The Best-Looking Cameras

Unusually for a camera, Marc Newson's designer K-01 is original art.

It's curious that car buffs seem to have no problem talking happily for hours about how cars look, completely apart from performance, yet, for camera buffs, the issue is a bit more fraught. Many of us care, and some of us care more than we care to admit. It's quite popular to say things like "it doesn't matter what the camera looks like, it's a tool, meant for doing a job," etc.—which might be all very true. So if you feel that way, this post isn't for you, then.

Judged purely for the way they look, what are the best-looking cameras you can buy new today? I've got the Pentax K-5 on my list—a very no-nonsense, functional look, unspoiled by fake styleyness—a classic, muscular, compact SLR shape, well styled for its size. Maybe I'm prejudiced by how good the camera feels in the hand. (Disclaimer: Pentax is an advertiser, and I own a K-5.) I also like the Canon 5D Mark III for the same reason, and I think the Panasonic GX1 is a superb design—it manages to be simple and straightforward in design while also being practical and very well-proportioned, with very tasteful accents. It's "not too much, not too little."

I'm not sure where I come down on the lately famous Fuji X100, which is sitting on my desk as I write. It's a little too Leica-esque, maybe—in person it's small and delicate, which makes all the detailing seem just slightly fussy. (I said slightly, so don't beat me up too bad.) I wish it channeled the '70s fixed-lens rangefinders a little more firmly. I suspect the Fuji X-Pro1 has eclipsed even the X100 in the good-looks department (as it seems to have done in the affections of rangefinder fans).

Some other Marc Newson designs

The new Pentax K-01 is the first camera design I can think of in a long time where the company gave a generalist industrial designer carte blanche and let him or her design a whole camera from scratch (there was a spate of that in the '70s, especially with Contax and Porsche Design, and Nikon and Italdesign Giugiaro). The K-01 is essentially a work of art in itself, the whole-cloth creation of current hot designer Marc Newson (and probably really ought to be purchased in Newson's signature bright yellow color). I wouldn't call it good looking, but I think I need to see it in person before I make up my mind about its appearance. At least, I am generally of the opinion that "future classic" designs often don't quite fit the era of their own introduction seamlessly or non-controversially—remember that the Eiffel Tower, when it was first built, outraged then-current Parisian taste; many considered it a monstrosity and an eyesore. But those critics are long gone now (literally), and the Tour Eiffel has been delighting people visually for a hundred years. As I've said before, some Chicagoans don't like the new Soldier Field, but I believe it will become a treasured city landmark in time. Great design often isn't fully understood when it's brand new, the simple reason being that it's unconventional. (The same is true in music and art.) The K-01 has a bit of that vibe to me too—a design that doesn't quite meet the expectations of current convention, but that could come to be be more appreciated in the future than it is now.

Nikon is a company of which I very much approve, of course, but its camera designs have left me cold for years now just in terms of appearances. The D800 might be the best camera ever made, as people seem to be saying all over the web, but it's the girl next door in terms of looks. (Nikon is apparently never going to get tired of Guigiaro's red slash, which has looked rote and kind of forlorn for years now.) Olympus, on the other hand, has a long history of great-looking designs, going from strength to strength even as the parent company itself has become deeply controversial. (Although the verdict is still out—for me anyway—about my next camera purchase, the first OM-D.)

But enough about me, as they say. What would your nominations be? Help me come up with a list.

Oh, and if you're one of those "it's all a matter of taste" guys, you can skip over this post too. It's true, it is a matter of taste—fine, so exercise that taste and tell us what you like. (Note again that I'm talking about new cameras, cameras you can buy today, not historical designs.)

Mike

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Featured Comment by Mark: "I might well be biased, since I own one, but I like the aesthetics of the Sony 900/850. Straightforward, comfortable in the hand, not too small, not too light. Somewhat angular and not too rounded. It looks like a camera, not a blob of plastic or an mp3 player. The KM-5, the OM-D, and the X-Pro1 are similarly good-looking cameras to my eye. All of them are reminiscent of classical camera design. Apparently, my aesthetic sense for cameras was formed before the EOS-1... which was released a decade before I started photographing. I always thought the late-generation Contax film cameras were the best-looking cameras around."

