Cameras that are better than they should be

[railwayman3]

The sound the shutter makes, as distinct from the double-exposure safety, is indistinguishable between shutter functioning correctly at a fast speed and not opening at all. When the shutter malfunctions it does so by releasing both blades at once, rather than first blade -(timing interval)- second blade. Exact same sound as the shutter tripping at 1/500th.

I understand what you say. It may be, however, that my faulty camera has some different issue as, when malfunctioning, I believe that the shutter just does not operate, rather than releasing the blades at all. I've rechecked the camera extensively without film and with all the range of possible exposures and I'm sure that this is the case. Perhaps an intermittent fault on an electrical connection.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

I understand what you say. It may be, however, that my faulty camera has some different issue as, when malfunctioning, I believe that the shutter just does not operate, rather than releasing the blades at all. I've rechecked the camera extensively without film and with all the range of possible exposures and I'm sure that this is the case. Perhaps an intermittent fault on an electrical connection.

I think the sound you are describing is the same sound the camera makes without a battery?
If so it could be the contacts between the lens mount and the body, that's another popular failure mode.

 

[cooltouch]

The OP's original question got me to thinking, especially after he revealed that his vote was for the Oly Trip 35. I can really relate to this. I picked up a Trip 35 that was "tossed in" along with a couple of OMs and a few lenses I bought several years ago. I tried out my Trip 35 along with several other rangefinders altogether shortly after this, and I do recall being somewhat skeptical of its abilities. But after I developed the roll of Plus X Pan, all doubts were removed. It handled its tasks brilliantly! Both exposure and focus were spot on. I was impressed! So now I have a special respect for that little jewel. It holds a coveted place right next to my Oly XA.

Oly Trip 35, Kodak Plus-X Pan, developed in full-strength D-76

A couple of other replies have jolted my memory somewhat, so I'll respond in kind.

The original Canon EOS Rebel. First model, first generation, all plastic, plastic lens mount and all that. I bought one that had previously been a store demo, back in about 1990, I guess it was. That was a few months before my daughter was born. Well, that camera went on to perform yeoman's duty after that for about a good 15 years, and it never missed a lick -- until I decided to upgrade to an Elan IIe, at which point I sold it on eBay for a whopping $20.

The Canon FTb, a pro's camera in amateur's clothing. Well, it didn't have interchangeable finders or screens and it didn't accept a motor drive, but if you could live without those niceties, it was (and still is) darn near as rugged a camera as Canon has ever produced. I've owned several and I've never once had one that has let me down. I still own three. One of my all-time favorite 35mm SLRs.

The Nikon EM. Initially I had fairly low expectations about this camera. But it uses Nikon's tried and true 60/40 metering pattern, so even if it is aperture priority only, seldom have I had an issue with incorrectly exposed images. Hey and it even takes a motor accessory. One handy thing about the EM is its mechanical x sync and B setting, so it has long been a favorite of astrophotographers, partially because of its light weight, which is handy when hanging a camera off the end of a telescope, but mostly because there's no worry about battery drain because of the mechanical B setting. Yep, a deceptively full-featured little camera.

 

[Brett Rogers]

The less than well known East German KW Praktina cameras. Undoubtably the highest quality and best featured Eastern block cameras every made.

Worlds first professional camera system (6 years before the Nikon F)

Breech lock lens mount, a range of lenses from 10+ companies.

First semi auto lens diaphragm, you cock the lens to full aperture, it stops down on the first pressure of the shutter release

Interchangeable finders

Takes two different motor drives one clock-work the other electric and a bulk film back. Accessories can fetch high prices, a CZJ 75mm f1.5 Sonnar sold recently for $4,000

While some claim that Exacta were the first to introduce a system camera they never had a motor drive or bulk film back and build quality is poor compared to the Praktina.
Praktina camera were made from 1953 to 62, however they were expensive to produce and after merging with the East German Zeiss Ikon all new 35mm cameras were based on KW's budget Praktica camera and carried that name (some were branded Pentacon). KW had taken over production of the Zeiss Contax SLR two years before the actual merger, sold as a Pentacon in the West.

Later the Praktina N prototype became the Pentacon Super again launched as a professional system this time M42 screw mount, fast 50mm f1.4 Pancolar lens, with a motor drive, bulk film back etc but few were made. One KW camera remained in production for many years and was copied the Praktisix, later renamed as the Pentacon 6.

I have a number of Eastern Block cameras, and have used others, the build quality of the Praktina is just leagues ahead of Kiev's, Fed'd,s, Zorki's, later Praktica's. Roger Hicks put's them ahead of the Nikon F in some ways particularly for the way the inter-changeable prisms and view finders fit. It's Leica type precision.

Ian

My pair of Praktinas are two of my favourite cameras. Whether they were the first to hit the market with an auto stop down system I am not so sure about. I have seen different dates referenced for the introduction of the production FX. Eg Leipzig in September 1953.

