Best Value 35mm film SLR cameras

This is great, but rather than saying what's already well known, with 100s of videos on the topic, I'd love to see a deeper dive on the differences between all of the subcategories. Like Nikon FE versus Nikon F3 for example. Or Minolta SRT 101 versus SR 201. This is where my main "confusion" lies. Like these videos are always so surface level, and all the super detailed videos are just not on this level of production, it's like some British guy recording with his phone in Bangkok lmao. We have to see the opposite happen occasionally.

Just picked up a Nikon F2 for $300 with a Nikkor-S 50mm f 1.4 lens in excellent condition. I love it. Highly recommended.

Those of us from a generation ago recall that frame accurate viewing was important for some applications. Copywork, for example. 100% correlation between viewer and film plane. Nikons F, F2, F3, and Canon F1 had this feature. Most others had fractional viewing. In some popular cameras like the Nikomat/Nikkormat and Pentax, viewing was less than 90%.

Good video. I only saw this now October 2023 but I have all the cameras you mentioned. The ME Super is known to be less reliable but fingers crossed it's still working for me. I would add that there are lots of Pentax S2 and SV around in very good conditions. I find them much better looking than the Spotmatic series, though they don't have a light meter.

Well rounded list. I highly recommend a X-500/570 over the X-700. I’ve found them to be quite reliable.

OM-1, top tier camera, competes with Leica at a Fraction of the price. Olympus lenses are also among the best out there, in many cases better than Nikon, at half the size.

Pentax MX. Smallest SLR ever made just undercutting the OM-1. Reliable all mechanical. Great range of K mount lenses

My first SLR was a Pentax K1000 bought brand new in the early 1990s. Great camera, and would also recommend any K-series film Pentax SLR (such as the KM, K2, etc). which often have more features than the K1000. Pentax lenses are also great value for the money, and are plentiful.

I have two SRT Supers, one silver and the other one black. Love both of them! And, I can also attest to the quality of the Rokkor lenses. Fabulous pieces of glass. But, I also have Nikon film cameras as well. One camera I picked up just recently was a little Minolta Hi-Matic F rangefinder. Took it out today for a quick shoot. Very easy to use, the rangefinder patch is nice and bright and focus is simple.

If you had to pick between a minolta xd-7 and minolta srt series, which one would you pick?

All good recommendations, with good alternates. We have an SRT-200, a Canon A-1, a Nikon F3, a Nikon FTn. Any of them makes a great film camera, although only the Canon and the Nikon F3 have automation features. The Canon FL/FD lenses are getting really scarce, as they work great or mirrorless digital bodies with adapters.

I find this list not really original. Instead of the AE1 I would recommend the EF. They can be found for less than €50 easily.

My daughter bought me an Olympus OM1n for birthday last year, as a replacement for my failing OM2s (which has been repaired recently), and I'm enjoying it ever since.
With that being said, my dad's Minolta srT 303b (201 in the US) still works, without any CLE, for the last 45 years or so...

The Canon Elan 7 and 7n are also a good choice. Paid mine 75$, all EF lens work on them. So hybrid shooting is also possible. All the modern tech, but with film.

How about Rolleiflex SL35

My film camera experience is you will have learn to repair them if you want to use them even if you pay a premium price in many cases. At least learn how to add light seals which is not too bad.

Look at Fujica cameras . They had their own Mount and pre Pentax k Mount .

I'm biased and love the Nikon system, reliable, love the meter readout, and plenty of lens choices out there and availability.

I owned the OM1 and it's a beautiful camera, with a very nice viewfinder and deceptively compact, love the shutter sound

Pentax apparently ate making new film cameras?

Have 2 Olympus OM1, 1 Olympus OM2(G) and a 1962 Olympus Auto Eye II.

The Zuiko lenses rival literally anything on the market. Yes, Leica included.

Haven’t checked your channel for a while been sidetracked on other things. Great video and congrats on the Urth sponsorship.

Hey, I recently moved to Australia and I wanted to ask you what's the best way to get a camera like OM-1 in good price? Are you getting them from ebay or would you recommend other ways?

When I was 20 years old in 1980, I bought my first SLR which was the Ricoh KR10 (after learning the basics with a Zorki 4). I couldn't afford the Nikon/Canon equivalents. As time passed, I bought all manner of exotics including the heavy Nikon F4s. Now I'm 62 years old, I decided to re-visit my early choices and recently bought a Ricoh KR10, KR5 and KR10 Super. All of these are cheap and accept the wonderful Pentax K-mount lenses. And at the end of the day, it's the lens that makes the photograph, not the camera.

The Nikon FE is well known, but I wonder what is your opinion towards the Nikon F? I personally own an Olympus OM1 and OM2, they are both fantastic cameras indeed, Zuiko lenses too. But I went for the Canon F1 New instead of A1 a few years ago, also wonder what's your opinion about the Canon F1 New. Thanks.

Great video Hashem. I noticed that the Voigtlander 40mm F2 seems to be your go to on the FE. Any chance you'll be doing a review on it because I'm thinking about pairing that lens with my grandfather's FE?

Spotmatic were my favourite cameras for a long time. Until I got my FM2, the 1/4000 shutter is too useful. 1/1000 just isn’t enough sometimes up here on the Gold Coast. Tempted to look into converting my Pentax lenses to F mount.

Love the Nikon F2, it’s mechanical.

