Classic Beauty

While the following may seem somewhat irrational to some, it's really no less than admiring both car, and ride. And Lord knows it has nothing to do with the pros and cons of digital v analogue technologies. This is simply about aesthetics, camera aesthetics, or to put it another way- when was the last time you saw a good looking dSLR?

Taking the car analogy one step further, the styling of a lot of today's cars remind me of dSLRs- they all have that cast from one giant plastic mold look to them. Gone are the little bits of chrome and detail that gave both cars and cameras their individual flair and sensuality.

Compact cuties aside, digital cameras are the saddest, butt ugliest "class" of cameras to ever hit the market. Granted, many early film SLRs were absolute clunkers and many later models, plastic uglies for sure, but even the more expensive, metal clad digital bodies of today have an undeniably cheap, awkward look to them. There's just no way that those plastic LCD screens and unsightly rubber portal covers can enhance the overall aesthetics of any camera.

I recently saw a stack of Voigtlander R4 rangefinders at a camera store, and damn if those "cheap," illegitimate Leica cousins didn't look sexy beyond all belief. Yes, there was always a distinct visual pleasure when looking at the classic, sensual lines of a Leica M, the minimalist chrome allure of a 2 1/4 Hasselblad, or even the the hard edged masculinity of a Nikon F. Today, all I see are functional polycarbonate embodiments of various multi-pixelated, digital recording devices. Analogue tech may be passe, but its camera aesthetics have yet to be rivaled.