Originally posted by bjolester I guess there are many of you that use multiple camera systems. Does it make sense to have a small Nikon auto exposure 35mm film camera kit or is the Pentax LX a better option?
I would appreciate hearing your experience on auto exposure cameras and owning multiple systems.
-Bjørn
These are the manual cameras I have used that have aperture priority although there are a few here that have additional automatic exposure modes of shutter priority and program.
Whether the LX would be a more useful camera for you will depend on how you use it. For instance, it is the only camera that can aperture priority a scene for as long as it takes - all the while monitoring it for lighting changes and adjusting accordingly. I have personally tested both of mine for exposure taking more then several hours long successfully and repeatedly. Only the Olympus OM 2 can come a very distant second to this as the longest it can do is 19 minutes under very special settings. All Canons max out at 30 seconds exactly while Nikon, Minolta and Pentax (other then the LX) varies with every model and not consistent
Another feature is that the LX has shutter speeds sync to 1/2000 available without batteries. This is shared by the ES II and Canon New F-1. The Nikon FM3A is the merger of the FE2/FM2 and has all shutter speeds available when batteries die. All others may have sync speed available when batteries die.
Noteworthy:
Olympus OM4 has spot metering.
Chinon CE II Memotron works with M42 lenses.
Minolta XE-7 has the smoothest film advance I have ever felt on all cameras.
Minolta X-700 has a full intervalometer available.
Nikon FG is the little train that could.
Ricoh XR7 is a Pentax mount and a good alternative to the ME Super.
The Nikon FA is feature laden version of the FE2.
What I don't like about the Nikon F3/FA/FG/FE2 is that their meters are disabled until the film has been advanced to position 1. Clearly an overreach by Nikon to keep users from getting a long exposure - and thinking their camera is broken, when they fire the shutter after putting a new roll of film in and advancing the film.