Looking for ... m42

[Dinis Figueira]

Hi guys,

I'm looking for a new M42 to my arsenal after my last one showing it's defects.
Could someone recommend any m42 that goes under 50€ in Europe? I don't care about the light meter.
I'm already looking for Prakticas but any other good suggestion would be good.

Thanks!

EDIT: This time I'm going for a waist level camera. Any ideas?

 

[tih]

Prakticas are nice, but you should also be able to find a good Pentax Spotmatic body within that budget. Nice, reliable cameras that are a pleasure to use.

 

[RSalles]

I have a friend who has a Chinon M42 mount film camera, and he told me it's a very nice camera to own,

Cheers,

Renato

 

[zozur]

If you don't want waist level finder: Pentax Spotmatic - for example SPII.
Why do you want waist level finder in 35mm manual focus camera? I don't think that it would be good idea.

 

[Ian Grant]

Spotmatic F, as it has full aperture metering with SMC lenses and Tamron Adaptall II lenses, I paid £25 ($35 very approx) for mine and it's mint. I;ve an SPII and SP500mas well all excelent cameras a nde very cheap. Forget Prakticas the quality is awful, the Chinons were quite good,

Ian

 

[AgX]

This time I'm going for a waist level camera. Any ideas?

WLF in 35mm is a bit awkward.

Get yourself an EXA 1B with WLF (should be the cheapest) and check whether you can live with such finder type.
Then look for a Praktica VLC with WLF.

 

[Fixcinater]

I prefer a 90 degree finder over a 35mm WLF. The Ricoh TLS 401 has a double viewfinder setup but I was not impressed with the WLF.

 

[Helios 1984]

Praktica FX2 & FX3 are nice cameras and should be easy to find on your side of the Atlantic.

 

[anfenglin]

The earlier mentioned Chinon camera also exists as a Revueflex AC-1. I used to have one before I got rid of all M42.
It is a nice camera, uses open aperture to measure and has a program feature, meaning: You set the aperture, depress the release button half way, it closes the aperture, measures, sets the speed and releases.
All of this can be done in one move, it is very quick.

 

[removedacct3]

You could search for a Revueflex 5005, a re-batched Chinon, on ebay.de. Lots of them and most are under 50 euro.

 

[anfenglin]

They're heavy though!

 

[cooltouch]

I don't know how common the Pentax Spotmatic is over on your side of the pond, but here in the USA, it is a very common camera. I have a very clean SP1000 on eBay right now with a BIN price of $35 or best offer, and so far, no interest at that price. So, I'm thinking that you should be able to find a clean Spotty for cheap if you look around, especially on eBay -- unless they're uncommon over there or something. I like the Spotmatic. I have a couple of them in my collection and I like the feel and ruggedness of them. The Spotmatic is probably the original workhorse photographic tool, a camera that just keeps going and going. And going.

The best one to get, IMO, is the Spotmatic F, which provides full aperture metering with the SMC Takumar lenses. SP F's often go for a premium compared to other Spotties, but often still within your budgetary range.

 

[Paul Howell]

In addition to Chinon, Rioch, Cosina, and Zient, I have Pentax and Chinon. If you don't need a working light meter then not much of a difference, just need a body with spot on shutter speeds, good seals, frame spacing good, no over lapping frames. The only difference between my Spotmaitc and Chinon CM 3 is that the Chinon has a brighter viewfinder

 

[Dinis Figueira]

Spotmatic over here is pretty expensive in mediocre condition.
I can't find any good Chinon.
The only thing common and cheap is Prakticas and Zenits.

I wanted a WLF camera to get into a new atmosfere and in addition, most WLF I've saw can be switched to a normal prism viewfinder if I don't like the idea at all.

How good is the idea to get a camera with other mounts but using a adapter to use my m42 lens?

