rico wrote:
That was my wet-dream camera, being a young teen when it was newly released. I was shooting 6x6 at the time (1946 Franka Solida).
I was always interested in this camera because of the tilt and bellows. I purchased one that literally looked unused and smelled like a grandfathers closet, but the Zeiss Planar f/2.8 lens and the ability to reverse the lens is incredible. The planar lens can replicate a medium format f/0.9 lens with its shallow DOF in tilt mode. Its macro capability is so unique. I’d like to try the 150mm for my next portraits.
madNbad wrote:
That’s what I thought Brad was going to do with the Undu 6X6 when it kept scratching film.
The nice thing about a wooden camera is that you always have fuel with you in the backcountry in case there are no trees around. Enough to boil water for a pot of coffee anyway.
It reminds me of an old Land-Rover Series IIa that I used to own: the early Land-Rovers had metal radiator grilles that you could remove and use to cook food over an open fire, after you burned off all the dead bugs of course. I used it for cooking a few times. Starting with Series III the radiator grilles were made from plastic and Land-Rover got lots of complaints about it.
bjhurley wrote:
The nice thing about a wooden camera is that you always have fuel with you in the backcountry in case there are no trees around. Enough to boil water for a pot of coffee anyway.
It reminds me of an old Land-Rover Series IIa that I used to own: the early Land-Rovers had metal radiator grilles that you could remove and use to cook food over an open fire, after you burned off all the dead bugs of course. I used it for cooking a few times. Starting with Series III the radiator grilles were made from plastic and Land-Rover got lots of complaints about it....Show more →
The old Defenders had metal plates on their fenders that you could stand on. (The new Ineos Grenadier has those).
The current Defenders have cosmetic plastic pieces pretending to be that. Plus don’t even think of standing on the fenders!
Acquired while living in Japan in the 1990s not long after it first appeared. It was for many years my travel kit. G1 and 21, 28, 45, 90 mm lenses.
I was enamored with the automation and autofocus at the time, and it is a great looking system. Small compact and compared to the SLRs of the time my travel companion. It is the anti-Leica, the exact opposite of the Leica Ms being completely automated, which is an advantage and a limitation. No zone focus, but there are other issues. It is a closed system only the few Contax Zeiss lenses, but these are all good to great lenses especially the 45/2. Now Contax is gone instead of evolving, and the cameras are difficult to impossible to repair, mine still works and eBay is full of other G1s and I could even finally upgrade to G2 so I expect I'll have a functional G system through my lifetime. I shoot mostly outdoors and the slightly more clunky G1 compared to the G2 doesn't bother me like it might if I was a street shooter. Good G1s remain cheap on eBay if I need a replacement.
This image was acquired with a Light Lens Lab 1966 ASPH Noctilux lens.
EMH2025 wrote:
My Contax G1 set, I never upgraded to G2
Acquired while living in Japan in the 1990s not long after it first appeared. It was for many years my travel kit. G1 and 21, 28, 45, 90 mm lenses.
I was enamored with the automation and autofocus at the time, and it is a great looking system. Small compact and compared to the SLRs of the time my travel companion. It is the anti-Leica, the exact opposite of the Leica Ms being completely automated, which is an advantage and a limitation. No zone focus, but there are other issues. It is a closed system only the few Contax Zeiss lenses, but these are all good to great lenses especially the 45/2. Now Contax is gone instead of evolving, and the cameras are difficult to impossible to repair, mine still works and eBay is full of other G1s and I could even finally upgrade to G2 so I expect I'll have a functional G system through my lifetime. I shoot mostly outdoors and the slightly more clunky G1 compared to the G2 doesn't bother me like it might if I was a street shooter. Good G1s remain cheap on eBay if I need a replacement.
This image was acquired with a Light Lens Lab 1966 ASPH Noctilux lens....Show more →
Great looking camera. In the hey day of everyone throwing away their film gear, you could get a complete black G2 set (all the lenses) for just over $1k….
Notable is the size differences, with the F through F3 all being "normal" sized bodies due to the absence of a built-in motor-drive and battery-pack. I could consider an F4/MB-20 since it is such a timeless Giugiaro design and is actually pretty compact, but otherwise the higher "F" bodies are just too damned big! I love my F3/T, and over time picked up the MD-4+MN-2 motor-drive (which I NEVER use, but couldn't resist the capability of 6fps which is used as the opening sound-effect in Duran Duran's "Girls on Film"), plus a complete set of all finders and even the MF-18 data-back (mostly because I got it for peanuts). Nice to see all the F's side-by-side!
grantgoodes wrote:
Notable is the size differences, with the F through F3 all being "normal" sized bodies due to the absence of a built-in motor-drive and battery-pack. I could consider an F4/MB-20 since it is such a timeless Giugiaro design and is actually pretty compact, but otherwise the higher "F" bodies are just too damned big! I love my F3/T, and over time picked up the MD-4+MN-2 motor-drive (which I NEVER use, but couldn't resist the capability of 6fps which is used as the opening sound-effect in Duran Duran's "Girls on Film"), plus a complete set of all finders and even the MF-18 data-back (mostly because I got it for peanuts). Nice to see all the F's side-by-side! ...Show more →
Cool fact on the Duran Duran thing, I never knew that.
I don't know that I'd let the F4/MB-20 into the "normal footprint" club, though. It's such a wide and generally heavy camera body, and it just feels big in the hand. I got mine with the 4-cell grip in the hopes that it'd be kind of an "F3 Plus," but it was immediately obvious that it wasn't going to be that when I unboxed it I ended up leaning into it and I got the 6-cell grip later on. Superb camera and very much underrated IMO, it just feels more like an F6/F100 alternative than an F/F2/F3 alternative.
I will say though, the F5 and F6 do feel a lot more compact in the hand than they have any right to. They feel dense and trim, like there's no fat on them at all. And the F6 of course doesn't have to be so tall with the grip, I just thought it worked better with the photo.
@OffTrail No offense to Giorgetto Giugiaro, but I always thought the F4S (MB-21 grip) looked overstuffed and ugly. If 6 AA batteries and a motor drive is the agenda then take a gander at the Contax RTS III shown on Page 1 of this thread, with original design by Porsche Design. I do prefer those Teutonic lines.
I agree that the F4 is the ugliest of the F cameras. Even with MB20 it feels like a boat anchor.
I like the F5, which handles much better than it ought to, given the weight. I use mine with Lithium batteries and compact AFD primes, and find it very comfortable on a peak designs slide strap.
andrewd01 wrote:
I agree that the F4 is the ugliest of the F cameras. Even with MB20 it feels like a boat anchor.
I like the F5, which handles much better than it ought to, given the weight. I use mine with Lithium batteries and compact AFD primes, and find it very comfortable on a peak designs slide strap.
Horses for courses, I guess, but I find the F5/F6 "chewed gum-wad" look to be extremely unattractive, and don't mind the F4: I can still see the angular lines of the F2 in the F4, but by the F5 that is gone. Agreed that the F4 is not great in the hand, and that is one of the reasons I stuck with my F3/T even when I had the chance to pick up an F4 for relative peanuts (that and my NGAS forcing me to collect another complete set of finders again!)
