Best pre-1965 SLR

[RLangham]

I want to hear your opinions and frankly I want to see some arguments. What's the best 35mm SLR from before 65? It's my favorite era and type of cameras and I want to hear what you think was the best one.

I would say the Exakta Varex line and Nikon F are a close tie but what do yall think?

 

[Paul Howell]

Topcon Super RE gave the F a run for it's money, meter built in the body, worked with all view finders, good range of lens from 20mm to 500mm and few fast lens, Exacta mount, pro build. But well Nikon F, at one point had something like 55 lens available, could be modified for a motor drive and key features like mirror lock up which Topcon did have until 1971. The U.S Navy picked the Topcon Super D as it's main 35mm camera.

 

[Kino]

Minolta SRT 101. What's not to like? Pure form follows function and some of the best glass around for not a lot of money.

 

[RLangham]

Topcon Super RE gave the F a run for it's money, meter built in the body, worked with all view finders, good range of lens from 20mm to 500mm and few fast lens, Exacta mount, pro build. But well Nikon F, at one point had something like 55 lens available, could be modified for a motor drive and key features like mirror lock up which Topcon did have until 1971. The U.S Navy picked the Topcon Super D as it's main 35mm camera.

I have almost bought a Topcon in that series recently, but I honestly want to be sure as the price point for various models hovers a bit higher than some of the contemporary cameras from other brands.

So it's a modified Exakta mount with an internal aperture linkage, right? Can it mount standard Exakta lenses? And how does the build quality compare?

 

[RLangham]

Minolta SRT 101. What's not to like?

Absolutely nothing, one of my favorites, but for the purposes of this post... it did come out a year too late. In fact, let's have 1966 be the cutoff: what's the best SLR before the SRT?

 

[Huss]

Raw meat or prime rib?...

 

[Kino]

Absolutely nothing, one of my favorites, but for the purposes of this post... it did come out a year too late. In fact, let's have 1966 be the cutoff: what's the best SLR before the SRT?

OK, true. The SR 2 is a good camera too, but not as good as the SRT 101...

 

[CMoore]

......... and key features like mirror lock up which Topcon did have until 1971. .

It gets mentioned a lot on APUG, but on a grander scale, how important was that feature to photographers buying a 35mm SLR.?
Few.....Some.....A Lot.....Most

 

[Kino]

The Contaflex Super BC was a good, but fussy performer. The lens mount makes me nervous...

 

[Auer]

Absolutely nothing, one of my favorites, but for the purposes of this post... it did come out a year too late. In fact, let's have 1966 be the cutoff: what's the best SLR before the SRT?

Canon FT (1966)

 

[Paul Howell]

I hade a VX1000 for a few months, bought it a Pawn shop while in tech school, lost it playing poker, so in my limited experience the Topcon was well built, more like a Nikon or Canon F1. Not sure how Topcon modified the Exakta mount, I think it will mount not sure if it will couple with meter for open aperture exposure. At the time it was rumored that the Navy bought Ds as it had Bessler on the name tag and thought it was American made. That story never held up, the Navy and DOD did extensive testing, the Topcon was a solid, well built camera.

 

[mshchem]

When I was a kid the Topcon Super D with the meter on the mirror really got me going. Not sure of the year. Nikon F is a beautiful camera. When Nikon put the "Apollo" F2 film advance lever on it's darn near perfect.

 

[Les Sarile]

How about the 1965 Konica Auto-Reflex . . . shutter speed auto exposure, full or half frame selectable.

Auto-Reflex by Les DMess, on Flickr

 

[wiltw]

Minolta SRT 101. What's not to like? Pure form follows function and some of the best glass around for not a lot of money.

But that model did not premier until 1966, with sales starting in April.

 

[Pioneer]

My vote goes to the Pentax Spotmatic. One of the most successful cameras ever with a built in meter and multiple lens manufacturers competing amongst themselves to make lenses for it. Introduced in 1964 and continued to 1973.

The Nikon F was popular among newshounds but I would be willing to bet that most of them were carrying the Nikon because their newspaper bought it. Most of them would have rather been packing the Spottie.

 

[wiltw]

When I was a kid the Topcon Super D with the meter on the mirror really got me going. Not sure of the year. Nikon F is a beautiful camera. When Nikon put the "Apollo" F2 film advance lever on it's darn near perfect.

