What's a good 35mm SLR

[tink]

Well I was going to ask this very question! I have a Nikon D70 but am wanting to go back to film! I would like a good Nikon 35mm that will interchange with my already good range of lenses. Looks like ebay is a good option for a great price on a 2nd hand deal. I'm still searching! Would like to know from others who have the Nikon film SLR's about their satisfaction (esp from those who have both digi and film!)

[another view]

Tink, I guess I'd recommend the two I mentioned before. I'm not shooting a lot of film anymore so I sold my F100, chosing the F5 for the even better and 100% coverage viewfinder and the vertical grip. The weight doesn't bother me and actually seems to help with handholding slower shutter speeds. It's an amazing camera and it was only recently replaced by the F6. The capabilities of an F5 in a DSLR will cost you a lot of money. I guess the D1X would be a good comparison although they have dropped a lot in price with the new D2X out. You might argue that the D2X is closer because it's flash system is supposed to be very accurate, like the F5. The D1X used Nikon's DX flash system which was no where near as good.

Mostly I use a Fuji S2 which is a DSLR built into a Nikon N80. The viewfinder stinks, the AF doesn't do so good in low light, and it doesn't have a vertical grip. However, I use the F5 so little that I'm planning on selling it too. Long story behind it, but I had the F5 and F100 when I was shooting a few weddings (which I prefer to do on film) but I recently gave that up. That reason, along with the time of scanning film, and the expense of film and processing (and the time of developing B&W myself) and the overall state of labs is pushing me farther into digital. Labs are closing and many are offering fewer services, having quality control issues and/or significantly raising prices.

Nothing at all wrong with film and maybe I'll pick up a manual F3 at some point to do more B&W, but for now it's mostly digital. Nothing digital looks like Tri-X black and white to me.

[racingpinarello]

If I had to pick any film camera, it would be the Nikon F5. It was by far the most enjoyable camera that I have ever used. I really liked the viewfinder and the manual mirror lock up. The weight wasn't an issue because it felt good, and it was intuitive to use.

I sold mine to a working pro where I live so it went to good hands, but it was a great camera.

If you like film, you can use services like http://www.profotousa.com which will take your film, and scan it at the same time. You can get pretty hi-quality scans to boot.

Loren