We've all been through cameras, right? I know I've been through tons of them-- four Leicas and more Nikons than I can remember. Sold them. Traded them. But there's always one we wish we hadn't gotten rid of. The camera I remember most fondly, though, was the first 35mm camera I owned, a black paint Minolta SRT-101 with a 35 f1.8 lens. When I read the threads below about "beater" cameras I thought how great it would be to still have that old Minolta to use as a beater. Not a collector's piece, but just a simple, entirely manual camera. What about you?

-- Dennis Couvillion (couvilaw@aol.com), December 07, 2001

Answers

For many years I've regretted trading a nearly new M2 for a Nikon Ft. I also passed on a new 50th anniversary M4 w/matching 35 Summicron at a terrific price because I was afraid I wouldn't take it out of the box.

At least I was smart enough to buy a beautiful new SL/2 sitting in a camera store window while changing trains in Stuttgart.

-- Bud (budcook@attglobal.net), December 07, 2001.

Definitely my Nikkormat FTn. Stolen in '77 or '78. Focus, Aperture, and Shutter Speed control all on the lens or lens mount. Sweet set up. Even the film speed was set on the lens mount. It was my training wheels for 6 years or so. Plenty of them out there, so I'm sure I'll pick one up one day for sentimental reasons. Or maybe not. >Hil

-- Helio Gomez (hegomez@aol.com), December 07, 2001.

Yeah, my Nikkormat FtN got stolen too, and I still miss it sometimes. But I regret every Leica I've ever sold. I'd like back my M3 DS; my model D; and my IIIf (#685475, if anyone knows where it is).

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), December 07, 2001.

My Nikon F, stolen in 1986 from my car in Chicago area. My first camera, best Nikon ever. I have since acquired FM, F100 and others.

-- Tim Tan (kctan18@yahoo.com), December 07, 2001.

My Dad's Contax IIa. Lent to me and stolen in NYC 20 years ago. Still miss it.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), December 07, 2001.

I miss my rock solid, built-like-a-tank, Canon FT-B (or FTb or FTB or however they marked it). Sold it for a song when I was a teenager.

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@mail.com), December 08, 2001.

My grandfather's chrome Nikon SP rangefinder. What a sweet camera - sturdy, well-designed and beautiful (though I still lusted after a SLR I had yet to own at the time. I took some of my best pictures with that camera. The set included shoe-mounted meter that integrated with the shutter speed dial when on the camera, a petite 50/1.4, a 135/3.5, a Weston Master III hand-held light meter, and some other accessories. My grandpa sure appreciated fine equipment. When my grandpa passed away, my uncle sold the lot, thinking that the camera wasn't worth much, what with the little pinhole burned in the cloth shutter by the sun from someone having left off the lens cap. The black and whites photos I took with it and printed on a Beseler enlarger were tack sharp and the gradations in tone were wonderful.

Over two decades later, it was the recollection of that fine camera that sparked my interest in Leica rangefinders and rekindled my interest in photography long after my joy of using SLR's had faded. From time to time, I still check eBay for Nikon SP and reminisce, though I wonder whether I would still enjoy using one as much as my Leicas.

Anyone else out there ever have the pleasure of using a Nikon SP?

-- Peter B. Goldstein (peter.goldstein@us.cgeyc.com), December 08, 2001.

Tony, I have a couple of FT's (the FL-mount version of the FTb). One is non-functional after a not-so-hard drop onto carpeted floor. The other still works pretty well, but it's not nearly as tank-like as the F1. And compared to an M3, the F1 feels a little flimsy. I think your old Canon has grown mightier in the years since you had it. ; )

Since I'm a packrat, I still have most of the cameras I've ever had. Don't miss the couple that got away. . .

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), December 08, 2001.

My Ftbn is still solid as a rock, though the meter died long ago. It sure is heavy, though.

-- Peter B. Goldstein (peter.goldstein@us.cgeyc.com), December 08, 2001.

Peter - yes, I had an SP with 50/1.4 in 1974 - bought it for $400 - could have bought 135/105/85/35 lenses for another $400 (!!). Shot several college projects plus my first wedding with the SP and a borrowed F with a 28. Traded it for a Pentax Spotmatic (the usual - "oooh, what a cool state of the art feature - TTL metering!!" Nnngggh!)

