Most disappointing cameras?

BrianL · Sep 17, 2011

I know it is off topic but as there is discussion about Rovers I'll add my $0.02. Some years ago in the early '90s, I stopped by a car dealer who had a mint + Grand Wagoneer on the lot, a vehicle I alway sort of wanted to have. Parked next to is was a Range Rover decked out to the nines and made the Grand Wagoneer look like a botl utility vehicle, which it was not. I decided to give it a try but, thre was a problem. I and the Jeep were buried in the front with rows of vaehicles behind it that had to be moved to get the vehicles out. In front was a steep grade and a ditch. No problem, the salesman put the Rover in 4-wheel drive and down the slope and throught the ditch to the road. No mess, no fuss and no hesitation. Rather impressive as my first thought was it was going to get stuck. We had a good drive and I was more than a lot impressed with the quality and drive, I really wanted to get it. As we re-entered the ditch to get back to where the Rover had been parked it got stuck. Not blinking an eye the salesman decided I should try out the Jeep as it was what I had come in to look at. Well, it went over the slope, through the ditch and then we stopped and using the winch on the front of the Jeep, pulled the Rover out of the ditch. The ride in the Jeep was what I expected, very good and I liked it a lot but, it was still a cheaper version of the Rover. Well, we ended the ride by going through the ditch and yep, you guessed, it. It got stuck. A few cars down the line was a Subaru with its standard 4-wheel drive and I haphazardly remarked that it was probably better than either as it probably would not get stuck. The salesman was either totally starving for a sale, looking to get fired or was totally off his rocker and fire up the Subaru. Over the slope, through the ditch and the same trip as the other 2. I had owned a '72 Subaru and really like the tin can on wheels. On the return, guess what; that silly little Subaru went through the ditch and up the slops as if it were Route 75, not even a slip. Past the Jeep and back into its parking space. It killed my thoughts about the Rover and Jeep, not that I offroad but is a Subaru could go where a Grand Wagoneer and a Range Rover could not, then who needs them.

fstop · Sep 17, 2011

Suburas offroad pretty well, but Legacy's don't have the ground clearance that the Rover or the Cherokee offer.
Kind of like my F2AS has mirror lock up and 2000 top shutter speed but no aperture priority the Minolta XK or F3offers.

*ftr I 've driven all 3 and overall would take the Jeep over all if if offroad work was part of the picture otherwise the Legacy would win hands down except for Subarus warped head and timing belt issues,that and the crappy mpg are against the Subaru.Can buy a lot of gasoline for the cost of head replacement at 90k miles, the Jeep will just leak oil and keep running.

Aristophanes · Sep 17, 2011

Subaru had thinner tires.

None of those vehicles is a disappointing camera.

Love the Net.

Roger Cole · Sep 18, 2011

fstop said:
ok enough with the fooling around and funny stuff, I was disappointed by the Mamiya 645.Suppose to be medium format...

Why?

The availability of the 80 f/1.9 sorely tempts me to get one, at least eventually.

Jeff Kubach · Sep 18, 2011

Mustafa Umut Sarac said:
Most terrible cameras I have ever used were Nikon , Canon and Olympus.
I am an Leica user and nobody could not write that how much they are good. I bought my Leicas and lenses with comparing their shots and others starting from 70 years old magazines to newest ones.
Leica cameras are a school and teach you your next move.
Nikon , Canon and Olympus cameras had the worst lenses I have ever seen and happily they dont print that stuff at a magazine. They were mechanically working but I prefer a zenit and kiev to them. Lenses were horrible.

You are a dummy! Get over it!

Jeff

flatulent1 · Sep 18, 2011

My first camera, the Maxxum 7000 had a pair of up/down buttons to toggle through the shutter speeds, shooting modes, etc. Purchased new, hated it after the first week, sold it after six months of misery.

Olympus IS-1 had a very slow power zoom. Very slow. I mean SLOW. Purchased new, lived with it for less than three months, sold it back to the shop for an EOS Elan.

EOS 1, original model. Gorgeous as hell, but I never got on with it. I couldn't say why, either. I have a 1N and 1V that I love.

