BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: Traditional Film Photography

Please suggest an SLR

I need help finding a 35mm SLR (new or used) based on the following criterion:

Must have features:

1. ability to manually control the
aperture, focus, and shutter speed.
2. film reverse for making double
exposures.
3. I'd like to be able to use it with
my telescope, so it has to have a
shutter that can stay open
indefinatley and a mirror that can
be locked up

Features that would be nice:

-in camera light meter
-flash sync @ 1/250 sec

This will be the first SLR I've ever owned and I'll be doing a lot of learning with it, so the more manual it is, the better. Not that I have a problem with automation, it's just that I don't want to get confused by all of the features most AE cameras offer.

Thanks a bunch and have a good one,
A.

To love this question, log in above
January 30, 2006

To love this comment, log in above
January 31, 2006

http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/I03/I03.HTM

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=349

http://home.g-net.net/~andy/aphoto.htm

Once you find a few suitable cameras, check a few enthusiast sites for information on camera ownership experience. You don't want to be the guy who re-discovers the fact that no one wants to repair Minolta XE-7s anymore, that Pentax LX bodies usually need extensive and pricey CLA to replace all those seals, etc.

At minimum, you'll want a SLR that mechanically holds its shutter open on bulb or time setting. You are excluding quite a lot of cameras with two of your requirements - most 35mm film SLR cameras cannot achieve your 1/250 flash sync minimum without a modern vertical-travel metal shutter, while most newer SLRs lack MLU. Some SLRs (Yashica FX-3, Nikon FM3a) do have a 'poor man's' MLU in the form of mirror pre-fire, where using the self timer locks up the mirror before the shutter is activated.

To love this comment, log in above
January 31, 2006