Back in 2020 Cheeky Hong Kong based Nons gave us one of the most fantastically innovative camera of the past 10 years with the original SL42. An Instax mini shooting SLR that could use most manual focus 35mm SLR lenses ever made. But it was seriously flawed.
But they’re back with the Mark II. And they’ve almost completely sorted it out giving us one glorious instant shooter.
Ever since Nikon produced the original legandary Nikon F, they have been at the forefront of SLR design. Nikon for years was the dominate player in the SLR professional market and their cameras from the 1970’s have gone beyond earth serving NASA in both the film and digital eras. But whilst sought after bodies can still command a pretty penny you can pick perfectly sevicable but overlooked bodies for peanuts making them a great starter. Here’s my 10 overlooked bargains.
The Nikon F6, their flagship 35mm SLR is no more. Ending months of speculation about the future of arguably the most advanced SLR ever made and the last Nikon film camera. But whilst some have claimed this is the end of 35mm SLR era, it is far from that.
The Nons SL42 is arguably the most important analogue camera to hit the market in recent years. And if the rumour of the demise of the F6 are true, the only mass produced SLR with interchangeable lenses in production. It however doesn’t use 35mm film. This bad boy shoots Instax. And whilst this has flaws this seriously changes the game
The Canon EOS 1000 (Rebel in US) and its flash sibling are not the mightiest of the Canon EOS 35mm SLR line up. But they are important as the first EOS cameras to be more affordable. Somewhat overlooked they still offer huge bang for literally a few bucks 30 years later.
When I posted about my experience on this camera I got a few folk pointing out that their EF-M was actually doing fine with Manual focus lenses. So in the spirt of fairness I got a new adaptor ring. An apology is due as I must now concede the camera does work with manual lenses. But only some adaptors and even then it’s a crap experience.
Canon’s switch to the EF mount had let them neatly leapfrog their rivals like Nikon at the end of the 80’s. And during the 1990’s they would produce cameras that cornered both the high and lower end of the markets. The EF-M is not one of those. This probably is one of the most pointless SLR ever produced.
In the late 1990’s Nikon launched 2 new SLR cameras that they thought would be game changers. These were serious kit and offer incredible back and forward lens compatility and can still use Nikon lenses made today and from the 1970’s . But you’ll never find either of these Pronea models on a top 10 Nikon cameras list
Ricoh developed a bit of a reputation for good SLR bodies and lenses using the M42 & Pentax K Mount. The company still makes K mount dSLR under the Pentax brand. But weirdly their first SLR the Singlex wasn’t developed by them. In fact it is basically a rebranded Nikon. But a Nikon that wasn’t even made by Nikon.
Launched in 1996 few cameras get the goat of some ‘serious’ Nikon users as this and its sibling the FM10. The major sin is they aren’t made by Nikon. Even wikipedia describes both as “not a true member of the Nikon compact F-series SLRs,”. But does that make them bad cameras ?