Your first SLR...would you buy it again?

RichardJack · May 19, 2017

It's hard to believe that my Minolta SRT 101 is turning 49 years old this month. I still have it, it's original box, packing, USA tag, case and even the Japanese battery that I chose not to use at the time. For it's time it was a wonderful camera that did everything I wanted it to. It still works along with it's 58mm f1.4 MC Rokkor PF which moved on to many other Minolta bodies in time. It was a present from my dad and I had the option of picking any camera under $250US. It was a difficult choice between it and a Nikkormat FTn w/ f2 lens, a Honeywell Spotmatic w/ f1.4, or a Miranda Sensorex w/f1.4 (which my dad wanted me to buy because it was rated #1 by "Consumer Reports"). Since then I switched to Nikon and use their FX DSLR's, so the Nikkormat might of been a smarter choice, but I don't regret my pick.

1) What was your first 35mm SLR?

2) If you could go back in time would you pick the same one?

Renato Tonelli · May 19, 2017

Pentax Spotmatic II
I bought it in the early 1970's. At the time I wanted a Nikon but I couldn't afford it.
Still have it and use it - the Pentax lenses are superb. No regrets.

DWThomas · May 19, 2017

Mine was a Konica FP with 52mm f/1.4 Hexanon; all mechanical, no meter. If I went back to that time (ca. 1963) I'd probably do it again, as it was what I felt to be the best value for the money I could afford to come up with. I got about 18 years out of it. I still have it, but the shutter (a Copal Square vertical travel steel focal plane) is no longer functional. It certainly can't be accused of being "plasticky!"

narsuitus · May 19, 2017

RichardJack said:
1) What was your first 35mm SLR?

2) If you could go back in time would you pick the same one?

My first 35mm SLR was the Miranda Sensorex that was rated #1 by "Consumer Reports." That was a big mistake because the Sensorex broke three times within the first two years of its three-year warranty. I replaced it with a Pentax Spotmatic that I borrowed and a Nikon F that I purchased. To this day, I still use dependable Pentax and Nikon SLRs.

Dali · May 19, 2017

My first SLR was an Olympus OM10. This camera served me well but developed with time an erratic shutter behavior. It was repaired once but I gave up after it started again.

Back in time (beginning of the '80), I would pick up an OM2 or a Nikon FE instead.

Ko.Fe. · May 19, 2017

My first SLR is Canon EOS 300. I purchased and sold some others SLRs after it. But never sold the EOS 300.

Rick A · May 19, 2017

My first SLR, Olympus FTL. And hell yes I'd buy it again, if I could afford one.

filmamigo · May 19, 2017

My first SLR (that I purchased) was a Nikon F80. I had won a radio contest, and the prize was a gift certificate to a big camera store.

I loved that F80, but it broke my heart. It started scratching negatives almost immediately. It went back for service again and again, never being fixed completely. I finally traded the whole kit in on a Pentax.

Years later I tried again with a cheap used F80 and a single lens. Because I did love that camera! But lo and behold the second camera did exactly the same thing to my negatives....

So I'd have to say no, I wouldn't buy it again.

faberryman · May 19, 2017

I used my father's Exakta VXIIa for a while before I got my first camera - a Pentax SP500 with 55mm f2 lens. It was a fine camera though I later moved on (and still use) to the Olympus OM system with its better selection of lenses. I've come close to buying another Pentax SP500 for sentimental reasons, but never pulled the trigger.

Andrew O'Neill · May 19, 2017

Pentax K1000 was my first. It was a loaner when I was in grade 11 ('79). Loved it... even the screw mount lenses! In '88 at a Pawn shop, I picked up another K1000 (with bayonet lens attchement), and started teaching myself photography. Before that, it was all drawing and printmaking. That camera was stolen in '06. My insurance covered it, so I got another one. The shutter is now gummed up and I haven't gotten around to having it repaired.

BainDarret · May 19, 2017

In 1976 I bought an OM 1 to replace a Leica IIIF stolen in London, England. I had the OM system until I switched to a couple of Nikon FM2s in the late 80s due to the lack of available rental lenses for the OMs. I now, again, have an OM 1 (and an OM 2), so yes, I have bought my first SLR again and I still like it for the same reasons I bought one the first time; a light, small quality camera with a great set of lenses and a big, bright viewfinder.

John Bragg · May 19, 2017

My first SLR was a Canon AV1 and it served me well until I replaced it with an AE1. I then changed the whole system for a pair of Olympus OM1n bodies and a collection of lenses that I still have 30 years later. These days I have various Nikon cameras and Nikkor lenses and a Leica M6 and 3 lens kit. Would I buy the same first camera again ? Probably yes, although I may have been better served by going straight to the OM1n.

