35mm SLR...WHATS THE BEST?!

[skieur]

Leica or Contax RTS with Zeiss lenses. In Minolta the XD11 which is said to be a Leica R4 in disguise from when Leica and Minolta were working together.

skieur

 

[Battou]

Ah... I see... my confusion.

Don't feel bad, you are not the first and won't be the last.

That's why I made that thread, so I could link it any time the question was posed

I believe it's a stopgap camera, a lot of people don't even know it exists.

Truthfully I find it makes the AE-1 look like a piece of junk, but that is due largely to what I shoot with it. I need the mirror lock and thirty second exposure that the AE-1 lacks and have no use for the auto wind the AE-1 is capible of.

 

[compur]

What is the best 35mm SLR out there?

The one you have with you when the photo op happens.

 

[airgunr]

I would say the best one is the Nikon F6. Next would be the F5, both are great cameras and built like a tank. They will last a very long time.

That being said since you have a AE-1 why not stick with one of those? I had one for many years and traveled all over the globe with it. You can pick up a good refurbished one for around $100 and don't have to purchase new glass.

 

[kevin_c]

The Nikon F100 is a solid, quality camera. Not as big and bulky as the F5, much cheaper than the F6, and there are a fair few around secondhand.
This will also take just about any Nikkon lens AF or MF.

 

[JamesD]

A bit spendy to outfit when starting up with a new system, but the Canon EOS cameras are pretty good. I started with a Rebel GII kit, which was a decent body for the money but a rather inadequate lens. I switched from the cheap zoom to primes, which aren't really cheap, but quite worthwhile. I also went to the Elan 7N body, which has more features and is all the camera body I'll need for a long while, I think, and falls in the middle price bracket.

Don't overlook older cameras, though. I have an AE-1P also, and it's an excellent camera, although it needs some work... mirror bearings are starting to go, I believe. It does lack some features, but it works well and is cheap. And the lenses, which are the important part, are pretty cheap, as well, with excellent optical quality. If you can live without fancy electronic features, and need the best bang for the buck, these older cameras are your best bet. That also goes for other brands, I'd expect, although I've heard that Nikon lenses aren't quite as cheap as other brands due to the Nikon system's backward compatibility. I can't say much about that because I don't shoot Nikon and therefore haven't researched it.

Really, it all depends on your photographic needs and your budget.

 

[AndrewG]

If you want manual focus I would suggest a Nikon F3HP or the more recent FM3 which combines all the best electronic features of the FE2 with the ruggedness of the FM2N. There's still a huge choice of wonderful, used Nikkor lenses out there...
I used an F100 for a while but found it heavy and ungainly.

 

[myopia]

i am assuming 35mm (135) film SLRs:

for auto-everything w/ lots of tech, i would say nikon F100/F5/F6

for a more "deliberate" camera, i would say nikon F2A or something contax or canon from the same era