help me choose a good m42 camera

[darinwc]

I just picked up an asunama 21mm f3.8 lens in pentax m42 thread mount.
It has the auto-stop-down pin.

Rather than selling the lens since i dont have a m42 body, GAS takes over and im looking for a body for the lens.

The features I usually look for are good handling, reliability, and a good viewfinder.

 

[Nick Zentena]

A modern Pentax K mount will work with an adapter. Ricoh made K mounts also.

If it's a pure M42 the Spotmatic is good if you don't mind the smallish size. It's the standard basically.

Fuji,Ricoh etc made M42 bodies. After all these years I'm not sure if you can label one more reliable then the others. The better ones haven't been made in decades .

 

[Ian Grant]

Get a Spotmatic, they sell for next to nothing on Ebay. The best model is the Spotmatic F (full aperture metering) and works fine with modern batteries. Spotmatics are wonderful cameras and a real pleasure to use

Ian

 

[Ole]

Or get a Praktika LTL3. Full M42 with stop-down pin compatibility, really good idea with placing the release button on the front, and it''s built like a tank. That was my first SLR camera.

 

[Ian Grant]

Praktica Ole !!!!! disgusting cameras, my 2nd SLR after wearing out a Zenit E was a Parktikamat, the first SLR with TTL metering. They are OK but no more, whereas Spotmatics are like the Ferrari of cameras sleek, precise and sexy

Ian

 

[Anscojohn]

I shot a Spotmatic for a coupla years until I became a married grad student and money became an issue. I sold the Spot for more than I paid for it and bought a Practika Nova 1B. Later I added a Practika L (no meter) and then a VLC2 because of the interchangeable finders. All were gifted to youngsters as I went to "better" cameras: a Nikon F2 (which I loathed); Oly Om-1 (which I adored). Unless I check my notes, I cannot tell which camera took which image. So......doan ya goa badmouthin' the Practika to me.
That all being said, I picked up a Spot F (at a gun show, of all places) last year, and still love the fit, finish, and feel of the wonderful Spotmatic. Oh, yes, I also have a coupla Zenit bodies, one which comes with the Photosniper; but the Spotmatic was my first SLR and I have a tender regard for that camera. However, the East German Bolshevik, proletarian Practikas served me very well.

 

[ic-racer]

The Fujica ST701 was a reasonably well built metal mechanical camera. It's stop down metering (which is what you would be using with that lens) is activated by a press button on the front of the camera. This makes stop-down metering very convenient with that camera.

 

[puderse]

Pentax screw mount

I have a new old pentax S1a that is all mechanical and have been looking for a decent wide for it. Love the camera.

A bit of advice on Spotmatics through the mail. Make sure you get some sort of right-of-return. Recently bought a "like new" spotmatic still in the box with all the paperwork etc. Had pictures and all. Perfect except---they knew the bottom was screwed up, battery door corroded shut, bottom gouged to the brass base by some ham-fisted gorilla trying to get it open. They showed the camera in a pix outside the neveready case so they had to know about the bottom. Say that the camera was sold "as is". Beware of "shopgoodwill, Columbus, Ohio."

 

[Jeff L]

Spotmatics are so smooth compared to any Practicas I have held. I like Yashica TL Electros too.

 

[Andy K]

I have a Spotty, but the higher speeds need sorting. I tend to use my Takumars on my Bessaflex.

 

[Paul Howell]

If you want a winder Chinon CM3, winder and apature perfered metering Chinon CE3. Shutter is loud, the winder sounds like a sewing machine, but cheap. The CM3 were the last of the m42 mounts, the CM4 and CE4 were K mounts.

 

[Ian Grant]

I bought two CE-4's a couple of years ago, the standard lenses were superb, particulary the50mm f1.4 my original pair were stolen in the mid 80's.

One came with a good Spotmatic body as well all for £15 ($35)

Ian

 

[Paul Howell]

I bought two CE-4's a couple of years ago, the standard lenses were superb, particulary the50mm f1.4 my original pair were stolen in the mid 80's.

One came with a good Spotmatic body as well all for £15 ($35)

Ian

A little off topic, but I have several late model Chinon 42mm lens, 1.8 Marco, 35 2.8, and a 135 2.8 that are all good performers, under rated and under priced.

