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From: ron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>)
Newsgroups: net.rec.photo
Subject: Re: Aperture vs. shutter priority
Message-ID: <8474@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Fri, 22-Feb-85 11:58:54 EST
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.8474
Posted: Fri Feb 22 11:58:54 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 27-Feb-85 03:02:21 EST
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Organization: Ballistic Research Lab
Lines: 35

>      It would probably bother me to know that there are such complex
> & fragile parts in my camera - I'm not saying that they can't be
> made to work reliably, but to me it's simply several more things
> that can jam, break or malfunction in some other way. I suspect that
> this is precisely the reason why the cameras used by most
> professionals (Nikon F3, Pentax LX, Canon F1) have only aperture
> priority. 

Probably the reason the Nikon and the Canon you list do not offer
shutter preffered is because they are relatively old designs compared
to the rest of the market these days.  Back when these cameras were
new it just wasn't practical to make the automatic lens required.
I would have loved to have an F1, but I had to settle for a Yashica
and then a Pentax.

I wont deal with cameras that have fragile parts (complex, who cares,
the thing is so complex that adding aperture control isn't going to
make things a whole lot worse).  I have a totally manual Pentax Spotmatic
II that I don't use anymore because it's too fragile.  It has automatic
lense stop down for metering and the exposure.  What breaks however is
the meter switch.  It's happened twice, and it costs to much to get
repaired.  Two services at $60-100 a shot equals one new SLR.  I use
a Minolta now, just because one day I needed a camera so I dropped into
the local discount places and had them trot out everything so I could
look at them.

Fully automatic, shutter or aperature preferred, yes it requires the
auto lenses to use shutter priority.  But, if the lens should happen
to break, or I cheap out and by a non-auto lens or scope mount or
something, I can still use the other mode.  I take this camera skiing,
I take it to fires.  It lives in a cheap shoulder bag which usually
just gets dropped on the floor (gently) when I arrive somewhere.
Nothing fragile about it, it's a working camera.

-Ron