If I wished to have it back now it would only be to sell it at a 400% profit and buy more Leica gear. Mine had a very dim finder/RF that made focusing in low light a pain. BUT it did have 28 through 135 frames only - what? - 24 years before Leica did. I also never fell in love with the Contax/Nikon focusing wheel - but third-hand I've heard of someone who used the SP to shoot high-rise construction pictures in the '60's precisely because at 800 feet up he could focus, wind, and shoot with his right hand while keeping his left hand free for a death-grip on the girders. 8^)

Back about 1987 I wrote a proposal to Nikon for an "SP2" that could use the AF lenses - and damn near predicted the Contax G2 in the process.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), December 08, 2001.

...and not to contradict Mike Dixon...

but the first SLR I ever had (AND the first camera I ever dropped - AND the first camera I ever repaired) was a Canon FX - same body as the FT/ FTbs but with external CdS metering 'sted TTL.

Book bag slipped off my shoulder the first month I had the Canon (1971) and, of course, landed on the corner where the FX was just inside the thin cloth. Dinged the corner under the film advance lever but good, and at the end of that roll the frame counter quit counting. After 6 months of counting exposures via tick marks on a piece of masking tape I got fed up and opened the camera, found the bell-crank that was supposed to 'push' the frame counter ahead one notch for each advance, BENT it so that it pushed a little further, and it started working again. Kept working, too, right up until my mother swapped it for a Maxxum AF 16 years later.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), December 08, 2001.

Yeah, Andy, I'd sort of forgotten about that annoying little focusing wheel on the SP. That was the one thing about the camera that made little sense to me. Couldn't use it to focus all that easily unless you wanted little teeth marks from the wheel in your finger.

-- Peter B. Goldstein (peter.goldstein@us.cgeyc.com), December 08, 2001.

Re: the original question of regrets. I regretted selling my 90TE, but managed to buy it back. I regretted selling my first 90 'cron, but the replacement is as good or better.

The cameras I REALLY regret getting rid off were the two black plain prism Nikon F bodies that I traded in my first stab at Contax gear. They really WERE beaters - one had desilvering in the prism, and both had dents and lots of brass showing - but they are more-or-less irreplaceable now.

I just hope someone somewhere is treating them with respect and taking great pictures with them. At least the M4-2 and M4-P are here to console me.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), December 08, 2001.

I guess i am too nostalgic to sell any of my cameras. i still use and have fond memories of my first camera an olympus om2n. to this day cameras that do not have the shutter speed on the body by the lens mount adjacent to the aperture seem strange. my r6.2 is the same size and balances the same which now makes that my favorite.

-- greg mason (gmason1661@aol.com), December 08, 2001.

My near mint black Nikon F2AS and 105/2 Nikkor traded in on a M6.

-- sam smith (Ruy_Lopez@hotmail.com), December 08, 2001.

my bronica s2a, stolen with my whole equipment a while ago. 10 cameras and about 15 lenses, but the one i am really missing is my bronica. it was built and looked like an old volvo. heavy as could be and the mirror slap blew you away. but the pictures were great and it was just a pleasure to handle that thing.

-- stefan randlkofer (geesbert@yahoo.com), December 08, 2001.

I already bought it back.. then another... and another. The Leicaflex SL. Really stupid to have sold the first one.

-- Douglas Herr (telyt@earthlink.net), December 08, 2001.

Hi, everybody !

This thread seems to be about stolen cameras in an important proportion. I also have my share of it and the stolen camera in my case actually is the one I miss the most between others gone by: my precious Olympus OM1n with the very good 50mm f1.4, the extremely confortable 135mm f3.5(?) and a Chinon 28mm f2.8, plus a 2x converter. Everything in a bag where my Nikon FM2n plus any lens would hardly be pushed in.

I still dream about buying a "new" one but I grew used to my M3s since then and I know that the "dream camera" would now be sitting still somewhere at home all the time though it was one of the best cameras I have ever owned. May be some day . . .

-Iván -Iván

-- Iván Barrientos M (ingenieria@simltda.tie.cl), December 08, 2001.

