Wow, lots of Nikon types here ... and a few LF guys, too! I'm surprised, I thought I was the only "heavy metal" photographer in the bunch. I'm a full-range guy like that, though. I carry an EOS 20D, an elderly Elan 7, and a Horseman LE 4x5 with a 90mm Angulon, a 135mm Wollensak (that came with my Graflex and is a beautiful lens, oddly enough!), and a sweet 210mm in a Copal 0 shutter.

I suppose there'll be a couple in this crowd who'll understand the sheer beauty of a well-done print from 4x5 B&W, no? I mean, don't get me wrong, the digital SLR is a great tool, and it makes pretty reasonable prints ... but it just isn't the same. Maybe my brain has been rotted by the fixer over the years, but I love printing a 16x20 from 4x5 and seeing the incredibly smooth greyscale, the super-sharp detail, and the complete lack of grain.

Have used Leica's for years and love them. Not the easiest nor most modern but the quality of the lenses and bodies cannot be beat.

Have one of most of the Leica rangefinders made but my favourite is the M4. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1126025463.jpg

Finally bit the bullet and bought one of their digital cameras and fell in love with it. Quality is unbelieveable and just a joy to use.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1126025549.jpg

Not cheap but well worth it if you are into taking photographs.

JoeA

Vash,

It may be a 3 series of the older Leica's. I have a 3F and 3G and while they are 60+ years old they still take excellent pics. Some of the older camera's have the screw type bodies but there are adapters that will allow you to use the newer style lenses on them.

Also, some of the older Canon screw type lenses will fit on these bodies, but the quality is not as good as the German lenses. This is a 3g with the 50mm collapsable lens. Really makes for a compact unit.

JoeA http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1126025911.jpg

joe, you may be my hero. that leica digital is sweet! really sweet.

i fell in love with the silence of the leica. a large portion of my images were shot from the hip, and the subject typically had no idea, until i chatted them up afterwards. just as soon as i get my hands on the old one, i will pm you.

i want the compact, leica digtal, but cannot justify ditching my minolta. i use it for "help" photos in 911 work. and that is about it.

Vash,

I do the same a lot of the time. You can get very good shots if your F-stop is a bit wide and you just "shoot from the hip" without acting like you are doing anything. Much more natural I find.

My Father was a collector of Leica's. When he passed most of the camera's had already been sold but he saved a few for the kids.

I picked up a very nice 75th anniversary M4-2 gold plated version in Montreal last year. Cost was under $3k and have been offered over $10k for it but its not for sale. Found it on a small camera shop off of the main drag who had owned it for years and had been holding it for someone who never showed up. I offered them cash on the spot and it went home with me. New in the wooden presentation case:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1126032609.jpg

Also have a normal 75th anniversary M4P that I found while living in Berlin. Also new in the box with the orginal sales paperwork and warranty.

When I find a good example for a descent price will pick it up and stash it. They are my savings accounts and have never lost money on one of them but rarely sell any. Time for that later on in life. For now they are nice to hold and look at, much better than a bank statement with lots of numbers on them!

JoeA

i'm not sure, but it may have been in the "watch thread" that a subject of cameras came up and a bunch of people put up pics of their leicas... it was simply stunning to look at. wonderful machines.

DAMN! sweet. i wish i got the silver/blk one. i opted for the all black, but the silver looks WAY more classic. oh, well.

Guess I am a little behind the times with mine.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1126038173.jpg

Actually have 2 old Nikon FMs and various lenses. Amazing how much digital has devalued the good ones.

Hold on to the old stuff.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the latest Canon digital SLR uses a CCD sensor the same size as a 35mm film frame, thus regular lenses (at designed focal lengths) can be used.

Maybe this is a trend soon to be followed by other manufacturers.

Maybe some enterprise could develop a digital back with microelectronics that could retrofit onto classic 35mm SLRs.

Sherwood

Another thing that's keeping me with the old stuff - besides my preference for B&W darkroom - is the lenses. The new digital SLR typically come with wide-range but slow and plasticky zoom lenses. If you want to buy really good, fast auto-focus lenses, they're expensive. For relatively little money now you can get really good fast glass in the old manual-focus stuff. That's another reason I've been moving to Nikon. I'm hoping that Nikon will eventually come out with a DLSR with a full-frame sensor which maintains the current mount and can use my MF Nikon lenses. Canon moved away from the MF Canon lenses long ago.

D70 with 3 lenses again, here. 2 of the 3 were originally intended for nikon film SLRs.

Had some years-back experience with film SLRs but came to the DSLR from digital point and shoot. would absolutely not go back, you need a real camera to take a real picture :D

Forgot to post this pic
 

I use this for most of my shooting.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1127187243.jpg

Sony's coming out with an R1 model. While it has a fixed lens, it goes from 24-120mm with a 35mm-size CMOS sensor and a unique top-of-the-camera preview screen. The review in the link below is not conclusive (pre-production model), but it looks like a potential winner. It looks like the manufacturers are trying to establish the $1K mark as a price point for "more serious" models. Hope this threshold goes down.

http://www.dpreview.com/

John,
I had the same Nikon Photomic Ftn w/motor drive as well; a workhorse for many famous photojournalists, but you must have developed big biceps carrying that around. I still have a plain F body for nostalgia.

Sherwood

sherwood - i saw that model a few days ago on dpreview. it should be released in mid november and it does look promising. i like the idea of the rotating LCD screen - always have.
what olympus model to you shoot with - the 8080? i tried to PM you a couple days ago but your inbox was full.

HI Bob,
Sorry about the PM box. I have a tendency to save too much.

Nothing as advanced as the obsolete 8080 (what? 8 months old now? Nice camera btw). I'm using an archaic C4000 P&S, but with Nikon and Hassy as backups. The Olympus is good enough for some pro jobs @ only 4 Mp; 32mm lens setting is handy and relatively sharp, but still waiting for "the" camera. The Sony R1 looks good, but so did the Canon 350 and the Nikon D70 a few months ago.

Sherwood
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1127195143.jpg

I want a gigapxl camera. (Actually up to 4 gigapixels). Amazing images on this site!

A gigapixel is hardly necessary. 4x5 negs can be printed as large as you please with no discernible grain. Recording more information than that is really overkill.

JYL, I'm diggin' that old Nikon. It looks battle-ready!

Agree and with my 5.1 megapixal Leica Digilux and the unbelieveable lens I have blown up photos 5 times and still not seen any grain. With the settings correct and a good lens it does not take that much memory. With a 1 gig memory card I can take over 100 shots that have unbelieveable clarity. Might have figured out that I love this camera.

Also like the old Nikons. Had several of them. Sent one in years ago to be overhauled. Post Office dropped the package so bad that the lens would not even mount on the body. Sent my second body in for the same thing and they lost it. Insurance paid up on the bodies and I sold the lenses and gave up on them. Something was telling me to stop with the Nikons and concentrate on the Leica's. Who knows...

JoeA

sherwood - based on the pics on the early s reg board, i would say it's all about the eye and not the equipment with you. some really great pics!

Joeaksa - i can't believe you scored a leica digilux 2 for $900. what a great find! it's even difficult to find the panasonic equivalent for a good price. how about some samples of our favorite subject with that leica?

Bob,

Will try to post some pics when I get time. Busy with work now.

Found the digilux on the Leica list. http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug

Could not believe the price either but got it and its like new, with warranty remaining. Very happy with it.

Joe