Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/07/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]It would be excruciatingly hard for me to reduce to just four cameras. But the top candidates would be: Leica M3 -My favorite camera. I like the viewfinder best, and love the lens release guard - all M's should have one. Rolleiflex 3.5 Planar -Because I always wanted one, and it gives such sharp negatives. Nikon F -For close-ups, long lenses, and especially my "Velmar" lens. Voigtlander Bergheil with 105mm Heliar -For sentimental reasons--my father's camera that took most of my baby and growing up pictures, and was one of the two first cameras I ever used; the other--a Foth derby. Second tier, but ones that I would miss greatly: Olympus XA -A truly pocketable camera. But I wish it could have a 50mm. Leica IIIf -I like it a lot, but mine is unusually noisy for a Leica. Retina IIa -I saw one for sale in a hardware store window in 1961 for $25.00, and couldn't afford it, but never got over wanting one. Finally found one in nice shape, for $65.00, at a collectible camera sale in 2005. It is nicely compact, but clunky to use compared to the Leicas. Voigtlander Bessa II -6x9 in a compact package. 4x5 RB Graflex with 120 rollfilm adapters -For using my 9" Verito lens. 4x5 "Roshak" home-made box camera -For using my 6" Darlot lens. Stereo Realist -I'd use this a lot more if Kodak still had the premium mounting service. Olympus OM-2n -For when I need a built-in meter and auto exposure. 4x5 Speed Graphic -For flashbulbs and using my 125mm f/2 Xenon. Konica III w. 48mm f/2 Hexanon -Took my best-selling picture. The only regret I have for selling gear concerns a Leitz OSBLO (LTM rear cap telescope eyepiece). I bought one for twenty-five cents at a photo rummage in the seventies, and sold it for $25.00 in 1984 to help finance my Rolleiflex purchase. Alan Alan Magayne-Roshak Senior Photographer Photo Services Univ. of Wis.-Milwaukee Information & Media Technologies amr3@uwm.edu http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/