Looks like there are several kindred spirits here. I think I still own every piece of photo equipment I’ve had since high school. Here are a few of my favorites. I originally used Canon gear but switched to Nikon after I attended a camera show in the 70s where the Nikon rep claimed that while Canon built great gear for great photographers, Nikon gear was designed for gorillas. He set about proving his point by inflicting all manner of torture and abuse on his demo cameras (pro tip: never buy a show demo anything). I made the switch to Nikon but sometimes regretted it. I’d still like to match a Canon rangefinder with the juicy old 50mm f0.95 lens.

The first generation “Nikonos”, following the original Jacques Cousteau “Calypso” underwater camera, is a tank and can take a beating. Heavy as a brick, no meter, and not at all user friendly but after setting the exposure and focus, it can be operated (using the unique shutter release and film advance mechanism) with one hand even if wearing a glove. Decent results and considering what was available in the 70s, it was my choice to take skiing, biking, kayaking, and rock climbing - the kids with GoPros have no idea of how fortunate they are.

I still can’t part with my FM2 (full manual) and FE2 (manual with aperture priority option) cameras hoping to dig back into film once I finally retire. They are simple and reliable in most weather conditions. The shutters are smooth with speeds up to 1/4000th and can still shoot without battery power. The 58mm f1.2 Noct and 85mm f1.4 lenses are gems and yield beautiful imaging on my D850. I have quite a bit of nice legacy Nikon glass but it’s kind of a crap shoot finding what supports 45MP.