 

[Paul Howell]

I use a couple of different adapters, M42 to K, the older manual K not much a problem, new K like AF K some work some don't, the Pentax SF1 will work in aperture and manual mode while a Z30 will not. I also a adapter with Minolta A mount bodies, works with the 7000 and 9000 bodies, not sure about all the later bodies. I know a few who use M42s with EOS bodies as well. A this point all lens are preset, you need to manually open the lens up to widest aperture for focusing then stop down to working aperture. Although Minolta made a split screen screen for the 9000, AF bodies are going to limited to a plan matt screen. I have a Rioch manual focus body with a grid screen, the only non pro level body that I have come across with a grid screen it will take M42 in manual mode.

 

[Helios 1984]

If you decide to pick a Pentax with a K-mount and want to use M-42 lenses, I recommend to get a vintage 3rd party adapter (Jessop or Bower, both are Made in Japan). They are as good as the genuine Asahi Pentax adapter and half the price, the only difference is that the lens alignment will be spot-on with the original.

Photo by Hin Man
Source

 

[narsuitus]

I'm looking for a new M42 to my arsenal...

My first SLR was a Miranda Sensorex. It had an interchangeable viewfinder. Pentaprism and waist level viewfinders were available. It also accepted screw mount lenses and bayonet lenses, however, its thread size was 44mm. It only accepted m42 lenses with an adapter.

I would never recommend this camera to a user because mine was not very dependable. When my camera was brand new, it broke three times within two years. However, if you are a collector, it may be worth adding to your arsenal.

 

[mjork]

I have a Fujica ST701 that my father bought new in the early 1970's. You should be able to get that for very little money now.
Just recently I wanted to use this camera again and checked it with a shutter tester: I was shocked to see that all its shutter speeds were dead on, as good as my electronically controlled EOS film camera shutter. The 1/1000 speed was almost exactly 1/1000. I didn't think this was even possible with these old mechanical shutters. This is a camera that never got a CLA.
Of course I don't know if all of these cameras hold up so well or if I'm just lucky with mine. It's a simple, reliable M42 camera and I took one of my all-time favorite photos with it in the '90s. It's still hanging on the wall today...

 

[narsuitus]

I totally agree with the Fuji m42 recommendation. I would have recommended it except it does not have the waist level finder the original poster wants.

Fujica ST705 by Narsuitus, on Flickr

 

[Paul Howell]

I just remembered the Ricoh 401, M42 mount, not a true waist level, but had viewfinder on top of the prism that could be switched from eye level to the top finder, but you have to have your eye on the top viewfinder too small for true waist level. More like a built in 90 degree finder. The camera has a solid build.

 

[Malinku]

There are a lot of good m42 cameras. Mamiya, pentacon, pentax, ricoh, fuji, chinon. Mamiya DTLs are my favorite

 

[Dinis Figueira]

Bought an Praktica FX 2 that only needs a little cleaning for 15€ to check out how it works.
Still, gonna look for more cameras that you guys recommended, mostly Fuji's (that black one ) that somehow got me interested on the way they look in both ways, even though they still are a little pricey on this side

 

[Zorkiphoto]

You might be able to pick up a Yashica Tl Electro-X for that price if you're lucky - it's a fantastic camera, and I say that as someone who has a good 20+ cameras.

The Zenit 19's a great chocie too - though my go above your listed budget.

Hope that helps.

S

 

[Brett Rogers]

Spotmatic F, as it has full aperture metering with SMC lenses and Tamron Adaptall II lenses, I paid £25 ($35 very approx) for mine and it's mint. I;ve an SPII and SP500mas well all excelent cameras a nde very cheap. Forget Prakticas the quality is awful, the Chinons were quite good,

Ian

There were a few Prakticas that could take, or were fitted standard, with waist level finders. Eg FX, FX2/3, and VLC types. Are they really that bad? What went wrong with yours, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Brett Rogers]

One of the more pleasant M42 bodies that can take a waist level finder is the Zeiss Ikon Icarex 35 TM. You might need a bit of luck to find a working one within your budget, though. I paid around half that for mine but I had to do some repair work to it because it had been worked on badly, previously. If you can do your own maintenance they're not so bad to work on though.