Topic: What's the worst piece of photo gear you've ever owned, and why?

[Late Developer]

This can be anything photography-related and could be a bad example of a well-renowned piece of kit to something that had a dodgy reputation but you bought it anyway.

I was pondering this on the way home from work whilst on the train the other evening.  I was trying to think what I'd owned in the past 40+ years that turned out to be a total dud.  Mine is as follows:

My first tripod.  I can't recall the specific model but it was a late 1970's "Slik" tripod that had what I can only describe as "snap lock" legs which, when anything heavier than a feather was placed on it, the legs slid down gradually and screwed up several rolls of film with long exposures on them before I finally twigged what was happening.

[Francois]

I also had one of those sliding leg tripods. It was an off brand model with square channel legs and badly designed locking cams.

I've never seen a mechanical self timer that actually works well... or as well as it should.

Now I must say that some of the filters by Cokin do deserve the palm for total uselessness. I have literally a drawer full of them that gather dust. Lucky they didn't cost me a thing. A dark brown sky might sound like a good idea until you get the pictures back and they all look the same... and no, a christmas tree with a star filter doesn't make it look any better.

[Sandeha Lynch]

Almost any British camera from the 1940s and '50s, though I might not have noticed if it weren't for comparison with the engineering of comparable units from Japan and Germany.  IOW, they were good enough, but way behind the curve.

[John Robison]

That's a tough one. I'd say the most disappointing piece of equipment was a Leica M4-2, but that was my fault. I had been too enamored of the name and was also not careful enough and taken in by cosmetic appearance. Bought from a private party at a photo show the camera worked fine for about a month, then all the shutter speeds from 1 sec to 1/8 sec dropped out. First curtain opened, second curtain would not close. Service tech sorted it out, removed, flushed and relubed escapement properly. That was $200, then about a year later I looked down and saw the PC terminal for flash bulbs had fallen out and was missing. The service tech said the mounting for that was plastic and cracked in half and did I want to replace it. I never use flash bulbs so just left it with a piece of tape over the hole. The camera can still be used but of course it destroyed the resale value.

[gothamtomato]

My Mamiya 645. I absolutely loved the camera, the format, the ease of use - everything about it, EXCEPT the fact that the lens ground to a halt in the middle of shooting a wedding!

[LEAFotography]

Almost any British camera from the 1940s and '50s, though I might not have noticed if it weren't for comparison with the engineering of comparable units from Japan and Germany.  IOW, they were good enough, but way behind the curve.

My burglar (2011) evidently thought my Corfield 66 (more 1960s) and finger trapping tripod were terrible..they took a 6 year old laptop (why?), my Canon 450D, and my Joycam (instant photo system), and completely ignored and left my Corfield 66 sat snug on an aggressive aluminium finger-nail biting tripod, set up right next to my dining table.  The tripod is definitely the worst piece of photogear I own, but it's relatively light and sturdy enough for medium format gear. I was relieved of course that they'd dismissed the value of my old crap.

[AJShepherd]

In the early 00ies, before I got back into photography, I had an Olympus digital camera - metal bodied, sliding front to turn it on, a similar style to their APS film cameras I'd had before.

It was TERRIBLE! The delay between pressing the shutter and the picture actually being taken was positively glacial. Far and above the worst camera I ever had.

Would agree on the Cokin effects filters. use once, and never again! Leave the starbursts and multiple images to 1970s Top of the Pops!

[Late Developer]

My mum's friend's son got married when I was shooting weddings as a sideline and he / his bride were dressed all in white.  It made metering easier than a dark suit and a white dress but they insisted that they wanted the full soft focus / mist filter treatment (+ the one with a clear spot in the middle).  Nothing I could do would dissuade them.  To be fair, they loved the photos but I hated them and binned the filters immediately.  Cokin make some good and useful filters but the list of novelty ones is incredible.....

I've got a handful of Lee ND and grad filters these days and use them sparingly.

[Francois]

Camera wise... I know some might disagree but the Argus C-33 (AKA the Brick) is probably one of the worse on the ergonomics front. The only good thing about them is the bulletproof shutter!

I have one in the garden shed that has been waiting for some love for many years (probably close to a decade). I pick it up, play with it, get a bad vibe from it and put it back.

Maybe it just needs a bit of TLC and the installation of custom strap lugs...

[jojonas~]

Almost any British camera from the 1940s and '50s, though I might not have noticed if it weren't for comparison with the engineering of comparable units from Japan and Germany.  IOW, they were good enough, but way behind the curve.

