Surggestions for a manual M42 mount manual camera please

BADGER.BRAD

BADGER.BRAD

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Hello all,

After the death of my much battered Praktica Nova L the other day ( the mirror has dropped out !!!) I'm now looking for a totally manual ( no meter) M42 mount SLR . Ideally relatively small and European or Russian any ideas ?
 
Well the Pentax S3 has no meter if you don't mind Japanese.
 
Something a bit less common - Zeiss Ikon Icarex 35 TM? (had eye level or waist level finder options).

Or for a much higher budget (and it does have metering) - Voightlander Bessaflex TM?

Pentax SL if you don't want metering, or with metering - any of the Pentax Spotmatic range.

Other than these, there's the usual Zenit or Praktica options.
 
Relatively small and M42 mount may be a dificult combination - the SLRs I can think of being small are Olympus and Pentax models.

I have a Praktica MTL3 which is in very good cosmetic considition and works great except for the meter - I paid £25 for it including a 50mm lens. This was from an antiques shop where I could test the camera before buying. Buying from an auction site would of course be more risky.
 
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As far as I know, except for the Russians like Zenit and the East Germany Pentacon/Prakticas, all the other European brands are not so European, like e.g. Porst or Revue, those were rebranded Zenit or from some japanse brands like Cosina or Chinon.

Then there are: Contax, Edixa, Exa, Icarex and Voigtlander. Take a look here: http://anusf.anu.edu.au/~aab900/photography/cameras/cameras.htm

But if you ask me, I would go for a Yashica with a M42 mount (Spotmatic type) or a more modern and small and light body like the FX-3 Super 2000, full mechanical, metal curtain and up to 1/2000, it comes with the C/Y mount but you can use M42 lenses with an inexpensive adapter.
 
I like my Chinon CM-3. It's got a traffic light meter at the eyepiece but you can ignore it. Or put some electrical tape over the LEDs!
 
simon ess said:
Zenit springs to mind. Remove the battery and no meter.

Made from captured Panzas.

Oops, Zenit already mentioned.
Click to expand...

The Zenit B does not have a meter.

It's fully mechanical but you need to stop down the lens manually.
 
I have had a Sigma MK1 for thirty years, it's possibly my favorite camera, it has a meter, as do most, I believe.
Japanese copy of the Ricoh, has all metal leaf-blade shutter and recoil like a .303! I was actually in local camera shop buying film and rummaging through the bargain baskets once, when the Sigma rep came in, trying to get the shop to take their then 'new' line of AF cameras, insisting it was the makes 'first' SLR, and rather taken aback when I showed him the all metal MK1... quite a rare camera... available of the evil nay for as little as £5... 'cos no bugger, even the company reps, have never heard of it! lol.
Thing is with M42, that by the time it became popular, dedicated 'system' mounts were the in-thing, and it fell to being the preserve of the budget, usually East-German or Russian offerings, especially in SLR.... as little more than a holder for the film, this may not be such a bad thing, b-u-t the suggestion of "meter-less" does push you into the dumbbell of either very low rent things like the lesser... gulag spec Zenits, or the upper order old pentax or contax in the collectors market... for VFM you would probably better off getting a something with TTL meter, uncoupled to the shutter. like the Sigma, and merely leaving it switched off or the battery 'out'.
But at the bargain end.... I sort of like my meter-less Zenit.... I have to go to the gym before I try carrying it, and have to be especially careful using it... mostly just not to cut myself on the razor-blade strap catches and stuff! I NEVER really got on with the Practika's more quirky handling, and even when they were 'cheap' pre K mount Pentax's seemed to command too much money for a film-holder.... B-U-T you payz you money and takes you chances.....
I wouldn't be particularly fussed about hunting out 'any' particular make or model, TBH, they are all of an age where condition would be far more significant..... and the MFT brigade have been stripping the market of the best lenses for a decade.....
There are probably far bigger bargains to be found looking at one of the lesser 'system' mount cameras, like the trusty OM series, or getting strategic looking for fixed lens cameras, that so often don't command such an SLR premium, and using the project as opportunity to do things different rather than beg compromise to do more of the same..... medium format perhaps?
But your call....
 
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