By "important" I mean a camera that introduced an important technology or that had a long-term influence on photography or both. This means that some notable cameras, such as the Olympus Pen F or the Canon Pellix, don't make the cut.

Of course, this is just my opinion. The list is also limited to cameras in my personal collection, but I'm not sure that's a limitation, as my collection was put together with this purpose in mind.

SLRs are listed in chronological order. Click a picture to go to the camera's page.

1936 Ihagee Kiné Exakta: First 35mm SLR.

1949 Zeiss Ikon (East) Contax S: First SLR with a pentaprism viewfinder.

1953 Zeiss Ikon (West) Contaflex: First leaf-shutter SLR, setting the stage for most West German SLRs and numerous inexpensive Japanese SLRs.

1954 Asahiflex IIb/Sears Tower 23: First widely-available SLR with instant-return mirror.

1957 Pentax Original: First modern SLR; first Japanese SLR with pentaprism and instant-return mirror.

1959 Nikon F: First perfected mechanical 35mm SLR. Made SLRs the choice of pros on the move.

1963 Topcon RE Super (Beseler Topcon Super D): First SLR with TTL metering.

1964 Pentax Spotmatic: SLR that popularized TTL metering.

1964 Topcon Auto 100: First SLR with automatic TTL metering.

1972 Olympus OM-1: First small full-frame 35mm SLR.

1976 Canon AE-1: First camera controlled by a microprocessor.

1981 Pentax ME-F: First autofocus 35mm SLR.

1985 Minolta Maxxum 7000: First 35mm SLR with in-body autofocus and first SLR with all-automatic film handling.