The "Worst" Camera You ever Loved?

[L Collins]

Leica M5. Big and Butt Ugly. Still my favorite camera of all time.
Nikon F5. Enormous and heavy as a cinder block. IMO, the best film camera ever made.

 

[Landberg]

I will not count the M5 because it is a great camera!

My worst lovely camera is Olympus mju II.

 

[cosmonaut]

The D800 I love the results but getting there is a pain.

 

[Sym101]

That'll be my iPhone 4 camera.. It doesn't produce the best images but it's always there when I need a camera.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Exakta Varexes in their various manifestations. Why? Dunno. See http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps collect varex.html -- I'm so sentimental about the damn' thing that I almost patched up the pinholed shutter and went out to take some pictures RIGHT NOW.

Lovely thread, by the way. Thanks.

Cheers,

R

 

[efix]

Leica M8. So many things wrong with this camera that sometimes made it almost unusable. But then again, so many things right with it, and the experience of using it plus the gorgeous images that come out of it make up for all its shortcomings.

 

[Out to Lunch]

I bought the Lubitel 2 as a 12 year old and struggled with it. I still have pics from that time though and they look fine to me some 40 years later.

 

[L Collins]

Exakta Varexes in their various manifestations. Why? Dunno. See http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps collect varex.html -- I'm so sentimental about the damn' thing that I almost patched up the pinholed shutter and went out to take some pictures RIGHT NOW.

Lovely thread, by the way. Thanks.

Cheers,

R

Roger,

You are quoted about this camera in a recent edition of Aperture Magazine that includes beautiful pictures of the Varex. What a beautiful camera.

 

[OddE]

A Kodak Instamatic 133 - the first camera ever handed to me with a -"Here, why don¨t you try to snap some photos?"

I used it quite a lot from age 6-9 or so - by which time I'd spent enough of my allowance on 126 film and flash cubes to talk my parents into getting me some Fuji compact - I believe it was called DM10. Suddenly, I didn't have to fork out for flash cubes anymore - and 135 was soooo easy to find, compared to 126.

I still have (most of) the negatives produced by the 133; sure, they're a hit-and-miss affair (Mostly miss!) - but it is what made me pick up this hobby in the first place. Also, it still gives me a chuckle whenever someone with a 'blad shows up. -"Sure, I shot a lot of square format when i was a kid, but nowadays I much prefer 6*9..."

I can still hear the faint crackle made by the flash cubes just after they've burned out if I close my eyes and think of the Instamatic. 🙂

 

[biomed]

I would have to put the Kowa Six at the top of my list. I purchased the camera in 1972. In the month that I used it the shutter ceased operation twice, the lens aperture jammed, the focus ring became very stiff and the film advance jammed at least once. The last trip to the store resulted in a complete refund. The camera handled well enough but was completely unreliable.
Mike

 

[p.giannakis]

Easy, it's got to be the Zenit 12XP. Heavy, ugly, noisy, dark viewfinder but I have taken some of my favourite pictures with it. Actually, it ended up being the only M42 camera I have, I've sold all others.

 

[D.O'K.]

My Zorki 4K. Occasionally irresistable despite finger-wrenching shutter speed dial, totally open-plan no-clues viewfinder and its crashing, deafening shutter. The wind on is also unfeasibly rough and tends to chew up the film about once every three rolls.

But for all this it has some sort of demented charisma which makes it lovable--and it's given some great photos over the years.

Regards,
D.

 

[Eric T]

Kiev 60. Build quality was atrocious.

 

[John E Earley]

Kodak Hawkeye Flash. Cheesy, slow lens and limiter shutter and a latch that somehow doesn't seem to be designed to make the back stay closed. And the 620 film. But somehow, I like it.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

That'll be my iPhone 4 camera.. It doesn't produce the best images but it's always there when I need a camera.

I'll add 1 to that! 😉

 

[Addy101]

Minolta Dynax 4 (a.k.a. Maxxum 4), very entry level, plasticky with even a plastic lensmount 😱
But it is small, focusses all alpha-mount lenses and works great. I bought one just because it was cheaper then a new battery cover for my Dynax 5 and find it just as loveable as an ugly child 😕

 

[tunalegs]

Most of the cameras listed so far don't come anywhere close to fitting the description "worst" by any stretch of the imagination.

I think maybe the cheapest/simplest camera I loved was the Kodak Instamatic X-15. There is something indescribably enjoyable about the way the film advance and shutter sounds that made the camera really fun to use. I still have one though 126 is long gone.

I have a Zodiac Diana Clone which might be worse, but at least gives you zone focusing and a larger negative. The lens and build quality are obviously much worse than the instamatic though.

There's only been a few cameras that were so bad I couldn't bother with them. One was a Halina 35X - which looks nice but is awful in use. Unlike a lot of truly awful cameras though, the Halina pretends to be a real camera and not just a cheapo plastic toy.

In the "supposed to be bad" but actually good category, I would put the Edixa Reflex series which look shoddy and are loud as heck - yet function surprisingly smoothly and easily and have never let me down. And the Exakta VX1000/500 which look and feel cheap, but work and have good lenses as well as a great viewfinder which gives 1:1 magnification (sorry Olympus you might have a tiny bit more coverage, but Exakta still had the "larger" view).

 

[konicaman]

Rank Mamiya - my all time favourite rangefinder. Build quality and image quality are only average (at best), but looks and ergonomics are great - guess I am weird 😀

 

[Roger Hicks]

Most of the cameras listed so far don't come anywhere close to fitting the description "worst" by any stretch of the imagination. . . .

All right, maybe not the "worst" camera YOU'VE ever loved, but I think the rest of us may be entitled to interpret "worst" and "loved". Yes, I've encountered worse cameras than Exakta Varexes -- but I didn't love 'em.Olympus full-frame SLRs, for example.

Cheers,

R.

 

[sevo]

If I leave out the unknown gems of worse reputation than they deserve, there is not that much left. Olympus XA maybe - popular and a great camera when it works, with a big WHEN. Mine always lost their shutter timing, RF spot or release functionality while on the road without a replacement, and I nonetheless still have one...