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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WayneF" data-source="post: 472325" data-attributes="member: 12496">That Nikon F (1959) had two adjustable settings, aperture and shutter speed (actually the aperture ring was on the lens).  But it was complex, with many additional features  <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />1. shutter button2. film advance3. exposed film frame counter4. self timer - 3 marked dots to set 3, 6, or 10 seconds.5. a film rewind6. a cable release socket 7. a lens socket and release, about the same as today.8. PC flash sync socket9. Depth of Field preview button10. Mirror lockup button11. Prism release button - could look down at it for a waist level finder, and could swap the viewfinder screen.12. and of course a release to remove the back to load film.No light meters.  No batteries.  It seemed pretty exotic in the day.I don't think I forgot much, except there was a non-function film speed dial on the bottom, just to remember what was in it. The film speed was what it was of course. Which was of course the norm in the day, but there were not many SLR then, at least not until Nikon F.  More  range finders and twin lens reflex, like Rolliflex and Yashica. Hasselblad and Bronica started about the same time as Nikon F.But that doesn't mean "The first Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera"?   I think the sentence must mean first with motor drive. That it probably was, it grew to be quite a system. Life magazine photographers were the really big deal then, a few dozen of them, traveled world wide like National Geographic photogs, but much bigger, much more prestigious then, like living gods of the photography world, and they used only Nikon F. Nikon certainly wasn't the first SLR.  The Exacta SLR was early, in the 1930s, and not very expensive.  Contax SLR was ten years before Nikon, also German.  Then Pentax SLR in Japan, 1952 I think, and probably others were earlier SLR too.  Nikon had rangefinders, but first SLR was 1959. I used to drool over the Contax back then, but it was like $350 and I couldn't even imagine it.  It had focal plane shutter and a penta prism viewfinder, which simply took your breath away - big, and bright, seemed like magic after being used to range finders. My situation improved, and I did eventually manage a Nikon (a Ftn, a later F model, same but with builtin light meter, with a small mercury battery just for the meter).  Nikon had become the really big deal then, at least in my eyes. The Canon AE-1 was 15-16 years later, but was the first with a CPU chip and automation, which became big in the consumer market.  I remember in the day, I was using metal Nikon reloadable film canisters, which were feltless, no scratches.I still have a few:<img src="http://www.scantips.com/g2/dsc_9719.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /> The knob in bottom for the camera back rotated to open and close these canisters as the back came loose, and I guess it was a load, because my knob screw shaft failed.  I took it to a local camera repair shop in Houston, back in the days when they actually repaired things.   Cluttered old shop, hard to imagine today, cluttered work benches, cameras piled everywhere, pretty neat place. The guy turned a new threaded knob shaft on a lathe, and had it ready next day.  Worked perfect.  It was kinda different times.</blockquote>

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