I almost always carry a camera with me...do you and if so why and what equipment do ?

[Snargle]

Ive found that my new Iphone 4s is a great little camera to have on me at all times if I dont have my DSLR Canon 40D with me. Its so accessible, easy and takes decent pictures. Its amazing in ten years how much digital photography has changed. In my freshman year of college 2001 I had a .08 megapixel camera...now my iphone is a 8 megapixel camera.

I just got the iPhone 4S and I'm loving the camera. It puts the crappy camera in my old Motorola Droid phone to shame. It was well worth the upgrade and it's a pleasure having a high-quality camera with me all the time.

[Tony Miller]

I am still a fan of film cameras and have gone the point and shoot path now instead of the SLR and medium format gear I used to own. I have a growing collection of tiny, compact street shooter cameras like the Pentax XA series, the Minolta AF-C, the Chinon Bellami, the Minox 35 and an Agfa Optima 1035 Sensor. These are about half the size of a 35mm SLR and fit in any jacket pocket. Great grab and go cameras ranging from zone focus, to auto focus to a rangefinder on the Pentax XA.The best part was that with careful ebay shopping most were under $40 in good working condition.

You can see how small they are compared to a roll of 35mm film and a pocket knife.

They are all auto exposure to some extent. On the Pentax XA you choose the aperture, the shutter does the rest and it is a split image, rangefinder focus. Later XA models are zone focus. The Minolta on the left is auto focus and auto exposure. The Agfa Optima is auto exposure with a zone focus (3 distance ranges shown in the viewfiner), the Minox is scale focus where you estimate the distance from 3" to infinity. The Chinon is similar but has the neat feature that when you move the film advance lever the barn doors open and the lens extends. on the Minox you do it manually. Fun little cameras and some like the Pentax have super sharp optics.

Tony

[tchudson]

I usually have my Canon XSI with me, but the past couple of months I haven't been carrying it and haven't taken too many photos....

[YuriZhivago]

Although I have 4x5s, 8x10s, Hassies, Fuji 6x8 & 6x17, Art Pan 6x24's, Noblex 6x12 & 6x17's, Mamiya RZ's, 6's & 7's, and Nikon F3T's all for film, I constantly carry a Leica Digilux 2 around NYC for personal work. The Digilux 2 comes closest to my old M4-P's but with a permanently attached zoom (28~90mm equivalent, plus an exceptional B&W algorithm). My professional digitals are Hassie H4d's, Nikon D3X's and Sigma SD-1's. (The SD-1s are incredible and my favorite pro camera right now.) After 30+ years in the photo business, you tend to accumulate a lot of "stuff."

[Legion]

I am still a fan of film cameras and have gone the point and shoot path now instead of the SLR and medium format gear I used to own. I have a growing collection of tiny, compact street shooter cameras like the Pentax XA series, the Minolta AF-C, the Chinon Bellami, the Minox 35 and an Agfa Optima 1035 Sensor. These are about half the size of a 35mm SLR and fit in any jacket pocket. Great grab and go cameras ranging from zone focus, to auto focus to a rangefinder on the Pentax XA.The best part was that with careful ebay shopping most were under $40 in good working condition.

You can see how small they are compared to a roll of 35mm film and a pocket knife.

They are all auto exposure to some extent. On the Pentax XA you choose the aperture, the shutter does the rest and it is a split image, rangefinder focus. Later XA models are zone focus. The Minolta on the left is auto focus and auto exposure. The Agfa Optima is auto exposure with a zone focus (3 distance ranges shown in the viewfiner), the Minox is scale focus where you estimate the distance from 3" to infinity. The Chinon is similar but has the neat feature that when you move the film advance lever the barn doors open and the lens extends. on the Minox you do it manually. Fun little cameras and some like the Pentax have super sharp optics.

Tony

I used to have a couple of those little Olympus XA, along with the flash attachment that went on the side. Good sharp little f2.8 lens and more manual control than most compact cameras of the time. I used to keep one in my pocket when I didn't want to cart the leica around on my days off. I should hunt through some boxes and see if I still have one...

[Tony Miller]

I used to have a couple of those little Olympus XA, along with the flash attachment that went on the side. Good sharp little f2.8 lens and more manual control than most compact cameras of the time. I used to keep one in my pocket when I didn't want to cart the leica around on my days off. I should hunt through some boxes and see if I still have one...

The flash when mounted really killed the compact aspect of the camera. The lens on the original XA, the camera where you set the f stops manually and had the rangefinder focus was the best and a very unique design with an internal moving element to focus. The XA1 and on used a slightly different lens design but are still really sharp. The XA1 has a selenium meter built around the lens like the early Olympus Trip 35, the XA2 has zone focus with 3 ranges, the XA3 has DX encoding and can work with up to 1600ASA film (all the others were 800ASA) and the XA4 has a macro mode. The XA4 is a really hard to find model and cleverly the neck strap (cord really) that it comes with is exactly the length of the close focus macro distance so you can use it to measure focus. All of the models have the sliding lens/viewfinder cover and take easy to find LR44 (EXP76) batteries. (As you can tell I really love the little XA series).

