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Comment by mathewsanders | Hacker News Reader

When I was 16 (1997) a photographer friend of my parents gave me his old Canon AE-1 (I think released in 1980 or 81) it’s shutter wasn’t working and I took it into the local Canon center where they fixed the shutter, replaced light seal on film door, and even gave me a lens cap for something like NZD$50.

Amazing that companies used to build such sturdy products that they could be cheaply fixed 15+ years after they were sold...

Also sort of amazing is that Canon even had a physical presence that as a consumer I could visit a physical offices and drop of a product in person to be fixed!

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> Amazing that companies used to build such sturdy products that they could be cheaply fixed 15+ years after they were sold...

The award for most durable SLR has to go to the Pentax Spotmatic. The first ones were released in 1964, and they are seemingly indestructible.

Even the exposure meter is a future-proof design; it was designed for mercury (1.35V) batteries but the circuit was designed in a way that modern LR44 (1.5V) cells "just work"!

Nikon lenses from the same era generally need a CLA because the grease used on their focusing helicoids gums up over the years and makes focusing feel dry, bumpy, and just plain nasty. I have come across some Super Takumar (Pentax) examples that are moldy enough that they would probably grow mushrooms if you left them outside soon the shady side of a tree, but the focusing feel is always smooth and perfect.

The only lens I have that feels better is a Voigtlander and it cost $500 vs $10 for an ugly but usable Super Takumar lens.

-The Pentax Spotmatic is wonderful (I used my father's Spotmatic for years until I had saved enough to get my own SLR - my teenage rebellion was buying into the F system rather than Pentax... :))

I'd argue that the Nikon FM2 is just about as indestructible, though - but I won't argue about the lenses; I have enough old Nikkor optics to know better!

Ohhh yeah! I don't have an FM but do have an FE and it is probably my favorite camera full stop. It's just the right amount of "camera", and is never annoying or frustrating to use, in either automatic or manual modes.

Agreed 100% on the indestructibility - whoever used mine before I got it dented and brassed up good. The camera doesn't care.

The focusing screen is a joy and better than any DSLR. It's telling that the big and bright finder is a selling point of the D850. If you still use your FM2 I would suggest getting a K3 screen. Nikon still sell them new!

Oooh, the FE is a very nice little camera (Never owned one, but have adopted one on occasion. Mounts just about everything, except them new-fangled G lenses. Well, it will MOUNT, but...)

I have to admit I actually swapped the K3 for an -hm- B3, I believe - the all-matte one with a circle to show the coverage of the center-weighted meter - I found the split prism was more of a distraction than an aid _for my eyes_; I realize I am the odd man out on this one.

Matter of fact, I shot a couple of rolls of Tri-X in the FM2 just the other day; will process it one of these days when the kids fall asleep early enough for me to still feel like actually doing something after their bedtime!

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