This is a small camera review for some of my most used cameras. I have always done a lot of research before I make any big camera purchase, being on a budget but also wanting to get the most for my money and out of my photography I take a lot of time to look around. These have been the best choices I have made so far. For the last ten years I have shot mostly 35mm film and I have been through a lot of cameras but these are the ones that I have shot the most with and the photos on this site will feature from one of these cameras. In the last two years I have added two new cameras to my set up and they are what I am using almost exclusively these days.
Pentax 67ii with 105mm and 55mm lenses.
This thing is a monster. It weighs like 2 kilos and takes up more space in my bag than anything but the photos are mind blowing. It is a medium format camera that I have carried up so many mountains. The look and quality of the photos that I get from this is so perfect that I feel like I never need to do anything to them in photoshop. Just scan them and they are perfect. I have mostly been shooting portra 160, 400 or 800 with it.
Sony A7r iii
This is the only digital I have and it kind of hurt to make the switch but as far as dynamic range and color goes to me it is amazing and pretty much as close as I could get to film with out looking too over processed. It is still digital but for work it was necessary and the images I get from it are amazing. It is deffs one of the reasons I am shooting a lot less film these days but this coupled with the pentax above is my everyday carry for almost all photo trips.
Contax G2 with 28mm, 45mm and 90mm lenses.
This is my primary camera and the Contax G2 is my current, most used camera to date. I think I have shot more rolls with the Contax G2 than probably any other camera I have ever owned. The quality of the lenses and the photos themselves are so far beyond what I would expect from something that is so easy and comfortable to carry around.
Images from the Contax G2 can be seen in these posts here, here and here
Leica CM.
The Leica CM was amazing, the view finder was perfect, the display was perfect as well as the autofocus, I do not think I ever lost a frame to bad focus. The build was also beautiful not too big and not too small but I suppose thats what you expect from Leica. The price tag was a little hefty at $1000US but it was worth every cent. Until it was removed from my life for ever whilst in Colombia.
Nikon FE2 with 50mm 1.4.
The Nikon FE2 is maybe the camera I miss shooting the most. It’s so beautiful to shoot and the images were almost always perfect. I carried this around with me for almost two years hiking mountains and strolling city streets. And while it was wonderful and so happy with every shot I got with it the Nikon FE2 was heavy and bulky and I missed a few shots here and there due to being too slow with the manual focus and carrying any more than one lens and trying to keep your weight down was next to impossible. This is one of the only reasons I upgraded to the Contax G2. Having said that if I was going to do short trips back and forth from my home for a few weeks at a time I think this is what I would want to have with me again
Images from the Nikon FE2 can be seen in these posts. Mt Blanc and Andorra. I don’t think the scans in the Andorra post accurately reflect the quality but that was my fault haha.
Pentax Espio Mini.
I bought the Pentax Espio Mini at a friend of a friends place whose parents buy estates and re-sell everything. They said I could have it for $20 so I took it and started shooting. I have had problems with small point and shoots in the past, mostly focal issues but the Pentax Espio Mini never gave me any of the problems I was used to having. The focus was fast and sharp, it was quiet and actually pretty sturdy(I dropped it a few times). The images were also very very sharp for such a small unheard of camera.
Contax T3.
The Contax T3 is an incredible camera. Its so small it takes up slightly more room in your pocket than an iphone and this camera has still taken some of the best photos I have ever taken. The Carl Zeiss lens is an incredible piece of glass and I think the sharpness is unparalleled for a point and shoot camera.
Yashica T4.
I have had two Yashica T4 cameras, I lost the first one somewhere along the way. The photos were always really nice and portrayed a certain aesthetic that you could only get from a handful of point and shoots. Eventually the one I owned had a bunch of focal issues and I became too scared to use it anymore and could not bring myself to spend another $200 on one for the third time. But until that happened the Yashica t4 was an amazing little camera and I was always extremely happy with the photos.