In the early 1980's I bought a Canon AE-1 Program camera to take on a trip to Hawaii.
The AE-1 Program was one of the first cameras (if not the first) to offer a "program" mode. Essentially, the camera made the decision as to what the photo should look like. While this was an innovative feature, I found myself wanting more.
The AE-1 Program could also shoot in shutter speed priority mode. I get to choose the shutter speed and the camera would choose the aperture of the lens. This is great for sports shooting where you might want to decide how fast the shutter speed needs to be to stop the action. But trying to do anything where you determined the depth of field, you could not do it automatically. It lacked the aperture priority capabilities. So to shoot where I could determine the depth of field in a shot, I had to do it manually.
My AE-1 Program camera still works. It's a great 35mm film camera. But I don't shoot film today, so it just sits around looking pretty. By the way, this camera barely weighs anything. Comparing its heft to my Nikon D3, the D3 weighs like a heavy brick!
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