Featured [partial] Comment by PWL: "Sorry, but for me, that K-01 is FUGLY. Clumsy and boxy-looking. Garish too, with that Bad Acid Trip Yellow. Wouldn't take it for free. Nup."

Featured [partial] Comment by Scott L.: "The Pentax K-01 looks fantastic."

Featured Comment by Tim F: "Shirley you cannot be serious. When I saw your title I immediately thought this is one list where I won't see that yellow monstrosity that headlines your post."

Mike replies: I didn't actually say I like it...I said I need to see it in person before making up my mind. And stop calling me Shirley. Bah-dum-pah.

Featured [partial] Comment by Mike Anderson: "That Pentax K-01 looks modern—that is, in a couple years it will look a couple years dated. It looks 'illiterate' to me; the designer wasn't a student of camera design."

Featured Comment by Adam Z.: "I definitely feel some stigma when I admit aloud that how a camera looks and feels is important to me. But when I think about it: it should be important. Buying a good camera is kind of a huge investment—especially for an amateur like myself who will never have it pay off. And given that, within my price-range at least, all large-sensor digital cameras perform about equally well (give or take), why not get one that's a joy to look at and use, as well as a high-quality tool?

"That's why I bought an E-P2. Between that and the GF1, performance was about the same. But the Olympus looked like a camera should—at least to me.

"It's also why I've wandered largely back to film for shooting that's not for my food blog (sorry for the blatant plug). I'd rather carry around a rangefinder, or a TLR, that I find beautiful and fun and mentally stimulating to shoot with than something that looks either clunky, or like The Future(TM).

"It's a matter of aesthetics, or priorities, or something like that, I guess. But the fact that I like all of my cameras right now—that I want to play with them—is kind of a huge deal to me."

Featured Comment by Ed Buziak: "My all-time favorite is the 1988 Olympus "O-Product" for its outlandish—but oh-so-cool then and now—35mm camera design. But I also admit to being kinda surprisingly and pleasantly hooked on the eye-catching yellow Pentax K-01. If it were made in blue (I'm a blue jeans guy), or even red (nice contrast to those jeans), I would sell my aging Nikon D300 for one in an instant, buy a couple of pancake lenses for it, and even use it as a paperweight when working at my desk...to blend-in with other well-designed trinkets such as my '80s Braun 4835 calculator, Artemide Dedalino pencil holder, and a tall Pastis 51 glass from the bar downstairs which usually holds fresh flowers when not in regular designated use."

Featured Comment by Marc Lankhorst: "No contest: Leica MP, in black. Yes, it is a film camera, and yes, you can still buy one today ;-)"

Featured Comment by Frank Walsh: "If we are in the world of current cameras, I can't help but get googly-eyed over the X-Pro1. It is just a lust-worthy looker! Of course it may be unfair to point out the Fuji without a nod to the M9, its clear 'inspiration,' but it always seems as if Leicas are just too far out there for me to even think about as real (even though I own a IIIf). Like Bang & Olufsen audio equipment. Beautiful, but really?"

Featured Comment by Bill Wheeler: "My daughter-in-law just purchased a Nikon J1. I like its looks, and it feels great in the hand. In appearance it reminds me of a Leica screwmount camera. Very cool."

Featured [partial] Comment by Rick Wilcox: "Okay, here goes my stab at it. I pick the Sony NEX-7. Bear in mind when I first saw the NEX form factor (and all its subsequent iterations) I equated it with the obelisk from '2001: A Space Odyssey' turned sideways with a bulky lens attached to it. Too hi-tech for me. Finally, after all the hype and some sterling reviews about the seventh generation, I went down to the local camera store and looked it over. Absolutely fell in love with it. It is good to go. A bit of a leaning curve, but very intuitive. I almost bought it. I did not, and only because I now want to go look at the OM-D."

Featured [partial] Comment by Rick D: "I'm off in the weeds on DSLRs—I don't find any of them to be fetching designs such as, say, a Nikon F or Contax S2. Certain of them may be triumphs of ergonomic goodness but they're as attractive as corrective shoes."

