The Camera Collector's Top 10 Vintage Cameras

I want to include the Ilford Witness, a very rare British rangefinder camera made in the early 1950s. Although only about 350 were made, it was very well constructed and is easy to use. It really feels solid and shows several innovative features. It has a beveled winding knob, giving it a low profile. I don’t think that any other camera has this clever feature. Also it has a Leica screw mount but with a difference. It accepts all Leica screwmount lenses but also has three cutouts 120 degrees from one another, making its own lenses having a modified bayonet mount-screw mount. Finally the back opens easily, just like a Zeiss Contax rangefinder camera. It seems to have all the desirable features of both Leica and Zeiss rangefinder cameras of the past. Unfortunately, it is presently one of the most expensive cameras to acquire, costing up to $15000, when available for sale.
 
Good to see you still doing what you do so well, Jason. It has been a long time since our Camp Birchwood days, to be sure! I had just started "hacking" with an old Yashica SLR and you were kind enough to give me some pointers. After leaving Vermont in the summer of '68, I went into the US Army and became a combat photographer using an issued Leica M-2R. All of these years later, I still "hack" at photography but with an updated Leica.

Mike
 
John C. Ling said:
I want to include the Ilford Witness, a very rare British rangefinder camera made in the early 1950s. Although only about 350 were made, it was very well constructed and is easy to use. It really feels solid and shows several innovative features. It has a beveled winding knob, giving it a low profile. I don’t think that any other camera has this clever feature. Also it has a Leica screw mount but with a difference. It accepts all Leica screwmount lenses but also has three cutouts 120 degrees from one another, making its own lenses having a modified bayonet mount-screw mount. Finally the back opens easily, just like a Zeiss Contax rangefinder camera. It seems to have all the desirable features of both Leica and Zeiss rangefinder cameras of the past. Unfortunately, it is presently one of the most expensive cameras to acquire, costing up to $15000, when available for sale.
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West Yorkshire Cameras have two of these in at the moment, at prices that make an M series Leica look like something from the bargain bin.
 
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