My burglar (2011) evidently thought my Corfield 66 (more 1960s) and finger trapping tripod were terrible..they took a 6 year old laptop (why?), my Canon 450D, and my Joycam (instant photo system), and completely ignored and left my Corfield 66 sat snug on an aggressive aluminium finger-nail biting tripod, set up right next to my dining table.  The tripod is definitely the worst piece of photogear I own, but it's relatively light and sturdy enough for medium format gear. I was relieved of course that they'd dismissed the value of my old crap.

wow! it it was me, I'd settle on taking the Corfield 66
those are pretty rare, right? either way they look like a fun camera to use. I looked them up briefly when geeking out over periflex cameras.


oh, and something bad? well let's just say that the core duty of being stable ain't the hallmark with the gorillapod that I got...

[Late Developer]

Almost any British camera from the 1940s and '50s, though I might not have noticed if it weren't for comparison with the engineering of comparable units from Japan and Germany.  IOW, they were good enough, but way behind the curve.

My burglar (2011) evidently thought my Corfield 66 (more 1960s) and finger trapping tripod were terrible..they took a 6 year old laptop (why?), my Canon 450D, and my Joycam (instant photo system), and completely ignored and left my Corfield 66 sat snug on an aggressive aluminium finger-nail biting tripod, set up right next to my dining table.  The tripod is definitely the worst piece of photogear I own, but it's relatively light and sturdy enough for medium format gear. I was relieved of course that they'd dismissed the value of my old crap.

I've heard of and seen photographs of the Corfield 66 but I've never held or used one.  Apparently, there was only a very small number made before production was halted - which probably means they're as rare as Unicorn poo    Do you use the Corfield much?  It'd be great to see some shots taken with it.

Tripods seem to be a common theme on this thread.  A good (strong, portable, stable and easy to set up / use) one is gold dust but there are some horrors as well.  That reminds me, I had one with a geared centre column that collapsed any time I put my hand near the damned thing and took skin off my fingers on a couple of occasions.

[kentish cob]

Wanted to try some extreme close up with reverse mounted lens, so I bought a cheap and nasty 4-way macro focusing rail from a well known internet vendor...

It seems to work much more smoothly without a camera attached, which somewhat reduces its usefulness..!
Furthermore, when some degree of acurate positioning is finally acheived, the action of locking the rail in place shifts the entire assembly up and to the right. "How very frustrating" quoth I... striding purposfully to the recycling bin... 

[charles binns]

Tamron ring flash.  What a piece of sh*t that was.  I might as well have just lit a match for all the "light" it gave me.

[Francois]

Oh... I remember those. Just horrible.
There's one that comes to mind which I very carefully stepped around and it was yet another tamron lens.
It was a zoom that came with a dedicated teleconverter that was optimized to give the best results with the lens.
This is all great until you realize that the converter was in the adaptall 2 mount. So to use it you had to remove the mount from the lens, mount the converter and re-mount the bayonet on the set... worst design ever.

[Bryan]

I've owned a lot of bad photo gear but that's because I'm cheap and you get what you pay for.  I've had my share of bad tripods and crappy zoom lenses.  As far as film cameras go I'm usually happy if I can make an image with it.  In the early days of digital cameras they were all disappointing, especially since we were going from great film image quality to poor digital image quality.  For me the worst was my VHS camcorder.  I was excited about the new technology but after spending a lot of money on a new camera I was never happy with the image quality.  Going from 8mm film to VHS was a huge step down.  The camera never got much use before it broke and I wasn't about to spend any money getting it fixed or purchasing a new one. 

[Ezzie]

Tripods seem to be getting quite a lot of flack. A bit unfair I would say. Though the top five spots on my not too enamoured with list are most likely all occupied by tripods. Mostly because I never actually invest in a proper one. Much more fun spending money on camera and lenses, than a glorified stand.

Camera-wise, it has to be a Casio digi-cam, 5Mpx thing. Awful IQ, horrible lag, and next to nothing battery life.

[Francois]

I'm a bit like Bryan on the video front.
But for me the experience can be summed-up by the words Avoid Sony.
At first, I liked a lot of their products. But as time went by, they all broke one by one after an unreasonably short amount of time.
It started with an old VCR. Then went another more recent model that had all the fancy editing functions in it. Then went an 8mm camcorder. I found the problem in it. It was a small hinge in the tape drawing mechanism. Price of the part: 280$ + install time... for something that probably cost them 0.50$ to manufacture!
Then there was other products that failed miserably. The rubber on my nice headphones turned to dust leaving the conductors bare. Another camera's rubber grips turned to tar... And there was my camera that used the memory sticks... And my Sony Mylo player... and that was it for the company's products. Even what I got used was a big disappointment (like the Mylo). Their products were good in the 70's, but that's all.

