Which aperture priority SLR?

If you wanted the "best" answer to your specific prerequisites (manual focus, bright vf for manual focus, metering quality, build quality, lens selection, shooting slides, extreme cold weather, shutter speed range, metering quality, aperture priority, and did I mention the metering?) I'd have to say Nikon F6, all things considered, though there are lots of other options, as others have mentioned, and I have owned most of the other bodies mentioned here. There are reasons people have called it the best film slr ever made. Plus they are cheap now, very cheap for what you get. I have an embarrassing number of highly regarded film bodies of various formats, but for the parameters you presented, the easy answer for me is F6. I don't use it all the time, mainly because it is so unchallenging. An idiot can get great results with it in any conditions. It makes no sense that I ever go out with anything else, but there it is.
Not a religion for me, and many other options, so I would not slag any one else's legitimate answers, just my two cents worth.
 
Is anyone else aware thet the Canon AE-1 mentioned previoualy is a shutter priority camera NOT aperture priority (phillipus asked about aperture priority).
 
JoeLopez said:
I wasn't aware battery power was an issue with the F3. Batteries seem to last well over a year on these Nikon SLR bodies.
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It's not a function of the camera. Chemical activity in batteries in general decreases as the temperature drops.
 
I again wanted to clarify that the issue with the silver oxide battery in cold weather is due to a problem with the silver oxide battery, NOT with the F3. In "normal" shirtsleeve temperatures, the battery in my camera lasts for literally years. Even in freezing weather, the battery will revive once the camera has warmed up.
 
x-ray said:
It's not a function of the camera. Chemical activity in batteries in general decreases as the temperature drops.
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My reply was directed at PressPass and his statement:

...I understand your reluctance to use a motor drive, but the MD4 adds more than battery power to the F-3.
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Perhaps I misread their initial reply.

Thanks :)
 
Whatever good can be said of all the cameras above, which are no doubt good, add my Fujica ST 901 which has been going for over 40 years. I don't even know how many photos has been taken with it, but certainly over 20 to 25 thousand, from b/w to color to slides. It continues to have very accurate exposure. It uses a silver oxide battery, 544 or equivalent. The only time I experienced a cold issue was when the battery in it was nearing the end of its life. I always kept a spare so no problem. But if your only battery goes south, you have purely mechanical speeds from 1/60 to 1/1000 speeds as a backup.

I think it was the first of the step-less shutter speed cameras. Other nice things is stop-down metering if needed, and shutter speed measurement on non-Fujica dedicated M-42 lenses. And the only M42 lenses I found that won't mount are certain Mamiya lenes.

Being M42 mount, there are an incredible amount of good lenses (that are usually inexpensive) available. One disadvantage of the Fujica Fujinon lenses is that they are usually expensive these days. They are incredibly sharp however. Back when I wanted them the most, I couldn't afford them. But I learned there were a lot of inexpensive, but good lenses that were made to fit the Fujica line, or those by Vivitar with the TX mount, that were quite good as well. So I only have six Fujinon lenses.

Some people complain about the shutter speeds in the (bright) viewfinder. The don't display a 1/250, but 1/200, and other speeds are the same. I found as long as I was in the ball park, I didn't care. After all, the shutter would be step-lessly accurate. I really like the led readout in dim light.

Another good option in my experience, was the Contax 139Q, and the Contax 167mt. The only real disadvantage of the 167 is a little more weight because of the build-in winder, and just the fact there is a winder and no provision for manual film advance.

Probably more to your satisfaction would be the Yashica FX 103. It is battery dependent (not mercury) but it does have some really nice features. It has aperture priority, shutter priority, and program exposure modes. It takes a winder, but I don't use that as I don't like the added weight and noise. The Yashica Yashinon lenses are very good with an adapter, as well as their other lenses in the C/Y mount, but not Yashikors. More fun, they of course use the Contax T* lenses as well. The dedicated flash on those two cameras is unbelievably accurate.

EDIT, I forgot to mention that the FX 103 has the option to select exact shutter speeds, but I think they are battery dependent as well.

Sorry for the long post, but I have and use the cameras I mentioned so I can talk about them with knowledge and experience.
 
Leica RE and Nikon FM3a have larger and brighter finders than the F3 (plain prism or HP), great selection and quality of lenses, are at least equally reliable, and also use LR44 type batteries that seem to last forever. They also weight way less and have meters at least as accurate as the F3.
In my experience, Nikon FE and FE2 tend to have mechanical and /or electronic issues that steer me away from ever having them again.
 
I just bought my last film camera ever: an OM4 with updated circuit board (prefer it over the T due to brass top and bottom). It will be used mostly with the Zuiko 50/1.2, one of my all time favorite 50s.

There is your answer for manual focus.

For AF, my pick would be the Maxxum 9.

Roland.
 
* Nikon F5 - you can get one relatively cheap
* Olympus OM-2n: Small and well made, I love the Zuikos more than the Nikkors.
 
Huss said:
Leica R9

or Zenit 18
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Zenit 18! That's a little provocative, seeing as how there was only ever one lens made which would allow full aperture exposure metering with that body, and that lens was rare, and had an aperture which was always square because it had only two L shaped blades. Not sure if that exactly fit all the OP requirements, but you did make me look it up, so there's that.
 
I'd say most cameras have accurate enough metering. The last three slide films I used were in two P&S's and a RF. They all came out and I had the usual problem of fitting 37 slides into a 36 magazine...

Regards, David
 
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