Say Cheese Loc: Eastern PA

I just loved my Canon EOS 1N.

Jeffcs Loc: Myrtle Beach South Carolina

Early Nikon F F2 F3 with all that beautiful MF glass nikkors Nikon produced
Now we have digital and one out does the other until they get out done
For me sexy early Nikon!

Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana

Nikon F4s. A tank of a camera. No camera has ever felt as good in my hand.

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

I liked the Miranda line up, fit my hands, when it came out later I liked the short lived Rollie SLR, same thing fit the hands, had Pentax screw mountn and a big stop down button for Depth of Field Preview

ELNikkor

FM2, FE2;best dynamic duo out there!

Nikon1201

Pentax ME and a K 1000 as a backup

toxdoc42

I bought a nikormatt in 1967, it was a breakthrough, amazing camera. It had all that technology had to offer at time at an incredible price. Sturdy and rugged, I went everywhere with it.

Retina Loc: Near Charleston,SC

If I may, I would answer "Best for what?" My first was the Pentax Spotmatic II with 50/1.4 SMC. The lens seemed perfect and the camera felt like an extension of the hands. After using the Nikon F2 at work, the precise viewfinder and the light meter unaffected by stray light from the eyepiece prompted me to buy a Nikon F for personal use. I never doubted what was going down on the film with the Nikon when it came to focus, metering, or framing. For precision work, I would vote Nikon. Years later I bought a banged up Minolta SRT100 for $25. Its quick handling made it my main family snapshot camera. (It helped that I never worried about hurting it so it was always handy.) I never got much time with a Canon, Fuji, Olympus, or Mamiya but my friends swore by them. I can't say there was any one best as some were better than others for different uses. All of these with their own branded prime lenses were excellent optically, so for me it was more about handling. Though not an SLR, my Kodak Retina Ia was ideal for shooting where an SLR would not be permitted.

chrisg-optical Loc: New York, NY

Wow what a loaded question! You will get as so many varied answers today as you would have back in the film heydays, although today there a really fewer choices. There were many Japanese and German brands of 35mm SLRs, but the majors were Nikon, Canon, Minolta (before they got sued and bankrupt over Maxxum tech), Pentax and Olympus - the "Saab" of cameras in those days. Then you had Ricoh, Chinon, Contax, etc. Some I think were private labeled versions of the other. My first SLR was a Praktica LB2 with 50mm/2.8 screw mount lens when I was 14!

I was a big Olympus fan back in the 70s-90s, but didn't get my first OM-2S until 1985. They were best in terms of compactness (both body and lens), exposure systems (OTF Flash rocked back then!) and handling I think. I had the OM-2n/2S/4T - loved the 4T the best. I wish there was a same-sized FF or APSC version of that camera with AF - M43 doesn't really cut it for me. I did like the Pentax system too (LX, ME, ME super) which was Olympus-like and had the versatile K-mount, carried to its modern version today. Looking back I wish I had tried the Nikon FM/FM2 series or Pentax cameras - but of course I can re-live that today with cheap used on eBay!

ddgm Loc: Hamilton, Ontario & Fort Myers, FL

Canon T90 was the best film camera that I ever had. I never owned a Nikon, I started with Canon and stayed there because of lens accumulation.
I am now using a Canon 5D Mark IV.

Spirit Vision Photography Loc: Behind a Camera.

👍👍👍

digit-up Loc: Flushing, Michigan

My vote would be... The Pentax "Spotmatic, 35mm SLR, and screw-on lenses of that time frame. An absolutely MARVELOUS machine. RJM

Jerrin1 Loc: Wolverhampton, England

I gave up photography in the early 1990's; but up until that point in time my favourite camera was my Canon EOS 5. I also had an EOS 10 at the same time, which was a great camera, but the 5 was a stunning bit of technologically advanced kit. I had previously owned an EOS 650 and EOS 600. I have to say that my Olympus OM2 was a bit tasty, as was my OM1 before it. I came back to photography in 2014 and currently own a Nikon D500 and an Olympus EM1 mark II.

Tom47 Loc: Gettysburg, PA

Minolta the lenses are still hard to beat.

breck Loc: Derbyshire UK

Nikon F3 by light years the best