Stilish cameras

[giellaleafapmu]

Recently I have been asked by a friend to give her recommendations about a few cameras to help her purchase one. Now, what it happened is that we were looking in theory at the same object but we were actually watching completely different things. Like probably most of us, I look at a camera as a tool, so I talk dynamical range, iso and noise, fps' and so on. She was very attracted by the design of cameras. Ok, so I told her my ideas and she asked about a few precise models and she will have the final word but I was left with a question to myself: what are the most stylish cameras of the past and of today from a design point of view (ignoring whether they take nice pictures or not)?

She asked to me about two models I did not know, namely the Pentax K-01 and the Ricoh PX, and I must admit that they both look interesting from a design point of view but what else is/was there? I can think of the old Speed Graphic and Barnack Leicas as being nice from a design point of view as well as being great to use. I can think of the Minolta TS and the Canon Elph (which are both very similar to the Ricoh by the way), I can think of the Leica S1 and the Leica R8 and R9, I can think of the Jeager LeCoultre Compass and the Ducati cameras which appeared in a post a few days ago. Even the Argus C-33 to me looks interesting as does the Fuji Natura. Some designs are just odds, for example that of the Casio TRIX but I think this is also interesting in its own way.

What else is out there?

GLF

 

[Spicy]

Leica R9

 

[astro8]

It seems to me that people use the word 'beautiful' to describe the Pen-FT more than any other camera.

 

[Jockos]

If it's about the color (regarding the K-01), Aki Asahi has some custom coverings for various cameras, such as the Nex and the RX100.

 

[giellaleafapmu]

If it's about the color (regarding the K-01), Aki Asahi has some custom coverings for various cameras, such as the Nex and the RX100.

I agree that colour plays its part but also the fact that command knobs flow with the lines of the camera contribute to the beauty (well, in the pictures at least, I have never seen one in person).

GLF

 

[giellaleafapmu]

How about the 'Petri Racer'?

I dig the funky shutter button!!!

I didn't know this. Nice detail but to me the design look like the same as most other rangefinders from the 70's. Did I miss something?

GLF

 

[Vics]

Voigtlander Vitessa with the pump film winder and the doors on the front. VERY stylish.

 

[giellaleafapmu]

Usability wise it's pretty much a standard rangefinder, the differences are the front mounted shutter, the film advice winder is set into the body to keep a cleaner line (something petri did on both the color 35 and the 7)

For power saving on the battery the meter is only activated when the shutter is cocked. It also has very little travel when focusing so it's quick to hit the spot.

For a camera which is 40 years old I feel it looks surprisingly modern, a couple of months back when shooting with mine out on the street a girl approached me and accused me of taking a picture of her (i hadn't) she looked at the camera and asked me to delete the image - It must of looked modern to her also!

Actually, I didn't know much at all about this company, I didn't even know it used to be called Kuribayashi Seisakusho (what the name Petri has to do at all with this?) and what you tell me sounds interesting. Also, while I was searching about the Racer and the company I found a picture of the "Fotochrome":

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bstrong/155207612/in/pool-camerapedia/

I think this can also be added to the list. (By the way, besides the sensor around the lens I have no idea about the form-function relation in it.)

GLF

 

[giellaleafapmu]

Voigtlander Vitessa with the pump film winder and the doors on the front. VERY stylish.

Wow, that looks like a periscope... Another one I didn't know... I hope I would not get too interested in this thread because i can see GAS coming... 🙄

GLF

 

[nico]

Voigtlander Vitessa with the pump film winder and the doors on the front. VERY stylish.

... for my taste it's absolutely the most beatiful camera ever designed ...

 

[farlymac]

The later, large window Retinas (such as the II C/III C and III S).


Kodak Retina IIIC with Flash by br1078phot, on Flickr

PF

 

[Spanik]

I like the Zorki 10.

 

[giellaleafapmu]

With cameras like the 'Fotochrome' we're starting to stray into the Zorki 10 and 11 land - http://www.flickr.com/photos/s-demir/6875755397/

Crazy cameras!

Other ones I didn't know. They are beautiful, I imagine that possibly quality (or at least quality control) might not be that of German or Japanese cameras from the same time but they look definitively nice.

GLF

 

[giellaleafapmu]

From the Camera-Wiki entry concerning the Fotochrome:

"The awkward-looking Fotochrome camera was manufactured by Petri for the Harrison Fotochrome company, circa 1965. This was a major photofinishing concern based in Florida, USA, headed by Frank Nadaline.

[...]

In 1973 Frank Nadaline and his son Joseph were convicted of assaulting a former employee, and of threatening and vandalizing the competitor who had agreed to employ him."

Definitively a crazy camera.

GLF

 

[KoNickon]

I think the early Bronicas -- S, S2, S2A, C etc. -- are really great looking cameras. I love the chrome stampings, the nameplate, the way the lens is set so far in the body.

The ZI Contessa (the folding model from the early '50s) is lovely to behold.

 

[Pentudlian]

My three favourite cameras from the past are:
1. Pentax MX
2. Olympus 35RC and
3. Voigtlander Vito B.
They're not only good lookers but excellent photograph-takers too.

I have to say that I think many of the new breed of small digital cameras with interchangeable lenses are fabulously designed, but I've no practical experience of any of them. I find almost all dSLRs - except perhaps the Olympus E400 - to be horrible in their plastic vastness.

 

[E.M]

Giorgetto Giugiaro ( Italdesign ) is a car designer from Torino and shaped quite a few Nikon cameras , such as the Nikon F3 , F4 , F5 , F6 and D3 , D4 , D800 .

 

[Archlich]

The Werras, the Tenax II, the Kodak Bantam, etc.

I also find many Petri cameras have very sleek aesthetics. The Petri Half 7 has the most elegant selenium meter ever put onto a camera: http://www.u-cs.co.jp/images/petri/p_half7bk1.jpg

 

[giellaleafapmu]

My three favourite cameras from the past are:
1. Pentax MX
2. Olympus 35RC and
3. Voigtlander Vito B.
They're not only good lookers but excellent photograph-takers too.

I have to say that I think many of the new breed of small digital cameras with interchangeable lenses are fabulously designed, but I've no practical experience of any of them. I find almost all dSLRs - except perhaps the Olympus E400 - to be horrible in their plastic vastness.

Uh, the E400 is actually quite a bit of plastic too and the design is...well, nothing special to mention I think. On the other hand I don't see that much plastic on, say, a D4 and the design is...also not too nice I think (ergonomically of course it is great but that's another story).

GLF

 

[Pentudlian]

It's not the plastic per se I dislike - they may not actually be plastic. It's the fact that they're so HUGE. That makes their plasticness stand out all the more. Every time I see a Nikon/Canon around someone's neck, I think of the damage their bodies are taking! I like the Olympus E400 because, for a dSLR, it's so small.