Best M42 body?

Antigen · May 9, 2016

I have several m42 lens,

What body do you suggest?

My zenit is like new... But is dark as dark side of the force!

Rick A · May 9, 2016

Olympus FTL, if you can find one, and afford it.

gorbas · May 9, 2016

Pentax Spotmatic's, more or less, any of them

Rick A · May 9, 2016

Fujica M-42 bodies are pretty good too.

RalphLambrecht · May 9, 2016

Antigen said:
I have several m42 lens,

What body do you suggest?

My zenit is like new... But is dark as dark side of the force!

my M42 body was a Ricoh401 but that was 40 years ago.I beat it for 10 years and couldn't kill it.It had a terrible meter but was a solid performer build like a tank.It superseded my Praktika,which was a piece of s***

gorbas · May 9, 2016

I had 2 Fujicas, 701 and 801, while winding film I had feel of gears made of recycled coke cans. Winding film in Spotmatic was and still is absolute pleasure. In the same legue as with Nikon F2 and M Leica.
Fujica's had a touch brighter viewfinders and used "modern" (non mercury) batteries. Fuji had very nice lenses. Still have Ricoh 500, nice body too. Very interesting stop down TTL measurement (with LR44 battery).

f8&bthere · May 9, 2016

The Spotmatics are pretty much the default option for people looking for a good, basic M42 SLR as there are tons of them around and can be found in good condition for fair money. And as mentioned, the FTL is a great camera - if you're looking to spend ~$300 or more for a clean one. The Fujica STs are also a good choice, though they can be a bit iffy re: their LEDs and electronics.

Another fairly nifty [and often overlooked] M42 SLR that can be had in good condition for ~$50 or less is the Ricoh Auto TLS EE.

Paul Howell · May 9, 2016

Chinon CE or CM 3's the CE has manual and aperture preferred exposure with single pin lens, and there is a winder, not very fast 2FPS at the best. I still have my first Spot, bought used in 1966, meter is still accurate, very smooth camera, easy to shoot with, nothing complicated.

narsuitus · May 9, 2016

Antigen said:
What body do you suggest?

My suggestions:

Black body Fujica ST705 with 50mm f/1.4 Fujinon lens (left)

Black body Asahi Pentax Spotmatic with 50mm f/1.4 eight-element Takumar lens (right)

Black M42 by Narsuitus, on Flickr

narsuitus · May 9, 2016

Antigen said:
I have several m42 lens,

Which m42 lenses do you have?

trythis · May 9, 2016

I like using a Canon EOS 620 with an adapter but any EOS camera would be fine.

Alan Johnson · May 10, 2016

With built-in winder and split image finder, the Canon EF-M plus EF-M42 adapter:
http://photonotes.org/manuals/ef-m/#about

Ian Grant · May 10, 2016

As others have said a Pentax Spotmatic, after quite a break I'm shooting 35mm again occasionally with an early Spotmatic, an SP500 or a Sptmatic F. Apart from my Takumar lenses I have some Tamron Adaptal II lenses and Pentax F/ESII mounts (for full aperture metering with the F).

Ian

Steve Roberts · May 10, 2016

Apart from the default option of the excellent Spotmatic range, let's not forget the Yashicas. I had a TL Electro for several years which served me well and I recently acquired a TL Super, which is pretty much the same camera but with match needle metering instead of the LED circle. As early as 1965 Yashica were using variants of the LR44/SR44 cell so that even fifty years later there is no issue of cell availability as there is with the Spotmatics (therein lies another discussion....!)
Steve

Gerald C Koch · May 10, 2016

Alpa Si 2000 camera. Solid brass Body. Lots of other features not present on other M42 cameras.

http://www.butkus.org/chinon/alpa/alpa_si2000/alpa_si2000.htm

baachitraka · May 10, 2016

May be there are other prakticas but Praktica MTL5 is my favorite.

blockend · May 10, 2016

Paul Howell said:
Chinon CE or CM 3's the CE has manual and aperture preferred exposure with single pin lens, and there is a winder, not very fast 2FPS at the best. I still have my first Spot, bought used in 1966, meter is still accurate, very smooth camera, easy to shoot with, nothing complicated.

