disapointment/overated kit

[ColSebastianMoran]

A different twist on this question:

Overrated kit: My previous kit, previously highly rated, but feels very inferior when the next generation appears.

Examples:
- Nikon F, F2 once the compact FM & FE appeared.
- Nikon D70, once the D200 & D300 appeared
- Pana Lumix LX-1, once the LX-5 appeared
- Polaroid folders, once the SX-70 appeared

Some kits stand the test of time, others feel very obsolete when next generation appears.

 

[pyeh]

I'm with TerryMcC - I found the M240 completely unpleasant to use and would always default to my M9s. In the year or two that I had the M240 I might have used it 20 times, it was so porky and ungainly, the add-on EVF was hopeless except for tripod and macro use (certainly not good enough to replace an optical VF for normal usage) and the colour output was not a patch on the M9's. I sold the M240 earlier this year just at the beginning of its huge deflation.

 

[Ronald M]

Yashica Mat- Mamiya 330+220- RB67 only so so- Rollieflex TLR not too bad

Settled on Leica- Nikon F2- Zone 6 4x5 for film

Leica + Nikon Pro cameras for digital

 

[nbagno]

Olympus XA. Couldn't focus with that tiny viewfinder and dim patch. Never could get used to the focus lever.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[p.giannakis]

The AF on the F4S I found to be severely lacking and ended up with two F100 bodies with MB-15 drives..

That shows how different our experiences can be. I consider the AF on my F4s to be very good even when I compare it to my other AF SLRs like the F5 or the EOS1n.

 

[FujiLove]

Digital in general. I did my best, but it never convinced me.
Happy back to analog for a year now and not planning to look back.
Regards,
Frank

Yep, me too.

 

[Timmyjoe]

OK. I'll be crucified for this, but:

35mm Summicron ASPH. There. I said it.

I wanted to replace my ltm Ultron 35mm 1.7 because of its .9m close focus and tried three copies of the 'cron ASPH. All were both softer and had serious focus shift. I ended up buying the Zeiss 2.0 Biogon which was sharper than everything else, no distortion, and had zero focus shift.

I really wanted to and expected to love the 'cron, but it just wasn't great at all.

Got to agree about the 35mm Summicron ASPH. Wanted to love it, everyone said how AMAZING it was, but it just didn't work for me. Found it rendered way too "heavy", too dark, too much contrast, the blacks were really heavy. Not terrible on my M9, but with Tri-X and the old AgfaPan, I just did not like the way it rendered. Luckily I sold it when it was still pretty new and got most of my money back from it.

Best,
-Tim

 

[RichC]

The Leica M8 that I bought new, partly swayed by Leica’s promise of an upgradable sensor. Terrible camera - buggy, fragile and unreliable with lengthy turnaround for repairs, not to mention refusal by Leica to accept responsibility for a fault (early shutter death). I wasted my money and was treated shabbily. And Leica renenged on its upgrade promise.

I will never buy another new Leica product, and warn off friends and colleagues.

 

[Axel]

Whole Nikon stuff. Tried again every few years.
Everything works in the wrong direction, fewest of all in lens compatibility and no Nikon lens is something to write home about.
Pricy bodies while doing not more than others.
Every Canon, Pentax, Minolta, Fuji or even Cosina and Chinon does the job but Nikon stays a hassle. For me. Even the digital ones.

 

[shimokita]

The Pentax SPF...

The Pentax SPF...

I shot with this camera in the 70s and 80s and just loved it so a few years ago I decided to build up a kit starting with a black body Pentax SPF (with working meter) to which I added the SMCT 28 f/3.5, 35 f/3.5, 55 f/1.2, 105 f/2.8 & 135 f/3.5. Even went so far as to upgrade the finder screen with a split screen version (which I had in my original)... but time had moved on... I love the lenses, but could not bond with the body, in particular the finder...

Sometimes it's best to move on ; )

 

[Pete B]

Leica CL (film). It felt poor quality and wasn't pleasant to use... so I didn't.

Pete

 

[jsrockit]

Anything Sony...

Any Nikon DSLR except the Df

However, just because I was disappointed doesn't mean they are not great cameras.

