Cameras you don't click with.

[markjwyatt]

...

I didn’t like my Kodak Retina SLR - the one w the wind mechanism on the base plate. Everything seemed in the wrong place and backwards.

...

Couldn’t stand my Kiev ...

Kind of agree on the Kodak Retina Reflex IV. On the other hand I love the inexpensive Schneider-Kreuznach lenses, so I live with it.

I like my Kiev. It was my gateway to the Contax iia. My Kiev looks really good also (a custom black model).


Kiev 4A Type2 (Black) by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr

 

[Roger Cole]

I forgot about the 124g. I inherited one but I hate using it. It just seems so finicky sometimes.

Not everyone clicks with TLRs. I have a 124 (non-G but that's irrelevant for use) and it's my absolute favorite of all my cameras to use. It doesn't do everything I want or need, sure, so I have others, but I find it the most fun.

Just goes to show, people differ.

 

[thicktheo]

• Mamiya 7. So ugly to look at... it hurts. Just can't imagine having an object like that in my house. I am not an industrial design aficionado, but come on...

The Mamiya 7 might not be pretty, but it still remains the only 6x7 camera that really gets out of your way when you are photographing. Not much to look at... but it is light, efficient, easy to carry around. A joy to use, for any kind of work (apart from macro and tight portraits, obviously).

Myself, I got a Voigtlander 667 at some point. Tried really hard to love it, but I just couldn't. The whole design was great, but somehow the camera seemed to be getting in my way instead of helping me shoot faster and easier... and that film advance knob, totally not usable for fast shooting.

 

[grat]

I wonder what Bronica designers were thinking when they made the multiple-exposure lever so easy to activate, and how many Bronica users covered the lever with gaffer's tape.

I have no idea-- on my SQ-A, it's just about impossible to activate by accident.

 

[lxdude]

But just to name one out of a hundred, it was a Fuji 6x9 rangefinder. I was so looking forward to owning one. When it came out of the box, my wife and I looked at it and burst out laughing. It went right back in the box and back to KEH the next day.

That camera was BIG, comically big. Felt like I needed striped pants, a red nose and floppy shoes to use it. Even if I had taken a pic w/ it that got me on the cover of Life magazine, that wasn't enough to get me out of the house w/ that camera.

You didn't know that beforehand? You never heard the nickname "Texas Leica"? The specs are online, ya know...

 

[lxdude]

Only 1s? Not the faster speeds?

That would work the shutter blades and all of the slow speed mechanism. I would think that setting the lens to the smallest aperture would be good too, to fully work that.

 

[JPD]

Cameras with bad viewfinders, like a tiny round hole or rectangle to look through.



or:

 

[henryvk]

My 166 was the Moscow Olympics anniversary edition. So not sure if that was actually the regular or later 'improved' version. The lens actually was so good it really sucked that the rest of the camera was so bad.

Ah, that's why. The Moscow Olympics version is the one with the frame counter (for 6x6) which is reportedly very unreliable.

The one I'm talking about was released in 2012 and is a completely overhauled model made under license from LOMO by Lomographic Society International. People usually bash it for being expensive but imo you have to admire the effort. Imagine if someone decided a-propos of nothing to make an upgraded version of, say, the Kodak Brownie Starmite with a built-in electronic flash, viewfinder with projected framelines and 220 capability.

 

[lxdude]

I love my Hasselblads too, but you would never guess that. Every three months, per the advice of my Hasselblad repairman, I take each lens and fire it at 1 second fifteen to twenty times. He advised that for all camera shutters, but I schedule the shutter exercise for 1 January, 1 April, 1 July, 1 September.

Yeh, yeh, I know. But they’re like the Honda ST1100 I used to own. Stone reliable and comfy but all the personality of a toaster.

I think the ST1100 has personality. How shall I say it.. a mature personality. The one thing I can't stand though, is the plastic cover on the handlebars. Ugh. It's not a damn car! Gotta yank that off.
But that V4 is soo nice. Smooth and flexible.

 

[flavio81]

I wonder what Bronica designers were thinking when they made the multiple-exposure lever so easy to activate, and how many Bronica users covered the lever with gaffer's tape.

