Which camera to use for my M42 lenses?

[Crantz]

Hi,

I've collected a bunch of M42 lenses which I use more or less regularly on that type of camera I'm seemingly not allowed to talk about here angel and I really want to try out analog now. Problem is, the two cameras I tried were failures so far. First try was a Fujica ST 801 which I bought some time ago with a Fujinon lens I wanted and which was put on a shelf since then. The camera has a problem with the shutter curtain so half of the frame isn't exposed correctly. I only put through one roll and don't remember it exactly, but judging by the pictures I think it only affects the 1/60 shutter speed. But I'm not sure. It seems to be a common problem with this cameras.

Next try was a Fujica ST 705 which I got extremly cheap. The case was "well worn" or more precisely almost disintegrating. The light meter isn't working, I guess something is broken. Didn't test it any further.

So now I'm wondering which camera I should try next. I tried Fuji again because I have two Fujinons and thought about using the open aperture metering. But it's not necessary. My lenses are only the standard stuff like Helios 44M, Pentacon and Porst-labeled Cosina stuff. No Takumars or the like with proprietary mechanisms exept the Fujinons of course.

• I want a camera with a working and trustful light meter, as I'm not an expert in guessing the exposure and don't want to use an external light meter or my smartphone either.
  
• The camera should work without mercury batteries.
• The camera should work with my Fujinon lenses without me having to cut off the aperture lid.
  
• It shouldn't be on the pricey side. I don't know if analog is at all something for me, I just want to try out.

Looking at local offers (to avoid something like the ST 705) I found a Chinon Memotron CE-2 and a Yashica TL Electro X. The Chinon's case doesn't seem to be in very good condition but it would come with a bunch of accessory and was in use in the last time according to the seller. The Yashica looks very nice but was lying around for years (as was my ST 801) and I don't think it's the best prerequisite. What do you think? Or should I watch out for a Pentax Spotmatic? Or something else? Or should I screw the early 70's stuff completely and look for, I don't know, a PK or Minolta mount camera an adapt my M42s? Would this work at all regarding the light metering?

Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

Ricoh Singlex or Asahi Pentax Spotmatics, maybe in reverse order of preferance.

 

[Ian Grant]

Best of all a Spotmatic, first choice is the Spotmatic F as it allows full aperture metering with SMC Takumar lenses, but any good Spotmatic will be fine. I paid £20 ($26 approx) for a mint SP F and lens + case, and last year £10 ($13) for a near mint Pentax SV with meter and lens.

Ian

 

[Hatchetman]

Spotmatics are great but you need to get it serviced. Light seals guaranteed to be shot. Mirror will stick up. Probably $100-$150 total cost.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

Spotmatics are great but you need to get it serviced. Light seals guaranteed to be shot. Mirror will stick up. Probably $100-$150 total cost.

I more than disagree with generalization. Sure some will have the problem, good portion held up really well. I have 7 Spotmatics, none had shutter issues, one had seals needing replacement (easy job anyways), perhaps I was just lucky every time. All depends on storage history and there are plenty good to go without any work needed. And these are really sweet shooters too.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

Also keep in mind that Spotmatic SP 500 has 1/1000 top shutter speed, just not marked on the dial. Asahi's great marketing secret.

 

[GRHazelton]

A Praktica LTL would be cheap. They're tough, and they have perhaps the best implementation of stop down metering there is. My old LTL's shutter sounds good after several years of disuse, the meter as a bridge circuit can use a silver oxide cell rather than the original mercury cell.

 

[jgoody]

DAG (Don Goldberg), an ace Leica and Canon repairman, often lists CLAed Spotmatics on his website. Don't know if it's practical to ship to Germany for him or you but I would certainly trust anything he sold.

 

[Les Sarile]

Practically every company made an M42 camera so you will have many choices. Just buy one that is fully functional at the price you are willing to pay for.
I have the Chinon CE II magazine that's in perfect working condition and it has a great advantage of allowing you to use your M42 lenses in aperture priority mode.

 

[markjwyatt]

I am using a Praktica MTL5 and Fuji 605N. Both have meters that work. I have a few Spotmatics without working meters.

 

[Fujicaman1957]

I'll agree with Les- I have a GAF LE-S that was built out of 2 non-working ones by Essex Camera. The meter is spot on and having auto exposure with any M42 lens is seriously cool. It's big and heavy, but it's a tank and it takes fairly easy to find PX-28 silver batteries or the alkaline or lithium versions of the PX-28

 

[Bill Burk]

The Pentax Spotmatic F is good, light seals can be obtained from a hardware store if you are willing to slice weatherstripping with a box knife blade resting on a couple dimes...

You want a meter but I am tired of camera meters and wish for a Pentax Spotmatic SL

 

[abruzzi]

You want a meter but I am tired of camera meters and wish for a Pentax Spotmatic SL

or the SV which is basically the pre-Spotmatic. A beautiful camera to shoot. I’ve never actually seen an SL, but I’d love one. (I also have a Nikkormat FS, which is another great meterless SLR.)

 

[AgX]

Praktica LTL ...have perhaps the best implementation of stop down metering there is.

You mean the combined stopping-down/metering button ergonomically placed next to the release button.

 

[narsuitus]

I prefer the Fuji and Pentax screw-mount bodies.

Finding used bodies and lenses in good working condition, however, is difficult.