By that time Zeiss Ikon's new SLR, the first of the Contaflex series, was on the market, or very nearly. It may have used a leaf shutter, but it most assuredly also incorporated automatic aperture stop down on depressing the shutter release. I don't know which SLR could be bought by the public first, but it would have been a close race, I think.
Cheers,
Brett

 

[Jim Jones]

The Univex Mercury II showed American ingenuity at its best. Instead of copying features from older cameras, the Univex engineer designed a shutter that was probably more durable and certainly more accurate than Zeiss and Leica cameras of that time. The shutter's bulky design precluded a rangefinder, but scale focusing was the norm then. Its fast triplet lens was fairly good, and a few other lenses were available. It was also the first camera to use a hot shoe. Like the cleverly designed but poorly built Argus C3, the Mercury II had no neck strap lugs. I thought my second-hand $20 Mercury II was a great camera, but upgraded to a Minolta, then Nicca, and finally a new Leica IIIf in 1953.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

MINOLTA MAXXUM 7000
This one surprised me, at first glance it was everyting I loathe in a camera - auto everything, plastic, no aperture ring, plastic, utterly battery dependent, plastic, and it came with a 70-210 zoom in addition to the kit 50 f:1.7 (plastic).
But. It has, as well as aperture or shutter priority auto a full manual mode, a nice viewfinder, simple pretty intuitive controls, good handling, the af is accurate and faster than some new prosumer dslrs, the screen is easy to focus manually on, and the zoom actually is pretty good! One thing it lacks is a dof preview. It has a programmed mode that can be modified, and I've been running it on nimh AAAs.
I can see why these things flew off the shelves in 1985. It also came with all original paperwork including reciepts and warraties, also a dedicated Sunpak flash that was $179 in 1988.

 

[Alan Gales]

MINOLTA MAXXUM 7000
This one surprised me, at first glance it was everyting I loathe in a camera - auto everything, plastic, no aperture ring, plastic, utterly battery dependent, plastic, and it came with a 70-210 zoom in addition to the kit 50 f:1.7 (plastic).
But. It has, as well as aperture or shutter priority auto a full manual mode, a nice viewfinder, simple pretty intuitive controls, good handling, the af is accurate and faster than some new prosumer dslrs, the screen is easy to focus manually on, and the zoom actually is pretty good! One thing it lacks is a dof preview. It has a programmed mode that can be modified, and I've been running it on nimh AAAs.
I can see why these things flew off the shelves in 1985. It also came with all original paperwork including reciepts and warraties, also a dedicated Sunpak flash that was $179 in 1988.

I sold those new at a Venture store when they came out. They sold like hot cakes!

I went shooting with a girl not long after that. She worked in one of those tiny Fox Photo stores. She was shooting a new poly carbonate Pentax camera and joked about my Contax 139 looking old. The Contax was a 1978 design. I thought her plastic Pentax looked cheap but I didn't tell her so.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

MINOLTA MAXXUM 7000
This one surprised me, at first glance it was everyting I loathe in a camera - auto everything, plastic, no aperture ring, plastic, utterly battery dependent, plastic, and it came with a 70-210 zoom in addition to the kit 50 f:1.7 (plastic).

That is also how I felt when they were introduced. With historical perspective now, I see it as a significant camera.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

That is also how I felt when they were introduced. With historical perspective now, I see it as a significant camera.

Agreed. I did not know it was the first integrated autofocus slr until I did some research, what impresses me is how well it works. With all my prejudices (still alive and active), the thing is actually fun to use !?!
Right now it's on the shelf, next to the 1936 Contax II.

 

[CMoore]

I do not actually own one, but i think no camera in recent history has ever gotten as much "Guff" as the Canon AE-1.
Seems i still read about what lousy cameras they are.
Would be interesting to know the approximate (Huge) number of stunning photos that have been taken with (and still are) the AE-1.

 

[AgX]

I actually do not remember any bad talk about that model.
Except for that squeak issue. But out of the several A models I got only one sample that suffers from it, but then so extreme that the mirror is slow.

 

[Cholentpot]

I do not actually own one, but i think no camera in recent history has ever gotten as much "Guff" as the Canon AE-1.
Seems i still read about what lousy cameras they are.
Would be interesting to know the approximate (Huge) number of stunning photos that have been taken with (and still are) the AE-1.

Love my AE-1. Clicks and clacks and takes excellent FD lenses, feels good in hand. Lovely camera.

 

[OlyMan]

I do not actually own one, but i think no camera in recent history has ever gotten as much "Guff" as the Canon AE-1.
Seems i still read about what lousy cameras they are.
Would be interesting to know the approximate (Huge) number of stunning photos that have been taken with (and still are) the AE-1.

