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20 celebrated photographers, their cameras and favoured focal lengths


The website Leica Rumors has published a list generated by ChatGPT of 20 of the greatest photographers of all time and the cameras and focal lengths they mainly use(d):

1 – Ansel Adams
  • Large Format view camera, particularly the Wisner ‘Technical’ Field 4×5. He often used lenses of various focal lengths. Image ℅ The Ansel Adams Gallery
2 – Richard Avedon
  • Deardorff 8×10 View Camera. He often used a 360mm lens. Image ℅ The New Yorker
3 – Henri Cartier-Bresson
4 – Dorothea Lange
  • Graflex Series D, with likely a variety of focal lengths given her work’s diverse nature
    (Dorothea Lange in Texas on the Plains, c. 1935). Image ℅ SF Chronicle Datebook
5 – Robert Capa
6 – Annie Leibovitz
  • Used various cameras throughout her career, including a Mamiya RZ67 with a 110mm lens. Image ℅ Manu H on Flickr
7 – Steve McCurry
  • Nikon F6, typically with a 28-70mm lens. Image ℅ Cameraville
8 – Diane Arbus
  • Rolleiflex, with an 80mm lens. Image ℅ BBC
9 – Robert Doisneau
  • Leica IIIc with a 50mm lens. Image ℅ Demain
10 – David Bailey
  • Various cameras including the Pentax 67 with 105mm lens. Image ℅ Pentax User
11 – Elliott Erwitt
  • Leica M with a 50mm lens. Image ℅ Leica
12 – Brassai
  • Voigtländer Bergheil, with variable focal lengths. Image ℅ deplore & co
13 – Walker Evans
14 – Robert Frank
15 – Cindy Sherman
16 – Edward Weston
  • Large Format 8×10 view camera, with a variety of lenses. Image ℅ About Photography
17 – Andrew Gursky
18 – Garry Winogrand
19 – Irving Penn
20 – Martin Parr

as well as a list of the 20 greatest street photographers and 20 who favour a Leica. To see all three lists, click here.


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