Contax 167MT has a slider to toggle up/down the shutter speeds. Took four AAA batteries, fer crying out loud. The add-on battery chamber that takes AA batteries didn't fit squarely. Shot two rolls with it, sold it back to the shop when I got an RX. I really hated that slider.

Minolta Freedom Zoom 140EX. Rather annoying user interface. Set it for a macro shot, take the shot, camera resets itself. Deeply disappointing image quality, but that could be my sample only.

I know I'm going to get flamed for this one... Canon EF and Minolta XE-7. I've tried to like them, but loading film in them both is more difficult than it needed to be. Also the XE-7's power switch is right under my right thumb as I'm taking a shot; I'm frequently turning it off when I need it to be on. The EF eats batteries so badly they had to put a sticker by the power switch to remind you to turn it off. Duh.

Sorry if this is on topic...

fstop · Sep 18, 2011

Roger Cole said:
Why?

The availability of the 80 f/1.9 sorely tempts me to get one, at least eventually.

The negative size

Roger Cole · Sep 18, 2011

Ah ok. Since my preference is for 4x5 anything on 120 seems small but often enough I CEO a rectangle out of my 6x6 square negatives anyway.

fmajor · Sep 21, 2011

Roger Cole said:
Ah ok. Since my preference is for 4x5 anything on 120 seems small but often enough I CEO a rectangle out of my 6x6 square negatives anyway.

In this context, what does CEO mean? Aside from "Chief Executive Officer", i've never seen this abbreviation....

landscapepics · Sep 21, 2011

Canon T90 - a fantastic camera when working, wonderful handling and image quality, but the EEE shutter problem is a killer. I had two T90s which both developed the fault. The first was "repaired" but the problem reoccured after a few months. Replaced it with the second copy which suffered the same problem.

Marc Akemann · Sep 21, 2011

fmajor said:
In this context, what does CEO mean? Aside from "Chief Executive Officer", i've never seen this abbreviation....

CEO = Cleaved Edge Overgrowth? http://www.acronymfinder.com/CEO.html

-Marc

lxdude · Sep 21, 2011

CEO=Cut Edge Off?

tomalophicon · Sep 21, 2011

BrianL said:
I know it is off topic but as there is discussion about Rovers I'll add my $0.02. Some years ago in the early '90s, I stopped by a car dealer who had a mint + Grand Wagoneer on the lot, a vehicle I alway sort of wanted to have. Parked next to is was a Range Rover decked out to the nines and made the Grand Wagoneer look like a botl utility vehicle, which it was not. I decided to give it a try but, thre was a problem. I and the Jeep were buried in the front with rows of vaehicles behind it that had to be moved to get the vehicles out. In front was a steep grade and a ditch. No problem, the salesman put the Rover in 4-wheel drive and down the slope and throught the ditch to the road. No mess, no fuss and no hesitation. Rather impressive as my first thought was it was going to get stuck. We had a good drive and I was more than a lot impressed with the quality and drive, I really wanted to get it. As we re-entered the ditch to get back to where the Rover had been parked it got stuck. Not blinking an eye the salesman decided I should try out the Jeep as it was what I had come in to look at. Well, it went over the slope, through the ditch and then we stopped and using the winch on the front of the Jeep, pulled the Rover out of the ditch. The ride in the Jeep was what I expected, very good and I liked it a lot but, it was still a cheaper version of the Rover. Well, we ended the ride by going through the ditch and yep, you guessed, it. It got stuck. A few cars down the line was a Subaru with its standard 4-wheel drive and I haphazardly remarked that it was probably better than either as it probably would not get stuck. The salesman was either totally starving for a sale, looking to get fired or was totally off his rocker and fire up the Subaru. Over the slope, through the ditch and the same trip as the other 2. I had owned a '72 Subaru and really like the tin can on wheels. On the return, guess what; that silly little Subaru went through the ditch and up the slops as if it were Route 75, not even a slip. Past the Jeep and back into its parking space. It killed my thoughts about the Rover and Jeep, not that I offroad but is a Subaru could go where a Grand Wagoneer and a Range Rover could not, then who needs them.

