The Stuff You Didn't Like

[lawrence]

There's plenty here on RFF about the cameras and lenses that users love to use but what about the stuff that missed the mark? For example, I bought the Olympus OM1 when it came out but could never come to terms with the high magnification (low eyepoint) finder or the shutter speed dial round the lens throat. So although the OM1 was very nice as a concept I could never get on with it. Any similar experiences with other much-hyped cameras, lenses etc.?

 

[02Pilot]

Yashica GSN. Very capable, great lens, but the size of the package and the aperture-priority-only operation just didn't work for me. Replaced with an Olympus 35SP, which I love.

Olympus PEN EES-2. Fun, handy, solidly built, but again, the auto-only mode just didn't cut it. Replaced with a PEN D3, which again works far better for me.

Holga 135 Pan. I know Holgas, and toy cameras in general, don't get much love around here, but I've seen some great work with Holgas, and I had a hankering for a panoramic camera, so the 135 Pan seemed to make a lot of sense. Turns out that, where the blurred corners and vignetting work for me in squares, they don't in panos, so off it went. Might go and buy an original when I get around to it.

 

[sreed2006]

A Yashica Minister D that I bought fairly inexpensively was a disappointment. I sent if off for service, and it came back with the rangefinder patch misaligned vertically. Sold it for less than the cost of the service. I just could not get along with how the Aperture and Shutter speed had to be set (the double-dial on the lens barrel, if I recall correctly).

Also, an Olympus Pen FT. It was also inexpensive, but with nowhere to get the pictures printed correctly, and scanning being a pain, I finally decided it just wasn't for me. Passed it on, and 3 lenses that came with it, at a camera trade show. Never missed it.

 

[mfogiel]

Olympus Pen F - although I made some of my favourite images with it, I have found scanning the half frames a PITA, and the incredibly violent shutter plus an overall cheap feel of the film advance made me abandon the format altogether.


20103256 by mfogiel, on Flickr

 

[ruby.monkey]

Nikon F4. The grip was just too fat for me to hold comfortably, and having a shooting mode switch was a real come-down after the simplicity of the F, F2, and F3.

Pentax K5. Great controls (even if it did have a bloody mode dial), great handling, and about the only 'serious' APS-sensor DSLR family I've found that was the right size for its format; but the autofocus was too slow and unreliable, and the finder too small for manual focus to be worth the effort. On the plus side, it went towards paying for my Fuji X-T1...

 

[sevo]

Canon A-1 (most hostile manual mode ever)

 

[Greyscale]

Olympus Stylus Epic and Yashica T4. Not that they are bad, just that they are way overhyped and overpriced, and neither produces produces photos that are any more magical then many other "lesser" cameras.

 

[Tom A]

Canon 7S with the stupid index mark for the shutter speed off-set by two stops. Most Rf cameras has a "proper" setting - along the long axis of the camera -like the Canon 7, Leica M, Nikon Rf etc. Far to many rolls exposed two stops off because I thought I had it on right setting!!!

 

[lawrence]

Canon 7S with the stupid index mark for the shutter speed off-set by two stops. Most Rf cameras has a "proper" setting - along the long axis of the camera -like the Canon 7, Leica M, Nikon Rf etc. Far to many rolls exposed two stops off because I thought I had it on right setting!!!

I tried several Canons over the years but have settled on the L1. Love that slow speed dial on the front and always use with the Ultron f1.9 and minifinder. Great combo.

 

[lawrence]

Nikon F4. The grip was just too fat for me to hold comfortably, and having a shooting mode switch was a real come-down after the simplicity of the F, F2, and F3.

Personally I like the F4 although I have to agree that it's somewhat on the big side.

 

[lawrence]

Olympus Pen F - although I made some of my favourite images with it, I have found scanning the half frames a PITA, and the incredibly violent shutter plus an overall cheap feel of the film advance made me abandon the format altogether.

Never had a half frame but was tempted from time to time. The film advance of the OM1 was another thing I didn't like about it.

 

[Mackinaw]

The absurd way of changing focusing screens on a Nikon F. I have to use my pocket knife (!) to press in the release button on the back of the camera, turn the camera upside down and shake, then hope the screen falls into my hand. As much as I like my F, the screen/prism changing procedure is not one of its finest features.

Jim B.

 

[airfrogusmc]

Never cared for Bronica 645. Went 500 C/M instead.

 

[Sparrow]

M5 and ... The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters. Both annoy me.

 

[nongfuspring]

Olympus Infinity stylus/mju I and the Yashica T4. I found neither to be especially sharp, the Oly had poor AF and was really bad in the corners (but not in a way I find charming at all) and the T4 photos I got I can only describe as vaguely waxy looking. I was lucky in finding two copies of each for very cheap but ended up disliking them all and giving them away.

 

[D.O'K.]

Minox 35 cameras. For me, the good lenses didn't compensate sufficiently for their fiddly controls and cheap plasticy feel.

The two examples I had--different models, at different times--also tended to overexpose.

Regards,
D.

 

[mdarnton]

Nikon F100: too big, too plastic
85/1.8 AF-D: I did this because I missed my old pre-AI one, and mistakenly thought the AF-D would give similar quality images.

Still have both; am casually looking for an older 85 so I can dump the AF-D.

 

[Tom A]

Another design by some-one who obviously never used the lens! The 21f3.4 Super Angulon and the hood. It clamps on right tight to the aperture ring - which is narrow to boot. You keep trying to grap it and you frequently loose the grip on it. Well, the lens is good enough that you do use it anyway - but every time you have to change aperture you think of things you would like to do to the designer!
The ring material is to thin to put in a lever for access.

 

[peterm1]

There are some lenses that have annoying characteristics (mechanically). I am thinking of the Pentax Takumar lenses which have a quite high tendency for the aperture to become sluggish or not operate at all with age. The actuating mechanism relies on a mechanical bar in the camera hitting a pin in the lens mount to stop it down to working aperture. It seems it does not take much old lube to upset this delicate balance and prevent it from working properly.

Another that comes to mind is the tendency of some old lubes used by Leitz to fog their lenses - sometimes irrepairably. Not helped by having internal coatings that are as soft as butter in the noon day sun. Thus making cleaning efforts arguably worse than the disease.

When I am in a more sanguine frame of mind I might put both of these down simply to the quirks of age and the realization that they can mostly be fixed if caught in time, with the application of dollars (or time if you have the necessary knowledge and skills - as for me while I have pulled a number of lenses apart I have never yet succeeded in getting one back together :^) ). But then again, neither Nikon F lenses nor Canon FL lenses which are approximately as old as these exhibit any such problems (I own a number of samples of both). So a bit of foresight and good design could have headed these things off maybe? But I suppose even then planned obsolescence was a factor and who might have know that people like us would want to use these things 50 or more years on.

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

Pentax K1000. Bright viewfinder, granted, but a real povvo pack model, no DOF preview, no timer. And boring as bat**** to use. The definitive uncharismatic Japanese SLR. Massively overrated and, these days, overpriced. Give me a Spotmatic any day over one of those.