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House on fire - just one lens and just one camera - which?

Posted 04/03/2023 - 17:44 Link
Right, here's the situation: The house is on fire, everyone including the cat / dog / budgie is safe. Everyone.

Question: you have just enough time to take only one lens and one camera from your vast collection. What camera and what lens would you take?
Be well, stay safe, but most of all, invest in memories
Defragged
Posted 04/03/2023 - 18:05 Link
A beautiful Zenit E with its equally beautiful shiny black unmarked Helios 44-2 lens, housed in a pristine shiny black leather case, which my dear late father left to me 20 years ago. God rest his soul. He probably bought the outfit brand new.

I've much more modern and expensive gear, but it just goes to show that more expensive and modern doesn't necessarily equate to being more valuable!
C.O.L.B.A.S victim
(Compulsive Obsessive Lens Buying Addiction Syndrome)

What you need are lenses, more lenses, bigger lenses, better lenses, faster lenses, vintage lenses and when you have these, your pictures will be perfect!
LennyBloke
Posted 04/03/2023 - 18:25 Link
Pentax K1 MkII and D FA* 50mm f1.4 - I spent many years only owning a "standard" lens, the Star 50mm is a Special Standard
LennyBloke
Spad
Posted 04/03/2023 - 19:19 Link
If i leave the mrs in the house, can i take 2 other lenses???
The Legendary Terry Pratchett once said:
At the beginning there was nothing... which exploded
takuman
Posted 04/03/2023 - 20:20 Link
K1 + 28-105 WR
Just passing thru
Mike-P
Posted 04/03/2023 - 20:31 Link
Out of what I have left in Pentax the K-1 and Irix Dragonfly150mm f/2.8 macro

If it was anything then probably the Sony A9 and Sony 100-400mm (which by some miracle still had the 1.4x converter attached and was still in the bag along with the 24-105mm)
LongTimeLurker
Posted 04/03/2023 - 23:30 Link
Given that many of my most used lenses are kept in one large camera bag for storage, it would be quicker to pick up the bag and run rather than open it and spend a while choosing which lens to take (as per the line in my post signature below)

Playing along with the stated premise, I would take my film-era KX with the K series 28mm f/2 on the basis that finding either of them in the near mint condition that mine are in would be difficult.

On the other hand, I do have some books and my music collection that I'd want to save too, so the photographic gear would have to be left behind.

Yet again, I do have some personal effects that I have inherited, whilst not worth anything financially, are priceless to me, so the books and music would have to stay.

Hmmmm. Bear with me whilst I think about this.

Do you have an impression of me that I'm not the archetypal Hollywood hero that can make life or death decisions in a split second and get them right every time?

Now then, how about I take Mrs LTL's camera as the memory card will probably have images on it that still haven't been backed-up?

...
Nigel.

Getting older and grumpier. Taking longer to decide which lens to use today.

K5 with auto-everything lenses
A collection of manual primes to keep me in touch with the pleasures of doing it old-school.
Edited by LongTimeLurker: 04/03/2023 - 23:32
MrB
Posted 05/03/2023 - 07:20 Link
The most versatile kit I could take would be the Pentax KP with the DA 18-135 zoom. (But I would have to cheat and also slip my new Ricoh GR IIIx into my coat pocket!)

Philip
Lubbyman
Posted 05/03/2023 - 09:06 Link
Within the rules of the game, and given the state of panic I'd be in, it would be the K3 and DA300mm (with 1.4TC attached) because they are always at the front of the camera cupboard so quickest to find and remove. They are also always attached and ready to go, so stretching the rules a bit I'd count them as one grab and go for the permitted second grab which would be the next easiest to grab - probably the Q-S1 with 02 attached.

Of course, the really sensible thing to do would be for first grab to be the network storage disk because that's got all Mrs L's - and coincidentally my - digital photos on it (plus a lot else!). The second grab would be one of Mrs L's collection of photo albums with some of her pre-digital pictures of happy days with young kids many years ago. Mrs L would be sooooo grateful and I would get the credit .

Steve
HarisF1
Posted 05/03/2023 - 11:39 Link
K-1 and A* 135/1.8, so I can sell it and buy a 28-105, FA77 and FA31 to rebuild the kit
All the gear with no idea

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