My first camera was a Praktica SLR, I bought a few lenses for that camera, up to a 300 from memory. Then I had a Nikon and stayed with that for about 15 years, my two best lenses were a 20 and a 105. The 20 won a couple of competitions for me.
The camera wasn't reliable, needing a £100 service every year. The most memorable time it stopped working was in Fiji, I went to a village on a tour and was in the witch doctors hut, I tried to take some pics, nothing. The tour guide asked, 'has anyone's camera stopped working.' All but one person said their camera had stopped and that person had a mechanical camera. The cameras started working again after we had left the hut.