In 1990 or 91 I sold a very functional but cosmetically "user" grade M3 with a 50mm DR Summicron, a 35mm f2.8 Summaron with bugeyes, and a 135mm f3.5 Canon, all for $925. It was not a bad price at the time, but I sure wish I had that stuff back!

(On the other hand, about 18 months ago I bought an excellent, but not pretty user M3 with a rigid Summicron 50 at a camera swap meet for $625. I think they will have to pry this one out of my cold, dead fingers.)

-- Dave Jenkins (djphoto@vol.com), December 08, 2001.

Sam, You arent alone. Last year I found a mint black F2AS, with a mint md-2 (including manual) AND a mint DS-12 (what a massive, unuseable combination). $550.00 The F2as alone was great though. Sold it to a friend so he could use it as a display piece. Made a nice profit, but I sure do miss it. Best,

-- Marke Gilbert (Bohdi137@aol.com), December 08, 2001.

Up here in New Hampshire, telling tales around the wood stove of a long winter's evening, there's an expression "The first liar hasn't got a chance." It means that no matter how big the fish, the next guy to tell his tale has caught a bigger one. Perhaps in this instance, no matter how great the loss, the next guy has a worse story. My VW Beatle was burglarized in Atlanta in 1971, and I lost two M4s, with 35/2, 50/2 and 90/2.8 lenses. The only bright spot was a friend was borrowing my 21. A common theme to these stories seems to be theft from a car. I no longer leave cameras in cars.

-- Phil Stiles (Stiles@metrocast.net), December 08, 2001.

In this day and age where you can just about find anything but typing it into ebay and hitting "search", I can say there's any camera I ever had that I d wish to have back, and if I did, I'm sure I could find one just like it without too much trouble. It's different of course if something was stolen from you and not just sold off / traded away. I'd still like to have my first road bike back that was stolen from me--a lovely Raliegh from when they were still made in England. Must be something about giving up something in-voluntarily that makes you feel more you'd wish you still had it.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), December 08, 2001.

I had a Rollei 35 (black, Tessar, Germany, purchased new). A friend wanted to buy it, I needed the money, so....

-- Richard Saylor (rlsaylor@ix.netcom.com), December 08, 2001.

Seems like a lot of people miss their Nikon F's. I replaced a new F2 with an SL/2 and haven't regretted it for one second.

-- Bud (budcook@attglobal.net), December 08, 2001.

I sold my perfect condition M4 in Japan when the Yen was at 125 to the Dollar and tripled what I paid for it. That money is long gone, and I would kill to have that camera back.

I traded two black Nikon F2s, both with plain non-metered prisms when I decided to go into auto-focus. Three years later, all of the auto focus cameras and lenses were dead or sold, and I am trying to replace those two F2s. No more toy cameras for me.

The grass is not always greener, and financial compensation is always fleeting. I never sell anything anymore.

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), December 08, 2001.

My stolen black Leica III with a mint nickel Summar.

I even have a good idea who has got it - but the police won't help.

-- Tony Brookes (gdz00@lineone.net), December 08, 2001.

are you all properly insured?

-- stefan randlkofer (geesbert@yahoo.com), December 08, 2001.

Sure, properly insured. My Nikkormat+105 f/2.5 was replaced straight accross with an F2AS body that I still have. I still miss the Nikkormat, though.

-- Helio Gomez (hegomez@aol.com), December 08, 2001.

I don't miss any camera I have gotten so far and sold... Nikon 8008s, Canon Rebel, Minolta Maxxum 5xi :)... I don't regret not picking up any camera of course :)

Alfie

-- Alfie Wang (leica_phile@hotmail.com), December 08, 2001.

Hi, Alfie:

From the kind of photo gear I read in your posting that you presently use I can easily understand that you don't miss the cameras you mention . . .

Regards.

-Iván

-- Iván Barrientos M (ingenieria@simltda.tie.cl), December 08, 2001.

My Leica R7 and APO Macro-Elmarit-R 100mm f2.8 lens. Traded for Medium Format. I guess we live and learn.

-- Mick Turner (mnturner@bigpond.com), December 09, 2001.

My M3 SS. Sold to pay bills in the late 80's in Chicago. It's engraved "Lt. Oresteen". I'll buy it back at 125% of FMV.

-- Tony Oresteen (aoresteen@mindspring.com), December 10, 2001.