In many respects I think you are probably right but in the case of fairly
modern
SLRs with electronics I do not agree.
In the cut away diagrams of most modern SLRs I have seen, the main circuit
board is
flexible and is located on the top of the camera, just under the top cover.
This
is a rather exposed place in the event the camera receives a hard blow to the
top
surface.
Similarly, there are drive train components and electronics just under the
bottom
plate.
I used to have a Nikon FG which had metal look top and bottom plates which were
plastic. This camera was rendered slightly inoperable when it was dropped onto
a
road from a metre or so (not by me) and the main circuit was crushed such that
one
of the bonded ICs was cracked right across. The funny thing was the top cover
recovered most of it's shape and did not look too bad.
On another occasion the camera slipped out of its case and fell about 30cm onto
a
gravel surface, not far IMO, landing on a corner of the base plate. The base
plate
hardly looked damaged at all - just a slight ding due to boing factor - but the
camera electronics went severely intermittent.
My next camera was a 4Ti, partly chosen because of the titanium top and bottom
covers.
I am glad I have not dropped it yet to find out whether the Ti bits will do the
job
I expect but someone recently mentioned one surviving being dropped onto a road
from a moving truck.
Admittedly the FG covers were not polycarbonate but that stuff may be tough and
resistant to fracture but it still flexes quite a bit.
Giles
Tom Trottier wrote:
> These days, the most durable camera in the world is probably not some
> titanium marvel, but rather, some lightweight, plastic affair with few,
> would not be surprised if some of the older, non-SLR Nikonos cameras
> were exceptionally tough in both respects.
>
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|