Zenit 212k

This was my first SLR, I got it because it was cheap and I have a thing for Russian stuff. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the photos came out, for the most part. The lightmeter is useful, but because the maximum shutter speed of 1/500 is way way too low for bright conditions, even stopped right down, on a bright day the meter constantly indicates overexposure. The built in lightmeter is a strange beast - it gives you either a red or green indication, with no way to know how far out you are. But it has a meter! This was a revelation compared to the 1950's Pentax I learned on. I finally trashed it when it started eating film!

Cheap!!!!
Built in light meter works well enough for print film
Mine came with a razor sharp prime
Photos are sharp, well exposed and detailed
Looks cool
Worked beautifully with a standard electronic flash

Shutter sounds terrible compared to a Japanese SLR
Very basic lightmeter
Meter is the only battery powered part, works fine without power
Very limiting 1/500 max shutter and 1/30 flash sync
No built in flash
Began eating film after 18 months of very light use

Pentax S2 (mfg 1959)
Canon 350D
Canon 30D