Photographers: Fave Camera/Lens Combo

One of my very favourite camera/lens combinations was a Nikon F3 body with motor drive and a manual focus fixed focal length 200mm f2.8 Nikkor lens. It is a great combination that I used rather extensively. The size and weight of the lens provided a perfect balance to the body/drive combo. At 2.8 it was pretty "fast" for a 200mm lens yet provided more than expected versatilty.
I ended up using this combo a lot more than I ever thought I would. This was before the wide spread use of autofocus lenses and I have never owned one. I also always carried a separate spot meter that I found invaluable under some conditions.

Were I to start doing anything today I would probably go with the Nikon F5 and the 28-70 2.8 autofocus and the 80-200mm AF 2.8. That would be a great combo that could handle a most situations.

What are your favourite working combinations??

 

Back in my film days the Nikon F4 and a manual 24mm 2.8 was a much used combo. I also used a manual Tokina 80-200 2.8. That, and the wonderful SB-24 dedicated flash was pretty much my entire kit for newspaper work. I still love the F4, there was never a better bridge of electronic camera with a traditional feel. Brilliant.

The newspaper I now work for decided to invest in Canon systems when we went digital.
The bodies were Kodak DSC-560 which was a heavily modified Canon EOS-1.
Thankfully we're phasing them out for the new Canon EOS D1 digital cameras, which are simply fantastic.
My most common lens combo is the 17-35 2.8 and the 70-200 2.8. I carry a 1.5x extender and the 560 EZ flash (I hate it and seldom use it) in my kit, as well as a 14 2.8.
We have one 300 2.8 we take turns using when needed.

Dan C

 

Pretty much my only "real" camera: Canon A-1 with the 50mm f1.4. I love shooting in natural light, so i prefer a fast lens. And I've always prefered a more normal field-of-view.

Still have the Canon and use it occassionally, but now most of my shooting is snaphots of the kids, so for that I have a little auto-everything Canon point-and-shoot. It's one of the better (<$200) models and i must admit it's surprisingly good.

Ray

 

Tri-X is God's film!
The only time I feel a bit nostalgic about the "film days" is when I think of Tri-X. That stuff is beautiful. Let me pat myself on the back (pat pat), I was quite a wiz in the darkroom. With a gentle hand, careful temperature and time control you can get Tri-X to look like a fine-grain film. But it always has that beautiful rich tonality that no film or pixels can match.

And Kodachrome 200 is God's color film.

Dan C

 

Nothing fancy here--Minolta Maxxum 7000 (their original AF camera). Standard 50mm lens came with the camera, but I bought a 28-85 zoom that I use almost exclusively. So nice to frame up a shot before taking it. Also have a 75-300 which I don't use that often, but has been handy in some situations. Favorite accessories are the circular polarizer (which I use with *all* outdoor shots), and a remote release so I can take time exposures at night. I have a couple of Cokin filters I've used occasionally (a soft focus and a "starburst" effect) just to mess around with.

I shoot only in color...mainly print film since it's so bloody inconvenient to view slides. (I have several sets of slides, many from the Grand Canyon, that I haven't looked at in years. ) My next computer purchase may be a high-res film/slide scanner. I would like to put them all onto CDs and at least be able to share them that way! Some pictures I like to shoot make bold use of color...which is why I like the polarizer, since I can get a very nice blue tone out of the sky while not killing other elements in the picture.

Dream camera: a Pentax medium format, either 6x4.5 or 6x7.

 

I used a lot of Tri-X over the years. I liked a lot of the Ilford emulsions for B&W also.

For color I guess I ran the gamut. I loved the "warm" tones of the Agfa color films. I guess I used a lot of Vericolor S neg and for positive I liked the rather stark coolness of Ektacolor.

I found that in many instances I would have a 4 x 5 internegative made when having prints in the 11 x 14 to 16 x 20 range made commercially.

One trick that worked very well with color negative film (or any negative film for that matter) was to shoot at 1/2 the ASA rating (eg: set the meter for 400 film to 200). The resultant density in the developed negs tended to produce great range. If you haven't tried it give it a shot.

I've been out of it for quite a while now so I would think the emulsions have improved quite a bit.

 

I've found that overexposing color neg can make great prints but horrible scans.
The highlights quickly get blown out and your contrast goes wacky. It's always better to start with a slightly "flat" neg when scanning, then you have full control of your contrast. (Maybe it's sort of like starting with a master that's a bit dull rather than too bright)
If you plan on going "digital darkroom" then I highly suggest you keep your exposures dead on.
Dan C

 

They is gonna have to drag me kickin' n screamin' before I go in that direction. No, if I got back into it i'd still go the film route, at least at present anyway.

 

I had a photo prof back in college (many years ago, pre-digital ) who believed very strongly that it was almost impossible to overexpose color neg film. Because of the way the transluscent dyes work (if memory serves) it was difficult to actually block them up; all you had to do was use longer exposures during printing. We did some experiments shooting 4, 5, even 6 stops over (or about as much as we could) with very good results.

Underexposure, of course, is a very different story...

 

I've been using my Olympus OM-2n 1.4 since 1979 and it's still working quite well. Rigged with an Olympus 135MM 2.8, 28MM 1.2...A Great lightweight camera!

 

Personally if I had my way the Olympus OM system would've become the professional standard instead of Nikon or Canon. The cameras were jewels and the lenses were superb.

I had the original OM-1 when I was just a teen and know nothing about photography. I later pawned it for chump change.

Dan C

 

I inherited Dad's Canon AE-1 Program...I may pick it up when I'm over at the house today. I just hope the batteries haven't corroded inside of it. But I could probably find a couple of decent lenses to buy for it and not shell out a lot of $$$. Would be handy when going on a trip, having one camera loaded with print film and the other with Kodachrome 200.

 

I'm happy with my Nikon Coolpix 5700...

 

I agree! One fine system! I have the flash grip which I use on occasion. Incredibly compact and rugged for an SLR... Now my son wants to start using it...The OM1 was cool, as it was able to shoot without a battery! Nice...I enjoy the auto features of the OM2n.

 

Getting one of those was an "almost" for me many times. Never quite made the move though pity, 'cause it would have made a great "personal" travel system.

 

I think you can find an Olympus OM 1, 2n, or 3 SLR's fairly reasonable in the secondary market...

 

While not my favorite camera/lens combo, I have enjoyed digging out my old Pentax Spotmatic with its Super Takumar Multi-Coated lenses. Very sharp lenses. They are screwmount and you can pick up good used ones for very cheap. My regular lens for years was an f4 50 mm macro. Last year I picked up a well-used but clean normal lens, an f1.2 Takumar 55 for $18. The depth of field on that lens is so narrow when wide open, I could limit the focus to my cats eyes while throwing the tip of his nose and ears out of focus . Its amazing how much more expensive any lens is when you start requiring that it be fast... compare an f4 lens with an f1.8 on a normal lens!

These days, for snapshoooting, its my wife's Nikon 6006 or the little Canon sureshot underwater camera. For serious work, though, I love my


Ere

 

Good choice Steve! I have been a professional still photographer for 20 years. I also have some Tri-X (the stuff with lots of silver in it) in the freezer.

I've had just about everything over the years: Nikon, Canon, Leica, Hasselblad, Pentax, Sinar - my favorite is still the Leica rangefinder, either an M6 with a 35 or an M3 with a 50, both Summicrons. Direct and immediate.