Your Camera please....

[Steaphany]

Hi Ted,

My SD14 has a permanent home and the progression from SD14 to my SA9 helped me realize that a camera with a brain just gets in my way. The SD14 does a great job, but it has it's place, likewise the SA9 is fundamentally a film version of the SD14, the electronics in the camera still try to run the show. ( Even with everything in manual, you are just telling the camera what you want and it does the work )

The cameras that Sigma has come out with since the SD14 were small incremental changes or carried multi-thousand prices that I just couldn't justify.My SA9 with the two 28-80mm and 70-300mm lenses was just $35 and being film it provided full frame and even a fair film can easily match the resolution of the highest end Sigma cameras. ( Even Sigma's SD1 Merrill only offers an APS-C size imager )

My criteria that led me to the Mamiya was

• No Electronics
• Medium format
• Ground Glass Focus

I was initially considering a Hasselblad 500C/M but soon realized that Mamiya offered several advantages, lower price, a larger than 6x6 frame, same level of modularity, the version I got, Mamiya RB67 Pro SD, was introduced about 1990 where as the Hasselblad 500C/M dates back to the 1970's.

Even as I write this, I see B&H has a Condition: 8+ Mamiya RB67 Pro SD Medium Format SLR Camera Kit with 127mm f/3.8 Lens, Folding Waist Level Finder and 120 Film Back for $649.95

Through ebay, my like new Mamiya with the 150mm Variable Soft Focus portrait lens and 6x8 auto-advance film back, the only electronics in it, was about $300.

[JHzlwd]

I have mostly Nikon gear because that's what I started with back in 1962. I have retained and had modified to fit modern bodies a nice set of legacy Nikkors ... 300 mm, 200 mm, 105 mm, 35 mm and 55 mm macro. Don't use them much but the mods cost only $35 apiece.

Bodies: D80/D300/D7000/D7200/D800 (have recently given the D300 to a poor but talented young photographer). Haven't used the D80 for years but it's a good unit.

Lenses:

For Wildlife: Nikkor 300 mm F/2.8 with 1.4/1.7/2.0 X extenders, also Nikkor 70 - 200 mm F/4, sometimes Sigma 150 - 500 mm
For Macro: Nikkor 105 mm VR and Sigma 180 mm macro
For Landscape: Nikkor 14 - 24, Nikkor 12 - 24 (on DX bodies)
For Portraits: Nikkor 85 mm F/1.8 G
For Walk-around: Nikkor 16 - 85 (DX bodies)

All these lenses are superb performers - even the Sigma out to around 450 mm and still very good at 500 mm.

I have had the D7200 since it first came out and am surprised at how good it is. It provides realistic competition for the D800 in terms of image quality while being smaller and lighter. It might attract controversy to say it but for someone wanting the D800 and not being able to afford it, my recommendation for next best thing (if DX works for you) is the D7200.

[Alan G]

I have two serious cameras:-

A Panasonic LF1 which is my street camera and goes almost everywhere with me. This tiny camera is great for my cycle touring adventures which have taken me to the Hebrides, Normandy and Brittany in the last couple of years.

The second, which I have just purchased is a Nikon DM5500. I purchased this camera with a Nikkor 18-140 f3.5 VR lens, and a Nikkor f1.8 50mm portrait lens. I wanted the smallest lightest SLR I could get, easily portable on my bike and country walks. I am very pleased with the 'nifty fifty' lens which produces stunning natural images. The 18-140 I am less pleased with.

I am thinking of purchasing a Sigma 18-35 f1.8 lens which is supposed to give you a very versatile lens that gives the Nikon DM5500 the performance of a full frame DSLR. This doesnt give you a huge zoom range but the sample pictures I have seen from cameras equipped with this lens have really wowed me.

I would be interested in comments on this setup.

[nofuze]

Canon 7d, Canon 5d classic, 70-200L, 24-105L, 17-40L

[hippi]

aloha
I shoot all kinds of stuff
Nikon fe ,d80 needs shutter, DF
lenes Nikon 50mm 1.8, 70-300 1:4-5.6g, 28-80mm 1:3.3-5.6g
plus some other older lenes
wish I could get some real good glass some day

[Panama Hat & Camera]

Nandakumar,
My primary camera is a Nikon D5300 (with Nikkor lens 18-140mm f/3.5~5.6, 55-300mm f/4.5~5.6 and 50mm f/1.8).
My complementary (compact) cameras are Canon SX50 HS, Canon S100 and Kodak Z990.
- My travel camera (and for very far subjects) is the Canon SX50 HS (24~1200mm FFE f/3.4~6.5).
- My everyday camera is the (very small) Canon S100 (24~120mm FFE f/2.0~5.9).
- My old fashioned digital camera is the Kodak Z990 (28~840mm FFE f/2.8~5.6).
My film camera (I don't take photos with it) is a Olympus OM-2 (Zuiko lens 50mm f/1.4, 135mm f/2.8, 28 mm f/3.5, 35-105mm f/3.5~4.5; Bower 80~250 f/4.5~4.8).
All the best,
Antonio.

[RBSinTo]

I am primarily a candid street photographer who shoots only film, and as I did when I first began shooting in 1977, use Nikon SLRs: F, F2AS, F3P, FA, FM2, FG (all motorized), and rangefinders as well, Nikon SP and S3s and a Cosina Voigtlander R2S Bessa, plus a small mountain (I'm embarrassed to say how many) of manual focus prime, & zoom Nikkors and third-party lenses ranging from 17mm up to 300 2.8.