M42 SLR

[Paul Howell]

Thank You for your post, The CE-3, I won't consider because it is battery dependent. The CM-3, I will consider.....

The CE 3 has a mechanical shutter only needs the battery for meter and auto mode. I carried both the CE and CM 3 with a winder with my Super Tacks for years, the shutter is somewhat loud, fact after posting last night I pulled them out, put in fresh batteries and will put up my Mirandas for a while, might even dig out my Spot, I got it in 1966, my first SLR.

 

[klop]

The CE 3 has a mechanical shutter only needs the battery for meter and auto mode. I carried both the CE and CM 3 with a winder with my Super Tacks for years, the shutter is somewhat loud, fact after posting last night I pulled them out, put in fresh batteries and will put up my Mirandas for a while, might even dig out my Spot, I got it in 1966, my first SLR.

I'm confused, the online manual states that the "CE-3" shutter operates only with batteries except in X and B mode, X mode being 1/100th.... Same at Camera-wiki.org............. That's were I was speaking from...... So this information is incorrect?

 

[Les Sarile]

I'm confused, the online manual states that the "CE-3" shutter operates only with batteries except in X and B mode, X mode being 1/100th.... Same at Camera-wiki.org............. That's were I was speaking from...... So this information is incorrect?

Chinon CE-3 has an electronic shutter with only one mechanical speed available when batteries die -> http://www.butkus.org/chinon/chinon/ce-3-illus/chinon_ce-3.pdf

As far as I know, the Pentax ES and ES II are the only M42 mount aperture priority capable cameras with a range of mechanical shutter speeds available when batteries die - sync speed and higher.

 

[Paul Howell]

Chinon CE-3 has an electronic shutter with only one mechanical speed available when batteries die -> http://www.butkus.org/chinon/chinon/ce-3-illus/chinon_ce-3.pdf

As far as I know, the Pentax ES and ES II are the only M42 mount aperture priority capable cameras with a range of mechanical shutter speeds available when batteries die - sync speed and higher.

Your right, when I pulled my CE 4 from the closest to check the shutter I thought I had removed the batteries, been in storage a couple of years so I just check the shutter at a second and it sounded ok, at that time I had not mounted a lens and thought that CM 3 and CM 4 had the same shutter. Well I not taken the batteries out, really surprised that the batteries are still good. I just put a battery in the CM 3 meter came on, both winders fire. Oddest winders or drive I have ever used.

 

[Les Sarile]

Your right, when I pulled my CE 4 from the closest to check the shutter I thought I had removed the batteries, been in storage a couple of years so I just check the shutter at a second and it sounded ok, at that time I had not mounted a lens and thought that CM 3 and CM 4 had the same shutter. Well I not taken the batteries out, really surprised that the batteries are still good. I just put a battery in the CM 3 meter came on, both winders fire. Oddest winders or drive I have ever used.

You're lucky the batteries didn't deteriorate and corrode the innards!

 

[trythis]

The pentax ES is battery dependent. Bought one and the electronics are faulty. It fires at one speed even when the meter needle moves which is barely at all. I think it fires at 1/1000


Typos made on a tiny phone...

 

[ZenziFriend]

I got the Fujica ST801 a few weeks ago and I am very impressed! High quality camera indeed.

 

[klop]

I got the Fujica ST801 a few weeks ago and I am very impressed! High quality camera indeed.

What lenses are you using with it?

 

[Ap507b]

I am more than happy with my Praktica MTL5 for meeting my M42 needs. Have overcome the mercury battery problem with a hearing aid battery & an adapter. You can pick MTL5's up on ebay for peanuts. £10 delivered in my case so if it does break, there is so little to lose. Based on my experience it seems reliable & well built.

 

[ronnies]

I am more than happy with my Praktica MTL5 for meeting my M42 needs. Have overcome the mercury battery problem with a hearing aid battery & an adapter. You can pick MTL5's up on ebay for peanuts. £10 delivered in my case so if it does break, there is so little to lose. Based on my experience it seems reliable & well built.

And if you get an MTL5B it uses the SR44 battery instead.

Ronnie

 

[cuthbert]

Advice: stay away from the Germans. They are known to fail with use. The East Germans, especially.

This is my humble Praktica MTL 50,NOS from the middle 80s.

