Nikon and Canon put to the ultimate durability test in a hydraulic press
Jul 7, 2016
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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Durability tests are usually good fun to watch. Some make you marvel at the science that goes into the testing and measuring to see just what kind of punishment the gear can handle. Others make you think “Oh, what’s Kai destroying this week?”
This one from the Hydraulic Press Channel, is a little more blunt than most durability tests, and it’s over pretty quickly. Needless to say, everything ultimately failed, although the Nikon won on minor points.
Sadly, the world is now a Nikon FA and a Canon AE-1 short, but I think we might be able to forgive them just this once. It’s one of those cognitive dissonance things.
I did find it quite interesting how solid the glass in that Canon FD 70-150mm f/4.5 lens seemed to be. I don’t think it’s very good from an optical standpoint, any more, but I expected it to shatter into dust. Lens technology has come a long way since then, so I can only imagine how modern glass compares.
If you were thinking of switching out your SLR/DSLR for a compact camera, this is certainly one way, although I wouldn’t advice it. There are definitely less painful methods out there!
It got me thinking, though. There have been some absolutely amazing cameras produced over the years, but there have also been some ridiculous duds. What terrible cameras from history (or the present) would you like to see die a horrible death in the hydraulic press? Let us know in the comments.
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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10 responses to “Nikon and Canon put to the ultimate durability test in a hydraulic press”
Nikon vs Canon blah blah blah *falls into deep coma*
why didn’t they destroy a short life digital instead of perennial film cameras. WASTE
Is the guy’s accent real? It sounds fake to me.
Sounds like the Finnish accent and definitely not fake. I’d even say that really good English speaking Finns still have quite a strong Finnish accent most of the time to their English, but of course it always depends.
my Nikon F2 titan would probably have broken the press. I’m not volunteering it though!
Yes Nikon FTW! I could watch the hydraulic press channel for hours (and maybe I have…(
And this proofs that…?
WTF?
Crush a Nikon D1 please. The damned beast was the price barrier that made digital prevail in the budget world. My paper made me use them and at 2.7 megapixels with horrific wb and exposure fluctuations the durable piece of crap won over bean counters and knocked quality photography back a decade. Quantity over quality was set in motion at that point for me.
That’s what I call a “compact lens” :)