Suggestions for an everyday carry SLR?

Things to consider:
A camera that's working and has been recently serviced;
Can still be serviced;
Or, not be a big waste of money if it stops working and can't be fixed;
Fits your favourite lens/es;
The lens/es adapt to your digital body if you own one;
Has the features you need;
Or, doesn't have features you don't need;
Is enjoyable to use/makes you want to use it;
Light/compact enough to encourage you to carry it everywhere.

Personally, I chose the lens first and the camera second.
 
Nikon FM-10

Nikon FM-10

I got rid of my Nikon F3 with MD4 as it was just too big and bulky, especially after using my Leica IIIF. Probably the body alone without the motor drive would have been fine, but I was in an equipment selling phase of my life at the time.

I did enjoy the FG while I had it. My shutter then started to taper, and the repair shop said it wasn't worth the effort to fix that shutter.

I have not tried the FE or FM series.

I do have the F and F2 also. They are big, but entirely reliable. But, I don't use them often due to their bigness and weight. I just haven't wanted to sell them yet.

If you want a light weight new "Nikon", there is the FM-10 that Cosina makes for them. All manual, and the batteries power the meter only. I looked at one back in 2006, and the price was about $150 then, if I recall. Now I find that they make you buy a zoom lens along with the body. It has self timer (which locks up the mirror when it runs), and depth of field preview.
 
Hmmm, why not decide which of the two outfits to keep; meaning Nikon or Olympus?

Then sell the redundant one and improve the other by getting it repaired and buying a back-up body. There's lots of cheap back up bodies, the OM10 to back up the OM1 etc, etc.

Just my 2d worth.

Regards, David
 
rbsinto said:
An excellent camera, but I never recommend it only because it lacks a depth of field preview, which I feel is an essential feature that every SLR should have.
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Actually, it sort of does: press the lens release and back the lens off in the mount a couple of mm and the lens stops down. However, I never trust visual DOF in the finder, so consequently it's not an issue for me, anyway.
 
I just got a Nikon N80 back from a friend. I loaned it to him years ago and had pretty much forgotten about it. Well, after playing with it these past couple days I am actually really impressed with it. Sure, its not a full metal body, and it doesn't meter with older manual glass. But, it is very light, comfortable and works very well with all my Nikon AF glass. The metering is great, it has a built in flash and it is able to lock AF focus in near darkness. This kind of amazed me. I had always had the AF illumination light turned on, but yesterday I turned it off and I am pretty much unable to stump the AF in very low light. I mean, its a camera from the 90's and its autofocus works much better than my brand new cameras! Oh yeah, its also probably about $30 on the used market.
 
I bought an FM2n in black from KEH for $125. I'm trying to stay ahead of my shaky hands, and at 1/4000 sec I can shoot tri-x at 5.6 in sunlight. Great camera.
 
I just got a Nikon N80 back from a friend. I loaned it to him years ago and had pretty much forgotten about it. Well, after playing with it these past couple days I am actually really impressed with it. Sure, its not a full metal body, and it doesn't meter with older manual glass. But, it is very light, comfortable and works very well with all my Nikon AF glass. The metering is great, it has a built in flash and it is able to lock AF focus in near darkness. This kind of amazed me. I had always had the AF illumination light turned on, but yesterday I turned it off and I am pretty much unable to stump the AF in very low light. I mean, its a camera from the 90's and its autofocus works much better than my brand new cameras! Oh yeah, its also probably about $30 on the used market.
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+1

I have to agree with this. Great little camera. As I get older, auto focus is becoming an important thing to have on a camera for me :D
 
Start with the lens, and then think about the camera. In terms of body alone, for a MF photography, all factors included, it's very difficult to beat a Nikon F3, but it is very easy to beat Nikkor lenses.
 
Definitely a Pentax MX ( with 50mm. F/1.7 )

My carry-around, SLR for years now— often in a Domke F6 bag with two-chimney insert.
The smaller end compartment holding a Nikon S2 Rangefinder, and the larger, a Pentax MX.

Either both Black & White, or color neg in one. Options, options, options.
 
Austintatious said:
+1

I have to agree with this. Great little camera. As I get older, auto focus is becoming an important thing to have on a camera for me :D
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Me too. My most likely carry camera if a SLR is a Nikon N70. It can use
my manual focus lenses with focus confirmation.
 
Austintatious said:
+1

I have to agree with this. Great little camera. As I get older, auto focus is becoming an important thing to have on a camera for me :D
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You know, it makes me want to try out a newer Nikon DSLR like a D610 or 800e just to see if the autofocus is still "on par". What is interesting, I had a Nikon D3 for a work camera for a couple years and I swear it was not as good as the N80 as far as getting a positive AF lock in near darkness....
 
Ah, yeah, the N70 / F70. Probably my most-used film camera (at least in terms of the # of frames shot) even though I don't feel "connected" to it the way I do with the manual-focus Minoltas. I agree, the single-point AF is remarkably accurate and works well in low light (it's rated to EV -1 which is better than the Canon 7D!). The VF is pretty nice for an AF camera. The 3.8fps built-in motor and quite powerful pop-up flash (GN 14m @ ISO 100!) make it a very handy combination, and the batteries last for ages. I went through a stage where I was taking a lot of "record" shots of stuff I was building, stuff I was doing at work, etc., and this thing never let me down. Why they left off the DOF preview I'll never know. The interface sure got a lot of bad press at the time but it's a lot like a DSLR (press a button, turn a wheel, rinse & repeat).

Plus, they are unbelievably cheap nowadays...
 
Surprised no one mentioned a Leica SLR. I have a R6.2 and love the totally mechanical experience. It is the same size as an M and gives you access to some great Leica R lenses which are pretty cheap these days.

Have Leica M9 and M2 and R6.2. The R6.2 does not see much use but I am thinking of taking it to Europe for 90 days and leaving the M's at home.
 
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