I'm very active in forums regarding the Bronica ETR system and this is the first time I read about this. The multiple exposure lever isn't easy to activate. In fact, when you fit the "speed grip" the lever becomes almost impossible to acitvate, which I consider a design flaw, so go figure...

The ETRSi has also the mirror lock-up lever. That one is indeed rather easy to activate and will lead you to lose one exposure if you don't know the procedure to reset the camera without losing exposures.

 

[Huss]

Wouldn't it have been better to do the research before buying and avoid the extra buy and sell cycles?

'Research' does not tell you if you will click with the camera.

For example, research says Sony digital cameras are the best. But using them is like playing with a computer. Not at all satisfying.

The upside is all that stuff was bought used, and I sold them for a profit. So the research I did that did pay off, was making sure I could make money flipping them.

 

[Huss]

Contax/Kievs
I really wanted to love them but couldn't

You didn't like having to make the claw hand to focus those lumps?

 

[Sirius Glass]

'Research' does not tell you if you will click with the camera.

For example, research says Sony digital cameras are the best. But using them is like playing with a computer. Not at all satisfying.

The upside is all that stuff was bought used, and I sold them for a profit. So the research I did that did pay off, was making sure I could make money flipping them.

Definitely a bigger problem not that we do not have local well stocked camera stores around any more.

 

[titrisol]

I think the point of this thread is not to air grievances of cameras that you have not actually owned and/or used, but to those mention those that you have!

.......

Couldn’t stand my Kiev and Zorki rf cameras - they just made you want to get a better job so you could afford something from Japan or Western Europe.
.....

Agreed on the Kiev/Contax I bought one to test some lenses
Glass was amazing, camera felt archaic

You didn't like having to make the claw hand to focus those lumps?

Focusing wasnt that bad, the whole speed changing method and film transport made the process very unfriendly to me.

 

[Huss]

Kind of agree on the Kodak Retina Reflex IV. On the other hand I love the inexpensive Schneider-Kreuznach lenses, so I live with it.

I like my Kiev. It was my gateway to the Contax iia. My Kiev looks really good also (a custom black model).


Kiev 4A Type2 (Black) by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr

Mine looked just like that! 'Custom' black paint. So pretty which is why I got sucked in. Miserable to use.

 

[Huss]

I think the ST1100 has personality. How shall I say it.. a mature personality. The one thing I can't stand though, is the plastic cover on the handlebars. Ugh. It's not a damn car! Gotta yank that off.
But that V4 is soo nice. Smooth and flexible.

Best part of the St1100 was the size of the gas tank. Loved going 300+ miles before needing fuel.

 

[KerrKid]

I think the ST1100 has personality. How shall I say it.. a mature personality. The one thing I can't stand though, is the plastic cover on the handlebars. Ugh. It's not a damn car! Gotta yank that off.
But that V4 is soo nice. Smooth and flexible.

Sorry for the thread hijack.....

Mine had Heli-bars, aftermarket windscreen, Corbin gunfighter seat, Two Brothers muffler. Most comfy bike I've ever ridden and lots of torque. I think it had around a 300 mile range. I'd have one again.

 

[KerrKid]

I revisited the Yashica T4 Super D, Pentax 928M, Pentax Zoom 90WR, and Pentax KM again last night.

The Yashica is nice and the lens cover is nifty but I wouldn't pay anywhere near what they're asking for it if I had to buy one. Ditto the Pentax 928M. I'll keep using them, but there sure isn't any wow factor in the process.

Just holding the Pentax Zoom 90WR....it's not bad really. Looks good and feels good in the hands. I feel bad for not connecting with it. I think it's the plastic construction and the type of buttons it has that are hard to warm up to. Honestly, I think it'd be the perfect first film camera for a lot of people and they'd be happy with it until they held a black Konica C35 Automatic.

The Pentax KM...if it was my only camera I probably would think it was great. The one niggle I have with it is that the strap lugs fall in the wrong place on my fingers when I hold the camera, especially on my left hand. It's just one of those things that makes the camera less than a joy to hold. That, and it has too many straight lines for my taste, but that's subjective.

As for the Nikon LiteTouch 120 ED...I can't even bring myself to take its dead carcass out of its box. I completely understand the wisdom of offering lower-priced cameras, but I don't understand why Nikon would put its name on such a poorly made one. Pentax didn't have any problem building cameras to a price point that actually worked.

