Worst View Camera Ever?

[Vaughn]

A 4x5 Raja. An exact duplicate of a Deardorf Special made in India, all the weight, but none of the quality. I hitchhiked for 3 months in New Zealand with it and it had a massive light leak where the metal of the film back met the wood (discovered after my return).

I put a Deardorf 5x7 back on it and it became a wonderful camera.

Vaughn

[eric black]

Never really liked my Wista DXII- the knobs too small and unmanageable for my meathooks

[Oren Grad]

A 5x7 Burke and James. The front and rear standards had only the most precarious grip on the focusing track, so both were like jello. The folding focusing hood was extremely effective at blocking my view of the focusing screen. The focusing screen had a bold black grid pattern competing with the picture for attention - except here and there where it had rubbed off. The fold-down-to-the-rear rail was ideally positioned to intersect with my neck. And the thing weighed eight pounds.

Although I've never owned one, I agree that the Cadet was not Calumet/Cambo's brightest idea. The controls on the samples I've seen were impossible to adjust smoothly. That's partly why I've never owned one.

Apropos of Frank's Horizont, I still have a beat-up Horizon 202. The wind lever periodically falls off. The first time it happened, it took me a while to figure out that the reason I was having so much trouble putting back the fussy little screws that hold it in place was that the handedness of the threading was backward.

My entry in the "highly reputed cameras that just don't work out for me" category is the Hasselblad. I found a great deal on a 501C kit at a local dealer after digital had swept the market, and I was eager to see for myself why Hasselblads were so wonderful. I ended up keeping it for only a few months. Although it was nicely made, I found it hopelessly fussy to use.

[Mark Sampson]

My least favorite was the Camerz SLR. a 70mm long-roll camera for portraits. Huge, heavy, and nearly impossible to focus. I hope no one is still using one of those beasts.

[Dave Brown]

The Super Graphic. Terrible camera; excellent doorstop. It lacks the simple elegance and Art Deco beauty of its fore bearers.

It's kind of amazing that given how simple view cameras are, it's nonetheless possible to design a bad one. Perhaps we're all too fussy.

[Turner Reich]

The Calumet C1 8x10 metal camera that bites back.

[Daniel_Buck]

I've got a grey metal calumet 4x5 (I got it for free!) It may not be the worst camera made, but it's the 'worst' one I've used, it's very clunky to use, though I did kind of like the rotating back that could rotate to any angle! :-) I don't know why I haven't chucked it in the dumpster yet, it's missing alot of parts.

[W K Longcor]

My vote for the all time worst view camera -- the Newton NU- Vue 4X5 -- what a dog!!! The entire design was just plain BAD!

At one time, I owned a B&J Grover 8x10, too. It was as firm and steady as an Aspen Leaf in a wind storm -- but somehow, we got along quite well.

[Scott Davis]

I'll put in another vote for the Nu-Vue. What a godawful design! Gee- let's make a bi-rail camera out of die-cast metal, and give it a handle! So you'll have something to upgrade your wrist workout with after you've gotten used to bench-pressing an RB67.

[C. D. Keth]

I'll put in another vote for the Nu-Vue. What a godawful design! Gee- let's make a bi-rail camera out of die-cast metal, and give it a handle! So you'll have something to upgrade your wrist workout with after you've gotten used to bench-pressing an RB67.

The only good point about that design it that it made me think, for a few seconds, that maybe the rods would be sized and spaced so I could put my arri mattebox on it and use all of my 4x5.6 filters.