Best built mechanical SLR?

[mikyor1]

Best built? Hard question to answer . . . how would you really measure this?

However: Assume that all perils affect all cameras equally and then look at numbers still in service divided by numbers produced? Go on gut feel? Highest average exposures between failures? Chosen by most war correspondents? Able to pound nails, or muggers, and still work? Plain heaviest?

Cameras I have that are still clicking that I have never had to repair:

Leicaflex
Nikon F
Nikon F3HP
Nikon FM2
Pentax Spotmatic
Rolliflex 2.8, 3.5

Cameras that I broke and had to get fixed:

Pentax LX
Nikon F4
Leica R4s
Retina IIIC
Leica M3/M6

Is the top list "better" than the bottom list? No. The bottom list were my favorites by far. Perhaps I broke them _because_ I used them so much. . . they were out and about and subject to the world's perils.

Let me turn the question back on the OP: what do _you_ mean by "best built"? How do you propose to measure this? If I wanted to compare the Nikon F2 and the Leica R4s, how would I know one was better built than the other?

Not trying to be a jerk about this, just curious what you all mean.

I suppose my initial question was broad and vague, when I say best built, i should explain why I asked.
I was looking at beautifully designed/engineered cameras, specifically the Contax iia (without meter) and damn it is a work of beauty, my friend was fixing a sticking shutter issue (hes not a technician, just messing about), and the look of the shutter, workings of the gears, just really fascinated me.

So I guess what I mean is what are some very beautifully engineered mechanical wonders? Not necessarily trying to find a all time winner, but more of a appreciation of all mechanical SLR's that have proven to be built well and work dependably in the SLR world.

Everyone knows Nikons work like an Ox, but what about the other lesser known ones? like someone mentioned the pre spotmatic pentax's , I just wanted to start a thread to pull some knowledgeable folks input on really well built SLR's.

Also I find it hard to find information about rarer nice mechanical cameras like the offerings from Alpa.

 

[santino]

Leicaflex SL, Om1, Miranda sensomat re

 

[Fraser]

The canon new f1, I reckon it built better than any of the nikons.

 

[ChrisPlatt]

Pentax mechanical SLR models are very reliable, and AFAIK no other brand
has a specialist repairer as good and cheap as Eric Hendrickson in Knoxville TN.
I have been using his services for almost twenty years.

Chris

 

[fireblade]

F2.....biased opinion though 🙂


Ikuro Suzuki's F2....still going strong.

 

[Calzone]

Nikon F2

A repair tech confirmed the F2 as the best built they'd ever worked on.

From owning a couple of Leicaflex SL's and an SL MOT I say they were way down the list. They were a source of shutter and meter problems. Imo they were never popular in the professional world for good reasons.

A good friend bought 2 SL's new and used them professionally and loved them but had many meter Problems. In the end when he retired them the meters still weren't working.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. SL2's were not popular like you said, mostly because in 1975 you could buy two Nikon F2's for the price of a SL2. Really only made for two years, but know the production stretches over three years. It has been said that Leica lost money on every SL2 that was sold due to the cost of the shutter.

My black SL2-MOT is likely one of a thousand cameras. I believe it became a shelf queen due to the defective meter when it was new, but the Chrome SL2 is proof of a good one and durability. Desilvering prisms are not uncommon, and it seems that bad CdS cells are not rare either.

Both the SL2's I merged were dated 1975 by SN. I figure the test of time settled out any faults. I'm hoping that the drifting high speeds on the shutter don't happen to me. Anyways I love the feel of this camera.

Cal

 

[Huss]

Gross, get it away from me! (poking at it with a stick)

 

[Huss]

Zenit TTL.

 

[kshapero]

my personal favorite was the Contax AX, a singular engineering marvel. took those awesome contax zeiss mf lenses and made them autofocus! what a brilliant tool.

Always wanted to try them out.

 

[Pioneer]

K1000

or if you prefer screw mount cameras

Spotmatic.

 

[kshapero]

Nikon F and I can prove it.

 

[ferider]

Hasselblad 500 series and Nikon F.

If you would see Sherry's repair log of my dad's Leicaflex, sturdy is not the first word that comes to mind.

 

[besk]

There are many less parts in an F2 compared to a F. That alone should affect the overall build quality.

 

[Paulbe]

Akiva--OK! Please prove it to us---thanks!
Paul

 

[CameraQuest]

The Leicaflexes are beautifully built, but I have had to repair way too many of them to consider them even average in terms of reliability.

To me the Nikon F2 is the most reliable, the Nikon F 2nd. The Canon F1's were also exceptional.

 

[David Murphy]

I agree with Stephen about the Leicaflex - pretty camera, but not the most reliable around.

The Nikon F with an un-metered prism would be my choice - simply amazing quality and reliability.

 

[lynnb]

The F and F2 and also the early Nikkormats; another camera I have that's very solid and well built is the Topcon RE Super.

Topcon-RE-Super_1 by lynnb's snaps, on Flickr

 

[DanskDynamit]

Leica R6.2
Rectaflex

 

[Graybeard]

The Leicaflexes are beautifully built, but I have had to repair way too many of them to consider them even average in terms of reliability.

To me the Nikon F2 is the most reliable, the Nikon F 2nd.

What problems do you commonly encounter?

 

[semi-ambivalent]

Sover Wong agrees. Better built than the F and so modular he could almost repair one in the field.

-Read in an interview with Sover Wong.

Dang. Make that Marty Forscher. No slouch himself.

mea culpa