Your worst RF camera...

[Rich Silfver]

What was/is your worst* rangefinder camera.

* = 'Worst' can be defined in a number of ways, for instance;
- Horrible operation,
- Terrible performance (if fixed lens RF camera for instance),
- Simply never 'got into it', and/or
- Low reliability (broke a lot, etc).

 

[clarence]

FSU rangefinders. I've had far too many. But when I get one that works, it can be a very simple and effective camera body.

Clarence

 

[rbiemer]

My worst was/is a Seagull 205(fixed lens, meterless RF) only because of the sellers dishonesty.
There are metal and plastic versions(early/late production I think). This was represented as metal and working.
It is neither. The seller then tried to tell me that the camera had been damaged in transit.
OK, sez I. I paid for insurance so who files the claim?
Insurance? sez the seller...
The only good part of the whole deal was the $ amount wasn't very much. So I decided the hassle wasn't worth it.
The camera that's least easy for me to use is a very nice condition Bolsey B2. Nice pictures when I can remember all the steps. Thankfully it came with the manual. Annoying as it is I do enjoy struggling with it fairly often.
Rob

 

[ywenz]

Electro 35

Hated that meter,
lens operationg is cumbersome at best,
camera is bulky

 

[RML]

Leica M2.

Never got into it. Wouldn't buy a new (film?) Leica ever again.

 

[David Murphy]

Petri 7s (or for that matter anything I've seen by Petri)

 

[Rich Silfver]

Me, the Olympus 35RC.

It was a big disappointment to me that I didn't like it considering the fact that I was all into Olympus cameras at the time and the Olympus 35RC was a very popular camera.

It wasn't the performance - it was the cheap 'feel' and its size that made me discard it as an option. The disappointment was of course also partly due to that I had big expectations on it.

Still..bleh.

 

[wlewisiii]

Canonet QL GIII 17 - http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/camera/1970-1975/data/1972_netg3-17.html

As far as I'm concerned there is no more overrated camera (and I am a serious Canon fan!). Awkward ergonomics and a truely foul meter make for a bad experiance. Only the Argus C-3 comes close and that's due more to the front mounted cocking lever. The rest of the camera is _far_ easier for me to deal with.

William

 

[Rich Silfver]

Canonet QL GIII 17 - http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/camera/1970-1975/data/1972_netg3-17.html

As far as I'm concerned there is no more overrated camera (and I am a serious Canon fan!). Awkward ergonomics and a truely foul meter make for a bad experiance. Only the Argus C-3 comes close and that's due more to the front mounted cocking lever. The rest of the camera is _far_ easier for me to deal with.

William

Interesting. My 'admission' was an Olympus camera that - just as the Canonet - is a very popular camera and I'm very much an Olympus fan.

 

[JohnM]

Yashica Electro 35.

I tried very hard to like the Yashicas, but it just never clicked for me. At the time I owned a GTN, I also had (and still have) a Konica Auto S1.6 - the Yashica felt cheap and clunky by comparison and I never grew to like it.

I owned a Yashica MG-1 at some point after that - as cheap as the GTN felt, the MG-1 felt even more cut rate. The only selling point I could see for those cameras was that you could by two or three for the price of a Canonet, S2, etc.

 

[wlewisiii]

Rich,

that is interesting to me as well.

I bought my first Canonet based on all the raves on this site. I still can't understand what people see in it. Yes, the lens is first class but I just can't get myself to be able to stand using it. My Contessa has just about as bad ergonomics but the lens is, arguably, slightly better so perhaps that's why I keep it.

OTOH, knowing how people feel about it let me pick up a black one at St. Vinnies for $15 that I turned around for $100 (and promptly used towards a Kiev mount Jupiter 9, IIRC) so I shouldn't complain. The buyer was happy too - he really wanted a black one and ebay was getting $150+ at the time... 🙂

William

 

[derevaun]

Agreed about the Canonet Ql17. It's totally not the camera, it's me; I just can't get used to shutter priority as a main shooting mode, it feels flimsy, and the lens was always either too wide or too long.

But my worst functioning RF is also my favorite RF: the FED-2. It's surely the piece of crap that Neil Young wrote the song about, but I love it all the same.

 

[Duncan Ross]

Annoyingly the Konica Auto S2 drove me up the wall. The picture quality was lovely but it was unnecessarily big (you just don't realise how big one is unti you hold it, the baseplate is identical in size to a Praktica MTL5's). The focus was a pain for me, endlessly overshooting backwards and forwards until the point is finally reached through closing approximations and the shutter release point was vague.

Just goes to show, quality isn't everything. In fact for me picture quality is quite low on the list, handling comes first.

 

[wlewisiii]

But my worst functioning RF is also my favorite RF: the FED-2. It's surely the piece of crap that Neil Young wrote the song about, but I love it all the same.

Now _that_ is my Contessa 😀

William

 

[pvdhaar]

Rationally speaking, the Bessa-T should be my worst RF. It broke after a mere 20 rolls of film, which makes for the worst track record of any camera I've ever owned. But I just can not dislike it, it remains my favourite..

 

[Dougg]

Interesting thread, that I hesitated contributing to earlier. The first "worst" that popped to mind then is still the one I'm thinking of: the Kiev 4a. Just an antique, and a shoddy one at that. That's not to say it's not fun to use sometimes in a retro sort of way, and the J-8 and J-12 are nice lenses too. But with all the inconveniences, light leaks, oddball transport/shutter cocking, and squinty frameless viewfinder, it's just not for serious use IMHO.

 

[sf]

Worst camera. . . Konica C35. I've only had 4 rangefinder cameras, and I never really respected that C35. It deserved respect, but I never gave it out. Never got "into it".

 

[clarence]

We should start thrashing more cameras to drive down the prices. I hope someone starts complaining about the ZI.

Clarence

 

[lubitel]

Leica M2.

Never got into it. Wouldn't buy a new (film?) Leica ever again.

I cant believe it! M2 is my (somewhat affordable) dream camera, that I am saving towards.


my worst:
Fed 5c, big, clumsy and not so pretty, RF inacurate, VF forever messed up with something black. I painted it red and dressed it in green leather, now its standing on a shelf . 🙂

 

[Will]

Voigtlander Prominent I.

Need I say more?