Which is better Canon AE1 or Nikon FE?

[benjiboy]

Ae1 is like the Big Mac of burgers. Millions sold.

I don't think that's a very good analogy, because it intimates that the general public has equally poor taste in healthy nutrition and cameras.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

I don't think that's a very good analogy, because it intimates that the general public has equally poor taste in healthy nutrition and cameras.

Actually, a depressing number of people believe that anything sold in large enough numbers is good. Same basic type of halfwits who thought Michael Jackson was good because he made lots of money.

 

[benjiboy]

Actually, a depressing number of people believe that anything sold in large enough numbers is good. Same basic type of halfwits who thought Michael Jackson was good because he made lots of money.

True, equating popularity with quality in most things only proves how uneducated and undiscerning the public's tastes are.

 

[frank]

And some people think that because the ae1 sold in large numbers, it is a great camera.

My perspective is that the ae1 marked the switch over point where cameras became a mass-produced, disposable item, instead of something meant to last for a lifetime with periodic maintenance, and even passed down from one generation to the next. If/when it broke, it was meant to be tossed away. For me, the ae1 marked this change in attitude in cameras. (paradigm-shift) I understand that one can't blame this (first world) change in thinking on a single camera maker or model, but that is the personal association that I have with the ae1. I understand that not everyone feels the same way. That's okay. This is just an attempt at explaining my negative attitude to the ae1.

 

[StoneNYC]

And some people think that because the ae1 sold in large numbers, it is a great camera.

My perspective is that the ae1 marked the switch over point where cameras became a mass-produced, disposable item, instead of something meant to last for a lifetime with periodic maintenance, and even passed down from one generation to the next. If/when it broke, it was meant to be tossed away. For me, the ae1 marked this change in attitude in cameras. (paradigm-shift) I understand that one can't blame this (first world) change in thinking on a single camera maker or model, but that is the personal association that I have with the ae1. I understand that not everyone feels the same way. That's okay. This is just an attempt at explaining my negative attitude to the ae1.

My AE-1 was passed down to me...farther to son...

And is lasting with periodic (once every 30 years) maintenance...

 

[frank]

My AE-1 was passed down to me...farther to son...

And is lasting with periodic (once every 30 years) maintenance...

Ah, but remember, you're a special case.

Joking aside, this just goes to show you how individual life experiences shape ones opinions. If my father bequeathed me an ae1, I would think differently about it.

Understand that your view of the ae1 is highly influenced by an emotionally charged, singular, personal experience.

I imagine that there are many people (of a certain age) who think that the ae1 is a great camera because they received one from their parents as a graduation gift and it was their first "serious" camera.

 

[StoneNYC]

Ah, but remember, you're a special case.

Joking aside, this just goes to show you how individual life experiences shape ones opinions. If my father bequeathed me an ae1, I would think differently about it.

That's sad, I'm sorry you wouldn't appreciate being given a thoughtful gift from your parents. That does tell of how one might have been shaped...

 

[frank]

That's sad, I'm sorry you wouldn't appreciate being given a thoughtful gift from your parents. That does tell of how one might have been shaped...

I'm not sure how you got that conclusion from my post.
I acknowledged that a gift from a parent WOULD shape ones view.
Quite the opposit of your post.

My father's gift to me was his old German Kodak Rettinette, which certainly influenced my preference for mechanical cameras.

 

[StoneNYC]

I'm not sure how you got that conclusion from my post.
I acknowledged that a gift from a parent WOULD shape ones view.
Quite the opposit of your post.

My father's gift to me was his old German Kodak Rettinette, which certainly influenced my preference for mechanical cameras.

Oh I see, I thought you were saying you would have been insulted if your dad gave you an AE-1 lol

 

[Jeff Kubach]

You can say anything about the AE-1 but it got a lot of people into photography.

Jeff

 

[frank]

http://www.retrothing.com/2008/04/1976-the-canon.html

"The AE-1 had a lasting legacy in the camera industry, as manufacturers introduced increasingly advanced electronic metering and focusing sytems. In the end, they managed to do away with film completely as cameras became highly specialized imaging computers."

The beginning of the end.

 

[Alan Gales]

You can say anything about the AE-1 but it got a lot of people into photography.

Jeff

You can say that again! When the AE-1 and the later Program went on sale we used to sell tons of them. At Christmas time we would have multiple stacks of them on the floor behind the camera counter and they would sell like hotcakes! They were very reliable and we rarely took back returns due to defects.

My first camera was the AV-1. It was aperture preferred only with no manual mode. I bought it because I was going to the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville Tennessee. My boss had marked it down real cheap because it was a display model.

The camera got me interested in photography but I soon discovered that I wanted a manual mode, After doing a lot of research I bought a Contax 139 on sale.

