The best AF film SLRs

If you have to have AF, then the EOS-1v.
Otherwise the T90 remains the best SLR I've ever had the pleasure of using.
 
ebolton said:
EOS 3 all the way for me. The eye control focus, fast continuous shooting, and the general ergonomics suit me perfectly.
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This proves that everyone is different. I could never, ever take a decent photo with an EOS 3, with all those crazy flashing lights, graphs and who knows what else going on in the viewfinder. I'm obviously just too easily distracted!

Marty
 
I'd say the Canon eos 1v is the best. Super super super ergonomics, UI, blazing AF and tough as a brick ****house.

That being said - I bought an eos 1n to complement my 5d a few weeks ago - for a grand total of $100aud, and it's a lovely machine. AF is still very fast even with just the 5pt AF, but it doesn't matter because I'm using MF it with Zeiss ZE primes. Huge VF, lovely and simple handling, super tough - it even has brassing on the top and bottom plates!
 
Nikon F4.
No other camera manufacturer (including Nikon) ever made a backwards and forwards compatible camera as the F4. Durability and some functional capability with every lens that Nikon has ever made aside from DX lenses. Not the F5, F6 or any offering from any other manufacturer has ever come close.

Phil Forrest
 
The Nikon N80 is fast, has the quietest shutter of any SLR I know, and has a great meter. It is light and fits my hands perfectly. The results I get with it are better than any SLR, autofocus or not, I have used.
 
Harry Lime said:
...

F100 - the biggest AF bargain around.

F5 - Great, but in many ways the F100 is the better cameras... But it does suck down batteries at an alarming rate...

F6 - Probably the best AF film camera ever. Blazing fast, good size, modern RGB matrix metering etc.

...
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Harry, perhaps your F5 has a short - mine seems to work forever on a set of 8 lithium batteries. 40 rolls at least. It's got real, mechanical mirror lock-up and I can put a waist level finder on it when I do copy or ground level work with it. F100 and F6 ... nope.
 
F100 for the price win. Never used an F6 but it would be sweet to use the iTTL of my SB800, SB900 combo.
 
Carlos M said:
I think you are one of the very few.
Most guys here seem to me to be "multi-instrumentalists"
All part of the "tool box".
.
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Sure. I own and use cameras up to 12x15 inch, film and digi, RF, SLR, direct view, ground glass...

And my least favourites to use are autofocus DSLRs. Because I like the convenience of a digital image, though, I normally use manual focus primes on them instead of AF. Sharper, too.

Cheers,

R.
 
My F5 is a speed freak. This camera has one of the fastest AF and frame rates for film. Sadly, this is the reason I don't use it anymore. These days I use digital for my fast work and film for when I want to slow down. This means using a Nikon F3, Leica MP, and Mamiya 7II.
 
Dirk said:
The Nikon N80 is fast, has the quietest shutter of any SLR I know, and has a great meter. It is light and fits my hands perfectly. The results I get with it are better than any SLR, autofocus or not, I have used.
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Agreed, as much as I love my F100 and my old F4s my F80 is the quietest, smoothest AF SLR I've ever handled. Nice and light too, was using my F100 + grip all weekend and my neck sure feels it now - wish I'd taken my F80 away with me instead. :)
 
As much as I love the F100 and might buy one at sometime in the future, I still have an N80 and apart from its dark viewfinder and slow AF, its still a really quiet and competent camera.

However, if ever wanted to do a project where I shot film and I needed the ruggedness and reliability of an Af SLR, I'll definitely buy one or two F100s.
 
I have a Nikon F80 and it's a nice little camera with just about everything a boy could need. Sure it's not perfect but i don't need perfection to take good shots.
If i was buying again i would go for an F4 because it can use older lenses and is better sealed against the weather and i like the older cameras with knobs and stuff
 
from what i've owned (pretty much any EOS worth owning)- the 1V(HS). Great great system camera.

I've always wanted a F5, and they are a true bargain now. The F100 is even more of a bargain, but doesn't have the 100% finder, does it? That is a biggie for me. Other than that, and i think some other minor things that don't really matter, the F100 is probably the best bargain pro AF 35mm SLR.
 
stupid leica said:
I've always wanted a F5, and they are a true bargain now. The F100 is even more of a bargain, but doesn't have the 100% finder, does it? That is a biggie for me. Other than that, and i think some other minor things that don't really matter, the F100 is probably the best bargain pro AF 35mm SLR.
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The F100 has a 96% coverage viewfinder.

To be fair to the F100, when I measured viewfinder coverage of AF SLRs that claimed to have a 100% finder, the only one that really did was the Minolta Maxxum 9 - the Nikons and Canons always had 99.2-99.8% coverage. Close enough, probably, to be fair, and I'm not even sure if I was measuring it correctly, or if there really is an industry standard for doing it.

Marty
 
I really like the F5 - although it is heavy and big, it does indeed feel somewhat "sleek", next to a D3 with it's thinner body.
I love, how it really feels like out of one piece, there is nothing, that seems, could come off, after throwing it out of a car window and towing it for a few kilometres.

I really like, how it loads and unloads film - everything very uncomplicated and safe - no rattles, just works (once, you are accustomed to all the safety locks - I still fight with that darn on off switch lock and simply leave the camera on most of the time).

I hate - I really hate the Nikon F4. I tried to buy one (the great controls and said built seemed a must have), but every time, I had one in my hands, it just felt like a pig.
I would not want one.

The F5 by contrast is heavier, bigger, but somehow, it really feels more refined.

The only thing, next to the darn on off switch lock, I don't like is, that my nose always selects AF points (I lock the selector therefore most of the time, which, again, adds another lock ;-) ) and that I do not have a focus lock button, as I have programmed on my D3 (I use continuos focus all the time and lock it by a button press).

More and more though, I use manual focus also on my AF bodies - can't stand AF missing and doing different, from what I want.
 
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