Lets find out who you are, and watcha got.

Ralph Javins

Good morning, Aleksej;

Welcome to the M42 Group. Yes, there is merit in using some of the older technology, in many different fields. I also like the simplicity of the M42 mount. I remember from back in the 1960s how a machinist heatedly explained to me how difficult it was for a machinist to accurately get everything right every time to make a bayonet camera lens mount work properly every time. He explained how much simpler and more precise it was to just get the starting point of the threaded section properly aligned to have the focusing scale come out on top when the lens was seated in the lens mounting flange.

While it does not have an M42 lens mount, the Ihagee Exakta 35mm SLR camera (arguably the world's first "system SLR camera") also had interchangeable viewing systems and focusing screens, including a waist-level finder. Yes, the waist level finder does have useful simplicity, ease of use, applicability, and the ability to aim the camera without having it up in front of your face so that everyone knows you have a camera.

And I still enjoy using even my KMZ Zenit EM SLR camera with its M42 mount. I do like the Helios-44M-7 58mm f:2 lens mounted on it.

Yes, there are Asahi-Honeywell-Pentax 35mm camera bodies and TAKUMAR lenses here also. The Asahi-Pentax was the camera that popularized the M42 mount here in the USA, to the degree that to many people it became "the Pentax Lens Mount," even though it was designed back in 1939 at the Carl Zeiss-Jena Werke for their Contax S 35mm SLR camera, but World War II interfered with the start production date for the Contax S, and it was delayed until after World War II until it finally went into production at the VEB Zeiss-Ikon Werke in Dresden, later Pentacon (sometimes it is hard to keep track of the names as they merged and changed), and appeared in the shops for sale in 1949. However, it was such a widely accepted lens mounting system adopted by so many camera makers in so many different countries that one name for it is the UTM or "Universal Thread Mount." And the Contax S camera body shape with the viewing pentaprism on top with the side traveling focal plane shutter influenced the entire SLR camera body development even up through today's DSLR cameras. A 75 year legacy is pretty impressive.

Enjoy;

Ralph
Latte Land, Washington
 

mckay3d

I acquired my first 35mm SLR in 1965, a Pentax H3v with the standard 55mm f/1.8 Super Takumar. Shortly after that I bought a 35mm f/3.5 Auto-Takumar. I still have that camera and several other Pentax thread mount cameras and various lenses. I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of a Pentax K from overhaul and have lately been shooting and processing B&W film in Caffenol and D-76. Just too much fun!
Maurice
 

mckay3d

Just got my Pentax K back from Eric. Now to shoot some Tri-x to try it out!
 

f/16

I have a Praktica LB and want to get a Spotmatic. M42 lenses I have are: Jupiter 37a 135 3.5, Domiplan 50 2.8, Sears 135 3.5, and Takumar 28 3.5.
 

thewrongdevice

Hi

I have a Spotmatic SV - a bit old and worn-out but not that much. It goes with a Super-Takumar 2/55; one of the best lenses I had the chance to use.
I also use a Spotmatic F with different lenses, lately a Zeiss Pancolar 1.7/50.
My favorite combo is my black Bessaflex with the Super-Takumar 1.8/55 or with the Zenitar 1.7/50.
My second body is usually a Praktica MTL-5b with its Pentacon 1.8/50 screwed on.
For the rainy days I have a Zenit 12xp with a Zeiss Flektogon. The whole stuff was less than $30 and working perfectly.
(I also use M39 SLRs but this is another matter.)

Does anyone have experience with good M42 portrait lens (shorter than 135mm but longer than 58mm)? Which one would you recommend?
 
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…