The Quality Mechanical Camera: Japan vs. Germany

[ph.]

On the current background of incfreased phonecam-use and traditional companies giving up, this past discussion on technology, business practices, fashion and cultural change deserves resurrection.

 

Potential new discussants might keep in mind that faster and cheaper production of devices performing similar services constructed with less labourious methods and of cheaper materials is an ancient art, rather like when individually rolled beeswax candles were displaced by frames dipping severfal wicks in less expensive molten wax,

 

Plastic is not just of the fragile and less precise type, cf. the last Angenieux amateur optics. What gives cause to reflect, however as moulding takes over is whether precision mechanical production skills litke those needed i60years ago might be needed in the future

 

Also, annual changes of style and profit-increasing, but non-essential frills like cigarette lighters, radios and cup carriers added to cars is an old phenomenon, so similar initiatives to increase camera sales income should not be unexpected -Hats being replaced by hoods and horses by cars also springs to mind.

 

. A well documented reference to industry history comes from page 42 of the excellent zeiss registry of mr, Berdt Otto and from pages 193-201 of Hans Jürgen -Ku`c s book on Contax where they detail the phletora of self-competing products that drained the finances of the Zeiss-Ikon-Voigtländer cameraworks so that the Zeiss foundation could not fund them any longer..

 

p.

[AlanKlein]

The best camera is the one you have with you.

[q.g._de_bakker]

The best camera is the one you have with you.

And what is the best camera to have with you?

[ph.]

one that fits in a pocket

 

(but not the Minox, too small negatives, and the 35mm variety was prone to failed shutters although its lens was quite good) I switched to the more fiddly handling Rollei 35 after giving up on several Minoxes. For digital, the Olympus pen is acceptable excdept for its wrongheaded focussing arrangement.

 

p.

[Mike Gammill]

For situations where I can only bring a small camera along it is either my Rollei 35S or Rollei B35. Either fits in jacket pocket or clip on case. If not limited by size of camera and I wish to stay mechanical it would be one of my Minolta SRTs or Olympus OM-1.

[JDMvW]

TL;DR

 

(see end of LensRental post The Great Flange-to-Sensor Distance Article. Part II: Photo Cameras)

[q.g._de_bakker]

Don't have to R. It is a 10 year old thread, so feel free to make it your own and say whatever you want.

[tbarrent]

<p><em>"So if our newer cameras don't meet some previous image quality standard, it's the standard that has to be fixed?"</em></p>

<p>Exactly. Just like the quality standard of a clean shave had to be fixed for electric shavers. They're safe, they're fast, they're convenient, they're sexy (so we're told, anyway) and the results are never better than a day's growth after using a blade. It had to become acceptable to show up at work with what previously would have been unforgivable stubble for electric shavers to be widely adopted. The standard for good food had to be fixed before we could enjoy using microwave ovens and toaster ovens and drip coffee makers, not to mention our technologically advanced foods themselves. Perceptions about the quality of the output have to stay in tune with what can be produced by things that may be adopted for other reasons. Mind you, I'm not saying that the pictures makeable with modern equipment are inferior in every way, or in most ways, or overall, compared with those made by previous generations of cameras. Only that they are inferior <em>in some ways </em>that used to matter to many consumers but no longer do, at least not enough to create resistance to the new gear.</p>

<p> </p>

The TRUE trick is in the advertising. You need to make the new product look better, or at the very least newer then the old.

 

Cant make coffee in 5 minutes? Why you simply need hot tap water and Folgers Instant Coffee crystals. YUMMMM,,,,,,

 

What dont have the time to make dinner, why heres our new TV DINNER.. Just ignore the taste of plastic and its GOOOD

[Ricochetrider]

I prefer the simple mechanical aspects of older cameras. If there were a digital camera with as few operational functions as my 500cm & Zeiss lenses (that doesn't cost X,000.00 USD), I might buy it.

[q.g._de_bakker]

I prefer the simple mechanical aspects of older cameras. If there were a digital camera with as few operational functions as my 500cm & Zeiss lenses (that doesn't cost X,000.00 USD), I might buy it.

There is no free lunch, and all that, but your simple 500 C/M is a digital camera if you want it to be. Just put a digital back on it.

Which, by the way, you may find for less than a new top-of-the-range DSLR if you buy used. Leaf or PhaseOne backs are not difficult to find.

Old school mechanics and modern digital capture is available.

[ph.]

An ancient thread may well be as functional as an ancient camera, provided it is carefully used ..

 

In this case, both appeals to freedom of repurposing, as well as reflections on the current state of "features" versus simplicity + users making efforts to master the basics, will be relevant.

 

p.-