[tkmedia]

I looked them up briefly when geeking out over periflex cameras

i think the only reason you know about the corfield 66 was because of your fujita !

[jojonas~]

I looked them up briefly when geeking out over periflex cameras

i think the only reason you know about the corfield 66 was because of your fujita !

Untrue! besides the holga, it was my first medium format camera. I hadn't fully developed my camera geek side back then so not much resarch was made

[astrobeck]

This thing..it's aweful.   There's nothing stable about it...

http://www.telescope.com/Astrophotography/Camera-Adapters-T-Rings/Orion-Digiscoping-Telescope-Photo-Adapter/pc/-1/c/4/sc/62/p/113104.uts

[Francois]

Boy does it look like some flimsy design...

[Late Developer]

This thing..it's aweful.   There's nothing stable about it...

http://www.telescope.com/Astrophotography/Camera-Adapters-T-Rings/Orion-Digiscoping-Telescope-Photo-Adapter/pc/-1/c/4/sc/62/p/113104.uts

Even at $29.95 it's expensive if it doesn't do the job..! 

[Francois]

I did have a nice neoprene neckstrap that has badly sealed webbing that was held to the strap using grommets through the webbing...
I still have it but wouldn't put anything of value or any weight on it because I fear it's all going to rip to shreds...

I also got an expensive ink cartridge that I got as a spare for my printer. When I went to put it in, it wouldn't work... I checked and checked everything and it just wouldn't print. I check the warranty date on it... expired two months ago. I take it out and put another one in... and the printer works flawlessly.
It turns out the cartridge had a faulty chip inside!

Now that's Genuine HP quality for you 

[moominsean]

I was thoroughly disappointed in the SX-70 Onestep (with the rainbow stripe). Terrible exposure, crappy focus, great for wasting expensive film!

[Terry]

Been puzzling about this until it hit me: a slide duplicator.  I have no idea why I thought I'd ever need it and I certainly didn't use it.  Went in the bin last week.....

[Aksel]

For me it has to be the Bessa 667, I love the lens but hate the camera. Poor materials, fragile bellow, bad design that don´t accept filters on when collapsed and that have to be focused at infinity before being collapsed as well. It´s love and hate. Mostly hate. I have had three of them and regretted it every time I bought one.

[Sandeha Lynch]

Shame about the 667, Aksel.  Perhaps the only camera that has really disappointed me in its failure was my Fujica GS645, as the lens (not to mention its form size and rangefinder) was truly brilliant.  But it was a huge design liability and when the shutter linkage broke I was gutted.  I drooled a bit when the 667 came out but on hearing that it had the same design flaw I stayed away.

[Aksel]

Shame about the 667, Aksel.  Perhaps the only camera that has really disappointed me in its failure was my Fujica GS645, as the lens (not to mention its form size and rangefinder) was truly brilliant.  But it was a huge design liability and when the shutter linkage broke I was gutted.  I drooled a bit when the 667 came out but on hearing that it had the same design flaw I stayed away.

Yea, I really don´t get it. How would anyone give go ahead for such a flawed design? Never had the GS645 but I have been tempted to check it out several times. I oped for the GA645i /zi which I find humorous in it´s design and cheap materials, it´s a really good point and shoot, no more no less.

[Sandeha Lynch]

Yea, I really don´t get it. How would anyone give go ahead for such a flawed design? Never had the GS645 but I have been tempted to check it out several times. I oped for the GA645i /zi which I find humorous in it´s design and cheap materials, it´s a really good point and shoot, no more no less.

Agreed.  Later I tried the GS645S, but the 60/4 lens was nothing in comparison.

[imagesfrugales]

Not a single pic here so far?

My "winner" or better looser is hands down the Nikon 700 VR

The Nikon 700 VR - US name: Zoom-Touch 105 VR - was the first (and only?) analogue P+S cam with an image stabilizer, VR = vibration reduction. It's quite bulky, the built quality is great, but the lens and image quality is inferior, and it's missing all useful features that we miss with every P+S cam. Not even a backlight compensation. The small finder with the tiny viewing window is one of the worst I ever came across.

The camera was extremely expensive and a massive flop. What the heck the Nikon constructors made here? I bought this one for 1 Eur plus shipping and to be honest, for me it's worth nothing, exept that the camera belongs to the cabinet of curiosities. It came in a bag of finest Nappa leather. What a waste!