Featured [partial] Comment by Edward Taylor: "I find most cameras to be at least a little bit beautiful." [Note: Ed has reviewed several cameras here on TOP. —Ed.]

Featured [partial] Comment by James: "...honestly, I have never seen an attractive camera. Never. Not a Canon, not a Nikon, not a Pentax, not a Leica, not a Deardorff, not a Hasselblad, not a Kodak. I've seen some interesting looking cameras and some ugly cameras, but I've never seen a pretty one."

Featured Comment by ScottKemp2: "I am a person who likes design. I love it in architecture and in consumer products. I love art. I love beauty. So why do I think the Nikon D700 looks exactly right? It is not the red stripe; we could lose that. I respect the old idea of craftsmanship at Nikon. Each new model of the high end cameras starts with the one before (which started with the one before that) and makes changes only in very restrained ways which are thought to provide functional improvements. It is the old Japanese idea of perfection in craftmanship. The idea is not to do something new, but to continue to improve the traditional object and move it on towards perfection. I love that about the Nikon professional products."

Featured Comment by Niels: "Ironically the Pentax K-01 is not photogenic but it will grow on you when you handle it. Changing my mind from first thinking something is extremely ugly to the opposite rarely happens to me but this was one of the few cases where I got a very positive surprise. Sadly the lack of physical shops where people can actually handle the camera will probably limit its success."

Featured Comment by Friedrich: "I appreciate the utilitarian beauty of the newer Pentax DSLRs (I own a K-7, and it is the best looking DSLR—which isn't saying much), but I can also see that from a purely aesthetic standpoint, all DSLRs will leave most people cold.

"The K-01 though is a huge failure in my opinion. It looks nicely graphical on paper, when photographed from right angles with high contrast. It looks bulky in reality, especially when sitting next to other mirrorless cameras (then again—all NEX lenses look comically bulky on NEXes). It's so strange—Pentax is good at making beautiful, small lenses. And then they release this over-styled, ugly, impractical brick of a camera.

"And therein lies its real fault: Styling is only one aspect of design. It is important, and should be integral, but it must be balanced with practicality. Design is how it works. And the K-01 is the least hand-holdable of all current 'serious' cameras. The 'designer' is obviously a stylist, not an engineering designer.

"Pentax could have hit it really big with the same concept. Make it look less thick, make it hand-holdable, give it a folding screen at least, and please no faux mirror/viewfinder hump when it doesn't even have an EVF. Instead they let Mr Newsom make some very big, even amateurish, mistakes. I fear they've lost a big chance.

"Oh, and yeah, Nikon DSLRs are bland. Most Canon DSLRs are too round. And all cameras are too much the same. Though—please—refrain from trying something different just for the sake of it being different. It also has to be better, or it has no raison d'être.

"TL;DR: Design is more than styling."

Featured Comment by Kelvin: "Mike, you do realise that this sort of blog post is just asking for a follow-up of 'worst-looking cameras'?"

Mike replies: We already did that, in 2006...the nominees here, and the winner here. (Granted, we had fewer commenters—and readers—back then.)

Featured Comment by MM: "I prize simplicity in appearance, so no question for me: Leica S2 with vertical grip (yes, I like beefy cameras). Elegant, curvy, but no-nonsense. Look at that picture and you'll see three simple dots, two of which are functional (the silhouette itself says 'Leica SLR,' so the red dot is superfluous; the silver button for lens release is mostly hidden by the lens). Now look at the top of the camera. Note how many buttons, switches, and control wheels there are on the top plate: one. The outline around the top plate is as curvy as a Formula 1 track. Finally, look at the back. Compare it, say, to the new Nikon D800 (which costs 1/10th as much and probably does more, but we're talking looks here). There will be plenty of new types and shapes of cameras in the years to come, but I'm not sure a full-size DSLR can look any better than the S2.

Comments

[Jeff Smith]

Oh my gosh - how could I have failed to mention the Hasselblad 500C

[wchen]

Current cameras? Depends on which side you are looking at. The Oly E-Ps' faces are fantastic, but the back, hmmm... I will shut up for the new Pentax K-01,and wait for another hundred years (if I can) for a better opinion.

