[fotch]

Well certainly--It's an opinion widely held by 1--me. The Asahiflex was the first SLR, the Spotmatic was the first TTL meter. Their lens quality was impeccable, and in the early 1960's the Pentax really was Japan's finest, which is not a matter for a lot of debate. Nikon caught fire in popularity because of the size of their product line, the bayonet mount over the screw mount, and from then on, Nikon was off to the races.

I am not talking about who was first with ......rather, the lens quality, and kind of remember that Miranda was also highly regarded. In any case, the Spotmatic was very popular although I never owned one myself. Although I recall they had a larger varity of lens, and were considered good, nothing comparing to the splash of the later Nikon systems. JMHO on the history.