Low End/Bottom dwelling models: your favorites?

Yup. Nikons FG and N80 for me. The FG is for all the manual focus glass, and the N80 handles the G and VR stuff well. They both ROCK with flash, and cost less than $50 apiece. Last I looked, an F5 went for at least $400, and F6's were pulling a thou.
 
I know that even high end film SLRs are cheap ($150 F3s? These were at least $400 when I was growing up), but theres something fun about owning cameras that double their value when you put a pair of batteries and a roll of film in it
 
I still have and use from time to time my Konica T3 and T(2) with fully auto AR lenses from 1970's(AFAIK). I loved those cameras.The last lenses I bought for them was a 40/1.8 AR and 85/1.8 both very good .
 
I'd like to put in a vote for the OM-PC's (40). I have a few and they're great with all the Zuikos... just use the right batteries.
-BG
 
Minolta Dynax/Maxxum 4 - not as popular as the 5, but just as good!
Minolta X300 - why spend more for an X500, X700 or XD if you just gonna use it in aperture priority.

I wouldn't recommend the Canon EOS 3000N, but the 3000v looks good!
 
The mud bottom Olympus was the OM-10 and the OM-2000

I love the 10's since they are simple cheap cameras but take all the OM lenses.

I have never had a 2000 (Cosina made) but want to get one.

Don't know if they are still made but 2 or 3 years back I read of Phenix cameras from China that were made for several popular mounts like Pentax K, Nikon and Olympus OM.

The most bottom feeder is probably the Lomo home-built SLR kit.
 
Pentax MV
I was so lazy to even bother to find the cell battery, I use the only mechanical shutter speed available: 1/100th of a second.

Sunny-16 metering, and 1 roll of film later:

8240644566_9d3576b791_z.jpg


That's a bottom-feeder used in a bottom-feeding way 🙂
 
Ricoh KR-5 and the same camera with a Sears label, the KS 500

Fujica ST-605n for a M42 mount body.

Minolta SRT 200, a stripped down 201

And Canon TLb, stripped down FTb
 

Prismaflex by berangberang, on Flickr

I really do love the Edixa Prismaflex. I've used a lot of el-cheapo cameras, but this one is somehow surprisingly good despite costing even (slightly) less than a Praktica of the same era.


Nova by berangberang, on Flickr

I don't really know that I like the Praktica Nova. But they were really cheap when new, and they look pretty cool. The viewfinder is very bright (brighter than later Prakticas - somehow) and it's a simple camera, but it just feels cheap. Compared to the Edixa which is smooth as butter, the Praktica feels rough and unrefined.


exa by berangberang, on Flickr

The Exa is one of my all time favorite SLRs. It's one of the few bottom tier cameras that really is inexpensive rather than cheap. It cost so little because it was simple, not because they skimped on the quality. The Exa line remained the absolute cheapest you could go for an SLR for several decades.


Exakta VX500 by berangberang, on Flickr

The VX500 was the bargain Exakta. They removed the slow speeds, the film cutting knife, and some of the chrome trim. But you still got a camera with an excellent Zeiss (jena) lens, and interchangeable viewfinders.
 
Pentax P5/P50. Excellent viewfinder, and probably the best program modes and basic ergonomics of any Pentax 35mm body.

I don't know why more manufacturers didn't adopt the program mode approach. There were two modes, one which tried to maximise shutter speed, and the other which tried to maximise depth of field. So you could choose either fast shutter speed and large aperture, or slower shutter and smaller aperture. Any time you switched the aperture ring on the lens from 'A' it switched automatically into aperture priority mode. Simple.
 
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