[Paul Amyes]

The black plastic blobs festooned with knobs, buttons and dials really don't do it for me. I also dislike how they feel. I like a minimalist looking camera, something that says it is purposeful and efficient. My LX5 fits that description nicely and it has a tactile quality that makes me want to hold it. The modern medium format cameras such as the hasselblads and the pentax look good to me. I'm smitten by the looks of the OMD EM5 , but I've yet to see one in the flesh so that might change. My all time favourite cameras to look at and use were mey OM4 and XA.

[Rob]

As a Pentax user, I am all too familiar with the controversy over the styling of the K-01. As for myself, I rather like it, in part, because it breaks so many of the conventions of camera design, but also because I like clunky modern design. I give Pentax credit for their willingness to experiment. What so many detractors forget is that this odd looking camera can use any K mount lens ever produced without an adaptor. That's a lot of lenses. I have yet to handle a K-01, so I cannot comment on its functionality, but from what I have seen on the interwebs, it can deliver very high IQ. Match it with any of the superb Pentax Limited pancake lenses, and you have a very neat little package. Not the littlest in the world, perhaps, but still quite easy to carry.

[Stan B.]

I can understand why everyone dislikes the Pentax Playskool Special, what I can't understand is how they're so enamored of a Sony camera that looks like a 4x5 film holder with a lens glued on.

[James W.]

The Canon S100, Panasonic GX1, Olympus OM-D (black), and Pentax K-r. I prefer them small, solid and plain.

The D800 may be the ugliest DSLR yet. Why does every high-end DSLR have to look like an H.R. Giger nightmare? Or a video game console. It would be nice if manufacturers moved on from the late '80s–early '90s melted blob of black plastic. And Nikon really needs to lose the trashy red, yellow and gold bling on their products. But I doubt they will. It is strong branding, after all.

The problem with retro is that it's never done well and ends up looking pretentious. The new, fake VW Beetle, new, fake Mini, and my Fuji X100 all provoke the same reaction: 'I see what you were trying to do there, but it doesn't quite work.'

Pentax and Fujifilm, at least, seem to be the only camera makers interested in trying something different. I think camera aesthetics peaked in the 1950s (and I was born in the '70s).

[David L.]

My Leica M6 Panda

absolutely, surely,

the loveliest of cameras.

The M6 Panda,

an eloquent companion,

proud to be seen,

never to embarrass me.

[Michael Bearman]

Minox B

[David A. Goldfarb]

http://m.alpa.ch/en/products/cameras/camera-bodies/alpa-12-tc.html

What's not to like?

[Janne]

DSLR's all leave me cold. They're all the same dull, uninspiring rounded black plastic blobs.

The Leica MP or M7 are beautiful, and even more so when you hold one. One day I wish I'll be able to own one.

The K-01 is surprisingly agreeable to me when I hold it. It balances well, and I appreciate the styling. It's still a toss-up but I suspect it may grow into becoming a classic design. The one usability black mark is the lack of any viewfinder. Had there been one this would have become my next camera.

The Pentax Q is beautiful. It's like a small, perfect jewel of a camera. No idea how it handles but it's almost designed to be worn more than used.

[Ira Crummey]

okay, here are my thoughts on the whole thing. I own a Pentax K20D, it is a functional design in the modern DSLR idiom, not particularly handsome but better than most. I also own an Olympus E-P2 which (with the 17mm f2.8 lens and the VF-1 optical viewfinder) is absolutely stunning as cameras go. The Olympus looks so "right" to my (admittedly) dated sensibilities.

As for the Fujis, I like the X100 better than the Xpro1. I find that the huge expanse of black metal between the viewfinder and the focus assit lamp looks empty and out of place. The slight angle of the control side of the top plate also seems awkward to me. I may be alone in these thoughts but that is how I see it.

The Nikon V1 is just too featureless and the small box for the EVF really makes it look odd.

The Sony NEX-7 is interesting but not really there for me.

I also have not seen a Pentax K-01 yet, it is novel and may look dated in the near future but at least it is an attempt to do a modern design rather than the rather strained retro styling of the Olympus OM-D (did they really have to make the EVF look like a prism? A little over the top I thought).