The Topcon Super RE made its debut in 1963. In the US it was marketed as the Beseler Topcon Super D.
It was the object of my teen lust for a very long time, and was made of Unobtainium, priced at $425 with 55mm f/1.4 lens. Back then, median income in US was $6200, so the camera was almost a full month's work, or about $6000 in today's dollars. I finally found one in a thrift store for $25 about 5 years ago, with case and 55mm f/1.4 lens, at last my lust is fulfilled. I bought it regardless of its condition, and tested it at all shutter speeds...in perfect working condition! In fact, that launched the acquisition of three more Super D bodies, and all of their shutters worlk perfectly, although the self fimer sticks on two, and the meter does not function on one. I also obtained the more affordable ($260 with 55mm f/1.8 lens) Topcon D-1, which had the Copal Square vertical metal shutter for X-sync at 1/125. My original Topcon was the Auto 100, which used different lenses with a leaf shutter in the body.

It was the world's first commercially available SLR with TTL metering,. tt was a full system camera, like the Nikon Fand unlike other SLRs the meter functioned regardless of what finder (waist level, eye level, high magnification waist). There was 250 exposure film magazine, user changeable focusing screens, motor drive, microscopy acccesories, macro lineup of accessories and lenses.
Here is my Topcon managerie (not all the Super D bodies in this shot)

 

[mshchem]

The Topcon Super RE made its debut in 1963. In the US it was marketed as the Beseler Topcon Super D.
It was the object of my teen lust for a very long time, and was made of Unobtainium, priced at $425 with 55mm f/1.4 lens. Back then, median income in US was $6200, so the camera was almost a full month's work, or about $6000 in today's dollars. I finally found one in a thrift store for $25 about 5 years ago, with case and 55mm f/1.4 lens, at last my lust is fulfilled. I bought it regardless of its condition, and tested it at all shutter speeds...in perfect working condition!

That's Excellent!!

 

[Pioneer]

Another very successful camera that came before the Spottie was the Pentax SV. An amazing camera that continues to attract followers even today.

 

[madNbad]

My vote goes to the Pentax Spotmatic. One of the most successful cameras ever with a built in meter and multiple lens manufacturers competing amongst themselves to make lenses for it. Introduced in 1964 and continued to 1973.

The Nikon F was popular among newshounds but I would be willing to bet that most of them were carrying the Nikon because their newspaper bought it. Most of them would have rather been packing the Spottie.

In the movie “The Bedford Incident”, Sidney Poitier plays a journalist who has a Nikon and a Pentax!

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

The Nikon F. It wasn't just photojournalists, it was all professional photographers who used 35mm. There was no other system camera with the breadth of lenses, finders, bellows, special purpose lenses, motor drives, bulk film backs... that came anywhere near the Nikon F system.

Most 35mm SLR camera makes of 1965 are no more: Pentax, Minolta, Konica, Topcon, Miranda, Exakta, Praktika, Ricoh (Sears), Mamiya, Leica, Yashica, Edixa, Zeiss .... I think the only '65 brand still making cameras is Canon.

 

[Les Sarile]

The first SLRs from each . . . or in the case of the Pentax, their first eyelevel prism viewfinder SLR . . .

Selection 50 by Les DMess, on Flickr

1957 original Asahi Pentax, 1959 Nikon F, Canonflex and the Topcon Beseler B.

 

[gone]

I finally get a chance to pimp this old thing. It's the first SLR model that Leica made, and it hails from way back in 1964, when I was still in high school. I didn't do cameras in high school, I did cars, mainly a '66 Mustang fastback w/ 289, 2 Holley 4s on a cross ram, headers, and a 4:57 differential. The top speed dropped from 135 to 110 w/ that gearing, but it got there quick!

The old camera came w/ the manual and strap (the manual is still in plastic), and a new Mercury battery that reads 1.35V. Even w/o TTL metering, it makes negs I can't tell from my N8008s. However, the 90 2.8 Elmarit that was on it is now on the Nikon camera w/ an adapter. As much as I love shooting this marvel of design and workmanship, the Nikon is way quicker and easier to shoot, and has a lot of features that I use, especially the spot meter.

 

[MattKing]

The Topcon Super RE made its debut in 1963. In the US it was marketed as the Beseler Topcon Super D.
It was the object of my teen lust for a very long time

Your teenage years were very different then mine ....
I think that the question in this thread begs another question.
When you talk about best, do you mean now, or back then (say in 1965)?

 

[gone]

Yes, the English teacher Sherry Brewer was who I and every boy in that school lusted after. She drove a red Corvette, and ran off w/ James Deerman, one of her students, to Vegas and got married. James was 18 (nearly) and rode a big motorcycle, so it was no big deal that it happened. The big deal was that we missed seeing her get in and out of that car.

All names have been changed to protect the guilty.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

I would say the Exakta Varex line and Nikon F are a close tie but what do yall think?

In 1965 Exakta didn't even have an instant return mirror. The Exakta dates from the days of the Zepplin, and never really changed that much from it's original mid-30's design.