Considering my first 35mm camera.

[Pandysloo]

Nikon F3 is a real workhorse of a camera. It's well built and there are plenty of good bargains to be had. Beyond that you have a wealth of lenses to choose from and you can change your focus screen whenever you want. Screens are reasonable priced. The big baddy with the F3 is flash. You need a special adapter for flash shoe.

Forgot to add one important detail: price range. I'm looking at around $100 for a body. I also have no interest in flash so I'm not willing to pay more for those features.

[tkamiya]

Early Olympus?

[Les Sarile]

Split screen prisms are quite common among the manual focus cameras. A lot of them have interchangeable screens so you can pick the type you want. A few of these bodies - only one Pentax body and a handful of Nikons, even have interchangeable viewfinders that offer a world of flexibility.

Because it seems you have a K Mount lens - bayonet instead of screw type, you cannot use it on a Spotmatic or any other body with the M42 screw mount so you will have to get a K mount body. The range of bodies you can use this with are on either Manual focus types to Auto focus types.

Now if you buy the Nikon lens, you will need to get a Nikon body for it. Of course this will depend on the Nikon lens type.

If you go with a manual focus body, the main thing to consider is that you have some warranties/guarantees since these are generally a few decades old and there can be no accounting for previous owner. If you are in the US, you might want to look at KEH as they offer money back guarantees and particularly great prices.

[elekm]

You can go the cheapskate route and pick up a KX, K1000 or MX body for less than $100. Not sure about the price of a K2.

[Peter Simpson]

I love my Nikons. The F3 is a lot of camera, but it's a bit bigger than the FE and as someone already pointed out, it needs an adapter if you want to mount a flash (other than a SB- with the right type base).
If you are sensitive to size, you may want an FE, but I love my F3. They usually go for around $120 but keep an eye on KEH -- price varies and BGN grade can be a great deal if you're not concerned with cosmetics.

[Kav]

I love my Nikons. The F3 is a lot of camera, but it's a bit bigger than the FE and as someone already pointed out, it needs an adapter if you want to mount a flash (other than a SB- with the right type base).
If you are sensitive to size, you may want an FE, but I love my F3. They usually go for around $120 but keep an eye on KEH -- price varies and BGN grade can be a great deal if you're not concerned with cosmetics.

I totally agree, the F3 is a bit larger then the FE line of cameras, but not by much if a motor drive is not installed. One other nice thing bout the F3 is you can use it with more Nikon lenses then most of the cheaper Nikons. This comes into play if you are looking at using older lenses.

I have a FE2, F3, and a few F4 cameras. I am going to let the FE2 go to a new home because I like the ability to configure the F3 and F4 to what I need with different view screens among many other options.

You say you are not going to be using flash. If at any point in time you even think you may want to play with a flash I would not get a F3. Not only does it have a non standard flash shoe, it has a slow sync speed compared to my FE2.

[Les Sarile]

Actually there is not a significant size difference between Nikon's lineup but there is in their weight.

[PentaxBronica]

K2s in decent condition go for anywhere between £50 and £100+ here depending on a few factors:

Colour - black is rarer and more desirable, I'm told it was a special order at the time so most just bought a chrome one

Lens - mine was £50 because it only had an M 50mm f2 with it (since replaced with the K 50mm f1.4 like yours). The more unusual the lens the higher the price will be. I also had to straighten a bent top plate to get the hotshoe level again, give it a good clean and replace the light seals. A couple of hours work and I have a very presentable K2 which appears in full working order judging by test rolls.

There was a dedicated ever-ready case for the K2 which doesn't fit anything else (and the cases for the KX/KM won't fit a K2 as the tripod socket they attach to is a few millimetres further over), if you see one then buy it quickly as they aren't common. The front part is a pain but can be unclipped and left at home, the back makes the camera easier to grip and protects it from minor knocks. I can post a photo of the case to help identify them, the design is pretty distinctive. If you see a K2 for sale with the ERC then snap it up - generally cameras which have always lived in one had a very easy life although a CLA may be needed to deal with a decade or two of inactivity.

The K2 was launched as the professional model in the original K series lineup, with a price tag to match. There weren't many about to begin with, and people who have them don't tend to let them go (I'd only swap mine for an LX).

The K2 DMD is a different beast, rarer and more expensive as a result. I nearly bought one for £80 with some brassing and a non-functional self timer, but decided that it wasn't worth it and bought a lens instead. Had the timer worked I'd have pounced on it. See here to read what upgrades it has over the normal K2 and decide if it'd be worth the effort and cost to find one. I'd still like one but I'm quite happy with my normal K2 in the meantime.

You won't get an LX in working order for $100 or less, you pay roughly double that for a CLA for one here. You could probably get an MX but that puts you back on the cloth shutter - I seem to get decent exposures with mine and they've had no servicing beyond a cosmetic clean and new light seals. KXs tend to be a bit more expensive as they're rarer, but they do have MLU (as does the K2).

[Pandysloo]

Thanks for your input, everyone. I found a CLA'd Nikon FE for $85. I'm thinking about picking up a Nikkor 50mm 1.8 when the funds allow.



Tis a thing of beauty.

[fotch]

Sounds like a good deal.