I may long for hints of the past (my E-P2 has that) but I still see a need to move forward. Overtly retro automotive styling resulted in the PT Cruiser and the Chevy HHR (sad), toned down homages to the past gave us the modern pony cars (much better though still not there) but modern styling with an eye to tradition design values gave us the Aston Martin DB9 (a high water mark in aytomotive beauty). Perhaps designers need to approach cameras in this manner.

[RohithT]

I'm a big fan of how my Olympus E-M5 looks (then again, I had better, since I plan to use it for the next 3+ years). It's not the most photogenic of cameras (rather ironic, no?), but in person, it looks great. It's not an elegant camera like my E-P1, but it's purposeful and sinewy. The black color really makes it. In silver, it's good looking, but seems a bit retro fetish-tastic. In black, it's more becoming.

Another camera I like that I think looks good, which no one else does I'm sure, is the Canon D10. In person, it looks like a high tech rubber ducky. It's just short of adorable, and wears its bulbous kid-firendly shape proudly.

One more camera that looks great: the new Black Magic Cinema Camera. Pure purpose and nothing extraneous (even the E-M5 has a little styled extraneousness, with the semi prismatic look to the EVF housing/hot shoe mount/accessory port hump). Very well done.

On my dislike list, pretty much all DSLR's (though that K-5 looks decent). They mostly just have the same generic melted blob of ice cream look. Ugh.

[Carlos Quijano]

Pentax MX
Leica M7
Nikon F3

[Caleb Courteau]

Leica S2. The Germans built one hell of a handsome camera. It's distinctive, and from what I've heard, incredibly easy to use. I'll never know because it costs as much as a good college education.

[Dave Kee]

"the new Soldier Field" and "treasured city landmark" in the same sentence. Only in Wisconsin where folks wear cheddar slices on their heads. ;-)

[JohnMFlores]

The best looking camera is the one you have with you. Conversely, the ugliest camera is the one you left at home.

[Tom Fangel]

Sinar Norma
Hasselblad 500
Nikon F

Best looking because I worked with them for a long period of time.

Looking at them today reminds me of photography 40 years ago.

[Zeeman]

I agree with your view of the K-5's looks. But I also think it looks different depending on what sort of lens is on it:

With an old manual lens (this one's the "K" 28mm f/3.5), it looks quite classic:

With one of the pancake primes such as the 21mm here, it looks sleek, more modern:

And with one of those butt-ugly early film-era AF lenses, it looks... Wunderplastik.

[Mani Sitaraman]

A Contax IIa with a 3.5/50 mm Zeiss Tessar lens. Beauty beyond compare. Curse you thief, who stole my copy in 1979 in New York City.

http://snipurl.com/23bryas

http://www.kameramuseum.de/0-fotokameras/zeiss/contax2a/contax-2a-3,5-schraeg.jpg

[Roger Bradbury]

I like the look of the K-01 in yellow, but I would like it more if the viewfinder like hump on the top held a viewfinder. Form follows function.

The K-01 is not the worse culprit for this by far, but it's at the top of your post, so...

I do like the look of, and the function of, the K5.

[Armand]

Leica MP
Nikon F
Leica IIIf RD ST

[jorg]

The Nikon FA is in my eyes the most beautiful camera-design. classic, analog, not too overweight, not a toy, not bragging about all the technology indside.
preferably in silver/black with an ais 35/1.4 mounted. oh, add a worn leatherstrap and a pack of player´s navy cut.

[Roberto]

I'll probably buy a OM-D, it is beautiful but it is the negation of "design", just a copy of an old beautiful camera. At least in this techno business the "form follows function" principle has its validity, and in this respect the NEX-7 body is at the moment in the top of my list.
The design of the K-01 is ok, has personality, but suffers from the flaws in the specifications of the camera: a mirrorless which does not profit from the reduced flange-sensor distance. So is is bulky, and it bulky-ness reminds me why I don't like the camera. Like the yellow though.