 

[lxdude]

Best part of the St1100 was the size of the gas tank. Loved going 300+ miles before needing fuel.

Yes, that's a big attraction. I never owned one, but I rode the one a neighbor has. Nice. Kind of top-heavy, but that's all right. I used to have a girlfriend who was kind of top-heavy, and I never complained!

 

[Huss]

.

Just holding the Pentax Zoom 90WR....it's not bad really. Looks good and feels good in the hands. I feel bad for not connecting with it. I think it's the plastic construction and the type of buttons it has that are hard to warm up to. Honestly, I think it'd be the perfect first film camera for a lot of people and they'd be happy with it until they held a black Konica C35 Automatic.
.

I took my Zoom 90WR on a mountain bike ride in Tahoe. I figured if I crashed and it got smashed, well, the film inside it cost more than the camera.
Got some sweet pics from it.



And one from Los Angeles



These cameras are crappy in hand, but all these plastic P&S are. It's only when you get to the stooopid expensive ones that they feel good, but they still all make that same cheap P&S sound when you take a pic. Well, apart from the Rollei QZ 35 - that has a kinda brutal feeling shutter reaction, almost feels like it recoils!

 

[lxdude]

Sorry for the thread hijack.....

Mine had Heli-bars, aftermarket windscreen, Corbin gunfighter seat, Two Brothers muffler. Most comfy bike I've ever ridden and lots of torque. I think it had around a 300 mile range. I'd have one again.

Yeah, I think Heli-bars are the way to go. A good excuse to remove that stupid cover. I wouldn't want a loud exhaust because it's fatiguing on long rides, but mufflers that change the tone so it's not so flat and droning would be very nice. You definitely had all the most important farkles!

 

[KerrKid]

Yes, that's a big attraction. I never owned one, but I rode the one a neighbor has. Nice. Kind of top-heavy, but that's all right. I used to have a girlfriend who was kind of top-heavy, and I never complained!

MIne pinned me against the garage wall one day when I tried to set it on the kickstand which, oops, wasn't fully extended. I had to get my wife to pull it off me. Yeh, the ST1100 is a big girl, but once in motion she can boogie in the twisties with the best of 'em.

The Two Brothers sounded just right. The 4-1 Hindle on my Blackbird at full honk sounds like the screams of a thousand lost souls. Good stuff.

 

[KerrKid]

I took my Zoom 90WR on a mountain bike ride in Tahoe. I figured if I crashed and it got smashed, well, the film inside it cost more than the camera.
Got some sweet pics from it.



And one from Los Angeles



These cameras are crappy in hand, but all these plastic P&S are. It's only when you get to the stooopid expensive ones that they feel good, but they still all make that same cheap P&S sound when you take a pic. Well, apart from the Rollei QZ 35 - that has a kinda brutal feeling shutter reaction, almost feels like it recoils!

Great pix. Good choice of cameras for a rough outing. You know you can always get another one in perfect condition for less than $20. But, you know, you'll probably never need to. I think you could drop that camera from an airplane and not hurt it much.

On a sad note, a good friend of mine died in a mountain bike accident last year. He was doing something he loved so that counts for something.

 

[markjwyatt]

I took my Zoom 90WR on a mountain bike ride in Tahoe. I figured if I crashed and it got smashed, well, the film inside it cost more than the camera.
Got some sweet pics from it.



And one from Los Angeles



These cameras are crappy in hand, but all these plastic P&S are. It's only when you get to the stooopid expensive ones that they feel good, but they still all make that same cheap P&S sound when you take a pic. Well, apart from the Rollei QZ 35 - that has a kinda brutal feeling shutter reaction, almost feels like it recoils!

My P&S is a Konica Big Mini. I got it for free, so it cost nothing, but has some value, and takes very decent pics. I prefer a more manual camera, but for grab & go quick trips, etc. it works out fine.

 

[Huss]

Great pix. Good choice of cameras for a rough outing. You know you can always get another one in perfect condition for less than $20. But, you know, you'll probably never need to. I think you could drop that camera from an airplane and not hurt it much.

On a sad note, a good friend of mine died in a mountain bike accident last year. He was doing something he loved so that counts for something.

Oh man, sorry to hear about your friend.