David Burnett owns and uses modern digital cameras, but he takes his 1940s Pacemaker Speed Graphic camera on nearly every assignment.

Fitted with a bellows and allowing the user to take only one image at a time, the Speed Graphic would hardly seem the camera of choice for one of the world’s most celebrated photojournalists.

But Burnett rarely leaves home without it.

“I love using the old gear,” he says. “The odds are against you in so many ways.”