LeftCoastKid · May 19, 2017

My first camera was a black Nikon F2AS, purchased on 17 May 1979. The camera was used until Kodachrome's discontinuation (The camera shot its last roll on 25 December 2010); it now sits up on a bookshelf. Would I buy it again? Not just yes, but hell yes! The camera never let me down; in fact it never had a CLA in over 31 years of continuous use. Brassed and dented, the camera would require - given almost seven years of inactivity - only a CLA and a re-felting to be pressed back into service - something I may well decide to do when Ektachrome reemerges from hibernation...

Sirius Glass · May 19, 2017

1) What was your first 35mmf SLR?
A used Minolta SR-7 with the f/1.4 58mm lens
2) If you could go back in time would you pick the same one?
Probably because if I went back in time I would be a student.

kb3lms · May 19, 2017

Mine was a Pentax K1000. It was on sale in 1978 at a local discount store and I could afford it. Still works perfectly and I would definitely buy one again.

Terry Breedlove · May 19, 2017

My first new SLR was the Minolta X700 I bought the first one in the store as they were just introduced. Loved that little camera. My next camera was a Pentax pe given to me as a gift and cheap as it was I really liked shooting it. My next new camera was a Nikon N90s and I still have that camera. Then I bought my first digital camera a Nikon D100 and that one was also the first camera in the store. I sold it to a friend and bought a Nikon D2x. Now I have a Olympus Pen F digital for travel but i hardly shoot it. My Hasselblad 503 is getting all the work now days and if it isn't film I just don't really care to shoot it seems. MY 4x5 cameras are about to get a work out as the weather is finally starting to warm up. We had snow just three days ago and rain rain rain.

Ap507b · May 19, 2017

Zenit EM in around 1983. No to buying it again. Still use the Helios 44 that came with it to this day though & would buy that again. Use it with a Praktica MTL5 now.

anfenglin · May 19, 2017

Hell no!
My first SLR was a Seagull DF-102b bought in Beijing at a camera market somewhere in the southwest of the city. Given a map I would possible be able to find it again.
It is a copy of an early Minolta SLR with the same mount. Minolta lenses can be used but what's the point.
Anyway, it was terrible, loud, shaky, rattling and the lens would move slightly in its mount when focusing.
It was great fun though, I shot my first ever rolls of film with it back in 2011. I still have the camera for old times sake but would never dream of using it again.
It is light-leaky, the film reminder has fallen off, been retaped with adhesive and two days after buying it, the self release lever fell off.

Alan Gales · May 19, 2017

My first 35mm camera was a Canon AV-1. It was a display model that my boss marked down and let me have cheap. It got me started but it was Aperture Preferred only with no manual way of setting the shutter speed. I used it for a year or two and then sold it.

I replaced it with a Contax 139 which I absolutely loved and shot for many years.

Jacob Weiss · May 19, 2017

My first was a gift from my dad, a Minolta 650si with that Tamron 28-200mm f/3.8-5.6. I was 15...and it was 2008..... after a while I realized that mechanical cameras were more my thing, so I downsized and got rid of that hunky "high tech" film camera, and fell in love with my Minolta AL-f, which became my camera I took everywhere <3, Once in college, and now almost out, I mostly shoot Bronica Etrs and Minolta x-700.

Dan Fromm · May 19, 2017

Nikkormat FTN, bought in 1970. Take me back to 1970 knowing what I now know and I'd buy it again. But if I were looking for a manual focus 35 mm SLR now I wouldn't buy a Nikkormat FTN, I'd buy the last version. FM-2n. Lighter, more capable.

pbromaghin · May 19, 2017

Heck yes!

Pentax ME Super, our first "big" purchase as a couple after I got my first job out of college. It was a great little camera. I only switched to Minolta after it died 20 years later and we had a nice X-570 in the closet from my father-in-law's estate.

locutus · May 19, 2017

My first one was a Sigma SA300, i think i can skip that one again

Kino · May 19, 2017

Minolta SRT MCII - yes, I would and have, several times! Dead simple, reliable and good, inexpensive glass available.

Mike Bates · May 19, 2017

Nikon FE-2 purchased in May 1984. I sold it after some number of years, regretted it, and BOUGHT ANOTHER ONE after that.

Yep, I'd purchase it again because I did!

Your first SLR...would you buy it again?

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