Regret purchasing?

[bmattock]

The only camera I absolutely regret purchasing was my Pentax Q10. It's small size is literally its only redeeming feature. I bought it with the vague notion that it would be like the Pentax Auto-110 I carried back in my military days; a rough-and-tumble, go-anywhere camera that I would always have with me.

I bought it with the factory lens and immediately got an adapter to allow me to mount C mount 8mm cine lenses, thinking how much fun that would be. I bought a few C mount lenses and waited patiently for the fun to begin. It didn't.

Image quality is terrible. The camera is fiddly and hard to use. Manual focus is a royal pain. Battery life is terrible. I quite literally have $15 thrift-store digital point-and-shoot cameras that have higher image quality.

All in all, this is one camera that I regret buying. There haven't been that many; I almost always find a way to have fun with a camera, from a Brownie to a broken dSLR. I enjoy a challenge and although I'm far from a competent camera repairist, I can usually manage to kludge something useful together out of broken old camera parts.

Not so with the Pentax Q10.

What about your regrets?

 

[kshapero]

First off, I had the Original Q with the 43 MM FOV lens. It was a blast. So different strokes for different folks. I picked up a Nicca RF and the ergonomics were terrible. I love old film cameras but not if they are a physical torture to hold.

 

[benlees]

The Fuji X100. Thought "this is it; the perfect digital camera!" I just couldn't get on with it. The only camera I have bought brand new, as well. Went back to film with my tail between my legs. Sold it at quite a loss, but wasn't using it and getting something for it is better than waiting for the inevitable and steep digital devaluation.



Did get an Xpro1 this year which I quite like...

 

[Phil_F_NM]

I have had a little bit of buyer's remorse or hesitation about a purchase regarding many cameras but eventually learned that I loved most of them.
Except one.
The Leica M9.
I won't go on here about my experience with this camera and the company, as I've already taken up a lot of space in other threads here at RFF regarding this matter. Above all others though, the time with the M9 is time I wish I could get back, no question about it.

Phil Forrest

 

[bmattock]

First off, I had the Original Q with the 43 MM FOV lens. It was a blast. So different strokes for different folks. I picked up a Nicca RF and the ergonomics were terrible. I love old film cameras but not if they are a physical torture to hold.

Absolutely, every camera finds a different appreciative audience. I definitely do not think the Pentax Q10 was my cup of tea, but I have no problems believing it is just the thing for others.

I agree that some cameras are quite difficult to love, sometimes due to ergonomics. I have managed to learn to hold a Contax/Kiev, but that 'claw' method of holding it just isn't for me. I find the camera interesting and the lenses stunning, but I just don't pick it up often. I've known a few others like that as well. Sometimes to my disappointment because I liked them well in other ways, but they're not pleasant for me to hold or use.

 

[Larry Cloetta]

The only camera I have ever regretted buying was a Leica M2, but that was only because the seller (here) lied to me about it’s condition, and then would not take it back. So, after two years of shop time I now have a $1,400 beater looking M2 in great functional condition. But, that’s a special case so doesn’t really count since an M2 isn’t inherently regrettable, and even that one is enjoyable now.
Other than that nothing. I often am haunted by seller’s remorse, never buyer’s remorse. It’s only money.

 

[Out to Lunch]

Leica M-E. The sensor corroded. Never again.

 

[Timmyjoe]

Picked up a black Nikon F2 with plain prism finder and thought I would love it. It had shutter problems and went for repairs multiple times. Took over a year to finally get sorted out, and by that time, I loathed picking it up and using it. So I gave it away. No regrets.

Best,
-Tim

 

[tbhv55]

The Fuji X100. Thought "this is it; the perfect digital camera!" I just couldn't get on with it. The only camera I have bought brand new, as well. Went back to film with my tail between my legs. Sold it at quite a loss, but wasn't using it and getting something for it is better than waiting for the inevitable and steep digital devaluation.

I had a similar experience with the x100... but only at first. There certainly were some teething problems with the x100 in the first couple of years. Most were fixed over time in firmware updates, while the SAB (sticking aperture blade) problem was fixed by a return visit to Fuji. Eventually the camera was working better, but by that time, I'd lost a little faith in it, and it languished in a cupboard for quite a while. Eventually, on a whim, I started using it again, and suddenly... it was FUN!

