Worst camera designs

[Poisson Du Jour]

That sounds possibly like the Pentax ME-F? With a 35-70mm f/2.8 autofocus lens, with the battery compartment on the underbelly of the lens?

NO, I googled a pic of the ME-F; the one I had was all plastic (like the Nikon F401, another slooooow dud). The lens sounds about right. I wish I knew, but I tend to forcefully forget about unpleasant experiences, and those involving cameras are no exception.

LATE ENTRY: Pentax SFX with 35-70. I found it goggling images and there it was!

[Steven L]

All the cameras that seem to have been designed for right-handed people - to the exclusion of the rest of us.

Ever tried to hold and use either a modern AF film SLR or digital SLR with one hand only - the left hand?

Southpaw here!!! I hear you, it's hard to use your less coordinated hand for something you need controle over. I manage to use my right hand, but it stil feels unnatural. On the other hand (pun intended) I taught myself to use my right hand for the computer mouse. Somehow that does feel natural.

As for worst camera designs: to a non-apug-er, any analogue camera has a bad design. Where do you look at, right after you take a shot? And how do you remove a bad picture from the memory card? Ah well, at least we beat them all with the amount of MP's.

[Steve Smith]

The worst design I have ever seen is the 5x4 camera I made a few years ago. It didn't fold up, had very limited movements and weighed as much as three anvils welded together. I hope MkII currently being constructed is better.


Steve.

[M. Lointain]

One camera I have always wanted but have never bought because of the design was the Fuji GS645 folder. I just know I would break the shutter linkage in the first ten minutes and don't forget the bellows. I didn't know bellows could be made out of tissue paper, but hey, the Fuji engineer that designed the shutter linkage didn't feel like stopping there. It was probably his last day on the job and was ticked off at upper management...

[David A. Goldfarb]

I assumed it could mount in an accessory shoe-shows what I know about that!

Here's the camera in question--

http://www.speedgraphic.fr/Pressuk.html

Not such a bad design in general, I'd add. Despite the size, it's fairly comfortable to hold and really quick to focus. Very impractical to shoot verticals with as an SLR, but there's no better way to get (horizontal) action shots on 5x7" film.

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Any 35mm camera made by a Swiss looks like an ergonomics disaster...

[Sirius Glass]

Southpaw here!!! I hear you, it's hard to use your less coordinated hand for something you need controle over. I manage to use my right hand, but it stil feels unnatural. On the other hand (pun intended) I taught myself to use my right hand for the computer mouse. Somehow that does feel natural.

As for worst camera designs: to a non-apug-er, any analogue camera has a bad design. Where do you look at, right after you take a shot? And how do you remove a bad picture from the memory card? Ah well, at least we beat them all with the amount of MP's.

Check out the Exakta, a left handed camera!
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exakta

Early Kine Exaktas had a fixed waist-level viewfinder, but later models, starting with the Exakta Varex, had an interchangeable waist- or eye-level finder. Examat and Travemat Through-the-lens metering prisms were introduced in the mid-1960s. Most controls—including the shutter release and the film wind lever—are on the left-hand side, unlike most other cameras. The film is transported in the opposite direction to other 35mm SLRs. In classic Exaktas—made between 1936 and 1969—two film canisters can be used, one containing unexposed film and a second into which is wound the exposed film. A sliding knife built into the bottom of the camera can be used to slice the film so that the canister containing the exposed film can be removed while preserving the unexposed film in the main canister. The knife was omitted in the Exakta VX500, one of the last "official" Exakta cameras.

[Ian Grant]

Any 35mm camera made by a Swiss looks like an ergonomics disaster...

Can we add American (US companies).

UK companies were poor just after WWII, but so were many others around the world.

Edixa (Wirgin) have to be the poorest design/manufaturing capability, potentially excellent camera's dependant on the assemblers skills.

Ian

[tony lockerbie]

Zenits may be crude but they are extra cool these days apparently. The Exaktas have to be the very worst to use, ergonomics never entered into their equations at all! Funny thing is that I really like them...oh, and the Zenit too. Thing is I like being whipped as well

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Can we add American (US companies).

UK companies were poor just after WWII, but so were many others around the world.

Edixa (Wirgin) have to be the poorest design/manufaturing capability, potentially excellent camera's dependant on the assemblers skills.

Ian

Oh yes you can! Graflex and Kodak, the original Simmons Brothers Omega, I shudder...