first film camera advise

[peterqd]

[montecarlo]

Speaking about K Pentax bayonet cameras there are some even cheaper ones (cheaper than the KX, MX and the ME Super) like the P50 and P30 from Pentax (P5 / P3 in the US) and other K Mount cameras made by Chinon (Chinon, Agfa, Revue/flex), Ricoh (Ricoh, Sears) or Cosina (Cosina, Porst, Carena, Vivitar etc.) and even Topcon or Sigma. These, most of them, use newer batteries (like the LR-44 alkaline ones).
I've got a Pentax P50 and a Ricoh KR-10 and both work great. M42 lenses can be used with them in Av and M mode.
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Canonet QL17 III
Zenit E , Helios-44 58mm f:2.0 , Tair-11A 135mm f:2.8, Jupiter-9 85mm f:2.0
Porst Reflex TL , Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm f:2.4 , Pentacon 50mm f:1.8 , Porst MC 135mm f:2.8 , Cosinon MC 200mm f:3.5
Konica Autoreflex TC,Hexanon 50mm f:1.7
Ricoh KR10, Petri MC 28mm f:2 , Chinon MC 28mm f:2.8 , smc Pentax-M 50mm f:1.7, Ricoh 50mm f:1.7 , Soligor T 135mm f:2.8 , smc Pentax-M 75-150mm f:4
Pentax K100D , smc Pentax-DA 18-55 , smc Pentax-FA 80-320

[Farside]

I would suggest an OM-1 as a starter - tough, solid and reliable, with a rake of good glass to choose from, both Zuiko and third party decent stuff. Totally mechanical with no pesky electronics to go wrong and no battery to worry about, except the meter battery. They go for just a few quid nowadays. As I've found, the older ones are prone to develop slow shutters or sticky mirrors, but a CLA gets them back to like new.
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Dave

The Lenses of Farside

"The largest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and
prosperity is no longer socialism. It is, instead, the ambitious,
arrogant, unscrupulous ideology of environmentalism."

-- Czech President Vaclav Klaus

[Puplet]

Vote here for the Pentax Spotmatics, or the later K1000 (so good they're naming all their digitals with similar names). One of the most underrated companies making M42 and K-mount was Cosina so keep a lookout for those.

[Riku]

I recommend Minolta XG-M. It's cheap and has a huge viewfinder. Minolta lenses are excellent and you can use M42 lenses with cheap adapter available on Ebay.

[pressureworld]

This thread has been so helpful not only to me but Im sure any newbie going from digital to film, many times us new guys don't even know where to look first & this threads provides a great starting place. I ended up going with the Pentax ME Super. I can't wait to recieve it and post some shots. I will be refering back here because, I'm sure this will be only the first of many film cameras.
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Canon XTI, Pentacon 135 (Preset), Vivitar
135/2.5, Jupiter 2/85, 37A Helios 44-2 2/58, EF 24-70L, EF 85 1.8

[Farside]

Congrats. It's a fine camera.
First thing to do when you get it is just check the condition of the light seals on the back door and if they all look ok, rattle a cheap no-name film through it, get it processed and examine the frames for light leaks and any exposure faults that might be caused by a slow shutter or similar.
If the result of that is ok, you're fine to go.
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Dave

The Lenses of Farside

"The largest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and
prosperity is no longer socialism. It is, instead, the ambitious,
arrogant, unscrupulous ideology of environmentalism."

-- Czech President Vaclav Klaus

[pressureworld]

Thanks Farside, Im really excited about it.
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Canon XTI, Pentacon 135 (Preset), Vivitar
135/2.5, Jupiter 2/85, 37A Helios 44-2 2/58, EF 24-70L, EF 85 1.8

[hacksawbob]

I went with a modern Canon EOS 1n so I use all the lenses with adapters same as my diital canon although AF confirm doenst work and needs to be disabled. (I put a peice of tape over the pins or use a non af confirm adapter) I ot lucky with my 1n I got it for ?80 usually they go for ?100 -150
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