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Edwin's Vignettes - Dissatisfaction

At the beginning of July, flush with some extra cash from selling off my duplicate Bronica gear, I was trying to decide how to use the proceeds. I had to be really careful about how I spent this money because it would be the last chunk of cash I would have for a major purchase for a long time to come. If you read my review of the Tamron SP 20-40mm lens then you would know that I'm not entirely satisfied with the lens due to its lack of saturation and overall quality compared to Nikon lenses. I was thinking about the Nikon 17-35mm f2.8 AF-S lens as the remedy to this but this would present another problem for me. My chunk of cash is limited and I could only go with one major upgrade and a few other items I had been wanting to round out the 35mm kit. There is no way I could afford to buy the 17-35mm lens and a top notch body like another F100. I would have to compromise and go with a F80/MB16 combo to get my desired AND needed second body.

Before seeing the F80 body I was thinking that a 17-35mm and the F80 would be the way to go since the F80 sounded very promising in features and ability but slowly as the F80 became more widely available, first in the east then finally out west, reports trickled in on the Nikon Mailing List that the F80 wasn't as good as people might have hoped for. It had nothing to do with features since everyone knew what they were for months prior to release but it had to do with build quality. The F80 is almost all plastic save for the lens mount and some basic under structure components and is marketed almost entirely to non-professional users. I was not pleased to hear this and neither were many of the Nikon List members. I had to wait anyway since the F80 was not out west yet so I reserved judgment but the build quality issue was nagging at me in the back of my mind.

In the meantime I posted a request for opinions on what they would do if they faced a similar choice, would they choose an excellent body a la F5 and a third party wide angle lens or would they go with the best wide angle lens on the market and compromise on the body. I got a few responses and most seemed to be towards going for the lens and instead of buying a F80, they were advising me to forgo the F80 and save up for another F100. Good advice but one that I already thought of and couldn't see it working due to the lack of funds. I suppose I shouldn't lose hope but I couldn't imagine when I might ever be able to afford another F100 or even a F5 if I bought the 17-35mm lens. On the other hand the 20-40mm would bother me until I could also afford to replace that with a Nikkor lens. Neither option seemed wholly satisfactory but with the 17-35mm route I would at least be able to keep everything within Nikon (mostly). I did receive one excellent, tongue in cheek response which sums up not only me but many others too and I offer it below:

On Wed 5 July 2000, at 20:33 Vancouver time, Edwin Leong wrote:
> ... today I finally saw and handled the first F80 I've seen
> in Vancouver and quite honestly and absolutely no offence to
> those who already own it, I was rather disgusted with the
> build quality of it and decided on the spot not to even
> contemplate it anymore....
>
> (I moved up to the F100 from a F90x and F70 and since I've
> been there and done that, I don't want to buy either of those
> bodies again either).

Dr Owl can help you here, Edwin. The description of your
condition contained in your latest post makes it clear that
you are suffering from buildqualititis.

This wretched condition afflicts many people on the Nikon
mailing list. It cannot be cured, and can be treated only
by using "camera robusta", of which Nikon is one of the main
suppliers. Common symptoms include

o     A feeling of horror when inspecting modern inexpensive
      SLR cameras.

o     Corrupted vocabulary: sufferers often use nonexistent
      words like "plasticky".

o     Fainting when a shop assistant says "Well, with Nikon
      you're just paying for the name -- all cameras are the
      same nowadays."

o     A squirrel-like burying behaviour, whereby equipment
      receipts are buried where one's spouse cannot find them.

o     An irrational refusal to accept that camera plastics are
      so strong that the Royal Navy uses them instead of steel
      for its warships.

Group therapy, in which sufferers gather together in cyberspace
to discuss how to pronounce "Nikon", helps a lot. Accordingly
some helpless sufferers have organized this list:

+     Alexander for example, suffers from a closely related
      complaint, softlensophobia. In his case I'm afraid, he
      has the secondary complication, Zeiss fever.

+     Mel G (a little known member of the Spice Girls) has
      recently been successfully treated with F5 medication.
      However, since he is a lawyer, one has to be sure that
      the case is well constructed as well.

Your situation is not as advanced as these, but your recent
obsessive compulsive studying of slides on a light table
(popularly known as "going loupy") indicates that you are
in danger of catching Leica syndrome or even Hasselblad
disorder. Prompt action is necessary: your F100 medication,
excellent in its way, is not enough.

Doubling your dose, as recommended by the Great Manhattan
Eccentric, is a first-rate solution. The only problem with
it seems to be that you cannot then treat your softlensophobia
at the same time. The same problem holds with F5 medication.

An alternative therapy, used in my case, is F3 treatment. This
is a very strong (and rather expensive) treatment, but I have
found that one can use medication which someone else has used
first. I also suffer from Heidecke's disease, though, so I
too may need to increase my dose.

F3 and F5 treatments are the strongest medicines currently
available from Nikon, and I doubt whether any treatment
weaker than your present F100 will do. But there is a camera
robusta, as strong as F100 medication, that will allow you to
treat your softlensophobia as well.

That's the Femtoo. The GME himself recommends this to some
sufferers, and indeed takes it himself, though his affliction
is such that he needs a triple dose. You could buy a Femtoo,
and AF-S treatment for your SLP, without risking an attack of
buildqualititis. The only cost would be the need to go cold
turkey on your battery dependency.

In the future, I fear you will need to save up for F5 treat-
ment. If that happens you should keep up the Femtoo. It is,
I'm afraid, addictive: most sufferers say they can handle it,
and could stop if they wanted, but what would they use when
they next go on holiday to Greenland?

Your fellow sufferer,

Owl

-------------------------------
Dr John Owlett, Southampton, UK

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