The Stuff You Didn't Like

Disliked Nikon F and F2 because everyone I examined had crunchy winds. Then I found one without and it was smooth as butter. Bought it, still have it.

Same for my Nikormat.
 
Tom A said:
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Sometimes designers come up with things that are incomprehensible. It probably sounded like a good idea at the drafting table - but as a camera!
The Voigtlander Prominent was one of the clumsiest cameras made in the 50's. Built like a tank and about as practical! Howvere, the lenses were good, really good. I still have the Nokton 50f1.5 - and with an adapter I can use it on my Nikon Rf's. I donated the body to a friend who likes things that are complicated - an obviously is not a photographer![/QUOTE

A neighbor bought two brand new for weddings. After a few WEEKS, the rangefinders failed from being made of unhardened brass ( he is a metallurgist for day job). Yes the lenses were very good.

He bought Leicas and used the for decades.
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Pentudlian said:
Olympus Trip.
There, I've said it ...
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Agree too, that was my second worst. Worst was a Kodak 126 bought with green shield stamps in 1969, ok I know that doesn't really count but it made me realise that cheap plastic camera, dodgy lens and a film inside a cartridge weren't really going to work.
 
Leica's M series film loading mechanism. I found it incredibly frustrating to have to take off the bottom of the camera, stash it somewhere safe, drop the film out / drop a new one in, ensure it'd been caught properly on the take-up spool (and aligned correctly with the "gate") and then replace the camera bottom plate.

Oh, and I used to have a somewhat disturbing habit of taking off the baseplate prior to rewinding the film. Could never work out why but I have destroyed more films than I care to remember.

This is probably due to me coming from an SLR background, I'll admit, and there are probably many out there who can do this process blindfolded and one-handed. However, I never could and, as much as I loved the camera, I ended up trading it for something I found less of a faff.
 
nongfuspring said:
I agree, the trip is one of the cult cameras that I don't really understand the appeal of at all.
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Yup, a vintage point and shoot with a crappy Selenium meter that may or may not work with an okay lens

Ronald M said:
Disliked Nikon F and F2 because everyone I examined had crunchy winds. Then I found one without and it was smooth as butter. Bought it, still have it.

Same for my Nikormat.
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The F2 has all steel gears to survive the MD2 induced pounding - they feel like a cement mixer even when new
The F is nicer in that regard
 
Konica iiia

Gorgeous 1:1 finder with moving framelines that expanded out to adjust for focus distance.
Chrispy sharp 50mm f1.8 Hexanon with beautiful oof character.
Mine was freshely CLA by Greg Weber and, had the EV sync removed for indipendant control of shutter and aperture
Wicked heavy build quality... on the level of Leica or Rollei.

I just could not get on with the funky front lever advance system.
It worked great but I could not mesh with it. A case of a good system being fowled by an incompatible operator.

Untitled by Adnan W, on Flickr
 
Rollei 35S. Maybe too small, maybe scale focusing. I knew those things when I bought it. Great lens. Maybe but it's still only 35mm. I knew that too. Still have it, I guess I should pull it out and give it another try.
 
The way the meter would shut off when putting the Canon QL17 in Manual mode. They couldn't have just put an external switch somewhere?

PF
 
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the idea of the periscope viewing looked good on paper most likely - but dim doesn't half describe it. Otherwise the Periflexes are kind of neat - and, what the hell you can always scale focus!
 
Mackinaw said:
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.
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When I bought my Nikon F new they told me it was designed to be used with a plastic ball-point pen cap (for holding down the screen release button).
 
Mackinaw said:
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.
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When I bought my Nikon F new they told me it was designed to be used with a plastic ball-point pen cap (for holding in the screen release button).
 
Crazy Fedya said:
OM system flimsiness of film transport. It made me feel like handling an unknown Contax II or Kiev cameras: you don't know when that ribbon will break.
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I agree with this. I went as far as to have Marty Forscher modify the Olympus 24mm F3.5 PC to Nikon F, such was my dislike of the flimsiness of my OM's.
 
Sarcophilus Harrisii said:
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.
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I'm kind of backwards from you on this one. I found the changing of lenses on the Spotmatic to be clumsy and tedious! I traded it for the K1000. (This was decades ago.) It (K1000) is still my primary film camera for serious shooting.
 
Voightländer VitocC, the later one with in Minox shape.Its smart build, and featherlight.But its imagequality is not much good.

Olympus Pen EE-2. small,good looking. good imagequality for halfframe even in closed rooms with normal daylight.But in some scenes e.g daylight with a dark background,it overexposes heaviely.
 
XA2, maybe. Very nice at first look, but so tiny, so light, so fiddly release. I'm glad I had chance to use one but frankly will carry one only when radically constrained by dimensions and weight. Great line-up, though.
 
My favourite lens is the 50mm Elmar-M but it has one ergonomic shortcoming.

If I collapse it without cap, filter or hood and I have cut my nails recently I find it hard to get it out again! OK the solution is simple but it is an infuriating annoyance in something that is otherwise truly exceptional.
 
Yashica Electro 35 GSN. Love the lens, but can't love the handling no matter how I try. Too big for my hands. And the RF patch is difficult to focus.
 
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