Worst ever…quite easy choice for me. When I learned LF in school, we receieved a new shipment of Toyo 45CX's. I think most of our students destroyed the CX's in about a year. The movements were like having a boa constrictor between the bellows. Suffice to say, I always checked out the Calumet view cameras before getting my Tachi.
Hasselblad 1000F
Originally Posted by butterflydream
Is that also known as a Kiev 88?
My guess at the worst view camera ever would be one of the early Daguerreotype cameras. The lenses were not corrected for many of the aberrations. The cameras did not actually have a ground glass. The image was viewed through a trap door on a white ard, then the image plane was moved forward to a reference mark where the blue rays would be sharp. Then the sensitized plate inserted. Lens-cap shutter and expose for…ever. Everything later in photography was an improvement on this!
Drew Bedo
www.quietlightphoto.com
http://www.artsyhome.com/author/drew-bedo
There are only three types of mounting flanges; too big, too small and wrong thread!
A Gandolphi 5x4: I'd ordered up a 10x8 in about 1979 from Fred (Gandolphi) after spending a delightful Saturday morning at his workshop in South London with Terence Donovan. After about 10 years I arrived at the top of the waiting list. In the interim I'd bought a 10x8 Deardorff with reduction back, Gandolphi's had been bought by someone & I changed my request to a 5x4. This duly arrived & was sent back immediately due to a split in the baseboard. Next one arrived & the standards weren't parallel. The third one arrived. Served me quite well for 6 months in the studio. THEN, my first big commission abroad (Miami) shooting for a sun lotion ad campaign. 1 of the shots involved waiting for a 6yr old child to swim into frame while I was up a cherry picker. The Polaroid was fine. The 2 frames I shot off on the art director were fine. The 50 odd sheets taken waiting for the child to get into position - all fogged. Closer inspection revealed the light trap wasn't engaging with the darkslide as it wasn't milled out to the correct dimensions. Reshot the next day using my 10x8 Deardorff. Immediately ordered up a 5x7 special from Jack in Chicago and have never looked back since. Needless to say, the Gandolphi went back for correction & was immediately sold.
Yeah the Calumet C-1 sucks!
I have to agree, my dad had one and loved it. Solid reliable cameras. As for the lenses.. the fact DSLR uses ( especially Pentax ones ) use M42 lenses says it all..
Every 35mm camera I've ever owned. You can't make technically high quality photographs from a negative the size of a postage stamp. My least favorite LF camera (not "bad," just one that didn't agree with me) was a Linhof Technikardan. Funny how some people list my favorite cameras among their least favorite - my Deardorff 8x10 was my all-time favorite wood camera, my Linhof Master Technika was my all-time favorite LF camera period, and my Canon 5D is my favorite small format camera.
Brian Ellis
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
a mile away and you'll have their shoes.
I've still got a "Brand 17" 4x5 I bought 30 years ago for $35 including a lens. This thing is pretty much crap on a crumpet. That corrugated thing between the front and back of the camera, isn't it supposed to be flexible? Do the rest of you guys carry a can of penetrating oil to use before making adjustments? After using this my 5x7 Deardorff feels a little loosey goosey.
Dan
Dan Williams
Enumclaw WA
Yes 30wt motor oil
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