Early 1980's. The first "standard" zooms were variable aperture 35-70's. AE made it much easier to use variable aperture lenses. Mfg's were able to offer zooms that were only a little bigger and heavier than 50mm primes. They were bought by amateur shooters. This was the era when makers were trying to sell SLRs that could be used by anybody. There were several cameras that couldn't be used in manual mode, or the meters didn't work in manual mode. Most makers sell what people buy.
BR From: "Malcolm Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> A question I have wanted to ask for a while. When I first bought my MXs 20 years + ago, the choice offered was simple; a camera body or a 50mm lens option (or whatever lens you wanted).