[ranjit grover]

Good looks without functionality?
Not for me.
I think they stopped making cameras after they made Pentax ME super and Olympus OM2.
The camera makers are trying to con us into spending our money on thrash.
Look at the PAMS dial of any camera!
What are we going to do with all the modes like underwater and night scene? Why could they not put shutter speeds there?
What ever happened to the F: number ring on the lens barrel?
No sir, there is not even one good looking camera in the market!!
Ranjit Grover India

[James]

I always feel odd when I butt into "pretty camera" conversations, but honestly, I have never seen an attractive camera. Never. Not a Canon, not a Nikon, not a Pentax, not a Leica, not a Deardorff, not a Hasselblad, not a Kodak. I've seen some interesting looking cameras and some ugly cameras, but I've never seen a pretty one.

As far as aesthetics go, the way a camera feels in the hand is all I care about. Some cameras feel good in the hand (5D/D700 style prosumer DSLR bodies feel _right_ to me) and some don't (gripless retrobodies want to fall out of my hands and entry level DSLRs feel so small and flimsy that I can barely bring myself to push the shutter).

[borfthedog]

In terms of design, currently DSLRs have nothing to do with other segments less scared of innovation, like mirrorless.

OM-D is really appealing, but as a pentaxian I will propose Pentax Q as the best current camera design.

[Photoblossoms.wordpress.com]

IMO, camera design is always a fusion in design and how it feels in your hands. I am trying the K-01 for the rest of 2012. What i can say is that the K-01 is a camera you need to see live! It feels rock solid and the ergonomics of this brick are so simple that you want it to take in your hands more and more. Also i am saying that i've not the yellow one but have seen the yellow also live. Ähm...the yellow one smells like a rubber boat, the other colors not, really...
Nicely
XebastYan.

[eugene]

Hi Mike,

My take would be:

Outstanding design : Pentax K7/K5 (yes, I have the K7)

Excellent design: Sony A80/900

Best design: Leica M9 'Titanium" by Walter De Silva

Yes, I do agree that cameras ought to offer a bit more pizaza so that we can sit around a table admiring the lines and form like a well designed car under suitable lighting.

So that's why my vote is to the Leica that had the ex-chief of Audi Design Team penned the lines. A more stylish and modern form compared to the regular M9, to my eye. Design wise its head and shoulder above every other current camera in production, price not withstanding.

Thanks for this article.

Warmest regards
gene

p.s. Nikon and Canon are too far gone to allow that kind of collaboration, but there's hope still,.

[Toby]

I actually quite like the red stripe on a Nikon. Like the chrome shutter knob, it breaks up the black body - unlike that other brand. :-)

[Ron Zack]

Here's my choices for current cameras:

Olympus E-M5 - the silver one, with the nice, compact silver 14-42 zoom lens. Looks like a billion dollars. I would buy one on looks alone, let alone performance. Olympus pays homage to the old OM's, without copying them directly, much like VW paid homage to the old Beatles with the New Beatle.

Lumix GX1 - A far better design in my book than the classic GF1, as simple and straightforward of a camera as you could want, but with excellent ergonomics, and great style. Another camera I would by on looks alone.

Leica M9 - again, the silver one. Just beautiful, simple and robust. The evolutionary lines are very evident.

Pentax K-5 - To me, it's the epitome of what a tough, rugged DSLR should look like. Looks like it will either take your photo, or beat the crap out of you.

Hasselblad H4D-50 - Best looking camera of them all, by far. Looks like it wants to fly off you tripod and go into low Earth orbit. Super sexy in a way only the Swedish could pull off.

And my choices for past digital cameras:

Olympus E-1 - The first, and still best looking Olympus DSLR, before they wanted to clone what Canon was doing. Also the best looking DSLR ever, and to actually pickup and use one gives you a chill up your spine, no kidding. Not only does it have the looks, the connection it makes with the photographer is simply incredible.

Olympus E-P2 - in black, of course. Looks far better in person than it does in photos. One of those cameras you would buy for looks alone. The E-P3, with that useful, but ugly removable grip, destroyed the elegant lines of this classic design. Fortunately, there are still a few new-in-the-box E-P2's out there for those who missed out.

