In a way this thread William started (and thank you for that) covers some of the same territory as the one I have on ergonomics and aesthetics. I will never forget
the first and only time I saw a Nikon F2 Titan. I am not a Nikonophile (or phobe),
but the design was spare, clean, functional, and beautiful in its simplicity. The one
Nikon SLR I'd love to own.
At the same time, in a post just above, I'm crazy about the concept of a revised
Stylus Epic. I've kept key issues of old Modern and Popular Photo, mainly those
covering photokina. One year Bronica showed prototypes of two functioning 35mm
interchangeable lens rangefinders. One had an "Albada" finder with projected frame
lines, the other a "real image" finder. This was either 1976 or 78. Never another
peep. Sort of like the compact Weber 76 which was designed to accept all the lenses
Zeiss had made for the Contarex, since discontinued. Unlike the sleek, svelte OM1,
the Weber was chunky and boxy, not unlike the Rollei SL 26. But, the company lacked the finances to see it through. Sorry, these are sounding like fish stories now.
As we approach PMA I have one goal. To find ONE camera which shows me that some designer at some company "gets it". Brand, format, size, none of that matters.
I'm just looking for signs of intelligent life in the photo universe. No way I'll bet on the outcome.
Fred