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

cooltouch · Feb 23, 2018

Toyo said:
Canon FTb - still have it and still use it, and I bought a second copy.
Great camera and so reliable

+1. My first "real" camera.

AndroclesC · Feb 23, 2018

My first SLR was a Pentax ME Super, which I didn't really know how to use at the time. I eventually learned though, but sold it many years later after switching to Canon EOS and later EOS digital. I have bought several of them since then, however, as I have really developed quite a fondness for them.

Andy

alanrockwood · Feb 23, 2018

blockend said:
A common conception at the time, and not without merit. It goes back to box camera days when cameras were cheap and film was expensive. The idea stuck.

To me film is still expensive.

Sirius Glass · Feb 23, 2018

alanrockwood said:
To me film is still expensive.

Compared with cost of the top of the line Nikon or Canon DSLR and lenses?

cooltouch · Feb 24, 2018

But is that a meaningful comparison? Seems to me one would want to compare the cost of film vs. the film camera(s) that use it. In which case, the situation remains true. In this day and age, it's still possible to buy a functioning 35mm camera with lens for the cost of a couple rolls of Velvia + development costs. Compare that to a couple or three decades ago when the cost of a roll of 36-exp Kodachrome including developing was less than 10 bucks.

johnha · Feb 24, 2018

My first SLR was a Miranda MS2-Super (K mount ME Super clone), I sold it to a friend, bought a Pentax Super-A. Sometime later I bought my original MS2-Super back, sold the Super-A, bought another Super-A, then another and finally bought another MS2-Super (the first had developed a fault). I've learn't my lesson now and don't sell cameras anymore.

Malcolm Stewart · Feb 24, 2018

My first SLR was a Contaflex. I was doing National Service in Germany (1958-59) and had seen the difference between a Retina rangefinder's viewfinder, and that on a Retina Reflex. I was hooked. A few weeks later I'd found a used Contaflex with 45mm F/2.8 Tessar in a shop in Hanover, and armed with an Ikophot meter, I was away. My RAF base had darkroom facilities, and photo materials were easy to buy. 6 months later I added the 1.7x Zeiss Teleskop and used it a few times, before giving up on it. Agfa CT18 slide film was beginning to become available, and I still have slides from Hanover and the area near our base.
About a decade later, I bought a Minolta SRT101, and started to explore the joys of interchangeable lenses.

(The Contaflex sits on display in my lounge - along with an Exakta and other photo gear.)

Russ - SVP · Feb 27, 2018

RichardJack said:
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?

Black Nikon FM. Still using it, and I would buy it again.

RUSS

nevada luna · Feb 27, 2018

1) What was your first 35mm SLR?
my first slr was a Pentax ME Super with a 50mm f.2 lens

2) If you could go back in time would you pick the same one?
ummm, yes. its an amazing camera with a ton of lens options

macfred · Feb 27, 2018

macfred said:
My first 35mm SLR was the Nikon FM with Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 Ai (bought it new in 1981) - nothing wrong with it - still in use .. .

---

I did it again ...
Found a working Nikon FM (with faulty leather covering) and an old version 45mm f/2.8 GN Auto Nikkor (oily aperture blades) for 50,- EUR in a thrift store.
I ordered new leatherette and gave the lens for CLA.

ronwhit · Feb 27, 2018

I don't need to buy it again as I am still using the Canon FTb I bought almost 45 years ago. I did buy a second used FTbn in stylish black, and was given a third one that's not yet in service. (Needs foam replaced. I have the Goodman kit to do so.) Would definitely but it again._

Toyo · Feb 27, 2018

ronwhit said:
I don't need to buy it again as I am still using the Canon FTb I bought almost 45 years ago. I did buy a second used FTbn in stylish black, and was given a third one that's not yet in service. (Needs foam replaced. I have the Goodman kit to do so.) Would definitely but it again._

Such a great camera
T

cooltouch · Mar 1, 2018

Couldn't agree more. I bought my first FTb about 35 years ago. It was instrumental in my learning the ins and outs of photography. Thus the FTb is the most important camera I've ever owned, although my favorite remains the original Canon F-1.

MattKing · Mar 1, 2018

Ironically, it was my Dad's excellent FTb that led me to fall in love with the Olympus OM system.

cooltouch · Mar 2, 2018

Yes, the FTb is sort of a gateway drug to bigger and better camera systems, perhaps you could say? For me, I stayed within Canon FD, and the FTb was a gateway to the original F-1 (actually the F-1n) and its comprehensive system, a camera which, to this day, I think is one of the finest 35mm cameras ever invented. The New F-1 runs a close second (amongst FD cameras).

I have owned and used Oly OM system cameras -- OM-1, OM-1MD, OM-2, OM-2n, OM-10. It's a fine system with a lot going for it, but I just don't care for having a shutter speed ring concentric with the lens mount. I prefer the traditional separation between aperture and shutter speed controls.

Theo Sulphate · Mar 2, 2018

cooltouch said:
...
I have owned and used Oly OM system cameras ... It's a fine system with a lot going for it, but I just don't care for having a shutter speed ring concentric with the lens mount. I prefer the traditional separation between aperture and shutter speed controls.

Likewise. I have yet to use my OM-2N, bought two years ago, but at the moment I'm using a Nikkormat FT2. I love the FT2, but am having a hard time finding and moving that lens mounted shutter speed lever and ring. I suspect I'd need months of exclusive practice with it.

But, even with traditional lenses, such as Nikkors, the aperture ring is too narrow and too indistinct for me. Best for me are the Super Takumars, the 55/2 of which I used exclusively for 15 years. Both the focus ring and aperture ring are scalloped nicely.

Vincent Peri · Mar 3, 2018

My first camera was a Pentax ESII w/ 50mm f/1.4 lens back in November of 1974. I wouldn't buy it again, because it had screw mount lenses (changing lenses got old FAST). Also, I didn't like the averaging metering (bad news with a bright light source or dark area in the frame).

My all time favorite film SLR is the Nikon F3HP.

Malcolm Stewart · Mar 3, 2018

Vincent Peri said:
...My all time favorite film SLR is the Nikon F3HP.

Shortly after digital got popular, our local Jessops store in Milton Keynes seemed to become the main outlet for cameras traded in to the whole chain of stores, and I was able to buy two Nikon F3HP cameras at a very affordable price. The first one was well used, but the second was mint, and I treasure them for the design, and finish. If only DSLRs offered the same ease of viewing, and viewing options!

jon.oman · Mar 3, 2018

My first SLR was a Nikon Photomic FTN with the standard 50mm f1.4 lens of the day. I bought it brand new from Japan in 1968. I sold it in 1974 to pay the rent.

Would I buy it again? Sure, if they still made it! I really loved that camera.......

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

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