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[Olly_ympus]

....and ONLY one vintage 35mm camera.  
What would you choose, and why?
(I ask because I'm looking for a cool usable and practical antique 35mm. 35 simply because of the availability of film.)

[Turnergande]

Tie between Nikon F & Nikon F2 in the 35mm SLR type. Attributes: quality, reliability, durability. Nikon F2 gets my nod as a better user but the Nikon F looks better in my humble opinion. Now let's here from the Pentax, Canon, Minolta, Oly

[Dgillette4]

My vote would be for the Leica M3, very durable solid and easy to cla. Don

[F16sunshyn]

Pentax Spotmatic original in black. I just love how it looks and how the shutter sounds. Mine has the perfect amount of brassing to make it look like a legend. So many great lenses from many great manufacturers. Maybe some of the later Spotmatics where be

[Olly_ympus]

I of course LOVE my Olympus cameras and all their accessories. :-)
But what about the earliest 35mm cameras made? Such as the Argus, The Kodak 35, Robot and others.  
Which do you think was (and is) the most reliable?

[Turnergande]

As much as I'd like to be patriotic, I can't think of many 35mm American cameras that get rave reviews or much actual 'practical' use today. If you want older, say 1930 technology then the early Leica III series is one way to go. Then there'

[Rj_]

Reading this post, I suddenly feel guilty.  
 
http://www.luxcamera.co.uk/pages/Antiqua/London%20in%20love/IIIf.htm
 
[url=http://www.luxcamera.co.uk/

[Olly_ympus]

No need to feel guilty. The Leica is a beautiful piece of work. I like the old retro styled ones better than the modern models. They have much more character. I'm leaning toward getting one myself as my antique user camera.

[Rj_]

Hi Olly,
 
if you do decide on an LTM vintage Leica model, it will need a decent new service or a recent service history.  There are a few eccentricities with the camera (such as the film loading, however this enables a shorter camera height co

[Olly_ympus]

Thanks for the tips Rj.  
Here's another fine mess I've gotten myself into,....

[M_currie]

My biased stock answer:  if you want a great classic that is entirely usable, practical, easy to find lenses for and easy to keep running, it's hard to beat a Nikon F. For the purist, an F with a plain prism, for the ultra-purist with some cas

[Jayd]

I can beat the Nikon F with Topcon RE Super AKA Super D and the slightly later Super DM.  The Topcon has better metering system and more useability.here are some sites with information:[url=http://www.vermontel.net/~wsalati/CasualCollector/topcon.htm targ

[Fallisphoto]

Retina IIIC. I like rangefinders, it has some really nice lenses and I wouldn't be worried about being robbed every time I took it out of the house.

[Tcollopy]

I own several Pentax Spotmatic II's and love them for the operability. I have the all black version, and love the look. I also have a Contax 137MD, and really have fun with it; best part is it's light, not bulky, with autowinder that runs on A

[Barnum]

Why has no one thought of the Canon A1? Just about every photographic specification any enthusiast could want! I've had mine since year dot, and results are terrific. Only needs to have a mechanical shutter mechanism to be just about perfect, but th