What's more, that hasn't changed - despite having owned it since it came out in 2011. 🙂

 

[xayraa33]

Exakta VX1000,

Horrible ergonomics.

Lens focus jammed, frame counter failed before first test roll of film could go through.

Made a Praktica LTL camera look like the Rolls Royce of cameras.

 

[santino]

5D Mark II. It works flawlessly but I don't likr its ergonomics and the pictures it produces. On the other hand no digital camera was able to satisfy me.

 

[jsrockit]

What about your regrets?

My latest regret... the Fujifilm XF10. It is not up to par with my other Fujifilm cameras such as the X-E3, X100F, and X-Pro2. Not even close. It isn`t the IQ...it is the AF. It feels like a Fuji from 5-7 years ago. I think I would have been better off getting a new iPhone. Haha. :bang:

 

[johannielscom]

The Leica M8. And I also regret trading in an excellent Nikon D300 kit and a Leica M3 to get said M8.
Sold it after 6 months and never even touched a digital RF since.

About a year and a half ago I tried an X-T1. Again, traded Nikon kit in for it. The X-T1 was returned to the shop within 3 weeks.

My solution now: stay away from Nikon gear! 😀 😀 😀 😛

 

[ptpdprinter]

I regret having spent the money to have my father's Exakta VXII repaired in 1973 rather than putting the money toward a modern camera. Penny wise and pound foolish. The repairs didn't last and six months later I ended up with a Pentax SP500. Obviously I didn't learn my lesson a few years later when I shifted to Olympus. I bought an OM10 with manual adapter. I ended up trading it for an Olympus OM1 shortly thereafter. I still have the OM1. That was a purchase I don't regret.

 

[NickTrop]

I'd have to say the Olympus XZ-2. I had the XZ-1, which I think is a nice little "take anywhere" camera with a crackin' little zoom lens. I heard the XZ-2 was better and had an articulated screen. I prefered the output of the little XZ-1' s CCD sensor (XZ2 switched to CMOS) and never really used the XZ-2's flip screen, just added bulk.

It's not a bad camera -- a tad (maybe 1/2-stop) better in low light over its predecesor, just think the original was better.

 

[Pioneer]

I have had one or two regrets but that certainly isn't many considering how many cameras I have owned (and still own.)


I think the Contarex and the Nikon F rank up there as regrets. Not because they aren't good cameras, they really are very good cameras. I picked each one up because of their great reputation and the wonderful lenses each can use. But once I started using them I began to realize just what neck-breaking monsters they are to pack around. I just find it amazing that people would pay that much for something that huge that did not take any better pictures than my little Leica III. They are larger and heavier then a number of my medium format cameras, which provide much better image quality.


Ahh well, to each his own I guess. Obviously there is something there because people are still paying huge prices for monstrously large digital cameras that have certainly not shrunk at all.

 

[RichC]

Another for Leica M8 regret.

Trash. And Leica conned me - I was persuaded by the lifetime upgrade that they later dropped. And months needed to repair it when it broke.

I've never owned such an unreliable camera, nor dealt with a more incompetent, arrogant company. Will never buy another new Leica product, and I warn off friends and colleagues.

 

[Godfrey]

I never regret anything. If I buy a camera and it doesn't work for me, I either return it within a couple of days or sell it off quickly. I consider it a learning experience..

Hasn't happened in a while.

 

[Dogman]

The only regrettable purchase I can recall right now was a Nikon F3 with the then-new MD motor drive. Bought it right after it was introduced without hesitation since I had lots of experience using F and F2 models. If anyone could build a reliable, dependable, rugged camera with electronics controlling the shutter, it had to be Nikon.

It was a POS. It was poorly weather sealed and stopped working every time I tried shooting outdoors in a light mist or a snow. Sent it to Nikon Professional Services a few times but they saw nothing wrong with it. They had a solution, however. They offered to sell me an updated model with better weather sealing at full retail price. I declined and went back to using F2's.

 

[JeffS7444]

A number of years ago, I let myself be talked into buying a Leica Noctilux 50/1 lens on speculation when I really wanted something something much more modest for my own use. I did eventually make a decent profit reselling the lens a few years later, but it felt more like a relief than a win.