Chrome M42 by Narsuitus, on Flickr


Black M42 by Narsuitus, on Flickr

 

[Crantz]

Thank you all, but now I'm somehow not a step further than before. There are no Spotmatics offered locally atm, so I would have to wait anyway. Thing is, and this applies to all other cameras aswell, if I then go and buy one and in the end it‘s broken again I either would have wasted 30-40€ or would have to go get it fixed. Which lets me think: should I look for a professional store selling refurbished ones and pay, I don‘t know, 150€? Or should I instead get my Fujica ST 801 repaired at such a store and pay maybe less, maybe the same? The 801 is working perfectly and is in pretty good condition exept the broken shutter of course. I really don‘t want to pay that much but before I do trial and error for multiple times maybe and at the end pay the same, this seems to be the better strategy for me.

 

[Les Sarile]

The original Asahi Pentax and K are other examples of nice meterless M42 bodies . . .

 

[Deleted member 88956]

Thank you all, but now I'm somehow not a step further than before. There are no Spotmatics offered locally atm, so I would have to wait anyway. Thing is, and this applies to all other cameras aswell, if I then go and buy one and in the end it‘s broken again I either would have wasted 30-40€ or would have to go get it fixed. Which lets me think: should I look for a professional store selling refurbished ones and pay, I don‘t know, 150€? Or should I instead get my Fujica ST 801 repaired at such a store and pay maybe less, maybe the same? The 801 is working perfectly and is in pretty good condition exept the broken shutter of course. I really don‘t want to pay that much but before I do trial and error for multiple times maybe and at the end pay the same, this seems to be the better strategy for me.

For sure you do not need to splurge 150 to try out your lenses. Praktica mentioned can be cheap and it was a robust camera (still need to confirm it works fine). Spotmatics from ebay? Spotmatic at ebay.de from Austria, looks nice and there are quite a few more, so no idea what you mean.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

And this

 

[Crantz]

For sure you do not need to splurge 150 to try out your lenses. Praktica mentioned can be cheap and it was a robust camera (still need to confirm it works fine). Spotmatics from ebay? Spotmatic at ebay.de from Austria, looks nice and there are quite a few more, so no idea what you mean.

I only looked over offerings from Germany and they were either overpriced or from private sellers without refund which I want to avoid after the experience with the ST 705. And concerning local pick up offers there was not a single Spotmatic and only some overpriced Praktica LTLs. The Spotmatic from this austrian shop seems to be a good offer however.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

I see what you mean now. I'd ask a straight question about condition and go from there. Prices are not indicator of usefulness in shooting, and you can find a great one for 35 and a bad one for 150.

 

[Ian Grant]

The Pentax Spotmatic F is good, light seals can be obtained from a hardware store if you are willing to slice weatherstripping with a box knife blade resting on a couple dimes...

You want a meter but I am tired of camera meters and wish for a Pentax Spotmatic SL

A Spotmatic SL would ve an oxymoron With no internal meter it's not a Spotmatic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . just a Pentax SL.

Ian

 

[Paul Howell]

Practically every company made an M42 camera so you will have many choices. Just buy one that is fully functional at the price you are willing to pay for.
I have the Chinon CE II magazine that's in perfect working condition and it has a great advantage of allowing you to use your M42 lenses in aperture priority mode.
QUOTE]

I have Spotmatic, first one I bought was in 1967, still have it, what I like about the Spot is that is basic, nothing to really think about, on the other hand I have the CE and CM II with the motor winder. Both take modern batteries, the metering is very good, as Les says the ability to use aperture priority with any M42 lens is remarkable. The motor winder is not fast 1 1/2 ti 2 FPS and should like a sewing machine, I find it. Downside to the CEII is that long hard push needed to trip the shutter, caused by the meter fixing the shutter speed as the lens is stopped down. The manual exposure version has 3 LED, on the outside of the body on the edge of the viewfinder, sort of odd, works but still odd placement. The Chinon were also sold under the GAF brand.

 

[Larry Cloetta]

I am just going to repeat a bit of advice I received on some forum years ago, which I found, to my dismay, to be completely accurate: The best camera to use for your selection of M42 lenses is a Contax 139Q with an adapter.
I have owned, over time, almost all the M42 Pentax bodies, 4 different Fujicas, MamiyaSekors, Yashica TL Electro X, a Praktica, everything mentioned here and a few others, everything except the Chinon.
I have a wide variety of M42 lenses from a wide variety of manufacturers. After moving to Contax 139s with cheap adapters, I’d never go back to any of the original M42 bodies, as they are all clunky to use in comparison. The Contax has a notably clearer viewfinder than any of them (which matters because even though you will be doing a version of stop down metering, the vf is so bright you can compose and meter and shoot with the lens stopped all the way down to f/8 and still see what you are doing), more accurate modern shutter, uses commonly available batteries, has a meter and a good one, is small and light, relatively cheap, easier to find in working-won’t-need-CLA condition, 1/1000 shutter speed, and on and on. I have owned a 139Q since the late 70’s and it has never needed anything in the way of repair or adjustment.
For someone just trying to figure out if they like using film, the last thing you want, to make that determination fairly, is a camera that gets in your way, you’d want a camera that just makes life easier for a beginner, and, frankly, easier and more predictable for an experienced photographer. I like museum pieces, and use cameras going all the way back to the Thirties, but the Spotmatics are going to feel like museum pieces in comparison, in use, and Spotmatics are probably the best of the breed.
Plus, if you find that you really enjoy film photography, you can eventually stick Contax Zeiss lenses on it as well.
Just a suggestion for a different approach to a common dilemma. Please don’t hate me.

 

[AgX]

The best camera to use for your selection of M42 lenses is a Contax 139Q with an adapter.

Does this adapter yield the automatic diaphragm feature?