I've been a loyal Pentax user of 35 mm and then digital since the late 1970's. While I haven't loved everything about their cameras, especially the DSLRs, I've only had two lenses out of 20+ give me problems and both were fixed quickly and stayed fixed. The only catastrophic issue with digital body was with their first one--the *istD which didn't have a latch on the memory card slot and the camera would shut down if you somehow nudged the door open. Gaffer tape fixed that. I might well have bought a Nikon FM instead of the Pentax MX that I ended up with if the Nikon hadn't turned on its meter with the winding lever. I am left eyed and having that ever stuck in my right eye every time I took a meter reading was a non starter. If I had had the repeated issues with Pentax that you had with Nikon I would have switched.
It is interesting how much we are willing to adapt to tools for the sake of the end result. Over the psst few years I have been shooting film in 1930's and 1950's Contax cameras and Zeiss and Nikkor lenses. The cameras are not an ergonomic triumph but the lenses make it worth the effort.
I have a gaggle of great 35mm and Medium format lenses that I love to use on film so I can relate. Some of my film cameras I enjoy using "ergonomically" or maybe more accurately from a haptic point of view than I do many of my digital cameras. I make VERY different pictures when I am using my film cameras with manual focus and manual wind and external meter than I do with my more "ergonomic" cameras that are motor driven, autofocus, multi-segment metering, etc.
I still love film for quite a few reasons but as you probably know, film is becoming quite precious in terms of price over the last two years and this year particularly the prices are stratospheric. I guess that what sort of justifies my splurge on the CFV ii 50c as it doesn't take many rolls of 120 + color processing/scanning to justify the expense.
I've been a loyal Pentax user of 35 mm and then digital since the late 1970's. While I haven't loved everything about their cameras, especially the DSLRs, I've only had two lenses out of 20+ give me problems and both were fixed quickly and stayed fixed. The only catastrophic issue with digital body was with their first one--the *istD which didn't have a latch on the memory card slot and the camera would shut down if you somehow nudged the door open. Gaffer tape fixed that. I might well have bought a Nikon FM instead of the Pentax MX that I ended up with if the Nikon hadn't turned on its meter with the winding lever. I am left eyed and having that ever stuck in my right eye every time I took a meter reading was a non starter. If I had had the repeated issues with Pentax that you had with Nikon I would have switched.
It is interesting how much we are willing to adapt to tools for the sake of the end result. Over the psst few years I have been shooting film in 1930's and 1950's Contax cameras and Zeiss and Nikkor lenses. The cameras are not an ergonomic triumph but the lenses make it worth the effort.
I have a gaggle of great 35mm and Medium format lenses that I love to use on film so I can relate. Some of my film cameras I enjoy using "ergonomically" or maybe more accurately from a haptic point of view than I do many of my digital cameras. I make VERY different pictures when I am using my film cameras with manual focus and manual wind and external meter than I do with my more "ergonomic" cameras that are motor driven, autofocus, multi-segment metering, etc.
I still love film for quite a few reasons but as you probably know, film is becoming quite precious in terms of price over the last two years and this year particularly the prices are stratospheric. I guess that what sort of justifies my splurge on the CFV ii 50c as it doesn't take many rolls of 120 + color processing/scanning to justify the expense.