Why Did Film Compacts Have Useless Curved Designs

Time was when film compacts had to have a swirl and a curve in the design. I hated them. As far as I was concerned they were old fashioned and didn’t do anything to enhance the functionality of the camera. Here’s a Nikon with a curve to show you what I mean.

High End Film Cameras

What I said about curves only applied to point and shoot compacts. High end cameras didn’t look like that. In fact you could tell they were high end just by the look of them, like this Contax.

Digital

When digital cameras came out, the whole idea of digital was that they were functional and so the designs were much more minimalist and straight lines. Like this Canon. The only nod to the old is the slight curve at the end of the body.

Except Mju

What I said is mostly true, and some curvy cameras were a lot worse than the Nikon. But one film camera that was kind of curvy but still looked good was the Olympus Mju II. Olympus were known for svelte design. And somehow despite the curve, the camera looked the business.

I owned one at one time, but before I got to own one I had a go at owning one that didn’t come off. What happened was this.

I didn’t set out to buy an Olympus Mju II. But I was in New York, on Broadway and looking in camera shops. The store was narrow and deep with a counter running all down the left side. Maybe I asked for a Mju II or maybe the conversation went in that direction. Whichever it was the man got one out and I looked it over. Did I start to haggle or did he just start to come down in price to see at what price I would bite?

It was obvious to me and to him that I was hesitating, and then the price got crazy low. I didn’t know how to ask him without offending him. But this was Broadway, known for cheap goods and probably a lot of knock-offs and fake brands. So I approached the subject in what I hoped was the gentlest of ways. With the price being so low, I asked, do you think there is any possibility that this is not a genuine Olympus?

He didn’t answer me. He just picked up the camera and threw it down the length of the counter to the back of the shop. It was a long throw and he plainly didn’t care whether the camera survived.

I was shocked, disappointed, relieved. My bargain had slipped away. But would it have been a bargain? Now I didn’t have to think about it.

I am English and I was a tourist in New York. The man who served me was maybe Iranian or Iraqi or Egyptian and so his behaviour wasn’t as unexpected as it would have been if he had been from Middle England.

He didn’t order me out of the shop or any anything like that, but I felt my time in the shop was up. I kind of admired the man for not giving a sh*t about offending customers. And then I was out of the shop and laughing.

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