Looking for the perfect mechanical SLR

[Bronson Dugnutt]

Another vote for the Pen-FV

 

[zanxion72]

I tried to like the FM2. If it had the metering display of the FE2, it would be perfect. Faced with the decision: a) FM2 and hate the metering display or b) FE2, not being fully mechanical but with a metering display I love, I went for the FE2.

I like the needle display of the FE2 too. I like to know when intentionally over/ender-exposing by how much I do. But I had so many problems with battery depending shutters that I gave up on these. Now that experience lets me estimate exposure successfully all by myself, I completely ignore the meter reading and set exposure by my estimate. Really enjoyable without a single frame missed on a 36 exposure roll.

 

[RDW]

I like the needle display of the FE2 too. I like to know when intentionally over/ender-exposing by how much I do. But I had so many problems with battery depending shutters that I gave up on these. Now that experience lets me estimate exposure successfully all by myself, I completely ignore the meter reading and set exposure by my estimate. Really enjoyable without a single frame missed on a 36 exposure roll.

In my tiny sample of three cameras purchased recently, an FM and two FEs, the FM was fine but both FEs had shutter problems and had to be returned. That put me off the models with electronically controlled shutters a bit, perhaps unfairly. Oddly enough, I'm not sure I preferred the FE meter. The FM LED display works quite well for me - it's a bit like using an M6, but with more information in the viewfinder, in a camera 1/20 the price of the Leica.

 

[PerTulip]

... the FM was fine but both FEs had shutter problems and had to be returned. That put me off the models with electronically controlled shutters a bit, perhaps unfairly. ...

There's certainly added complexity in the FE shutter. Sometimes I see a used FE2 (I want another one) and I ask when was the last time it was actually used. Most of the time, you get answers like "don't know", "was granddads camera", whatever. Maybe lying in a drawer for a decade "hurts" the electronic shutters (corrosion) more. I have a FE2 that works without flaw. For many years now. But: my used camera store says they have many problems with old (half)electronic cameras and prefer mechanical ones.

 

[George Mann]

In my tiny sample of three cameras purchased recently, an FM and two FEs, the FM was fine but both FEs had shutter problems and had to be returned. That put me off the models with electronically controlled shutters a bit, perhaps unfairly.

The EM/FE/FG series tends to be problem plagued models, which is why I stick to the EL.

Later models starting with the F301/N2000 are more reliable.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

Somewhere north of 95% of the problems with electronics can be traced to connections - be they switches, controls, 'ring resistors,' battery contacts, connectors, solder joints, twisted bits of wire with electrical tape falling off ...

Electronics that works at very low power is especially prone as there is very little 'wetting current' and not enough voltage to punch through any accumulated crud.

If you can get in there then a good spritz with contact cleaner will probably clear up most electronic camera problems.

Quite often exercising the camera can wipe crud from switch contacts. My FM2's meter became erratic after a period of inactivity but settled out into quiet reliability with constant zinging of the AI coupler and twiddling of the shutter speed dial. Possibly seeing me reading the Nikon repair manual scared it into good behavior.

 

[Huss]

The EM/FE/FG series tends to be problem plagued models, which is why I stick to the EL.

Later models starting with the F301/N2000 are more reliable.

The N2000/301 is such a good and underrated camera. Only issue is the noise of the early gen winder, but some people like that sound.
Mine has been 100% reliable. My FE2 not so, even though I would prefer it if it was.

 

[Huss]

Somewhere north of 95% of the problems with electronics can be traced to connections - be they switches, controls, 'ring resistors,' battery contacts, connectors, solder joints, twisted bits of wire with electrical tape falling off ......

Yup, that was the case with my CLE. Shutter locked up, no-one would touch it (parts no longer available...) but the one tech that did fixed it by taking it apart and cleaning everything. No parts needed.
Just that 99% of the techs don't want to do that as it is so labour intensive and most people don't want to pay for that.
Apparently they think techs should work for minimum wage.

 

[RDW]

The N2000/301 is such a good and underrated camera. Only issue is the noise of the early gen winder, but some people like that sound.
Mine has been 100% reliable. My FE2 not so, even though I would prefer it if it was.

Must be about the most affordable manual focus Nikon, too. Buyers either want the whole 'classic camera' thing you get with the FM/FE series, or something that does AF like the F100. The F301 falls between two stools. But with a winder and split image screen it's arguably the most convenient platform for manual focus lenses short of one of the (much heavier and more expensive) pro cameras with a non-standard screen. And the F301 is probably cheaper than buying that screen, if you can even find one.

