What is the most beautiful camera that you own, or have seen, or otherwise have a photo that you can post or link for our viewing pleasure?
There are several aesthetic hurdles to making a camera beautiful, so most cameras really aren't that attractive. Basically a camera is a box on a box, which is the reason why so many cameras look like a box (functional, but not very pretty). One box (the camera body) holds the film (sensor) and the battery and the shutter mechanism (and/or electronic controls). The other box (the lens) holds the glass lenses which direct the light to the film (or sensor).
A recent search of FM (and one or two other sites) for the term "beautiful camera" yielded the following cameras:
Leica M8
Canon 5D MkII
Olympus E-P1
Panasonic Lumix LX3
Canon 1D
Leica S2
Nikon D700
Mamiya 7 II
Rolleiflex MV-EVS (TLR)
Nikon FM3A
To be honest, I don't know what all these cameras look like. I would like to see some pictures of beautiful cameras, or at least cameras with stylistic features which make them seem like something other than a couple of boxes mashed together for another purpose (e.g. taking photographs). I suppose for comparison purposes you could also post pictures of ugly cameras, but I would prefer to see beautiful cameras. I think we should encourage the camera companies to move in the stylistic direction of the Olympus E-P1 or the Fuji X100 (for example) rather than towards cameras with nicknames like "brick" (for example).
I suspect that the most beautiful camera might be something like a pre-WWII Leica or something. I don't have anything like that. My most beautiful camera is a Yashica Electro 35 GSN. Unfortunately, this pretty camera is just that, and little more. The shutter doesn't work properly, which is probably why it looks unused. I have another GSN which looks a little more worn and weathered, but it takes great photographs so it is a much more functional machine.
Photo taken with my Canon 40D (nicely curved in places, wonderful to hold, but boringly black) and a Minolta Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 (scalloped metal focus ring is nice as is an aluminum aperture ring, but this is a well worn box which shows that its true beauty lies in its function even though it is much cheaper than its f/1.2 big brother).
I think the Nikon D3 is ruggedly handsome, but for most beautiful camera ever, I think I would have to include the new Leica M9 Titanium edition for consideration:
I am also very fond of just plain old black laquer Leica Ms from years past, especially with a little wear. The Marshall camera is a little overboard though
I am also partial to the Chamonix 45, very elegant and understated, but still modern:
Well, like most of you, I have regretted every classic film camera I have ever sold. Here is one I really enjoyed when I owned it (not my photo by the way). The schneider super angulon 47mm f8 lens was extremely sharp and the Leitz 21mm finder was gorgeous to look through. I purchased this for about $400 in mint condition when I was in college. Stupidly traded it for an old red bellowed Graphic View II 4x5 I needed for photo school at the time (pictured below).
I knew immediately when I saw it that I could never be happy with that M9 Titanium because the structure on the leather/rubber or whatever it is would remind me of the little blowtorch that has been sitting on my desk for a decade every time I look at it.
My vote would be a on Mamiya 645 Pro. It looks like a serious camera, and it is.
It lacks stupid stuff like 4 tons of chrome trim and other junk that belong on a ridiculous handgun or motorcycle. Plastic isn't always ugly.
I almost picked a Linhof Kardan Color 45 4x5, but on second thoughts, it styled like some and old dental chair or something like that. At least it's not made of wood or other stuff that you'd throw into a fire.
I really like your Yashica Electro, it was the very first 35mm camera I ever owned many years ago. Compared to the 110 cartridge-film camera I had been using, its' image quality seemed magical. Thanks mom and dad!
i have to say that i think pretty much every camera i've ever seen looks objectively ugly. i can appreciate fine precision engineering and machining in some of them, but they're still not anything i'd want to be caught wearing in public. having said that i think the ep1 maybe with the extra leather add on is probably one of the least ugly current cameras.
sebboh wrote:
i have to say that i think pretty much every camera i've ever seen looks objectively ugly. i can appreciate fine precision engineering and machining in some of them, but they're still not anything i'd want to be caught wearing in public. having said that i think the ep1 maybe with the extra leather add on is probably one of the least ugly current cameras.
That's about the most objectively crazy thing I have ever heard!
The original polaroid SX-70 is a pretty elegant camera, either open or closed.
I'd have to put the Konica Hexar AF out as a pretty elegant camera too. Actually most of the high-end 35 compacts from then were not bad looking (Nikon 35ti/28ti, Contax G1/g2, etc)
sebboh wrote:
i have to say that i think pretty much every camera i've ever seen looks objectively ugly. i can appreciate fine precision engineering and machining in some of them, but they're still not anything i'd want to be caught wearing in public. having said that i think the ep1 maybe with the extra leather add on is probably one of the least ugly current cameras.
I can see where you are coming from. As I wrote in the original post, a camera is just a box attached to a lens box. It is hard to make a box pretty, though it can be done.
It is true that beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder, but there are certain stylistic designs which can make a camera look nice, if not downright attractive. The rounded off corners of the Leica M8s shown above are a simple, yet elegant solution. Yes, the M8 is still a box, but it is also elegant at the same time.
Sep 24, 2010 at 04:57 PM