When your favorite camera is unreliable...

blockend said:

Cameras from the XD11 era were often experimental and pushed the boundaries of the available technology. It's unfortunate when the host body of your favourite lens dies, but most manufacturers offered a Pro version that will take your best glass, even if the size, weight and operation may not be what your favourite camera offered.

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Irony was, this was the top body (not sure when XK production ended)

i service my favorite cameras myself.
they are simple to service and repair at the moment.
anything more difficult i bring to a professional and have
them do their magic...

if things don't work right, its best to save the $$ and get them working
rather than exposing film and the camera not working ... repairs aren't too expensive
and moments you commit to film will never appear again, so its worth using something
that works, and works well to save those moments on film.

The advantage of the Tessina over the Minox is that the Tessina uses 35mm film loaded into its cassettes rather than needing special film.

I happen to really like 1980s semi automatic cameras and got spoiled by Nikon reliability- never got a dead one and never had one die

GarageBoy said:

I happen to really like 1980s semi automatic cameras and got spoiled by Nikon reliability- never got a dead one and never had one die

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That's a good point. But seriously, when your livelihood depends on a camera working or not working, it's best to try to preempt disasters. Or if you pay good money to go on a trip and decide to bring only one camera - how does one make sure it'll work as well as possible? My latest trip to Iceland I had to really decide what to bring, and I brought only one newly serviced Hasselblad and two lenses with two backs. It worked very well, but I was still a little nervous.

Every single camera in my collection that I use for productive work has failed at some point. Hasselblad, Leica, Pentax, Minox, Rolleiflex, Holga, and ZeroImage pinhole (!). The first five are tremendously reliable cameras, and even though they have all been serviced, they failed at one point or another.

I too enjoy using the "right" camera. And since it is not a job, the "user experience" is a big part of it.

I agree with the others. You should pay the extra money and get your camera services by a proper technician.

Wolfeye said:

My Mamiya RB67 drives me nuts. So many ways for pictures to go wrong, as well as pure operator error.

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I have only got consistent reliability from mine.

"Operator error" can't be blamed on a camera that comes with a nice user manual AND which has a lot of interlocks to prevent wasted (blank) frames.