 

[Huss]

Nikon DF. Just a fat, reskinned D600 with less of the features and a low rez D4 sensor. Dials which look like metal feel plastic and hollow. Had high hopes to be able to use it to focus manual AI/AIS lenses but Nikon did not improve the focus screen at all, so it had poor MF accuracy. My D750 had much better MF (and way better AF), and the D850 now has incredible manual focus abilities. There is absolutely no play in the RF confirmation dot. With the DF the light would come on to indicate correct focus, and stay on for a while even though you could be adjusting focus.

Really disappointed with the terrible reliability of my M-E, and the shoddy and untruthful service by Leica. Would never buy another new digi Leica because of that.

 

[p.giannakis]

The Olympus Trip. Shot a film with one, just an average camera, never got it why it has such a big fan club.

 

[Huss]

Lubitel 166+ Moscow Olympics edition. Focus screen does not help to focus. Rough mechanism. Became really unreliable after the 3rd roll through it (bought NOS), winding the film unevenly relying in a 12 exp roll giving only 6...
Shame cuz it actually made cool pics.

 

[xia_ke]

Any digital. Yes it's more convenient, but always found that any decent shot I got with it, I would end up just regretting I didn't get it on film. That's not a digital vs film thing, just personal preference.

As for specific cameras, the two low points for me were an Olympus OM-G and a Yashica 124G. They're both just poorly made and spending a hair bit more can get you a lot more camera.

 

[jsrockit]

Nikon DF. Just a fat, reskinned D600 with less of the features and a low rez D4 sensor.

You say that as if the D4 sensor is horrible...which is completely untrue. Sure, it had the D600 AF, but not everything else. It was fat...

Dials which look like metal feel plastic and hollow.

Come on...no different than the film cameras....

Had high hopes to be able to use it to focus manual AI/AIS lenses but Nikon did not improve the focus screen at all, so it had poor MF accuracy. My D750 had much better MF (and way better AF), and the D850 now has incredible manual focus abilities. There is absolutely no play in the RF confirmation dot. With the DF the light would come on to indicate correct focus, and stay on for a while even though you could be adjusting focus.

Completely fair....

 

[johnf04]

The Agfa Isomat Rapid - plastic, odd film, square format. I replaced it with a Zenit 3m, and never looked back.

 

[Larry Cloetta]

Lubitel 166+ Moscow Olympics edition.

The fact that someone had high enough hopes for a Lubitel that they could be disappointed with the actual experience.....somehow I find that charming.
Sorry that hopes were dashed, always a bummer.
Take some solace in that D850, which should soothe away all sorts of pain.

 

[Dogman]

I love this thread! It shows that everything is hated by somebody. Some of my personal favorite cameras and lenses are mentioned as disappointments.

So without further adieu (ado, add dew) my biggest disappointments ever in my nearly half century of photography were the Nikon F3 and FM. Coming from several years using the amazing and totally reliable F and F2 Nikons, I jumped immediately to the F3 and FM when first released. The F3 was the most unreliable camera I've ever owned. It just stopped working so often and went back to NPS so regularly (without any remedy), I stopped using it and sold it for next to nothing. I told the buyer of the problems because I really felt guilty selling him that POS. The Nikon FM: The motor drive for the FM was so unreliable I removed it and smashed it on the sidewalk following one of many assignments on which the miserable POS stopped working and jammed up the camera. Without a motor, the FM was more reliable but never felt like a "real" Nikon--light duty and cheap feeling. As for the smashing incident, I never felt better about doing something so totally wrong in my life. It was a mercy killing.

I've been sorta-kinda disappointed with Olympus Micro 4/3 gear. I've owned a fair to middling bit of it over the years and I've done some fine photos with the cameras. But I made better photos with the old Olympus Standard 4/3 gear that Micro 4/3 replaced. Why, I dunno. I guess I bonded with the old DSLRs more. Despite that, I still shoot sometimes with an OMD EM1 on occasions, mostly with adapted Oly 4/3 lenses. The results are always excellent but the shooting experience doesn't really please me. Can't really put my finger on it.

The only other disappointment I can recall were my attempts at using large format cameras. I owned two 4x5 Wista outfits over the years (the first was stolen and replaced by the second). Nothing wrong with the cameras or the Schneider, Rodenstock and Fuji lenses I used but I just never really felt comfortable using them. At the time I shot with them, I also carried a Leica M4-P and I always ended up with better photos with the Leica. Not technically better but just more interesting photos. I guess I'm a snapshooter at heart.