35mm SLR Cameras

if you want a rather compact yet full system of interchangable lenses and accessories (in my opinion the most flexible entry into serious photography), or if you are interested in sports or wildlife photography

Here we have to distinguish between autofocus (AF) and manual focus (MF) cameras. Don't mix that up with MF meaning medium format! You should know that while autofocus is almost a must for sports or birds photography, it is not as exact as manual focusing (given good eyesight). This is due to the fact that autofocus sensors have rather large tolerances in what they consider to be sharp. So if you know that you will never be shooting fast action, you should go for a MF 35mm SLR - these cameras offer a more contrasty finder and many devices for exact manual focusing.

At the moment, there are six manufacturers of AF 35mm SLR system cameras: Canon (EF bayonet), Contax (N bayonet), Minolta (A bayonet), Nikon (F bayonet), Pentax (K bayonet) and Sigma (SA bayonet). Contax is very new to AF, and they also made their first AF camera incompatible to all their MF cameras due to a new lens mount, so I cannot recommend an AF Contax. Sigma is actually a (third-party) lens manufacturer, and their cameras can only use recently started Sigma-made Sigma-mount lenses, so I cannot recommend them either. Canon and Nikon are the two current market leaders. Canon is the technological leader, Nikon's cameras are more rugged and can use many old F bayonet lenses. Minolta doesn't have such a large system, neither does Pentax, but Pentax's cameras can use many old, cheap, excellent K bayonet lenses. Nikon and Pentax are the only companies which didn't invent a new lens mount when they started AF cameras. In the end, it's only a matter of personal choice which one of the big four you prefer.

For MF 35mm SLR system cameras, there are many different manufacturers. The most important ones today are Contax/Yashica (Contax/Yashica MM bayonet), Leica (R bayonet), Minolta/Seagull (MD bayonet), Nikon (F bayonet), Olympus (OM bayonet) and Pentax (K bayonet). Leica (currently 2 bodies and 26 lenses, just to give you an idea of the size of the system) offers excellent quality, although their SLR cameras were never as famous as their rangefinder cameras. Nikon (4 bodies, 20 lenses) and Pentax (1 body, 19 lenses) offer a vast choice of (used and new) lenses. In addition, they are the only MF systems compatible to their current AF lens mounts. Olympus (3 bodies, 32 lenses) are also a great specialist for this sector with many very interesting lenses. Minolta/Seagull offer 14 bodies and 25 lenses. Minolta invented a new lens mount when they started with AF, but their contracts with the Chinese company Seagull ensure the future of their MF system. Contax/Yashica (7 bodies, 30 lenses) offer great Carl Zeiss lenses, by the way, the Contax AX is an AF camera for MF lenses (film place focusing) - unfortunately the recent first real Contax AF body (N1) has a new lens mount (N bayonet).

To somebody starting to build up an MF 35mm SLR system, I would recommend Minolta/Seagull if money is a factor, Olympus for a medium budget, or Leica if not. By the way, Canon did completely abandon their MF system (FD mount) which caused very heavy protests at that time. There are third party MF lenses by Cosina/Soligor/Vivitar/Voigtländer (many brands, one product range), Tamron (AdaptAll system) and Tokina.

Here I also want to mention the many modern Soviet SLRs. If you don't mind buying used lenses, these cameras offer a cheap entry to get into the most popular lens mounts (Nikon F bayonet, Pentax K bayonet, Pentax M42x1 screw mount) allowing the use of many excellent value older lenses. And after all, they are also not known to be unreliable. There is also a current Ukrainian (Kiev) production of Nikon F bayonet lenses and current Russian (Zenit) production of Pentax K bayonet lenses

advantages: rather small, very flexible
disadvantage: none obvious