 

[darinwc]

Hmm I like the idea of full aperture metering. What other bodies have it? A friend of mine used to have a mamiya 500 that I thought was pretty cool.

 

[2F/2F]

I have a Spotmatic and two lens kit (50mm and 35mm) up in the classifieds right now for sale or trade. Check it out. I am in L.A., CA. I love the Spotmatic, but already have Canon and Nikon bodies and lenses.

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[Ian Grant]

Hmm I like the idea of full aperture metering. What other bodies have it? A friend of mine used to have a mamiya 500 that I thought was pretty cool.

Just the Spotmatic F & ESII from Pentax, ESII's are very nice cameras I've been looking for one at a decent price for some time now.

Praktica made the LLC with electrical contacts to relay aperture information. The build quality of the Mamiya 35mm SLR's wasn't to good, but some were interesting.

Ian

 

[Anscojohn]

Perfect except---they knew the bottom was screwed up, battery door corroded shut, bottom gouged to the brass base by some ham-fisted gorilla trying to get it open.

*****
Yes, when that 400R battery swelled, or the screw threads on the battery cover got corroded, the battery cover was almost impossible to open because the slot was so shallow and the radius so flat. When I was in the biz, I got a very large screwdriver, then radiused the point to fit exactly the depth, width, and radius of the Spot battery cover slot. Kept it just for recalcitrant Spot battery covers. That way, it gave lots of bearing surface and one could really PUSH in order to keep the tool from slipping. Still, sometimes they had to be sent out so the techs could drill out the cover.

 

[Nick Zentena]

Hmm I like the idea of full aperture metering. What other bodies have it? A friend of mine used to have a mamiya 500 that I thought was pretty cool.

Problem with full aperture metering is it wasn't done the same way with all the makers. Those Mamiyas I think used a different system then the Pentaxes. Fuji offered this to I think. Again I think a different system.

The Mamiya M42 lenses are better then the cameras. At least the cameras I've seen.

 

[Paul Howell]

Hmm I like the idea of full aperture metering. What other bodies have it? A friend of mine used to have a mamiya 500 that I thought was pretty cool.

The Chinon CE4 in auto mode works at full aperature metering, even with 1 pin lens, it selects the shutter speed as you press the shutter.

 

[Ian Grant]

The CE-4's were the cameras Pentax should have made when they first switched to K mount.

I was loaned one by a colleagues assistant, was so impressed I sold all my screw mount Pentax's and bought two and a couple of power winders. When they were stolen I switched to Pentax MX's.

Another photographer friend a Nikon user for his very occasional 35mm work borrowed the CE4's winders and my Vivitar S1 70-210 to shoot at the Le Mans 24hr race for Lucas, he raised a few eyebrows when his E6 Fujichromes went on the lighbox in the press area. The shots were used on Lucas bill board ads in the UK & US. Very underated cameras.

Ian

 

[Uncle Bill]

I recommend the Asahi Pentax Spotmatic F as Takumar lens are by and large dirt cheap.

 

[elekm]

I think the Spotmatics are rather bulletproof. Great, durable, reliable cameras. Easy to repair.

Replace those light seals!

 

[Polybun]

Spotmatic (I have an SPII, works great) or the Mamiya DTL1000, if only because it has a switch on the light meter to switch it into spot meter mode, which is pretty nice to have.

M42 is great, i recently found a Ziess Tessar 50/2.8 in a thrift store for $30, what a lens! I have an older one on my exakta, and probably one of the reasons i shoot it so much.

 

[Ian Grant]

You over-paid rather over the odds for an f2.8 50mm Jena Tessar, they weren't that good a lens but they were substantially better than the Meyer Domiplan. I have a Tessar on a very old Pentax, pre auto diaphragm.

Ian

 

[Polybun]

You over-paid rather over the odds for an f2.8 50mm Jena Tessar, they weren't that good a lens but they were substantially better than the Meyer Domiplan. I have a Tessar on a very old Pentax, pre auto diaphragm.

Ian

Eh, figures. I like the contrast, I think it does better than the pentax super multi-coated takumar 50/1.4, and at the time of purchase, was allot less yellow. the 50/1.4 has since had a sun bath and cleared up for me, but still isn't as sharp as it could be, i don't think.

I've always been curious how the Sekor lenses hold up compared to the Pentax stuff. The ones on my Mamiya press seem to work fairly well.