antonyg

A friend of mine game me her late mother's KX. A wonderful camera. I grew up in the 1970s, and my first camera was a Cosmorex SE followed by a Pentax MX.

Like you, I really lusted after a Nikon and sold the MX to my brother and bought an FE and F2A.

I still have both cameras and recently added an FT3.

Those cameras from the 1970s are certainly excellent. Replace those foam seals, and you're good to go for another couple of decades.

I cannot believe that there is no Forum for the History of Cameras. As I am sure many of the Subscibers, would want to champion their Models and share in their allied knowledge.
My blogg was 1970's SLR Cameras, and only one response, this only shows that Bloggs are of a limited navigational value, and do not play to the assumed widest possible audience.

I agree, some of the cameras from the 70's and even earlier are real works of beauty. Now the the world and it's dog are moving to the world of digi....something or other, there are a lot of cameras that we lusted after in our teens that are becoming available. Personally, it's always been Nikons for me, from FM's and on to the big F's (F, F2, F4 and F5). And with the advent of web based auction sites, they're easier than ever to get hold of. Is it just me, or is there a sensual joy in holding a camera that won't splinter into a million shards of plastic if you drop it?

Antonya, you're preaching to the converted here, in the seventy s I managed a camera shop, and handled all the good stuff every day, I felt like a kid in a toy shop and spent far too much of my salary every month on it, since the company allowed staff to buy it at cost price.
I have and use regularly A Canon , A1, FTbn, and EF , I also have a F1N AE and aT90 but they are eighty's cameras.
I too love cameras you don't have to nurse, that you can knock nails in with, and they still work.

I had a Mamiya DTL 500 bought new in 1974 - although the camera was launched in about 1970 I think. It ran perfectly for 29 years until the meter failed. I gained my LRPS and ARPS with it. M42 screw lenses could be a bind but I used Tamron Adaptalls and left the mount on the body. This then converted the camera to a quick release bayonet fit! (this feature is not so easy on other cameras as the mountings are more complex.) I bought this camera in preference to the spotmatic because it (the mamiya) had dual metering -average and spot. Since losing the camera my photography has never really been the same . A bit like losing an old friend.