 

[ericB&W]

The N2000/301 is such a good and underrated camera. Only issue is the noise of the early gen winder, but some people like that sound.
Mine has been 100% reliable. My FE2 not so, even though I would prefer it if it was.

Are really underrated . I had an old worn 301 , bought recently another one
and the 501 too, both in very good state. The only thing they lack is d.o.f. button.
Are well built, perfect exposure, no vibrations, in aperture priority they can read many seconds of exposure in dark situations and uses simply aa batteries .

 

[Huss]

Are really underrated . I had an old worn 301 , bought recently another one
and the 501 too, both in very good state. The only thing they lack is d.o.f. button.
Are well built, perfect exposure, no vibrations, in aperture priority they can read many seconds of exposure in dark situations and uses simply aa batteries .

Plus it has that iconic Nikon 60/40 meter pattern AND AE lock! I use AE lock all the time, and not even my 'amazing' professional Pentax LX has AE lock. It's why I much prefer the Nikon F3 over the LX.

 

[dave olson]

The Canon F-1n. It's big, it's heavy, built like a tank, and will last forever, or at least close to it.

 

[Autonerd]

Maybe lying in a drawer for a decade "hurts" the electronic shutters (corrosion) more.

I own several 70s-80s-era cameras with electronic shutters, and my experience is that they either work or they don't -- and most work and work just fine. Remember, with mechanical cameras you've got lube that is turning to solid goop, rubber parts drying out, springs that may or may not be under tension, etc. Electronic shutters are a lot simpler, with less to go wrong. My guess (and it's just a guess) is that a big problem is solder joints cracking or coming loose from constant heat-cool cycles while stored in the attic.

I think some electronic-shutter cameras are just unreliable -- Nikon FE, Pentax P30t are a couple I've had that experience with. Most of my electronic shutter cameras, even some that have clearly been the victims of abuse, work just fine. And I like knowing that their shutter timing stays pretty constant.

Aaron

 

[Helge]

Perfect M42 camera?

Icarex 35 S TM

(c) David Broglin

There you go.
Thank me later.

No foam seals.
No early metal shutter to break.
Rock solid electronics around the light meter.
Good stop down metering and no stupid proprietary auto stop down lenses to fuck up compatibility.
Lovely viewfinder with real fine ground glass, not super bright, but super easy to gauge sharpness on, and with diagonal split prism.
Viewfinder shutter.
Top view light meter reading.


Forget about small and light.
No M42 camera is truly small or light. That misses the whole point of that eras technology and quality of manufacture.

A Pentax MX with an adapter is smallish, light and manual. But still not as uncompromised as the real thing.

 

[Pioneer]

Plus it has that iconic Nikon 60/40 meter pattern AND AE lock! I use AE lock all the time, and not even my 'amazing' professional Pentax LX has AE lock. It's why I much prefer the Nikon F3 over the LX.

And I always thought ae lock was manual mode. Silly me.
I guess that is why I prefer the LX.

 

[Huss]

And I always thought ae lock was manual mode. Silly me.
I guess that is why I prefer the LX.

Are you saying my Leica MP has AE lock?

 

[markjwyatt]

Perfect M42 camera?

Icarex 35 S TM
View attachment 282736
(c) David Broglin

There you go.
Thank me later.

No foam seals.
No early metal shutter to break.
Rock solid electronics around the light meter.
Good stop down metering and no stupid proprietary auto stop down lenses to fuck up compatibility.
Lovely viewfinder with real fine ground glass, not super bright, but super easy to gauge sharpness on, and with diagonal split prism.
Viewfinder shutter.
Top view light meter reading.


Forget about small and light.
No M42 camera is truly small or light. That misses the whole point of that eras technology and quality of manufacture.

A Pentax MX with an adapter is smallish, light and manual. But still not as uncompromised as the real thing.

Nah. That was my first SLR (bought from my Dad in 1975, he bought it new in 1971). Shutter was flaky. Bought another one from Germany recently (older), I see shutter issues in images. Strong camera overall, but I do not trust the shutters. My original one came with the Ultron, and I still use it. One of the classic SLR lenses for sure.

 

[Helge]

Nah. That was my first SLR (bought from my Dad in 1975, he bought it new in 1971). Shutter was flaky. Bought another one from Germany recently (older), I see shutter issues in images. Strong camera overall, but I do not trust the shutters. My original one came with the Ultron, and I still use it. One of the classic SLR lenses for sure.

Never heard of that or had problems with the two I have.
And not the lambasted later VSL either.
Roll curtain rubber fabric/shutters was pretty much perfected in the late sixties.
Any shutter is the weakest point in any camera though, and the thing most likely to break. And true randomness always clumps (hence expressions like “misfortunes never come singly”).