My Favorite Cameras

    Here, in condensed form, is my list of favorite cameras. Some of these cameras I own, some I've used, and some I just sit and drool over and wish I could have. This list is by no means complete; there are many other cameras which I like. These are the specific ones which stand out in my mind.

All time favorites:

Rollei 35, compact 35mm camera. Amazing optics, well made, and a pleasure to carry and use.
Rolleicord V and Rolleiflex cameras. Precision TLRs which have stood the test of time. Beautiful to look at, lots of fun to take pictures with, and an excellent introduction to medium format.
Canon Eos 630, and older AF camera, but packed with features. Has quite a few little quirks, but this camera has real personality. Excellent construction.
Pentax Spotmatics, solid manual cameras designed to take abuse, simplicity in operation, and they use the vastly underrated screw mount lenses. If I had to do it all over again, I'd make sure to have a complete screw mount system to go with my Eos and medium format equipment.

Point and Shoots:

Olympus Stylus/ Stylus Epic/ Stylus Zoom
Ricoh R-1/GR-1

35mm Autofocus:

Canon Eos 630
Canon Eos A2/A2e
Canon Eos 1/1n
Nikon N90/N90s
Nikon 8008/8008s
(Pentax and Minolta are excluded as I have not had enough opportunity to use their cameras)

35mm Manual Focus

Canon A1
Canon AE-1/AE-1 Program
Nikon F3
Nikon FM2
Nikkormats
Olympus OM 1/1n
Olympus OM 2/2n
Olympus OM 4T
Pentax K1000
Pentax ME Super
Pentax Spotmatics (Viva la Spotmatic! Viva la Screw Mount!)
Minolta X370/X700

Medium format:

Rolleicord V, Va, and Vb - Xenar lens
Rolleiflex Automats (later models with X or MX sync, either Tessar or Xenar lens)
Bronica ETR series
Mamiya 645 (not the Super or Pro, the original 645)
Mamiya 1000s
Mamiya C-series TLR (C33, C330, and C220 in particular)
Pentax 6x7 (with mirror lockup)


Back to Buyer's Guide

Medium Format Cameras - User's Guide to Buying and Shooting
by Peter Williams is now available from Amherst Media!! [1/2001]