Which 35mm SLR to buy?

[JBrunner]

I agree that the prices on the glass are better than Nikon, but my students have mostly had problems with the AE1's and AE1 Program's rather strange manual metering system. With the AE1, you have to set you shutter speed and read inside the camera what aperture to set your lens at. You then need to pull your eye away from the camera and set the lens to the correct aperture.

The Nikon FE2 FM2, and F3 have a more traditional match needle or LED system and also show you the aperture in the viewfinder, which can speed things up a great deal. (Actually, for shooting manual, I prefer the FE2 for its needle metering over both the FM2 and F3) I have never had a student who felt comfortable with using the AE1 in manual and all of them so far have just given up and used one of the auto settings. I think that the F1 would be awesome, but they are more than the AE1 cameras by quite a bit.

I cant speak for the AE1 but on my AE1 Program, the stop indicators blink until the correct aperture is set, then glows steady, when you are on it. You don't need to take your eye from the finder to set the lens to the metered aperture. Pretty simple in actual application.

 

[Kino]

The Minolta SRT series is DIRT CHEAP right now, got 3 bodies and 7 lenses for $100 on Ebay.

I think the Rokkor lens series matches anything out there for the money...

 

[JBrunner]

Or just get an Ihagee Exakta, one of my personal faves, and I believe the first SLR if I am not mistaken $150 or so with a nice Zeiss Jenna. Plus the chicks will dig you. And you can get a waist level finder so your glasses are never a problem. That, and a manskirt, and you are set!

 

[DBP]

It would be fun to take an Exakta to an intro class and see if the instructor tells you that you are using the wrong hand to focus.

 

[Paul Howell]

Cost is no factor the Lieca M7, for mid price used SLR the Nikon F4 with manual lens, for mid price new the Voltlander 42mm with a wide range inexpensive used lens, dirt cheap used 42mm body many to chose from Pentax, Mamyia, Sears, with cheap house lens such as Sears or J.C Penny's.