[Caleb Courteau]

@Burt

I understand about minor aesthetic foibles ruining one's relationship with a lens. I have a Nikon D80 with a perm-attached 50 1.8. Supposedly the 35 1.8 is supposed to be the dream budget lens for DX Nikons, but the way it's bulbous body tapered to it's lens flange turned me off and now it's gone. Also, the obscure (long discontinued) Pentax MZ-S gets my vote as an original and functional design that's also pleasing to the eye.

[Ruby]

I love my K-5, it feels so very natural in my hands. I find the yellow of the K-01 uncomfortable and garish (and I like a viewfinder), but I have yet to show it to a teenage male (I have teenage sons, and their friends come over) who doesn't think it looks cool. So if that's their demographic, it should do well.

I'd rather have a Q than a K-01, but the K-5 is already perfect for me.

[Godfrey]

My all time timeless camera designs ...
Leica M4-2
Nikon F
Olympus E-1
Leica M9

Modern runner up ...
Ricoh GXR

Yeah, I'm biased too. These are my current cameras. :-)

Honorable mention to the Panasonic DMC-L1 too.

[Ben]

Helped by their compact form, the K-7 and K-5 are definitely the best looking digital SLRs of recent times, although the K-01 is definitely a Marmite design. Americans unfamiliar with yeast extracts may need to look that one up.

I don't think Nikon or Canon have produced a decent looking SLR since the heady days of the F3 (especially in battered P guise) and (New) F-1.

[Pak-Ming Wan]

Everyone here has already covered SLRs and rangefinders, but my vote for a modern camera design goes to Canon S90/S95/S100. It took years of incremental refinement through the ixus range to arrive at this point.

Hopefully, one day all cameras will be this small, this quiet, this convenient.

Pak

[Marc Gibeault]

Canons are all descendants of the Original Luigi Colani design but they're more and more denatured.
The first half-dozen concepts were all beautiful and great departures from the classic camera look.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

I agree that the different abilities and requirements of digital design (compared to mechanical film cameras) should lead to design experimentation, and quite probably to more effective new designs. There has been some of this -- the twisting Nikon P&S for example, and some early Sony models were quite different from anything made for film.

As a left-eyed shooter, the question of position of viewfinder is of interest to me. But people seem to be arguing for putting it at the LEFT of the body, which is the worst possible place for me, so that's not going to help me any. Huh, I wonder if anybody will ever put TWO accessory ports for EVF on a camera, one on each side? The flash or something could go on the other one.

[Darrell Marquette]

The X100 looks a little too much like a Leica? Really. That's exactly why I bought it because it is the closest I will ever get to a Leica. The more I use the X100 the more convinced I am that it does just about everything well. It is smaller than I expected but it has the features I wanted in a compact camera - large sensor, short lens, manual controls and an optical viewfinder.

[Michael Barkowski]

I like the K-5, but it would be better with a red slash ;)

[Rick D]

Oops, I should have known another post would have me adding an extra one. I forgot about the Sigma DP twins, which are beautifully designed and build compacts--both sleek and purposeful.

I think it's a Freudian oversight on my part, as I own one but it spends a lot of time in a drawer due to its infuriating ways. Camera beauty should be at least somewhat echoed by its user-friendliness.

[Frans]

My Olympus E-PL1 (black): small, square, simple, functional, and none of that retro nonsense.

[John Hufnagel]

I really like the clean lines of the Olympus OM-D E-M5. Although Pentax has made many attractive cameras, the K-01 is certainly the Pontiac Aztek of cameras.

[Steve Rosenbach]

Naw, I can't see that K-01 as being handsome in any way. The body covering reminds me of a Zorki-4: http://www.thecamerasite.net/02_Rangefinders/Pages/zorki.htm

[DaveC]

I have to say I love the D3/x/s design. Since I've had one none of the others look anywhere near as purposeful.

Previously I liked the dainty Olympus stuff, and I do miss the lightweight.

But the D3/x/s bullies me into getting out the door and shooting. Then there's the ergonomics. The newer Nikons look just that little too round for my current tastes apparently.

Dave.

[Arg]

I don't like the Leicas Fujis etc because they are pure retro, and the retro designs they imitate were progressive and functional. So it is rather an insult.

