These are a couple of my cameras, the Pentax Auto 110, which boasts being the smallest automatic SLR camera in 1978 and the Nikon FG from 1982. The Pentax Auto 110 is an interesting camera to use with its extremely small size, however all its features are automatic and light metering is limited to just a green LED to say the shutter will be quick enough for a handheld shot, and a yellow LED to indicate a tripod will be needed. There is no manual shutter speed or aperture controls on that camera and due to the size of the viewfinder, the focusing aid takes some practice to use with the matte focus screen and the split image rangefinder; due to the size of the lens very small movements of the focus ring result in some large shifts in focus. Despite its faults its a fun camera to use since it works with the 110 film format, which was largely used in point and shoot cameras with fixed focus lens.

The Nikon FG was my intro to film photography, that specific camera was my grandpa's camera that he bought in 1982 and used extensively until he switched to a digital camera in the mid 2010s. I was getting into photography at the time, so he gave it to me to try out alongside my Nikon D3200. The Lens my grandpa used was a Tokina 28mm-70mm lens, the standard kit lens at the time. The Nikon FG is also fun to shoot with as it has some modern modes we take for granted, like a program mode (nowadays this would just be called auto mode or treated as ASA/ISO priority) and aperture priority mode where the user selects the aperture setting and the camera picks a shutter speed with a warning beep to indicate that camera shake could occur if a slower shutter speed that 1/50 of a second is selected by the camera.

The metering is different on the FG as it displays a list of shutter speeds with an LED lit up next to the selected shutter speed by the camera or the user, if the camera selected a shutter speed that is between two of the display options it will illuminate both LEDs. Most older SLRs I have used use a needle to indicate exposure metering and my Nikon D7200 DSLR uses a meter that shows how many 1/3 stops the image is over/under exposed. The FG also is unique in that the meter uses digital logic for its output, so this camera doesn't run into the analog electronics issue where modern button batteries have a slightly higher voltage than mid 1970s button batteries. I found metering and viewfinder of this camera interesting enough that I recreated this viewfinder as an overlay for a few cartoon scenes when Itasca Husky is taking photographs.

The focusing aid on the FG is wonderful, it features the normal split image rangefinder for focusing on subjects with sharp edges as well as a microprism ring for subjects that are fuzzy or moving, ie wildlife, leaves, etc. It is a joy to use and the standard size lens have a larger travel distance for focusing making focusing easier.

The picture itself was taken with my older Nikon FT2 from 1976 on Kodak ColorPlus 200 print film and a Nikkor 50mm 1.6 Lens, I'll have to upload a photo of my FT2 as it is one of my favorite film cameras to shoot with.