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Post by Peter S. on Apr 23, 2007 13:09:04 GMT -5
Heck - I need to hunt down a M42 camera with a decent normal lens. What were Your camera experts hottest tips for a cost effective and reliable M42 camera?
Any tips are welcome - and I swear, I will even read every line of a ten pages monster thread!
Best regards & Thank You in advance Peter
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Post by Just Plain Curt on Apr 23, 2007 13:19:05 GMT -5
Hi Peter, Cost effective means cheap, and I'm the king of cost effective if you know what I mean. Best value for the buck would be Zenit B or E, Praktica L series, Yashica Electro TL, or Ricoh TLS/Sears TLS. There are so many others but you'll find about three of these for every other body you look for and they're priced very cost effectively. Matter of fact this morning I bought 2 more Zenits for $6 each with 58 Helios.
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Post by Randy on Apr 23, 2007 13:32:35 GMT -5
I have 3 listed in Heads Up...LOL! You can pick up Vivitar/Cosina versions pretty inexpensivly.
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Post by Peter S. on Apr 23, 2007 13:38:43 GMT -5
Dear Randy,
Of course I would rather buy one of Your cameras than one in the Bay of Evil - But last time I bought from the US, I were charged 30 $ for shipment to Germany, and the one before it was 50!
While I would be glad to give the money to You, I am not happy to spend that much money on shipment. If I am mistaken by that, we should switch to personal mail...
W.r.t. lenses I heard a lot of good things on the SMC 1.4/50 Super Takumar. This is a M42 lens, right?
Best regards Peter
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Post by herron on Apr 23, 2007 15:35:01 GMT -5
You'd do well with one of Randy's...but if you do surf on over to evilBay, don't forget to look at Mamiya...the 500- or 1000-TL's or DTL's were great old mechanical monsters...with good optics!
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Post by doubs43 on Apr 23, 2007 18:11:28 GMT -5
Peter, you should have a huge choice of Prakticas in Germany with the M42 mount. They'd be relatively inexpensive and the Meyer-Gorlitz Oreston or Pentacon normal lenses are very good. The CZJ Tessar and Pancolar would be good choices too. Don't overlook the Prakticas sold under the name "Revueflex" by one of your mail order companies.
The later "L" series Prakticas use a vertical metal shutter that is reliable and accurate. The one thing I'd be careful of with the Prakticas is the film advance and take-up sprockets and rewind. The rewind shaft passes through the center of the take-up spool and the engaging surfaces for the film advance are not large. They can strip as the plastic used wasn't the best and it's the weakest point of their design. Be certain that those parts are working correctly.
Walker
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PeterW
Lifetime Member
Member has Passed
Posts: 3,804
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Post by PeterW on Apr 23, 2007 18:12:46 GMT -5
Hi Curt, . That's about the same as Zenits fetch in this part of the UK too. Worth it just for lens alone. BTW On the Zenit B and E you can't use auto-diaphragm lenses unless they've got a manual setting on them. The auto-diaphragm operating plate was introduced on the EM. Also, remember that on all these older Zenits (and Zorkis and FEDs) you MUST wind on the shutter BEFORE you set the shutter speed, otherwise you're using the speed setting dial to tension the shutter springs. You might get away with it for a time, with luck, but eventually it will bend the setting mechanism and the shutter speeds will go haywire. On Zenits that do have auto diaphragm mechanism, you often find the shutter release is jerky and heavier than it should be. This is because it wasn't set up carefully enough at the factory despite what it says in the factory workshop manual. It isn't difficult to fix. There's a run-down on how to set it up properly on my website www.peterwallage.com under My Repairs-> Zenit shutter release. There should also be a page on Zenits in general, but I recently discovered you won't be able to find it as I forgot to put the link in . It's one of the things I'm correcting on an update in the near future. PeterW
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Post by Randy on Apr 23, 2007 18:22:21 GMT -5
Dear Randy, Of course I would rather buy one of Your cameras than one in the Bay of Evil - But last time I bought from the US, I were charged 30 $ for shipment to Germany, and the one before it was 50! While I would be glad to give the money to You, I am not happy to spend that much money on shipment. If I am mistaken by that, we should switch to personal mail... W.r.t. lenses I heard a lot of good things on the SMC 1.4/50 Super Takumar. This is a M42 lens, right? Best regards Peter You're right about that Peter. I just meant it is ironic that I have some for sale. The Praktica LTL is a very nice camera if you can find one over there, it's built like a tank.
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Post by paulatukcamera on Apr 23, 2007 18:26:26 GMT -5
Economy surface USPS rates are much cheaper - around $10 for most cameras. Don't know the exact rate to Germany, but I suspect its in line with the UK ones.
Takes about seven weeks. If you want a nice camera for your collection, then what's the hurry anyway?
Paul
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Post by John Parry on Apr 24, 2007 17:30:33 GMT -5
Come on guys - we're talking to our younger membership now. Be gentle with them! A good M42, while 'State of the Art' for us, in our day. is now about 40 years old. Sme of these people need help!
Regards - John
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mickeyobe
Lifetime Member
Resident President
Posts: 7,280
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Post by mickeyobe on Apr 24, 2007 18:03:55 GMT -5
How many pictures may we or must we submit?
Mickey
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Post by Randy on Apr 24, 2007 19:05:56 GMT -5
How many pictures may we or must we submit? Mickey Up to four.
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Post by Peter S. on May 2, 2007 14:10:28 GMT -5
Dear fellow camera collectors, It was not difficult (nor expensive) to hunt down a M42 body. I found this one: cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=011&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=320107887442&rd=1&rd=1I hope, I got something, which is in the range You recommended! (A big sorry to Randy, I would have preferred to buy from him, but I think it is not practical for being in quite a different part of this blue marble...) Now the next question gets important - a good normal lens. I do formulate it like this right now, since I feel, that when I talked of "cost effectivity" in my original post, this was translated into "cheap", which is not directly what I thought of. I thought of good value for the money, rather than cheap. OK, at the moment I would not be able to buy a Bessaflex - this extremely nice M42 camera Cosina makes to still the classical camera disease of its CEO (the same as Volkswagen developed that fancy 1000PS Bugatti). My first idea would have been the 1.4/50 Supertak, but this seems to be less readily available than I thought. And it seems to be more expensive than I speculated based on the MC Rokkor-PG 1.4/50 (which is a terrific lens sold for ridiculous 20..30$). I don't need the speed of the Super Takumar, as I got all these Minolta big guns. But I am very reluctant to buy a lens, that is not in the same league as my Minolta glass. I am very curious, what Your tips are - and would like to thank You in advance! Best regards Peter
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Post by John Parry on May 3, 2007 7:12:40 GMT -5
PeterS - You should have a good camera with that MTL3 - only problem that I know of is with the battery for the lightmeter. See if an SR44 will fit (doesn't matter if it's too small, just the height). The camera isn't voltage dependent.
Lenses? Do an eBay search for Pentacon or CZJ. You should get hundreds coming up - some of the best glass in the world. As a 'basic' lens for the MTL3, the Pentacon 50mm 1.8 is superb. One of the closest focussing lenses in the world.
Don't just stick to wheels - take anything, and show us what you get!!
Regards - John
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bobm
Contributing Member
Posts: 36
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Post by bobm on May 3, 2007 15:17:52 GMT -5
In addition to John's Pentacon 1.8/50 recommendation, may I also suggest the CZJ Flektogon 2.4/35 which can also do close focus to around 10cm (focus scale goes down to 20cm but focus ring rotates beyond this) and is possibly one of the finest 35s you can get.
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