron Manfredi, Photographer
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Merrick (Long Island) | NY | | Posted: 7:56 PM on 01.08.09 |
| ->> A Miranda Sensomat; with two shutter releases! |
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Jim Comeau, Assistant, Photo Editor
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Los Angeles | CA | USA | Posted: 8:06 PM on 01.08.09 |
->> probably a meterless Rolleiflex 3.5e
I don't shoot a whole lot anymore but its probably my favorite to use. My Linhof Kardan Color 45S is a close second though. |
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Rex Atienza, Photographer
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Sherman Oaks | Ca | USA | Posted: 8:56 PM on 01.08.09 |
->> My F5 and My F4s.
I've tried to sell a few times and but kept changing my mind. Just couldn't.. |
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Debra L Rothenberg, Photographer
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New York | NY | USA | Posted: 9:26 PM on 01.08.09 |
->> oh how I LOVED the Nikon manual 180 f2.8. All my early shots of Springsteen were shot with this lens. If my eyes were as good as they were even 5 years ago, I would buy one. I used to say I wanted to be buried with my 180 and Nikon FE but they died first!
My very first Domke bag-it is frayed and fragile. It started out as a dark brown-it is....I don't even know what color I would call it now. I once threw it away, saw it sitting in the trash and then took it out-I had to keep it. I bought it in 1981.
I wish I kept my F4s. I sold it when I went digital and freelance in 2002, not knowing if I was going to make any money. If I only knew then... |
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Rob Edwards, Photographer
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Peru | IN | United States | Posted: 9:42 PM on 01.08.09 |
| ->> My first camera was a Pextax K1000, it was stolen while in Chicago. If was my first camera. After my aunt passed away a year ago, I received her cameras as a part of her will. Now I have a Pextax K1000 again. Nothing like having your first camera again. |
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Don Speck, Photographer
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Celina | OH | USA | Posted: 10:54 AM on 01.10.09 |
->> My first camera. It was a Minolta SR-T 101 I still have and it works! Sad though i got rid of the lens. I shot a lot of film through it !!!
Second place is my F5 - Man what a camera body!! |
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Corey Perrine, Photographer
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Hudson | NH | USA | Posted: 11:00 AM on 01.10.09 |
| ->> Expodisc |
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Chuck Steenburgh, Photographer
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Lexington | VA | USA | Posted: 11:20 AM on 01.10.09 |
| ->> Some of this stuff ain't so obscure... |
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Nic Coury, Photographer
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Monterey | CA | | Posted: 1:40 PM on 01.10.09 |
->> Yeah, I figured later obscure probably wasn't the best word.
Maybe sentimental would have been better.
Also my original Minolta XG-M. I got it from my dad and it was a great camera. |
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Jan Langsner, Photographer
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Edmonton | AB | Canada | Posted: 1:46 PM on 01.10.09 |
| ->> My Nikon F3 Hp with an MD-4. It hasn't been used on a regular basis in about 10 years. But every now and then I will pull it off its display shelf and play with it. It feels and sounds like a real camera. |
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Mitchell Clinton, Photographer
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Carlsbad | CA | USA | Posted: 2:07 PM on 01.10.09 |
->> My Nikon 105 2.8 and my newswear chest-vest.
Why is there is not a single favorite piece of Canon equipment yet? |
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Hal Smith, Photographer
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Sedalia | MO | USA | Posted: 2:58 PM on 01.10.09 |
| ->> I still even have an old Nikon FM-2n with an MD-12 motor drive that I used when I was in college. It has to be the single most durable camera I've ever owned. Instead of the split image screen I put in grid screen which really helped free up through camera composition. |
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 3:22 PM on 01.10.09 |
->> My first SLR -- a screw mount Asahi Pentax Electro Spotmatic. My dad got it directly from Japan in the days when Honeywell was still distributing Pentax in the U.S.
This was one of the first electronic shutter cameras with mechanical shutter speeds below 1/60th.
It came with an all-Japanese manual and I had to figure it out. The aperture-preferred auto setting was so new that even the guys in the camera stores didn't have a clue about it.
--Mark |
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Rich Cruse, Photographer
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Laguna Niguel | CA | USA | Posted: 3:32 PM on 01.10.09 |
->> I miss my Olympus OM 4T. It was an amazing camera that had true OTFM -Off the film metering. It also introduced the FP flash mode that would allow you to sync at all shutter speeds- though the distance the flash would go was very short at high shutter speeds (required their flash).
I miss my Nikon 8008s too.
My first SLR was my Dad's Minolta SRT 101 as well. That was when you always bought the 50mm ƒ1.4 lens. That was a nice lens.
Rich |
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Mitchell Brown, Photographer
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Grimsby | Ont | Canada | Posted: 5:28 PM on 01.10.09 |
| ->> my Minolta XG-1 and hey Alan..........if ya want to get rid of the film I'll take it!!! |
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John OHara, Photographer
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Petaluma | Ca | United States | Posted: 5:55 PM on 01.10.09 |
->> DEARDORF 8X10, I must be older than some of you. There is nothing like, a hood and a lupe. If I could only figure how to hook up a scanner to the back of my camera.
And, Pyro developer. |
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Dave Prelosky, Photographer
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Lower Burrell | Pa | US | Posted: 8:11 PM on 01.10.09 |
->> Reading the occasional BONG Bull since I can't remember when.
