most "intelligent-looking" cameras?

[chip j]

I mean those that look like they take a lot of intellingence to operate successfully. My vote goes to high-end 35mm RFs & 2 1/4 TLRs.

 

[removed account4]

hi chip
older box cameras with uncoated lenses and single shutter speeds took a HUGE amount of intelligence to operate
because there were NO CONTROLS and it was all upto the operator to figure out the kind of light that would
yield a good photograph, and even more so before the advent of panchromatic film. having been mostly a paper
and hand coated shooter over the past few years i have a massive amount of respect for people who exposed before WW1
they really had to know their stuff, even though some may say " but they developed by inspection so it was easy "
if you stop something when there is a 3-4 differnce between high and low, you are screwed ...
so even though it may seem " simple" because of lack of controls, it is not as it seems.

 

[Bill Burk]

My vote goes to the Contaflex 35mm TLR.

http://www.zeisscamera.com/services_overhaul-contaflex.shtml

 

[Theo Sulphate]

... older box cameras with uncoated lenses and single shutter speeds took a HUGE amount of intelligence to operate because there were NO CONTROLS and it was all up to the operator to figure out the kind of light that would yield a good photograph, and even more so before the advent of panchromatic film.
...
so even though it may seem " simple" because of lack of controls, it is not as it seems.

That's right.

Nothing has made me think more than when I've approached a subject in difficult light with just one photo left in a simple Polaroid camera.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Smena 8m. I don't care how it looks. But it requires intelingence to operate. You even need to know how to hold it special way to be able to release shutter and not block it while it releases. It was done with intelingence to make this camera as most available for young photographers. Every possible step to operate it is manual and separated. It teaches you everything about exposure and about taking it.

 

[Slixtiesix]

All view cameras

 

[blockend]

Any that operate outside the visible light spectrum.

 

[hashtagquack]

If the question is only what camera looks like it needs intelligence then it'd be hard to see past the Argus C3

 

[darkosaric]

All view cameras

Yes, before I was deep in photography - when I saw somebody has a black cloth over his head and looking in ground glass - the first thing that came to my mind is: "this guy knows what he's doing" .

 

[removed account4]

That's right.

Nothing has made me think more than when I've approached a subject in difficult light with just one photo left in a simple Polaroid camera.

uh huh, " simple " is very deceiving

 

[David Allen]

I think the Periflex would fit the bill.

I had one when I was young and there were certainly lots of knobs and things you could change to make it look like you needed a Phd to operate plus remembering to lower the periscope to focus and raise it to take the picture. Nevertheless I took some pretty good images with it.

http://www.corfield.org/camera/page3.htm

Bests,

David.
www.dsallen.de

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Some years ago I was in a camera store. Remember them? There was an elderly gentleman talking to the clerk. It was obvious that his family had given him one of the latest SLR's. He had the instruction manual with him and it was the size of a paperback novel. It was obvious that he was having difficulties. He and the clerk spent quite some time in discussion. When the man left I had the distinct impression that the camera would be set on a closet shelf somewhere never to be used. The Japanese are great lovers of gadgets and technology and they design their cameras with only the Japanese in mind. Unfortunately the rest of the world does not share their enthusiasm. I have a Nikon N series camera which is automatic everything. Of course this means changing the particular mode setting fairly constantly. While I use it occasionally I find the camera a real PITA to use.

 

[jeffreyg]

My mechanical film cameras are easy: compose, meter, set the desired lens aperture and shutter speed and shoot. On the other hand I was recently gifted a pocket sized (dare I say ) digital camera which has a 395 page pdf of instructions.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

 

[BAC1967]

I love complicated looking cameras, the more knobs, levers, wheels and buttons the better.
Kodak 35 RF by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

KMZ FT-2 by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

Don't get me started on movie cameras:

Bolex Paillard H8 Rex 4 by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

Nizo Heliomatic 8mm by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

 

[DREW WILEY]

View cameras are easy. The hardest cameras to operate are anything new and electronic. You used to need an owner's manual as thick as a phone
book just to figure how to turn off enough options to allow you to take a basic picture. Now that don't even give you a manual, but expect you to read
all on line, provided you have a Geek to English dictionary. I hate any camera with a viewfinder that looks like an airplane cockpit. Now most of them
don't even have viewfinders, let alone a decent hook to hang your darkcloth from!

 

[MattKing]

Obviously a Koni-Omega:

Are you going to be the one who tells it that it isn't intelligent?

 

[michr]

The Mercury always looked like it was more camera than most with the huge depth of field scale and the knobs. The Argus C3 is a distant second.

 

[michr]

Also any monorail camera, especially when its shown in an advertisement, twisted like a pretzel.

 

[Ian Grant]

I agree with Bill Burk a TLR, I'd love one of those 35mm TLR Contaflex cameras

When out shooting it's a TLR that seems to elicit the most response from people around, my Yashicamat has lead to many conversations whether on Greek islands cities like Athens, Venice and Istanbul.

Ian

 

[R.Gould]

I agree with Bill Burk a TLR, I'd love one of those 35mm TLR Contaflex cameras

When out shooting it's a TLR that seems to elicit the most response from people around, my Yashicamat has lead to many conversations whether on Greek islands cities like Athens, Venice and Istanbul.

Ian

Yes TLR's and Folders, when I am out with either of my Rolleis or any of my folders, I always end up in conservation with someone, starts about the camera and can wonder off, It is especialy good when I get my Weston out, fo;lk seem to thjink you are very clever using a camera with no bells and whistles
Richard

 

[Theo Sulphate]

I don't see why an Argus C-3 would appear complex: all its controls are readily accessible and intuitive. A Barnack Leica is more complex (the first time I handled one, I didn't realize the shutter speed can be set only after winding).

But, if appearance of complexity is what we're discussing, such as handing a camera to a 25-year old non-photographer and saying "make a photo", then even something like a Speed Graphic would be baffling. If it were folded up, even opening it would be a mystery.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Studio cameras
View cameras
Press cameras
Most mechnical cameras, not box cameras

 

[Saganich]

I vote for a Leitz IIIf.

 

[Down Under]

+1 for Ian. My Rolleiflex TLRs always get me the most attention - often unwelcome, but that's life - and are also classic chick magnets, altho at my age, baby dolls are about as useful as the proverbial breastworks on bulls.

Ditto the Hasselblad 500CM, with its distinctly odd look. People always goggle when I produce mine with a chimney viewfinder, bellows lens shade and custom 'blad grip. I feel like a tourist from Mars, but this camera, for all its infuriating quirks, always produce the results. The Rolleis are easier to work with, but demand as much intelligent thought to get the images I want.

For maximum effect, one or two Weston Master exposure meters worn around one's neck, along with the aforementioned cameras, never fail to make me a public spectacle.

In the field of 35mm, a 1950s Exakta I owned in the 1970s, before I gave up on it and went to Nikkormats, was probably the closest photo-thing to a computer I have ever owned.

To keep all this on topic, all the above require a reasonable degree of intelligence to be used properly. Intelligence from the user, that is. Except the Nikkormat, which is pure and simple. And great. In this case, the camera obviously must have the intelligence, if a metal object can be said to be "intelligent".

In my half century plus of owning and using cameras, there have been many such oddities in my life. Suffices to say two cameras I would never, ever use or own again would have to be the Mercury half frame 35mm monstrosiy and the Kowa 120 reflex.

 

[chip j]

Thanks, David, for the Periflex link--very interesting.