Twice a year, I like to go through my camera collection to exercise shutters, remove forgotten or dead batteries, and mull over the possibility of culling the herd to make room for something new. This year, happily, it was decided by the powers that be that there was to be no culling, but it did suddenly dawn on me that many of my beloved photographic instruments were, in fact, older than I am. And that realization got me to thinking about the age distribution of my little stable of cameras.
Today I want to consider the youngest cameras in my collection, specifically, the three that were manufactured this century. If my internet research is accurate, then all of these cameras were made in the early 2000’s, which means they are still getting a bit long in the tooth. Nevertheless, they are all very robust and dependable. Who knows, perhaps my son will be shooting with them well into the future.
Voigtlander Bessaflex (2003-4)
The Cosina-produced Bessa line of rangefinder cameras is quite well-known and has become extremely popular again in recent years, but the SLR model, the Bessaflex, not so much. Which is a bit of a shame, really, because it is indeed a wonderful platform from which to shoot your collection of M42 screw mount lenses (yes, that is correct, we are talking about a 21st Century M42 mount camera). I have a Pentax 50 mm f/1.4 mounted on mine most of the time, and rest assured, it is a sweet, sweet combination. If you add the 35 mm f/3.5 and the 105 mm f/2.8 Takumars you have a very righteous and compact walking around kit. The Bessaflex itself is a very intuitive camera to shoot, has a spectacular viewfinder, an accurate light meter, and a top shutter speed of 1/2000 sec. The camera is totally mechanical except for the meter. Which reminds me, the only thing that might take some getting used to is the stop down metering. Sorry. So, if you have a nice collection of M42 lenses (or want to start one), enjoy shooting on film, and prefer to use a hassle free modern camera, then you could do far, far worse than the Voigtlander Bessaflex.
Leica R9 (2002ish)
The R9 is a large, unwieldy, and not entirely intuitive piece of kit, but one that will reward those who spend some time getting to know how to work with it with very fine images indeed. Let us put it this way: if your photographs are technically flawed, it won’t be the camera’s fault. Naturally, there are other upsides to the Leica: a wide range of stellar lenses to choose from, a truly bad ass light meter that you can trust implicitly, and shutter speeds that are accurate down to the microsecond. Now, even though they can be had for pennies on the original dollar, they still ain’t cheap, so I wouldn’t recommend it as your first or even your second film camera. But if you decide that shooting film is an important part of your process, and you don’t mind carrying around a brick, I say go for it. You only live once. Finally, with a device of this complexity it is worth keeping a copy of the user manual on your phone. If you just want to get into shooting Leica glass, the Leicaflex or the early R models are the way to go. If you want a state-of-the-art professional grade film SLR, the R9 is your weapon of choice. Hands down.
Canon EOS ELAN 7NE (2004)
I bought this camera for three reasons. It was cheap as chips, compatible with my collection of Canon EF lenses, and has something called eye control, a technology that allows the photographer to select an autofocus point by simply looking through the view finder in the desired direction. I have to admit, I am a bit of a sucker for this kind of thing, and I really, really wanted to try it out. So, why have I kept the camera around? Funnily enough, not because of the eye control. Honestly, that was a total let down. The camera is still in my bag because it is a hell of a lot of fun to shoot, works brilliantly with my Canon glass, and, let’s face it, sometimes it is really nice to have autofocus. The ELAN 7N is one of the most fully featured film cameras ever made. It’ll have your back like your trusty digital camera does. So, one wonders, why does a Canon AE-1 from the 1970’s generally fetch higher prices? Short answer: the hipster effect. The early 2000’s design aesthetic does not conform to the taste of most hipsters, driving prices down. The other side of the coin is that the 7NE has a certain appeal for the contrarians out there. If you are a contrarian on a budget, so much the better. Picking up one of the ELAN cameras might be the absolute best way for a digital shooter to get in to analog photography.