Chinon developed M42 thread cameras into the automated period - most manufacturers had abandoned screw mount cameras by then. Was the CM3 the most technically advanced ever or was that a later Chinon?

Paul Howell · May 10, 2016

blockend said:
Chinon developed M42 thread cameras into the automated period - most manufacturers had abandoned screw mount cameras by then. Was the CM3 the most technically advanced ever or was that a later Chinon?

CE and CM 3s were the last M42 mount, the CE 4s were K mount, the same basic camera used the same winder. Chinon made a number of nice K mounts including the CE 7 which build in motor drive and rewind. Chinion made at least one AF model, don't know if it used the K mount or moved on to another proprietary mount.

The Chinon CE 3 and 4 was also sold under the GAF name, I bought mine in the early 80s, it was new out of the box.

Ian Grant · May 10, 2016

Pentax also had auto M42 cameras, the ES and then ESII.

Ian

Paul Howell · May 10, 2016

The ES and ESII used the 2 lens while the Chinon used any lens. Not that the ES is not a very camera, some took the Pentax motor drive and 250 exposure back.

Ian Grant · May 10, 2016

The standard lenses on the CE-3 and CE-4 were superb. I had 2 CE-4s and a friend (a commercial/advertising photographer) borrowed them and my power winders and Vivitar S1 70-210 zoom to shoot the Le Mans 24hr race for Lucas (in the early 80's). His results including night shots with the 50mm f1.4 were amazing and used for the companies calendar.

Ian

blockend · May 10, 2016

Paul Howell said:
CE and CM 3s were the last M42 mount, the CE 4s were K mount, the same basic camera used the same winder. Chinon made a number of nice K mounts including the CE 7 which build in motor drive and rewind. Chinion made at least one AF model, don't know if it used the K mount or moved on to another proprietary mount.

The Chinon CE 3 and 4 was also sold under the GAF name, I bought mine in the early 80s, it was new out of the box.

I may be thinking of the CE-3 Memotron. From camerawiki:
"Chinon CE-3 Memotron is a 35mm film SLR electronic camera made by Chinon Industries Inc., Tokyo, Japan and introduced in 1977. CE-3 was also sold under the name of Revueflex AC1 and some other brand names.

The CE-3 is one of the few screw-mount cameras allowing aperture-priority automatic exposure with any M42 screw-mount lens. It offers the same features as the CE II Memotron in a more compact body, though lacking the CE II's top shutter speed of 1/2000 s".

elcabezagrande · May 10, 2016

Yashica also had an AE aperture priority camera (AX) that would work with most M42 lenses... except for the Yashinon DX lenses. You had to set aperture, and then advance the film and shoot. It was a bit of a marketing and sales fiasco, but an interesting footnote in the company's history.

Paul Howell · May 10, 2016

The CM 3 is somewhat different from the CE 3, same body, different shutter, uses a couple of diodes in the eye cup, red for over exposure, green for under, takes s little getting use to. The Alpa 2000 also made by Chinon got a bad rap as it was my not stretch of the imagination a real Apla. An optional lens was the Chinon copy of the Kern Swiss 50mm Macro, a 50mm 1.9 macro, over the years it has been rumored that the Chinon version used elements made for the Kern Swiss. I have a couple of other Chinon les that are very good.

Malinku · May 10, 2016

Let's not forget about the Mamiya m42 camera bodies. They are not one of the best looking cameras but they are built mechanically very well. The DTL and TL camera are very nice but on the chunky side of m42 bodies. I have owned every DTL model (500, 1000, and 2000). They are all great simple cameras. My favorite is the DTL 2000 but it is one of the rarest m42 bodies.

Best M42 body?

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