[SLVR]

Worst?

Any Polaroid. Land cameras, unreliable exposure, battery hackery, ridiculous prices for manual variants, expired film is a total crapshoot and fresh is now gone but at the time had little options and exorbitant prices.

SX70, hard to find a good working model, ejection issues, terrible to use with glasses, impossible film is very expensive and didn't age all that well, again expired film is total hit and miss now with potential issues with the emulsion, dev pods and battery.

Instant wasn't for me. I just couldnt stomach jumping into a format that required such a high cost to get that larger format look with such little support filmwise.

[Francois]

One of the worse I've seen so far is my Pola Onestep 600.
This is a traditional 600 camera, but without autofocus, close-up filters or electronic flash... It's basically just a shutter and a meter that shoots out prints.
Oh yeah, it has a flashbar adapter... and a neckstrap

[Late Developer]

Not a single pic here so far?

My "winner" or better looser is hands down the Nikon 700 VR

The Nikon 700 VR - US name: Zoom-Touch 105 VR - was the first (and only?) analogue P+S cam with an image stabilizer, VR = vibration reduction. It's quite bulky, the built quality is great, but the lens and image quality is inferior, and it's missing all useful features that we miss with every P+S cam. Not even a backlight compensation. The small finder with the tiny viewing window is one of the worst I ever came across.

You may already know this (so apologies if that's the case) but, if the camera is used on a tripod with VR active, that will cause problems with sharpness as the VR system will assume some movement is present and create some to counteract it - which will negate the benefit of it being on a tripod.

The camera was extremely expensive and a massive flop. What the heck the Nikon constructors made here? I bought this one for 1 Eur plus shipping and to be honest, for me it's worth nothing, exept that the camera belongs to the cabinet of curiosities. It came in a bag of finest Nappa leather. What a waste!

[Aksel]

Worst?

Any Polaroid. Land cameras, unreliable exposure, battery hackery, ridiculous prices for manual variants, expired film is a total crapshoot and fresh is now gone but at the time had little options and exorbitant prices.

That´s kind of interesting, the Land Cameras comes out at the other end of the scale in my book 
I`m willing to forgive the Land pretty much anything!

[hookstrapped]

I can't really think of a worst. Now, if we were talking automotive, I have stories...

  

[Francois]

You too?
I think my family has been cursed by the spell of Lemon until I broke it and got a Toyota.
Now, my rides produce the most boring stories ever... but I'm never stranded anywhere.

[Aksel]

I can't really think of a worst. Now, if we were talking automotive, I have stories...

  

I´d like to hear them 

Some of my most memorable moments ever has been in or with some sort of obscure car refusing to cooperate, somewhere far from home in the middle of the night 

[Francois]

Those are always good stories. Please do tell so I don't have to go first 

[zapsnaps]

A model who arrived at a (paid) shoot with the worst outbreak of skin blotches I've seen this side of a leprosarium. I wound my 400 film up to 1600 or 3200 and thought "I fancy grain today" and then stood as far back as the studio space would allow. I got one useable full-length shot out of the day.

[Francois]

In those cases, I know only one solution: black and white with a red filter.
Makes the skin very white and hides the red blemishes.

[zapsnaps]

Hi Francois

That's a good tip, thank you.

[Francois]

You're welcome. And if you want to go even cleaner, you can always develop in lith dev

[MacArron]

And if you want to go even cleaner, you can always develop in lith dev

The film or the model??

[Francois]

Very funny 

[DaveO]

I'd have to say that the Kodak disk cameras were near the top of the list.

[Bryan]

I thought those disk cameras looked pretty cool when they came out but I never did get one.  If I can get a recognizable image from a camera I'm usually happy, especially if it's a piece of junk.  If I had to choose the worst one it would be my Hit camera.  The lens isn't even on straight.  It's not ergonomic by any stretch of the imagination and everything about the construction is cheap and low quality.  I did manage to make a photo with it so for that I was happy.

Hit Camera by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

Hit the Bell by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

[Skorj]

Easy! The Konica Wai Wai. Brilliant device. Sold only for a short time. Wears out after about ten re-loads. Lens salvageable though!

More here: http://www.filmwasters.com/forum/index.php?topic=788.msg6645#msg6645



Very disappointing...

[Francois]

Well... At least it makes for an interesting looking body cap...

[This-is-damion]

My photographers lederhosen were a total let down.  The leather made them really sweaty and the chaffing was unbearable.

[Francois]

As long as they didn't come with a oom-pah band background track to make things worse...