This was my view
for years. 
credit: Casual PhotophileI still miss those simple, beautiful old cameras and luscious manual focus lenses.
The golden age of unboxingYou pressed a button and it took a picture: an honest
click. A
loud click-let's-not-forget-the-
clack, thanks to that mirror jumping out of the way. (If you wanted quiet, you went Leica.) There was no waiting for lenses to unfurl or buffers to clear. The moment you just captured may not have been recorded on that gelatin-based medium (sorry vegans) with technical excellence, but provided you’d loaded film in the first place – there was a frame on the back to hold the end of the film box to remind you which kind – no helpful wizardry had thwarted your ambition.
It didn't even need batteries! Though if you needed the light meter, it kinda did.
This is how it looked through the viewfinder. Below was your f-stop & shutter speed, and a needle you aimed to center unless you wanted to under- or overexpose. The screen had focusing aids, including a
microprism ring and split screen.
Focusing is fun!
So is constructing visuals. Alas, I couldn't accurately reproduce the microprism effect.
Rose is looking overexposed
The ship went down pretty fast, are you sure about 1/15th? Better push ASA to the limitI once had the incredible luck of finding a brand new F2A languishing in the stockroom of a camera store long after the model had been discontinued. It mostly then languished in a drawer until I decided the cash would come in more handy after all. I still regret that decision, even though it would now only be a conversation piece suitable for fondling, napping save for the occasional orgy of shutter releases all through the range to exercise the titanium curtains.
Half a dozen years ago Nikon brought this out to tickle the fancy of people like me:
Too expensive, and frankly too heavy. I’ve gotten too used to pocket
digicams which also fit in my overcrowded saddlebag to go even halfway retro.
That's so 2008