 

[Alan Gales]

I suppose it's all in how you shoot. I really mostly use full manual mode all the time, but is usually start with... Well what subject am I working with...? Is it moving, or still? Do I want it to move or blur? And then decide what kind of depth I would like to play with, then balance those and begin shooting, I don't really mess with the shutter speed once I've decided what I want, and stick to mostly 1/60 or 1/125 or 1/250 for almost any circumstance. But during the shoot I usually stick to the chosen shutter speed.

But that's me...

Everyone is different, the OP will have to decide what they want.

Yeah, there is no one right answer. Everyone has what works for them.

 

[ntenny]

And some people think that because the ae1 sold in large numbers, it is a great camera.

My perspective is that the ae1 marked the switch over point where cameras became a mass-produced, disposable item, instead of something meant to last for a lifetime with periodic maintenance, and even passed down from one generation to the next. If/when it broke, it was meant to be tossed away. For me, the ae1 marked this change in attitude in cameras. (paradigm-shift)

In cultural terms I think that kind of makes sense, but I don't think it actually describes the AE-1 very accurately. As far as I remember, they were still expensive enough that people had them repaired instead of replacing them, and they seem to take periodic service perfectly well. IMHO, the "disposable" aspect didn't come in until the advent of cheapo auto-everything P&S cameras in the 1980s/90s.

I don't have a strong feeling on it personally, but it seems like a reasonable person could argue that the AE-1 is "great" in some sense precisely *because* of the mass-produced aspect. It's sort of the Brownie of its era---a camera that made photography accessible to masses of people, with some compromises. Unlike the Brownie, though, those compromises related to handling and feature set rather than to "performance" in the sense of image quality.

-NT

 

[E. von Hoegh]

Yeah, there is no one right answer. Everyone has what works for them.

Of course there is a 'right answer' and here it is:
Neither. I don't trust anything newer than a Nikkormat FT2; it uses a battery only for the meter, uses cells you can actually get, and uses pre AI lenses.

 

[frank]

Of course there is a 'right answer' and here it is:
Neither. I don't trust anything newer than a Nikkormat FT2; it uses a battery only for the meter, uses cells you can actually get, and uses pre AI lenses.

+1

 

[MattKing]

When you consider the AE-1, you need to think about what was happening in the market when it was introduced.

It was a fully functional SLR, with shutter priority automatic, compatible with an extensive line of high quality lenses, and it was priced low enough to be attractive to a large number of people who would never have considered an SLR before.

In its day, many films were a bit slower (think Kodachrome), so shutter priority automatic was very attractive.

It caused a lot of people to move from Instamatics to SLRs.

And the economies of scale that arose from mass production made it possible.

I sold a lot of them in its day.

 

[fstop]

In cultural terms I think that kind of makes sense, but I don't think it actually describes the AE-1 very accurately. As far as I remember, they were still expensive enough that people had them repaired instead of replacing them, and they seem to take periodic service perfectly well. IMHO, the "disposable" aspect didn't come in until the advent of cheapo auto-everything P&S cameras in the 1980s/90s.

I don't have a strong feeling on it personally, but it seems like a reasonable person could argue that the AE-1 is "great" in some sense precisely *because* of the mass-produced aspect. It's sort of the Brownie of its era---a camera that made photography accessible to masses of people, with some compromises. Unlike the Brownie, though, those compromises related to handling and feature set rather than to "performance" in the sense of image quality.

-NT

Pintos were sold in great numbers (10 million) no one considers them great.The difference is the AE-1 won't explode if it hit in the film door.:munch:

 

[AgX]

Following this thread it seems to me the AE-1 has quite a different reputation in the US than over here.

(The same time the Pentax K-1000, a camera I never heard of back then, is praised there as learner camera, though it even lacks DOF-control.)

 

[Markster]

AE-1P over the AE-1. Has full manual, shutter priority, aperture priority, very simple all-on-one-dial use, very good ergonomics. Drawback is the LCD light meter, but it works pretty well.

 

[trythis]

Ae-1p doesn't have aperture priority, just the A-1.

sent from phone. excuse my typing.

 

[AgX]

This has been hinted at before, but I consider it important:

Who ever is into using different camera makes and types should think of the working-orientation of the focusing barrel of Nikon cameras.
Which is not shared by many. Conservatively speaking...

 

[E. von Hoegh]

This has been hinted at before, but I consider it important:

Who ever is into using different camera makes and types should think of the working-orientation of the focusing barrel of Nikon cameras.
Which is not shared by many. Conservatively speaking...

Nikon RF, Contax/Kiev, and...? It's not a small thing, actually. Leica and other 39mm Rf screwmounts (and most other cameras) focus backwards.

 

[miha]

Nikon RF, Contax/Kiev, and..

Pentax, too.

 

[AgX]

I admit I overlooked Pentax.

But still there is a majority of camera models that work the Canon way...