Surprisingly, given it’s decidedly amateur auto-only positioning, this MV1 was “rode hard and put away wet”. It’s one of the most used models in the museum, and was filthy when received. I’ve included it as an interesting reminder that even supposedly beginner friendly cameras can earn their keep through hard work. Introduced in 1980, the…
Pentax introduced the MG in 1981, as the successor to the MV1 and in the line of simpler, automated, bodies going back through MV and ME of 1977. The MG is aperture priority automatic, with no manual shutter speed other than the flash sync of 1/100th second. The metal focal plane shutter is electronically controlled…
Produced in Communist East Germany by a company sometimes known as Practica, this is a clunky beast of a camera.
The camera that launched a million hobbies. If you studied photography in School from the mid ’70s onwards, you probably used a K1000.
One of the first integrated Auto Focus 35mm SLRs offered – possibly the first. There had been other attempts where the A/F system was fully enclosed within the lens, but in this heavily modified version of the ME-Super, electronics within the camera body used contrast detect sensors to determine correct focus.
The AE-1 marked the introduction of micro-processor electronics to photography. For the first time microprocessors calculated exposure and timed the shutter, which in this case was still a fairly traditional horizontal cloth design.
The Canon A-1 was the first camera to offer micro-processor controlled, programmed auto-exposure, where both aperture and shutter were determined by the camera.
A groundbreaking design departure for Canon, and one which established the pattern for almost every DSLR they sell today.
A wonderfully simple and unsophisticated camera, we sold lots of Trips during the time I worked as a retail assistant in Dixons from 1981 to 1983. Despite having no battery, the trip manages to offer programmed automatic and aperture priority metering modes – made easier because it had to choose between only 1/40th or 1/200th…
Arguably the very best camera Pentax ever made, and their only attempt at the professional 35mm market. This is a cracking camera in every way!