These are some pics I've taken with that camera that costed me £30:

May I ask how many BDR or DDR camera you had that failed?

Just about any of the very under rated Fuji M-42 bodies, actually, all Fuji 35 mm's are under rated. They are extremely well made and durable, and can be had for pennies.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fuji-Fujica...150?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d317aebde

I support the Fuji cause, at the moment my favourite M42 body is a 705, it allows open metering like the SPF and some high end Prakticas but it does have split screen. It's a sweet camera as good as SPF, the only thing is that the gallium cells are hyperreactive and they stop working as soon as you removed the finger from the trigger.

What lenses are you using with it?

To use the 801 or the 705 at the best of their potentiality (open metering) you have to use Fujinon lenses, that are pretty good, in the Tak area good.

These shots aren't that great because the day was pretty overcast and I used a cheap film (Superia 200) but I used the lenses that came with the camera: a 55mm f1.8, a 28 mm f 3.5 and a pretty heavy zoom. These are the results:

The camera should meter with any M42 lense stepped down, but I haven't tried yet.

 

[randyB]

Don't forget the Yashica M42's. Before they teamed up with Contax they had several cameras with the M42 mount and all were very good quality. As with just about all the older cameras, finding one with an accurate meter might be a challenge. Most used the mercury battery and a few used a special battery that is no longer made. Pentax m42 and Fuji m42 are also excellant cameras to consider.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I have a Zenit B that I use with my m42 lenses but I would like a quality SLR with the rangefinder split image for focusing.... I don't want anything battery dependent. I was thinking about a Praktica Nova...... Any suggestions?

stay away from Praktika if you want reliability.I had more luck with Ricoh but wore out two Praktikas within two weeks for each

 

[baachitraka]

I have Praktica MTL 5B and Praktica L2.

L2 is backing up the MTL 5B. It feels solid and shutter is rather lOOud. But they came rather cheap, in-fact less than €10 for the both.

 

[cuthbert]

stay away from Praktika if you want reliability.I had more luck with Ricoh but wore out two Praktikas within two weeks for each

Strange, I recently bought three Prakticas and they all work fine, I assume I was lucky.

Ricoh was a great brand and offered quality products comparable to the big three.

 

[Paul Howell]

Strange, I recently bought three Prakticas and they all work fine, I assume I was lucky.

Ricoh was a great brand and offered quality products comparable to the big three.

Ricoh, Cosina and Chinon made solid bodies, with a fair ranges of lens, not much in the way of what I would call exotic glass, not really fast, no super telephotos, Chinon did make a 50 1.9 Macro, based on the Alpa design, some tell that it was made with Alpa glass. Ricoh made a body, the 401 that had a lever that turned in the viewfinder so a sort off waist level finder, not an interchangeable finder but the user can look down from the top of the housing.

From Camerapedia

The Ricoh TLS 401 was introduced in 1970 as an innovative successor to the three year older Ricoh Singlex TLS, having a combined eye-level and waist-level finder. Selection of either is by twisting a knob on the right-hand side of the finder housing. The vertical finder window has a removable black plastic cover, which, if turned the other way round as the practical minded will discover, may sit on permanently and just slid towards the accessory shoe when not needed. The original Singlex of 1964 was a further development of the Nikkorex F made by Mamiya for Nikon, the only Ricoh SLR having a Nikon F lens mount, the ensuing models having a 42mm screw mount throughout most of the next decade.

The TLR 401 has a match needle stop down TTL CdS meter with average or spot selector switch situated just below the wind lever on the back of the camera. Correct exposure is obtained when the meter needle is brought inside the brackets at the lover right in the finder. Also in the finder, to the left, is an indicator for the selected meter mode, S for spot and A for average. The exposure meter is activated by sliding a chunky knob on the left-hand side of the mirror housing upwards, also stopping down the lens to the selected aperture, meaning the meter is of the stop down variety, like the Pentax Spotmatic of 1964, but unlike most other contemporary SLR cameras of the principal brands using bayonet lens mount. The camera is equipped with the sturdy vertical running focal plane Copal Square 1 to 1/1000 second metal blade shutter.

 

[cuthbert]

Pretty sure Ricoh made a Rikenon 50 mm f1.2, all these three builders offered 1.4, so from this point of view they were "top brand", Leitz never offered a 1.2, as far as I remember.