If I could only keep a single little film camera it would be the original XA. I also have a pair of Nikkormats, the EL and an FTN. I owned a Leica M2 once with the compact 35mm Summaron. Slow lens but tack sharp. I still regret selling that one.

Tony

[Legion]

The flash when mounted really killed the compact aspect of the camera. The lens on the original XA, the camera where you set the f stops manually and had the rangefinder focus was the best and a very unique design with an internal moving element to focus. The XA1 and on used a slightly different lens design but are still really sharp. The XA1 has a selenium meter built around the lens like the early Olympus Trip 35, the XA2 has zone focus with 3 ranges, the XA3 has DX encoding and can work with up to 1600ASA film (all the others were 800ASA) and the XA4 has a macro mode. The XA4 is a really hard to find model and cleverly the neck strap (cord really) that it comes with is exactly the length of the close focus macro distance so you can use it to measure focus. All of the models have the sliding lens/viewfinder cover and take easy to find LR44 (EXP76) batteries. (As you can tell I really love the little XA series).

If I could only keep a single little film camera it would be the original XA. I also have a pair of Nikkormats, the EL and an FTN. I owned a Leica M2 once with the compact 35mm Summaron. Slow lens but tack sharp. I still regret selling that one.

Tony

I have no idea of what I've done with my XA's, but while I was going through boxes I found a Olympus Pen EE-2! Do you remember that one? It had the selenium meter around the lens and was only half frame! They were great when we were kids because you could get twice the pictures on the roll. I am definitely going to play with that when I get time. I'll stick some nice fast film in and get it all grainy, just like they used to be (on ISO 100 )

I just sold all my old time expired film, which is a shame. (not really, people pay silly money for obsolete emulsions, but It would have been handy to have kept a couple of rolls.)

[aodenkou]

I kick myself time and time again for not carrying my camera with me. On two different occasions in the past couple of months I made a conscious decision not to put my Cannon 60D in the car with me and I am kicking my self on both occasions. 1st time I was passing over a bridge that I could have stopped on and taken a picture of an eagle sitting in a tree by a small river, the 2nd was as I was driving down a mountain road where if I would have stopped I would have had an eye level photo of a red tail hawk sitting in a tree with the Smoky Mountains in the background. The hawk was less than 50 feet from me and with the 70-300 lens I had on the camera I could have had a fantastic shot :-(

I really need to keep a camera with me!

[Lesmore]

I kick myself time and time again for not carrying my camera with me. On two different occasions in the past couple of months I made a conscious decision not to put my Cannon 60D in the car with me and I am kicking my self on both occasions. 1st time I was passing over a bridge that I could have stopped on and taken a picture of an eagle sitting in a tree by a small river, the 2nd was as I was driving down a mountain road where if I would have stopped I would have had an eye level photo of a red tail hawk sitting in a tree with the Smoky Mountains in the background. The hawk was less than 50 feet from me and with the 70-300 lens I had on the camera I could have had a fantastic shot :-(


I really need to keep a camera with me!

Right you are. That kind of thing kept happening to me and as a result I started carrying a camera.

[Lesmore]

Although I have 4x5s, 8x10s, Hassies, Fuji 6x8 & 6x17, Art Pan 6x24's, Noblex 6x12 & 6x17's, Mamiya RZ's, 6's & 7's, and Nikon F3T's all for film, I constantly carry a Leica Digilux 2 around NYC for personal work. The Digilux 2 comes closest to my old M4-P's but with a permanently attached zoom (28~90mm equivalent, plus an exceptional B&W algorithm). My professional digitals are Hassie H4d's, Nikon D3X's and Sigma SD-1's. (The SD-1s are incredible and my favorite pro camera right now.) After 30+ years in the photo business, you tend to accumulate a lot of "stuff."

Wow...impressive list of cameras. How do you like your Hasselblad digital ?

[AllenG]

Most of my cameras are big and heavy.
I however am really impressed with the camera built into the iPhones.

Not that you can take a poor picture of that.

[CrotalusHH]

I always have a little Fijifilm AX300 in my pocket.

Just in case I see a Sasquatch.

[Lesmore]

I always have a little Fijifilm AX300 in my pocket.

Just in case I see a Sasquatch.

When you do see a Squatch...make sure you hold your Fuji steady...too many blurry photos of BF out there.

[cdrross]

I don't carry as much as I should. Maybe I will.
I have a D90 (waiting for Nikon's next D300 upgrade) with a 17-70 2.8-4 lens as my primary.
I also have a 105 Macro and 80-200 2.8