The Sony NEX series is very nicely done, UNTIL YOU PUT ON A LENS.

[NucularHolyWarrior]

Pentax Q is the best looking camera, also tiny and functional...

most people cannot get over the sensor size though, but it is not at all that bad... going a few years back to the past, D2H has a worse sensor score @DxO, and the venerable D50 just slightly higher...

poor sensor scores didn't stop the people who owned those DSLR's from taking good photos either, all the rest that you want from a photo device perspective, is there with the Q too, and it looks just great to boot.

[Dean Johnston]

Hi.

It may be neither politic nor polite to mention that some people are so ugly that you have a physical start when you first see them. I feel I can say this because I have, on numerous occasions, been subject to said response when the eyes of others have fallen upon my less than pleasant visage.

Thus I suspect that if a certain K-01 in a certain large Tokyo camera store could talk (and indeed had the company of someone or something capable of listening), then it might have had occasion recently to remark "...and then this huge foreigner, no prize himself by any means, looked and me, shuddered and went 'urgh.' The cheek of him!"

I better up-shut now.

[joanlvh]

Zeiss Ikon, silver and blk

[T N Args]

I can't tell you how ugly the Leicas are! They have neither form nor function.

I do agree about the Canon D10 - what a cutie!

As for the Pentax K-01: it gets a very firm tick!

[Timo]

The Pentax designs are funny for me -- while the K-7/K-5 definitely feels better in my hand than the previous K-20/K-10, the "look" is going backward. I'm not a fan of the boxy, square-shoulder haunch of the K-5, now showcased front and center with that K-01.

Personally, I like the look of Leicas, though I haven't shot enough with them to know how they feel day in and day out. The Nikon D700 is a handsome camera; but something happened to its look on the way to becoming a D800, and again, I think the new design is going in the wrong direction.

Similarly, the new OM-D isn't OM enough OR new enough. Certain kinds of blends of old and new end up neither fish nor fowl.

Canon's 5D mk III is fine. The swoops seem smooth and inviting, rather than gratuitous. However, its design now is just up to the point of having /way/ too many buttons -- there's still an equilibrium, but I can see how adding just one or two more would send it over the edge, into say car-stereo-from-the-80s land.

[Dogman]

Best looking cameras ever? Pentax Spotmatic followed closely by the Leica M2 or M3. Sadly, I've never owned any of them.

[Laurence]

Okay, I know this is a beauty contest for CURRENT cameras, but it would be interesting to see what the forum says about "the best looking camera" from any year.

[Paul C. - monochrome]

Every bad opinion I've read about the K-01 has been proven wrong over my weeks of actual use - and it produces the best images I've ever seen from an APSc camera.

[Derek Srisaranard]

I brought my X100 with me to a photography project, and a lot of the people I was photographing commented how attractive they felt the X100 is.

[Class A]

Considering the high-quality materials used for the K-01, its tonka toy appearance that screams "My first Sony" with unbearable volume, is the archetypical epic fail.

Worse, it fails ergonomically. A camera, such as the K-5, looks good if you can imagine it in your hands, reaching all controls naturally. The K-01 is painful to look at because it is obvious that "pretty" and "style" were prioritised over functionality.

The K-01 was the first camera design by Marc Newson. Let's hope it was his last as well.

[anurag agnihotri]

Few of Canon IXUS models from the past had this perfect brick like design that looked great in silver. Really sharp and pointy edges. Those were great as a brick also.

[Bobby Salmon]

K-01 looks like a waterproof Diana camera marketed to teens.

It will only be seen around the necks of New York gallery owners, fashion stylists, and supermodels.

[Russ]

The yellow K-01 certainly stands out. I have the white one, and I think it looks great with the little black DA Limited primes. It's a unique look for sure, and I can see why some people don't like it.

Also, the E-P1 Pen is a really neat looking camera for me. I enjoy it for the looks almost as much as for using it.

[William Smithey Jr]

Canon T-90. Compared to any camera that I could pretend to afford, maybe any camera of it's time, the best looking DSLR hands down.

[bill duncan]

I agree, the K-5 Pentax is my fav. (and the K20D before that.. Back in the film days, I liked my X-700 bodies..