What makes you love or hate a camera?

[razrblck]

My all time used camera has to be the Olympus OM-1n. My parents bought it to use for research (microscopy) as well as family photos before I was born. They gave it to me when I first started to get interested in photography, and it taught me not to spray and pray when they made me pay for development and prints.

Fast forward to today and it's still my favorite 35mm camera. Even my Nikon FM2, which is superior on paper, doesn't give me the same feel.

But since I bought a Bronica ETRS kit a couple years ago I got hooked on medium format. The huge viewfinder and negatives are so good I can't stop shooting film with it even today that it's VERY expensive (the only lab in my city develops at 6€/ea, 40cent per frame).

[Otto Phocus]

I don't see how love or hate could pertain to a camera or any tool. Those are pretty harsh extremes.

I own several systems and each has their advantages and disadvantages and I try to choose the right system for the right environment... sometimes I even choose correctly.

[Rob C]

I don't see how love or hate could pertain to a camera or any tool. Those are pretty harsh extremes.

I own several systems and each has their advantages and disadvantages and I try to choose the right system for the right environment... sometimes I even choose correctly.

I certainly did hate some cameras, almost every 4x5 that I was forced to use. I found nothing thrilling about upside down imagery, have little affection for tripods, and of the smaller ones, the Mamiya TLR with a 180mm set fitted was about as awful as it got for me. The only reason I bought the combo was because at that period, I couldn't afford a 'blad, and the Mamiya complemented my Rollei TLR. The 180mm was actually a pretty nice lens, but that red line that slid up and down the finder to 'indicate' the top of the frame... my blood pressure is rising as I write!

Rob

[amolitor]

I can't really remember all THAT well more than a few minutes back, but I think Rob's right, all the love/hate stuff seems to me very modern.

My theory is that since digital cameras are all so excellent these days, there's nothing much to review, so you're down to "I cannot program the wheel on the bottom of the body to control ISO, and so I hate this camera with passion of a 1000 blazing suns is sort of the order of the day. Hyperbole has to substitute for substance, since the substance is all "great camera, takes awesome photos, basically no problems"

Remember when reviews were "film impossible to load", "tears film to bits if you get it wrong, and sometimes if you don't", "mounting lens without cocking the shutter wedges lens irrevocably into the wrong place", "leaks light all over the place" and so on? Now it's complaints out illogical menu layouts.

[razrblck]

Remember when reviews were "film impossible to load", "tears film to bits if you get it wrong, and sometimes if you don't", "mounting lens without cocking the shutter wedges lens irrevocably into the wrong place", "leaks light all over the place" and so on? Now it's complaints out illogical menu layouts.

Oh god, reminds me of this Russian camera I have called Mir. It's a copy of the Zorki, which itself is a copy of the Leica (though Russians forgot quite a few things while copying stuff, so they are very different). It does look nice, but if you set the shutter speed before cocking the shutter, it will ruin the gears and possibly even tear apart the shutter curtain.

Speaking of Russian cameras that will make you cry like a baby when you mess up, the Kiev 88 is another one of those. The very first models had a metal shutter curtain, which works nice until that fatal moment it moves a few microns too much and gets stuck in the curtain guides, bending the thin metal and making it useless and unrepairable without a complete replacement of the whole thing. You can get it replaced with a cloth shutter curtain, or get it fixed by Arax, but you will be better off using it as a boat anchor or lifting weight and getting yourself a used Hasselblad.

[IanB]

I certainly did hate some cameras, almost every 4x5 that I was forced to use. I found nothing thrilling about upside down imagery, have little affection for tripods

I think I'm everything you hate! Since I first learned to use a technical camera many years ago I have had a (qualified) hatred for all normal cameras without movements. Even shift lenses frustrate me with their limitations now!

And the more automatic/program/ultra-clever features any camera has the more furious I get with it. The first camera I really hated was the first Nikon film SLR I owned with auto-focus. I recently sold an A7r (Mk 1) with very little use because I hated it so much - and yes, I agree the sensor is excellent.

I think I'm falling in love with my Fuji GF670W, though. Oh dear - and I'm not even 60 yet (sob...)...   

[Petrus]

I have never hated cameras, but the polaroid back on Mamiyas and Hassys we used to check flash exposures with did get its share of hateful thoughts! Namely film was always stuck (did not use it often enough) when the chemicals dried on the rollers. Open, throw away almost unused pack of film, disassemble the back and wash under warm water in the toilet wash basin, dry out and reload with fresh pack of 8 exposures. Took at least 15 minutes every time. I bless the engineers every time I shoot with flash with digital and just check the LCD and histogram...

[Rob C]

I think I'm everything you hate! Since I first learned to use a technical camera many years ago I have had a (qualified) hatred for all normal cameras without movements. Even shift lenses frustrate me with their limitations now!

And the more automatic/program/ultra-clever features any camera has the more furious I get with it. The first camera I really hated was the first Nikon film SLR I owned with auto-focus. I recently sold an A7r (Mk 1) with very little use because I hated it so much - and yes, I agree the sensor is excellent.

I think I'm falling in love with my Fuji GF670W, though. Oh dear - and I'm not even 60 yet (sob...)...  

Nope, don't jump to that conclusion, at least not yet! ;-)

I never had af until I was forced to make a swap from my first-and-last zoom which left me with only the option of going for an af 2.8/180 Nikkor (too complicated a tale to tell here). As it was only the least worst option and a focal length that didn't really have a purpose at the time, I have hardly used it since new, and only for a single shot with af.

Af always felt like an imposition, and then a while ago, I realised that manual focussing had become very difficult due to an eye problem getting worse. So, I bought a new af 1.8/50 G Nikkor and learned how to use af. It's a mixed blessing, and has to be switched back to manual when I shoot reflections in windows, where the real subject of interest might be partially hidden behind other reflections or even real objects behind the window. Then there's no substitute for the human touch. Perhaps one day eye-detection will enable that fine degree of accuracy; I suppose it'll be after I've traded this life for the next. My sense of timing was never very hot, as I hope the next life won't be either!

Big Fujis had a great reputation for their optics in the day! Don't complain about not being 60; once you are you come to realise too many things best left neglected.

Rob C