What's Your Favourite Camera (and lens combo optional) of all time?

I've been mulling over this since it was first posted which was, what, three weeks ago, lol. I still hesitate to nominate one particular camera/lens combination that I have liked the best, but in some semblance of order I came up with the following three.

Canon EOS 50D + EF 24-105mm f4L IS USM

Chunky camera body, great ergonomics, and with any setting worth changing a mere button press/wheel twirl away. The lens, while not designed for an APS-C sensor, works brilliantly with one (on the caveat that my Sigma 10-20mm is not too far away for when I want wider). Any edge issues this lens might display on a full-frame body magically disappear on the smaller sensor. The zoom range takes me as far into telephoto as would normally go, the IS is very effective, the AF superfast, the glass sharp. It is a big combination but it is well-balanced. Solid and dependable and a great scenic combination.

Olympus Pen E-PL1 + Lumix G 20mm f1.7

I've tried this lens on four m4/3 camera bodies, and none, not even the GF1, seem to match the 20mm as well as the E-PL1. As a lightweight combination of a supersharp, no-frills lens and a no-frills camera with a supersharp sensor, this one just works. Great in a street/urban environment.

Olympus E-510 + Leica 14-50mm f2.8-3.5 D Vario Elmarit

I wouldn't have thought that I would be putting an E-510 on a favourites list, but somehow in combination with this lens it seems a different camera (and well worth the $160 it cost me!). This is another symbiotic lens/sensor match-up like the E-PL1/20mm but on a larger scale and as a bonus it's a zoom lens. None of this wishy-washy high dynamic range stuff, just always sharp and sometimes gritty. If I had the chance to go back to somewhere like Nepal or Cambodia I would love to bring these two along.
 
Canon EOS 50D + EF 24-105mm f4L IS USM

Chunky camera body, great ergonomics, and with any setting worth changing a mere button press/wheel twirl away. The lens, while not designed for an APS-C sensor, works brilliantly with one (on the caveat that my Sigma 10-20mm is not too far away for when I want wider). Any edge issues this lens might display on a full-frame body magically disappear on the smaller sensor. The zoom range takes me as far into telephoto as would normally go, the IS is very effective, the AF superfast, the glass sharp. It is a big combination but it is well-balanced. Solid and dependable and a great scenic combination.

I will also go with the Canon EOS 50D, except that I use mine principally with the 17-40mm 4.0L. For the same reasons expressed by Nic: great ergonomics and usability. It just feels right in the hands. The lens is sharp and beautiful, and feels like a real piece of gear. Unfortunately, a bit heavy to carry all the time, but if it were lighter and smaller it would not feel quite as nice. Last, but not least, the IQ is great.

In the past, I have also loved my Contax G cameras, especially the G2.

For different reasons, I love my Lumix GF3 with 20mm 1.7. I am still amazed at the image quality you can get from such a pocketable camera.

Cheers,

Antonio
 
My first photographic love was (I think) a Kodak Duaflex (or some other fixed focus TLR camera). I found it in a drawer when I was very little and I'd carry it around and point it at stuff looking through the strange reversed waist-level finder and release the shutter. I don't think there was ever any film in it, but it didn't matter, I was "taking pictures". I'd still love a modern digital version of a camera of this design....and not a toy either (I've seen those key-chain sized Rollieflex copies and they make me want to puke). I want a real one with a big, juicy waist-level optical viewfinder.

It may have looked like one of these.....
View attachment 45699
He was a flashy dresser and stood apart from the rest by Lukinosity, on Flickr

I've got three of these babies.. I, III & IV.. I think I need a II :D And you know now a lot of people are using them digitally? Through The Viewfinder [TTV] shooting. You make a shroud to go over the top of the Duaflex [Duaflex is the best TLR for this because of the glass] and shoot your digital down it using the TLR viewfinder to frame your image. The result is an older looking type photo, framed like the TLR. You can get them relatively inexpensively now. Here's a group on Flickr to give you an example. Flickr: Through the Viewfinder and.. I haven't gotten rid of any cameras. Lost a few point and shoot film cameras over the years though I don't mourn them.
 
I loved my first camera Pentax MX with SMC M 50 F/1.7, but I was young and confused and always looking for new gear.
My second love was after many years and several cameras my first serious digital compact, an Olympus C-60Z.
Now I love my Pentax K100D with FA 50 F/1.4 and should say this is my actual favourite, but I'm still distracted by other lenses.
I'm sure I'm going to love my new Olympus XZ-1, because I feel it, if I don't know it ;)
So let me say XZ-1 is my favourite camera.
 
Very much enjoying what I have right now.
Panasonic GF1 w/- PL Summi 25mm f1.4

...and overshadowing my past favourites:
1. Olympus E-1 w/- Zuiko 14-54
2. Pentax K-r w/- FA31/1.8
 
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