Canon AE-1 vs Nikon F3 vs Pentax MX?
Tossing between getting one of these cameras… Anyone has personal experiences to share? Ease of use, quality of pictures?
Added (1). I should mention that it's the Canon AE-1 Program that I was referring to.
The Canon AE-1 was a workhorse 35mm, "back in the day". The Pentax MX was a compact bodied 35mm with full features, but only manual settings. The Nikon F3 was a full professional 35mm whose lenses can still be used with mid to upper grade Nikon DSLR's of today.
It does not matter which AE-1.It can't use any of the current lenses made by Canon, thus is obsolete as a camera system
The Nikon F3 can use current Nikon lenses, but the Nikon F4 is a better all around camera and does not cost much more if any more than the F3
The Pentax MX uses the same K-mount lenses that current Pentax cameras use
They are all excellent cameras. The AE-1 and the F3 offer Auto mode for brainless operation which is the precursor to the same mode found on today's dSLR's. The very small MX is a fully manual camera where the user gets to decide everything with the guidance of a coupled built-in lightmeter.
The F3 is the best of those three. I still have a F3-HP from 1988 that still works like a champ.
AE-1, very trendy, if you want to look cool it's the best option. A lot of the AE-1 on the market now clearly show that Canon didn't master building durable cameras back then.
Pentax mx: If you can get a good one it's a fine starter camera. Back in the day it was extremely common as were lenses.
F3: A serious workhorse with an impressive built quality.
All of these were intended for people that could be bothered to learn the basics of photography and read their camera manuals. These are NOT "look at me I'm cool, I point and click and get great vintage photographs" cameras.
With any of these three old age plays a role. Light seals may need replacing and, especially on the canon, the timing of the shutter may be off.
There are many nuanced differences between these cameras and only you will know which is best for you once you know what kind of photos you want to take and how.
The questions of ease of use and quality of photos is fairly moot as these cameras are similar enough that they all work in pretty much the same manner and are all made by big manufacturers who make quality optics. The MX is perhaps the most simple to use in that it has the fewest adjustments and modes from which to choose.
If you are into low, available light photography the F3 is garbage because you can't see the meter read-out in dim situations and the miserable light added to aide this is just that. Yet the F3's meter can read up to 6400 ISO. Makes no sense. The AE-1 can meter up to 3200 ISO but you will also have a problem reading its match needle meter read-out in this kind of light. The Pentax MX is the most easy read-out to see in low light but it only goes to 1600 ISO. If you want to shoot available light photography on 35mm film, the best camera for this is the Nikon FM2n which goes to 6400 ISO and has an extremely easy to read meter and bright focusing screen.
If you want to shoot action/sports photography, the AE-1 or the F3 are going to be faster because they an do some amount of auto exposure. The F3 has the fastest top shutter speed of 2000 though, whereas the Canon and Pentax top out one stop slower at 1000. All three cameras can also accept motordrives and quality telephoto lenses.
If you want a 35mm camera to supplement a DSLR, the Nikon and Pentax will do so nicely because their lenses can be used on DSLR's of the same brand. Can't say this for the Canon.
If you want the smallest camera for travel photography, the MX easily wins. Mount the legendary 50mm 1.7 or 40mm 2.8 pancake to it and you have a nearly pocketable full frame SLR.
The cheapest of these three is the Canon. It's lenses are also cheap. But the quality is still great.
The Nikon F3 is the most durable of the bunch and most well-suited for professional/paid/important work, or just passing onto the kids. It would also be the best for shooting in adverse conditions such as very cold climates and very hot ones. I recently shot with mine in the pouring rain for over an hour without failure.
If you want to do macro photography, you'll need the F3 as the other two don't really have mirror lock-up. There's a trick to stricking the MX's shutter release in such a way as to make it lock up but that is not something to rely on.
Architectural photography will be best done with the F3 with its 100% viewfinder and many available view screens.
The F3 wins again with the highest flash sync speed at 1/80th for flash photography.
Which ever you choose, buy one that works! Buy from KEH.com, not eBay or Craigslist!
to keerok… Nikon f3 don't have automatic mode, only aperture priority mode… And manual…