What is the worst camera you’ve ever used? If you ask Bellamy Hunt, founder of Japan Camera Hunter, his answer would be the Konica Aiborg (pronounced eye-borg), a compact 35mm camera he calls ‘an exercise in frustration.’
The Aiborg was released by Konica in 1991. At the time, Konica called the camera ‘futuristic,’ but Hunt is a little more to-the-point with his analysis, saying it’s just ‘ugly, weird and hard to understand.’ Headlining the complicated interface is a confusing array of buttons on the rear of the camera, which isn’t made any better by the poor ergonomics, unusual shutter button placement and unreliable joystick used for both focus and zoom.
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For better or worse, despite it’s ‘hot mess’ of an interface, Hunt says the camera is quite capable. Specifically, the lens had a respectable 35–105mm F3.5–8.5mm zoom made of 13 elements and overall captured respectable images the camera had a dedicated TV mode for capturing images of TVs that prevented issues from interlacing. It also had a ‘bouncy ball’ mode that took six photos on the same frame for unique multi-exposure experience as well as an intervalometer mode that could capture frames at specific intervals up to 99 hours between each frame.
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Quirky shooting modes aside, however, Hunt says the camera is just too complicated for its own good. While it’d certainly be a showpiece on your shelf, it’s not exactly a camera you’re probably going to want to run around shooting with. To read more, and see some sample images, head on over to Japan Camera Hunter to read his written review of this futuristic monstrosity.
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This article comes from DP Review and can be read on the original site.
