What do you miss most about your first SLR.

I think it would be interesting to see if anyone misses anything from their first SLR camera, be it Digital or Film. What you don't miss and what is the most significant change, improvement or drawback with your current camera? If this is your first DSLR, talk about your expectations, disappointments, etc.

What I miss most from my Minolta XD-7 is the darn F-Stop ring on the lens. It was much more intuitive to turn that mechanical dial than fiddling around for the little wheel or big wheel or a button and the little wheel. I also miss not having modes I'll never use. The XD-7 only had M, AP, SP and X. I don't miss wasting film and playing the guessing game and getting surprised when the film comes out of the darkroom or from the lab.

Digital no question, has opened many doors, and the are so many advantages (and disadvantages) to this "new" format, but to choose a favorite or two, will be the instant gratification or at least the knowledge that I need to re-shoot. Two, Can manipulate and subsequently distribute pictures much easier via Internet or email.

00silvergt,
I don't miss anything!
My first SLR was a Pentax ESII (wow time flies)
My first DSLR was a Canon 10D

My 40D and 5D are much better then either of my firsts to my eyes and hands

I dont miss anything either.

What I dont miss....
rewinding film on that tiny crank
loading the film on the reels
hand processing E6 - actually any film developing
color printing (b/w I actually enjoyed)

I have a whole list...eventually I burnt out on it all, and gave up photo for about 10 years.

I miss the focusing screen on my Pentax K1000 :/ It was bright as hell, and made manual focusing a breeze.

I miss it terribly...miss everything about it really. It's been gone for almost 24hrs...on it's way to Canon Factory Services in NJ.

Seriously though, my 30D is my first SLR. I bought it because I wanted to take better photos of the small music performances that I like to go to. I took a lot of snapshots with my old S30, but I was never seriously interested in photography before owning my 30D. So, my introduction to a DSLR was essentially my introduction to photography in general. At the time I honestly had no idea how obsessive and broke I would soon become.
I could certainly live without things like dust, worn out shutter buttons, lenses that need calibrated, the expense, the size/weight. However I'm pretty thrilled with things like great high iso performance, the RGB histogram, fast lenses, USM, RAW, CF capacity, battery life, and even a couple of my photos.

The sheer raw excitement, that initially overwhelmed me, and kept me interested for years.
Only the dull mechanics of shooting what other people wanted, erroded that.
25 years on, and the ability to say "no" firmly entrenched, I'm happy to say that I'm getting that little buzz again.

My first SLR was a Nikon F. About the only thing I miss is the depth of field scale engraved on the lens barrel. It was so much easier to set hyperfocal distance.

I don't think I miss anything. It was a Fujica st801. I was very happy with it at the time. before that I was using an old range finder camera my uncle brought back from the Korean war. The st801 was an exiting change for me.

My first SLR was a Konica Autoreflex T, I don't miss anything about that camera. I do miss the rugged build of my second one which was a Nikon F.

My second SLR was Olympus OM-1, and there are several things about it that I miss...

• compact size and light weight
  
• HUGE OM viewfinder size
  
• OM lens size (small)
  
• Direct access to mirror lockup (no menu)
  
• Combination microprism center and coarse focusing ring
  
  

• the use of leaf shutters in lens, to permit flash synch at any shutter speed without resorting to power-robbing and distance-robbing HSS
  
• Combination microprism center and coarse focusing ring
  
  

My first SLR was the Pentax ME. I miss the small leather case it sat in with the cover that just snapped closed.

What I don't miss is spending all that money on film and developing just to get back pictures that were bad.

MischiefK9s wrote in post #5434296
My first SLR was the Pentax ME. I miss the small leather case it sat in with the cover that just snapped closed.

What I don't miss is spending all that money on film and developing just to get back pictures that were bad.

I never liked the never-ready case, it only worked for normal and wide angle lenses and was always a pain in my opinion.

My first SLR - a Canon FX the only thing I miss about it is that it was mechanical, if the battery failed I only lost the meter.
The big thing I Don't miss is the place I bought it, a PX in Dong Ha, Vietnam

Jack

My first SLR (first camera of any kind) was my parents' Pentax K1000.

What I miss:

Naively thinking all lenses went down to f/2
The fact that the light meter was an analog meter instead of a digital display
Getting mud on it at Woodstock '94 didn't phase me or the camera in the slightest (the thought of mud on my 30D makes me cringe)
One battery lasting for years

What I don't miss:

Forgetting to advance the film and missing a shot
The horrific grinding noise from not lining up the film on the sprockets correctly
And all the technological improvements we've come to accept as the norm these days

I actually just picked up another K1000 and 50mm f/2 lens for about $15 last weekend for nostalgia's sake so we'll see if I still miss it after taking it for a test drive.