disapointment/overated kit

lxmike

lxmike

M2 fan.
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Jun 28, 2008
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In your photographic journey, what lens/camera/kit has disapointed you the mots, not lived up to its billing. Two stand out to me, camera wise, I have owned at different times, two Olympus SP and have been very disapointed with them and prefered and still do the 35RC.

Lens wise, well over the last 30 years the lens that stands out as the biggest disapointment would be a lens thats often described as 'rare' on a certain auction site. That lens is the Pentax SMC M 40mm F2.8 pancake, very soft at 2.8 and very fiddley to use. How about you, what has let you down or disapointed you
 
Mamiya 645, and Mamiya c330, Mamiya RB67. Could never get into medium format. It just seemed a clunky compromise between my prefered 35mm Nikon/Leica and 4x5 Sinar.

Just my opinion, not trolling, I know others will disagree, and more power to ya if you enjoy it. ;)
 
Thats reminds me, this post/thread is not meant to start a flame war or insite trolls, no rather I find it interesting to hear what people use , have used and find either good or more interestingly, disapointing
 
Kiev ll ... I've still got the camera and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it, it does everything it was designed to do. Shutter speed adjustment is a pain IMO and the viewfinder is a joke and if you grip the camera incorrectly you cover the rangefinder window with your middle finger ... the list of things that annoys me about this camera is significant and I probably should sell it.

The other camera that disappointed me after reading about how great they were is the Yashica Electro. Too big for what it is and the ergonomics are awful IMO.
 
All of my expensive pro and prosumer Canon DSLRs. Worth-less and less and less and less. I have hope for the digital future. I'm hoping to get one that I'm happy with and don't feel the need to update/change bodies/systems.
 
contax IIa

contax IIa

Have a non functioning Contax IIa, but despise the ergonomics. Really don't like the knob film wind, which colours my disinterest in screw mount leicas. The focusing wheel is just silly!! Loading film by removing the back is annoying, but tolerate the same on my Nikon F.

I have much higher praise for the 21 biogon that came with the camera :D
 
few Canon A1/AE1 bodies I bought, thinking of having Nikon FM/FE system cheaper (knew nothing about cameras back then).
 
Summilux 35mm pre-asph. I love the way it renders images, its compact size and sharpness when stopped down even at 2.0. What made me sell it though is that is flares a LOT under the conditions I usually shoot. I can stand a little flare now and then, but in this case it totally ruined quite a few pictures. (and I still haven't developed a few rolls taken with it, I expect yet more disappointment :bang:)
 
Olympus OM-1 - could never stand the ergos even the 2nd or 3rd time I tried it. The speeds on the lens just made my head hurt.
Canon Canonet G-III 17 - another ergonomics issue, just too small in an awkward kind of way.
 
Almost every Russian camera and lens that I've tried.
FED-1: this one was actually nicely adjusted, but it had a non-standard lens register that allowed only its 50mm f/3.5 lens to work with it. I know this can be a problem with the early cameras, but it was a big disappointment, especially when I have a nice collapsible Summicron I wanted to put on it.

FED-2: the top shutter speed tapered. It took me a month to adjust it properly, with many rolls of film. When I finally sold it to FEDKA, he wondered why I was trading in such a nicely adjusted camera. I did tell him the source of my frustration.

35mm Jupiter 12 - significant pincushion distortion was a let down.

Industar-50 - the infinity lock scratches up the lens mount surround on a FED-2

Russian 135mm f/4 - this one was actually quite sharp, but the machining tolerances were such that infinity could not line up. Before you laugh, I have a LTM 135mm Elmar f/4 that's with DAG now, as the minimum focus is incorrect.

Jupiter 9 85mm f/2. I don't want to be all negative. This all aluminum lens, once shimmed by Jerry Sorkin (via Fedka) is smoking! It focuses properly wide open and close up. The only problem for me is that the shiny barrel reflects the sun right into the RF of my Leica IIIG when I'm using it outside. Also, f/32 seems to be off, but up to f/22 the aperture is accurate. This is the only one of the Russian experiment phase that I've kept.
 
For the Russian 135mm f/4 (can't remember the Jupiter number), the RF did not line up at infinity. I wanted to clarify what I meant by "not line up".
 
Nikon FM2n. A great camera, no doubt about it but it just doesn't feel like it's been forged from a steel bar like the F's and F2's.

Leica MP. Overhyped, overpriced. I much preferred the M6.

Slow zooms.
 
The higher end canon dslrs (and nikons for that matter too) I simply cannot use anymore. I went from film slr's to digital and still have my t90 (which is rarely ever used), and I cannot take pictures I'm happy with with the digital, the same is true with point and shoots. I've seen people get amazing shots with both, and I used to be able to get good shots with my dslr, but now they just feel weird in my hand. It's more of a personal thing, as the canon optics are spectacular, but my main issue with them even before I got rangefinders was the size and I always felt awkward lugging around the thing with my 'small' 17-50/2.8 zoom.

I have been toying with the idea of getting a 7d though, but I keep shooting it down simply because I already have a crop sensor digital that I never use (despite it's ability to take perfectly fine images) and if I'm going to shoot video I crack out the Red
 
another vote for contax IIA It has sentimental value because it was my grandfathers, and I love the f/1.5 sonnar just wish it was attached to an m3.

also my speed graphic-- (never drink and ebay at the same time) I never seem to be able to motivate myself to lug it out in the field, and knowing that each trip of the shutter is $6 or so doesn't inspire creativity. However freestyle has some bw sheetfilm for about 50 cents a sheet which is a little less intimidating.
 
My alternative to expensive sheet film in my Speed Graphic:

Cut some Freestyle Arista-brand grade 2 RC paper into negative-sized sheets, load into film holders, preflash under enlarger for 1-2 seconds at smallest aperture, then shoot in-camera with the paper rated at ISO12. Develop in liquid paper developer diluted 1:15 at 68f. Process, rinse, dry, scan and invert tones in PP. Or contact print to fiber paper. Have fun.

~Joe
 
Sold a Summilux 50/1.4 because I could not get over the flimsy build quality of the lens.

At the time, my other lenses were Konica's, and they made the 'Lux feel like cheap Japanese :eek:
 
Everything marked "digital" ... I still regret having wasted time and effort in taking digital images instead of photos here in Japan. :bang:
 
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