Whilst I agree that all of the above are great cameras, I think that the 90's/early 2000's SLR's are so often overlooked. Probably because there's not much visual difference between a Canon EOS 3 from 1999 vs a current DSLR. I'm personally not crazy about using themdue to the look at feel, but there's no denying that they're technically much better than anything from the 60's, 70's or 80's. A common argument against them is that the electronics can easily die (the same can be said of the Canon AE1 or similar cameras). But, at the current prices, they're replaceable. Then there's also the advantage of it much easier transitioning from a modern DSLR.

Congrats on the awesome sponsor hash! Also great video with such good well rounded advice and info for the community. You are a one stop shop for reliable info and well presented content Hashem. Excited for 2023 and to see what else you will do. 🙋🏻‍♀️👍🏻📸🎞️

Nikon FE2 is my choice

Nikon FT2

I'd recommend some old Contax/Yashica SLRs, only because you get access to the Carl Zeiss lenses. The 139Q has a tiny body, small enough to be pocketable, and has a huge, clear viewfinder. You can get them from about 100-300. Not many are mechanical only though, apart from the S2/S2b, which are too expensive now.

Definitely consider the Nikon FA... this was Nikon's first ever matrix metering camera that in my opinion is a hidden gem. It was sold as an amateur model as a tryout for the new metering system that soon became the industry standard for professional cameras. Straight out of the box I learned to rely on it and although being an electronic camera became my favorite...cheers.

Thanks!

Great segment Hashem on friendly choices for rock solid SLR performers, a key note - typically when getting a starter kit and the accompanying lenses, it be a 28mm, 35mm, 50mm and sometimes a 105 or 135mm. Each of the brands you recommended have a great selection with those specific lens choices. I do want to recommend 1 highly overlooked and underrated camera to your bunch, the Minolta XE-7 (north America) or as its known in (Asia and Australia) the XE, and in (Europe) as the XE-1. A real remarkable achievement with a ton of great features, which was sort of a joint venture with Leica, the only issue with the XE-7 to be concerned with is the Prism - in which Minolta used an adhesive to attach the hold down clip. Unfortunately that adhesive over time will degrade the silvering on the prism in that one area, and a visible series of black dots will appear as the bottom end of the prism, which might interfere with your line of sight, it is how ever very easy to repair.

I found a OM-2n back in August at a flea market in Austria. But: it needs to be serviced. There's only 1 online shop in Europe which sells OM-2n light seals for example. But at least I've paid 50% of the price of a serviced OM-2n (~260-300€).

How about an analogue Canon EOS system? Purists will say that it is a way to photograph digital on Film "sensor". But a lot of Canon full frame photographers can use their lenses built for digital bodies as well. Changing from Eos digital to analogue is not a big step, easy to go

Great video mate! I've got a few Canons and a Minolta myself, solid options! I also have a couple of Gobe lens adapters and they're definitely good quality products. Best bang for buck I could find anyways. Cheers

I managed to pic up a Canon AV-1, Canon EOS 30 & an Olympus OM 20 (came with a 50mm lens) all fully working for a combined cost of £110 GBP. If you have been using a DSLR (Nikon or Canon) then most of that modern glass will work on the old "consumer" auto level SLR's that have light meters, auto winding, auto focus, basically a film version of a DSLR. the added bonus being that they are still quite cheap so you can buy a few of them so when one breaks you can just move on to the next one, and if you are a Nikon user then you have all that manual F glass that you can use on them as well.

I have more or less completely switched to medium and large format. The only 35mm camera I have kept is the Olympus OM-1.
My secret tipp for someone with serious ambitions in 35mm film photography but not wanting to work fully manually is the Olympus OM-4. I don't think that you can find a better value for your money in the 35mm SLR world.

I love the OM-1, the most beautiful camera ever made in my opinion, but I use the OM-2n more often. Aperture priority is super useful and the advance lever feels quite a bit smoother, too.

If I had to get another SLR, though, I'd definitely go for a black Nikon FE. Super cool piece of kit, and the advance lever also being the on/off-switch is a clever feature. The ISO can also go to 3200, whereas the OM's stop at 1600, meaning you can't push three stops while using aperture priority.

I have an Nikon FE2 and a Nikon FE, I bought the FE for a second camera and now I am using almost everytime my FE. I much prefer this camera with its, almost pancake, 50mm kit lens. I also have the Minolta SRT-101 the only bad thing I can say about this camera is the battery, the 1.35 Volt original battery make it tricky in 2022 to get a battery for this camera or a precise reading for the lightmeter and for that I still prefer my Nikon FE.

The Spotmatic is great to learn on, super cheap, reliable, easy to find, and cheap to fix. Finding one with a working meter might be tough and the batteries are expensive for what they are but you can just use a separate meter.

I shoot the OM-1 and my daughter uses a SRT-102. LOVE them.

Check out Pentax and Minolta cameras... Also cameras from the 90s are much cheaper than their equivalents from the 80s and 70s.

My OM-1 will need to be peeled from my dead body I love it so much.

Urth stuff is trash: it's lower than AliExpress quality stuff for a premium price. I'd avoid this if you value quality over design.

Edit: I'm talking about adapters, I don't have experience with their filters.

Random, but I think I see refracted light from the neon signs on your chest.

Great advice 😎thanks for sharing this information👍✌️