Do some real off-roading and you'll see who needs them, and you'll realise Subarus are just a toy.

Roger Cole · Sep 22, 2011

fmajor said:
In this context, what does CEO mean? Aside from "Chief Executive Officer", i've never seen this abbreviation....

I posted that from Tapatalk on my iPhone. It's an iPhone autocorrect for "crop." Apparently I misspelled "crop" and what it thought I was trying to type was CEO.

tomalophicon · Sep 22, 2011

Cut Edge Off works just as well.

lacavol · Sep 22, 2011

Zenit...Picked one up put it to my eye, put it back down. I'll never touch another one.

As for Subaru, take one to the Mojave Road and you better have some good LPC's.

MattKing · Sep 22, 2011

I find it entertaining that this thread ("most disappointing camera") and the thread about "the camera you can't break" keep coming up together in my "New Posts" search .

fmajor · Sep 22, 2011

tomalophicon said:
Do some real off-roading and you'll see who needs them, and you'll realise Subarus are just a toy.

Ha! I do "real" off-roading and i can tell you while they're OK for that (my Mitsubishi Montero Sport does every bit as good and has more power), but too many things break as a result...

Katie · Sep 22, 2011

fmajor said:
Ha! I do "real" off-roading and i can tell you while they're OK for that (my Mitsubishi Montero Sport does every bit as good and has more power), but too many things break as a result...

My 65+ year old Mother, Sunday School teacher for over 35+ years drives a Subaru and hauls my two young children around all over the State SAFELY. I doubt she has ever left a road, but the fact that she trusts it to carry my kids around makes me think they aren't total junk. Now, for off roading, all I can add is that our old and gone 1998 Chevy Silverado 4x4 pulled out just about every off roading vehicle I can think of from the mud/sand/gunk. We have always had a 4x4 and pulled/towed something and it has been my husbands best vehicle to date (and he is in an F350 King Ranch gigantamobile now).

As for cameras: my worst to date was a digi### POS in the Canon line...

elcabezagrande · Sep 22, 2011

Yashica T4. It's not that it is a bad camera, it is actually quite good. But there are many other cameras that are at least as good for a fraction of the cost.

BrianL · Sep 22, 2011

If I wanted an off roader, I'd by a military surplus tank. While I respect others' hobbies, I personally don't believe in destroying habitat and when I want to be in the woods it is hiking with a light camera kit and a walking stick.

Sirius Glass · Sep 22, 2011

BrianL said:
If I wanted an off roader, I'd by a military surplus tank. While I respect others' hobbies, I personally don't believe in destroying habitat and when I want to be in the woods it is hiking with a light camera kit and a walking stick.

Real offroading does not destroy the habitat. Real offroading only uses legal roads and trails. Real offroading follows Tread Lightly.

If you ever talked to REAL people instead of only people in the Sierra Club, you would know this and not posted a knee jerk reaction.

darinwc · Sep 23, 2011

elcabezagrande said:
Yashica T4. It's not that it is a bad camera, it is actually quite good. But there are many other cameras that are at least as good for a fraction of the cost.

While I agree it is overpriced, I would hardly say it is disappointing. I've had excellent results with mine. I've also had my share of bad shots.

But considering you can get a nikon N75 with 28-80mm or even an olympus OM1 with 50mm f1.8 at a fraction of the price of a T4, the price seems out of whack. But who am I to argue? Small is in.

Also I may not be disappointed with a T4 since I've never paid more than $10 for one.

paul139 · Sep 24, 2011

Contax G2. Had it a week took it back to the shop, thankfully they took it back refunded my money for which I am eternally grateful. It was so uninvolving i felt so removed from the picture taking process, shame because I had lusted for one for years.

Sirius Glass · Sep 24, 2011

1919 RB Graflex - cosmetically beautiful but the body frame was flexible therefore the camera could not fire the focal plane shutter reliabily. The seller refunded the money.

Most disappointing cameras?

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