Before you read something into that, it's an acronym. Burned Out Newscreatures Guild
That and my 1973 vintage Nikormat siting in the book case. |
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Thomas B. Shea, Photographer
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Pearland/Houston | TX | USA | Posted: 9:31 PM on 01.10.09 |
| ->> Old 85 mm tilt shift canon lens, works on the the Mark IIN and Mark III also, meter doesn't work but with manual I can get some cool effects. I wish I had an old 24 mm tilt shift. |
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Ben Mackey, Photographer, Assistant
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Columbia | MD | USA | Posted: 6:06 PM on 01.11.09 |
->> Nikon F3P. The one with the DE-5 prism that had a hot shoe on the top of the prism in addition to the regular F3 flash connection around the rewind knob.
Nikkor 500/5 mirror lens. Not the 500/8, the faster one.
DSA Senrac film dryer. Just the thing when you were on deadline.
Unfortunately, all three were company gear and are next to impossible to find today. :( |
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Nick Wass, Photographer
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Wheaton | MD | USA | Posted: 6:34 PM on 01.11.09 |
->> man- we still have some dsa senracs in baltimore at camden yards and ravens stadium
nick |
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Steven E. Frischling, Photographer
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Live HVN : Work SFO-NYC | | | Posted: 6:40 PM on 01.11.09 |
->> Technically my favourite piece of obscure gear is was one of the most produced lenses in Nikkor glass history, but you'll almost never see them now.
The Nikkor 43-86f3.5 Ai-S (Ai & Ai-S at one time had the highest serial numbers of any Nikkor lens). I miss shooting that on my FA and F3 every day. It was a great 'normal to normal' zoom for perp walks, portraits, etc. |
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Walter Calahan, Photographer
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Steven E. Frischling, Photographer
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Live HVN : Work SFO-NYC | | | Posted: 7:02 PM on 01.11.09 |
->> Walter,
When the Johnson Level Finder is repackaged and sold at a professional camera shop the price leaps to $125 though. |
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Nic Coury, Photographer
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Monterey | CA | | Posted: 8:03 PM on 01.11.09 |
->> As weird as it may seem, I prefer my old Nikon NS-1 strap on my D700.
I hate the new straps they've including with cameras. |
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Steven E. Frischling, Photographer
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Live HVN : Work SFO-NYC | | | Posted: 8:39 PM on 01.11.09 |
->> "DSA Senrac film dryer. Just the thing when you were on deadline."
Conair hair dryer and a length of PVC pipe with two holes drilled in the bottom to stop the reels from falling out of the bottom......was always in my souping kit |
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Jeff Brehm, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Charlotte | NC | USA | Posted: 5:39 PM on 01.12.09 |
| ->> My old manual focus Nikkor 85mm f/1.4. No dank old high school gym was too dark for me with that lens and the wonderful "new" Fuji 1600 ISO B&W film. |
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Vasiliy Baziuk, Photographer
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Rochester | NY | USA | Posted: 6:32 PM on 01.12.09 |
->> Wow! there is some old gear here, lol
here is my list...
- my Ricoh all manual SLR (my first camera it was only like $200 and it came with a third party medium zoom lens) this was when i thought $200 was a lot for all of that!
- my Nikon F4, with the battery grip/motor drive and auto focus!! it was about $600 and i thought i was gonna go places with it. Six months later the paper i was freelancing for went digital!.... i upgraded to the Nikon D1! (what a great camera that was.... worked in extreme heat, cold, rain, snow... you name it!.... it never let me down.... eventually the color began to go bad so i gave it away to a friend.... he shot with it and sold it on eBay, lol)
- Nikon 50mm f/1.4 – great lens to shoot bowling (i spilled soda on it as it was rolling around in my car.... the lens is stuck wide open at f/1.4 – but it still works great!
- and lastly a family pack of Fujichrome Sensia 200... and few rolls of B&W film.... after about 5 years they are still sitting in my parents freezer. |
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Eric Francis, Photographer
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Omaha | NE | United States | Posted: 11:11 PM on 01.12.09 |
| ->> Domke F-3x camera bag...... perfect little shoulder bag |
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Dave Prelosky, Photographer
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Lower Burrell | Pa | US | Posted: 11:47 PM on 01.12.09 |
->> "two holes drilled in the bottom to stop the reels from falling out of the bottom.."
Fish,
This really begs the question - How do two holes keep something from falling out? |
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Chris Large, Photographer
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Okotoks | AB | Canada | Posted: 1:19 AM on 01.13.09 |
->> The 2 cameras that started me out - olympus xa and the minolta 110 zoom slr
Wish I still had them on my shelf |
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Scott Rovak, Photographer
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St. Louis | MO | USA | Posted: 10:11 AM on 01.13.09 |
| ->> My first Cardinals game was shot with a Nikon F with the motor drive that was permanently attached to the back of the camera not just the bottom, a Nikkor 300 f4.5 and Tri-X film and a Nikon F2 with a 50 f1.4. I still have my Nikon F and my Pop's old Nikomat EL. As far as obscure gear, the reason for this thread, I liked using Polagraph 400 high contrast instant process 35mm film and the Polaroid instant processor. Even though the film was used mostly for scientific reasons and line drawings I would use it for high-contrast portraits and landscapes. |
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Paul Morse, Photographer
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Washington | DC | United States | Posted: 10:55 AM on 01.13.09 |
| ->> My Patterson plastic two real film developing tank. |
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Robert Longhitano, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Philadelphia | PA | USA | Posted: 11:39 AM on 01.13.09 |
| ->> My Nikon F3 and MD4 had it since 83 and my beige Domke Bag (circa 82 or 83), the original one when they were based in Philadelphia. I think the only other color besides beige was brown |
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