Bronica RF645
Latest addition to the film camera stable – 645 rangefinder with Program and Aperture priority. The exposure lock is very useful though you have to remember it is locked on – but far better than a half press on a shutter button. Bright viewfinder with clear rangefinder spot and good LED information – not so easy for glasses wearers. The standard 65mm f/4 lens is stunning, one of the sharpest most consistent optics I’ve used; the 45mm f/4 can be used without the separate viewfinder and has many of the characteristics of the standard lens – both have superb bokeh and a fantastic image quality in low light. The 100mm f/4.5 lens is lightweight, easy to focus and has the family ‘look’ – not quite a portrait lens with limited depth of field when wide open and below 1.8m. All in all an outstandingly portable quality camera system that makes the average D-SLR look silly.
Leica M6TTL
Bought in 1989 – metering is remarkable good despite its simplicity. Battery cover difficult to remove if overtightened. Never had a misload – a mechanical autoloader! Though I wish the bottom cover were attached to the body and not free to walk off or be dropped. Can be focused in the grimmest conditions and almost silent in operation.
Leitz Summicron-M 35mm f/1.4
The original Canadian lens – sucks up light and has a definite character unlike the better performing but to my eye rather clinical aspherical versions (yes, I have done side by side comparisons). Quick to focus. Superb out of focus quality but dreadful coma aberration. Like a very dear and very old friend, you forgive it its bad habits.
Leitz Tele Elmarit 90mm f/2.8
Clean crisp images; good for the street before the world got twitchy about people with cameras. Ghastly rubber lens hood and snap on cap.
Leica R4
Shameless redesign of a good Minolta automatic camera. Needs fitting with a Beattie Intenscreen to give brighter viewfinder – I fitted mine with an R5 screen, which was cheaper. Unreliable meter switchgear and the film transport lever on mine was never the same after it had been serviced and it now flops limply about. R4S a better choice. However, it’s the lenses you can mount.
Leica R8
A lovely camera that can be used in the coldest and harshest conditions while wearing gloves. The brightest viewfinder you’ve seen with sensible features like flash metering, front/rear curtain flash and film lock for double exposure. I lived in hope for the digital Modul-R back but there were too many compromises in operation and image quality for me. Would love to use mine more but I tend to pick up the old R4 for its lightweight.
Leitz Fisheye-Elmarit-R 16mm f/2.8
Another Minolta design – I adore this lens. Can be very crisp and handles flare impeccably. Built-in filters great for B&W.
Leica Elmarit-R 19mm f/2.8
Need stopping down to sharpen the corners – which I found disappointing as I like to use ultra wide angles in low light conditions. Love the built-in filters though would happily swap the 80A filter for something warm or useful for black-and-white.
Leica Elmarit-R 24mm f/2.8
An ideal focal length for me but Minolta-based Leitz lens needs stopping down to avoid soft corners. Always felt the rotating filter holder in the supplied hood was a cracking idea for polarizers but they produce quite an ugly strip across the sky with this lens. Never lost its stiff focus but survived a coach crash in Egypt (along with the R4).
Leica Vario-Elmar-R 35-70mm f/4
Forget the Macro setting – good fixed aperture zoom lens with a rather fat barrel. Has a quite different ‘looks’ from the Leica house style to my eye. First zoom I ever bought – my standard lens on the R8 – confident in its performance at full aperture and throughout the zoom range. Neat lens hood.
Leica Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm f2.8
My standard lens on the R4 for many a year – biting resolution and impeccable colour performance.
Leica Macro-Elmarit-R 100mm f2.8
Has to be one of the highest performance lenses ever made, sadly I’ve found it both too heavy and requiring too much ‘focus pulling’ to be a regular. Almost too clean for portraiture.
Leitz Elmar-R 180mm f4
Ideal travellers telephoto. Lovely balance between depth of field and out of focus quality. Light weight too easy to forget it’s nearly a 200mm optic and use too long a shutter speed.
Mamiya C330S/80mm f/2.8
I’m not a fan of square format but this has to be an all time favourite camera – I grew up loading these for wedding photographers (well, C3 and C33s actually). Shame that parallax makes close-focusing a pain as the out of focus quality of the standard lens is a dream – I’ve use this side by side with a Hassleblad Zeiss 80mm and I know which I’d keep. Love the twin-lens waist level way of working and want to do more portraiture.
Mamiya Sekor 55mm f/4.5
Don’t even point it near the sun unless you want an explosion of flare – useful wide-angle extension for the Mamiya when fitted with its lens hood.
Mamiya RB67/127mm
Occasionally tempted to use the RB outdoors – it is still capable of classy work – I’ve replaced all the foams on the film and Polaroid backs.
Mamiya Press Super 23
Unbeatable 6×9cm negatives with limited back movements and the convenience of viewfinder or ground glass focusing. Requires concentration and a very deliberate approach 50mm wide-angle is an unbeatable combination with this size negative. 150mm lens is cumbersome; 100mm has strange twist/lock mechanism. All give good performance. My quiet monster.