It's always wise to bear in mind that after buying a new or used product, more dissatisfied people vent their spleens on owners' forums and in user reviews than perfectly happy people who are satisfied with their purchases. So the reliability perception becomes unfairly skewed. I only know of one person who had an AE-1, and he owned it from new and used it for many a year without issue. All of them are between 33-41 years old now, so there's bound to be a couple of duds out there, just waiting to be bought by the kind of people who will be sure to complain as publicly as possible on two dozen photography forums about how sh-te all AE-1s were.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

I've had AE-1 cameras for almost 40 years and never had a problem. Thousands of photos later they still work. Currently have 3 'cause people were going to throw them away and that's sad. They don't get used as much as I should but still see use. FD glass a a dream too especially when the cost is so low.

 

[Tony-S]

I've had AE-1 cameras for almost 40 years and never had a problem. Thousands of photos later they still work.

My A-1, 50mm f/1.4, 100mm f/4 macro and Motor Drive MA are now 37 years old and still work great. The only repair has been replacement of the NiCd cells in the motor drive battery pack with NiMH cells.

 

[cooltouch]

The AE--1 is a rugged, reliable camera. I've owned a few over the years. It was my first 35mm SLR. But I've never really been a big fan of it, for two reasons: 1, its metering pattern is not center-weighted enough for my tastes. Nikon's classic 60-40 pattern was a much better pattern. Canon's partial pattern, as found in the FTb and old F-1, was even better. 2, the AE-1, like all other A-series cameras (except the AT-1), and T-series cameras, is crippled when used in manual mode. The meter does not reflect the actual aperture ring's position. It gives you the recommended setting, which requires the user to look away from the viewfinder to see where the aperture ring is set, and then adjust accordingly. It was largely because of these two deficiencies that I put my AE-1 on the shelf and began to use an FTb on a regular basis, and then later the old F-1.

There's no denying the AE-1 was a milestone camera, though. It was simple enough to use such that a neophyte like me at the time was able pick it up and almost immediately start shooting with it. It was "good enough" to 'set the hook,' so to speak, so that, relatively soon after, I began to acquire gear that was more to my tastes and preferences. I bought my second Canon SLR a little more than a year after I bought my AE-1 and my third Canon SLR maybe another five months after that. And it's been downhill ever since.

 

[Tony-S]

2, the AE-1, like all other A-series cameras (except the AT-1), and T-series cameras, is crippled when used in manual mode. The meter does not reflect the actual aperture ring's position. It gives you the recommended setting, which requires the user to look away from the viewfinder to see where the aperture ring is set, and then adjust accordingly. It was largely because of these two deficiencies that I put my AE-1 on the shelf and began to use an FTb on a regular basis, and then later the old F-1.

Yup, same for me. Picked up a used F-1 (ver. 2) a few years after getting my A-1 for this exact reason.

There's no denying the AE-1 was a milestone camera, though. It was simple enough to use such that a neophyte like me at the time was able pick it up and almost immediately start shooting with it. It was "good enough" to 'set the hook,' so to speak, so that, relatively soon after, I began to acquire gear that was more to my tastes and preferences.

The AE-1 was a "gateway drug".

 

[Lee Rust]

Here's another vote for the Univex Mercury II. The unique & durable variable-angle disc shutter was derived from cinema camera designs. Whether the exposure time is set at 1/20 or 1/1000, the disc always rotates at the same speed, so the Mercury produces the same quiet 'clunk' every time you push the button. Not exactly a speedy camera to operate, especially with the scale focus and shutter winding knob on the front, but the lens is perfectly adequate and the half-frame format economizes on film. Although the body is very similar to the Leica M in size and shape, the semi-circular shutter housing on top really sets the Mercury II apart.

 

[alanrockwood]

Canon Rebel G (EOS 500N) with 50/1.8 EF II or 75-300 EF III.

Plastic mount, bottom-of-the-market camera and lenses. Photos were perfectly exposed and sharp. Decent amount of control available. Totally unexpected from a kit that weighs nearly nothing.

The Rebel series was vastly under-rated in my opinion.

 

[cooltouch]

The Rebel series was vastly under-rated in my opinion.

This is my view as well. I bought a first model Rebel back in 1990 that had been a store demo, so it was like new. Bought it for my wife, who was pregnant, and I knew we would be needing a simple but reliable picture taker for her to use to take pix of the kid. It came with the 35-80 kit lens. All plastic, including the lens mount. No pop-up flash like with later models. But it had a variety of exposure options, including a decent manual mode. Shortly thereafter I bought a top-of-the-line (at the time) 240EZ flash to use with it, and the wife was set. We both went on to use that camera on a regular basis until our daughter was about 18 years old -- so we got over 18 years use out if it. I sold it, in still perfect working order, on eBay for $20 at that time because I'd replaced it with an Elan IIe -- which still gets occasional use some 12 years later. Anyway, that old Rebel lasted way longer than I thought it would, and for all I know, it's still in service.