best 35mm SLR for manual focus (50mm)

frank said:

Im only going to say this once. Use your Summicron with adaptor, on a Nikon body with focus confirmation light.

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+1

puketronic said:

Sorry, I glossed over this.

This does sound very attractive.

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and it actually works,well done Nikon!

puketronic said:

1. Is focusing a Hasselblad/Rolleiflex/Bronica with a 80/2.8 lens easier than a 35mm SLR with a 50/1.2 lens?

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Ooops missed that on my previous spot. The answer is it depends what screen you have! From my personal experience:

On a Hasselblad the old screens are crap, the split screen ones are ok but the newest Acute Matte D screens are fantastic. I had no problem focusing accurately all the time with them (plain screen, no split screen).

I had a Bronica SQB and that has a dim plastic screen that was trickier than the Acute D.

A 35mm SLR will depend on what screen it has, for example using a Canon 1V I installed a Ec-S screen and that made focusing much much crisper, really easy to focus anywhere on the screen vs the stock screen. I had no problem focusing wide open at close range with a 50/1.4.

In 35mm I find the Leica R8 to have the nicest screen I ever used, bright and accurate.

I have also bought a Maxwell screen for my RB67 and that is superb.

So as you can see it really depends.

Suggestions.

1. Nikon F3 with F3AF finder. Big, bright and has focus confirm.
2. Nikon FM2(n)/FE(2)/FA with FM3a focus screen
3. Pentax LX with LX2000 focus screen.

The modern focusing screens for the FM/FE/FA series and LX really are a huge improvement over older screens, which offsets the not quite best in class finders on the FM series.

One note, if you are having difficulty focusing, avoid the OM's. While the finders are big & bright, the focus screens are terrible and have no pop, it's like trying to manually focus with an AF SLR.

The Nikon FM3a has a very bright focus screen. K3.

The three brightest viewfinders I have used:
Minolta X-700
Pentax super program
And canon ae-1 program.

I'm Sure the fancy cameras with interchangeable viewfinders/screans can equal the cameras listed above. But I have yet to try one of them yet.
These are my go to concert shooting cameras currently.

Since you have a rolleiflex. Why not try out the mamiya tlr system. Since it has a bellows system for focusing so every lens can be used as a close up lens. Some even to 1:1. AndI find the WLF is be really nice and easy to focus with.

I have not used them all by a long shot but the Pentax LX is the best I have ever used. A very close second to that is my Contarex.