My first digital camera with m42 lens?

Caligola · Joined: 02 Mar 2014 Posts: 1

Hello everyone,
I�m very new to this forum and quite a newbie in photography. I need help to choose my first digital camera with manual settings (already owned compact cameras). I come here often to be delighted with your discussions about lenses and photography and thank to you I learned a lot. I started taking photos with analog cameras (Zenits and Prakticas!) two years ago as a hobby and collected some manual focus m42 great lenses deals on auction sites. Unfortunately my only issue with analog photography is that I need the dark room equipment to develop and sometimes even print. I don�t have mine and I share a dark room with a friend of mine who isn�t always available to meet my timings. So, even if I�ve never tried a DSLR, I am thinking about spending no more than 500 � to buy a digital camera which is compatible with my lovely set of m42 lenses, maintaining a good usability while having the quick satisfaction of reviewing pictures at the computer screen. As you understand, my main purpose is to use the digital camera with old lenses (mainly russians and some Tamron SP lenses) so I won�t be very interested in buying new modern lenses. Furthermore, I�d be happy to choose something full frame to maintain the focal values but� it seems they are out of my budget. I am totally new to the digital field so I need to be oriented on a camera that suits my needs: could you please help me with this dilemma? Browsing the internet I discovered that some Pentax and Sony mirrorless cameras are very suitable for m42 lens usage with the appropriate adapter. But I can�t manage to discern the pros and cons of evey model sorted out by users on forums�

Thank you very much for reading
Caligola (italian user...forgive me for the bad english!)

philslizzy · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 4748 Location: Cheshire, England

Firstly, welcome to the forum and I'm glad you are learning from it. I have learned so much and made some good friends in my two years here.

M42 is the most popular mount and there are some wonderful lenses in this mount. Regards a digital camera capable of using them I would suggest a mirrorless as the most versatile. Because it has a very thin body the Flange focal distance (FFD) is shallow, allowing a vast selection of lenses to be used. Canon and Pentax are good brands of DSLR's and are capable of using M42 lenses. The Canon has a wide lens mount and can use more lenses than the Pentax.

I use a Sony NEX5 and a Sony A6000 with adapters for many fittings of lens. The A6000 is perhaps just within your budget. It has a EVF which is almost as good as a DSLR and bigger too, focus magnifier, hot shoe and it takes really cheap adapters for almost any 35mm camera lens ever made. The full frame Sony A7 and A7n full frame cameras take the same adapters but are beyond your budget.

Your English is very good, don't apologise. I think that the majority of members first language is not English so you are not alone.

Phil

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

Ciao Caligola and welcome to the forum! If you asked your question anywhere else I think you might start an argument! Smile

You have made a very good start by choosing to collect M42 lenses because they can be mounted and used to their full potential on
most makes of digital camera. The exception is Nikon, on which M42 lenses can only be used for macro and close shots. Infinity focus is
impossible unless the lens is adjusted or altered, or you use an adapter which has an extra lens. Generally speaking, this kind of
adapter should be avoided, especially the more cheaper ones, as they give inferior quality pictures. So although Nikon cameras are
extremely good, for manual focus you are more or less limited to using Nikon mount lenses.

Other than that, you have a very wide choice. A FF camera is going to be outside your price range so you can either choose between
the smaller APS-C size sensor or the even smaller Olympus/Panasonic 4/3 or M4/3 sensors. With a smaller sensor, the angle of view
is reduced, which has the effect of making the focal length of your lenses longer. On an APS-C camera, a 28mm wide angle lens will
have about the same field of view as a 35mm lens on a film camera, and on a 4/3 camera it becomes like a 50mm lens. I would
recommend you start with an APS-C camera and maybe consider other sensor sizes later on.

APS-C cameras come in different forms. DSLR cameras, with a mirror and viewfinder, are generally the first choice for professional
photographers and many amateurs. The viewfinders are typically quite dark and small, and although it is possible to use a focus aid,
such as a different focus screen or an adapter with an auto-focus chip (which gives a beep when in focus), it is not easy to hit perfect
focus in less than bright sunlight.

The so-called mirrorless APS-C cameras from Sony, Samsung and Fuji (and now Canon and Pentax) use an electronic screen instead
of a direct view for focussing. It is difficult to see these properly in bright sunlight, but some cameras have a traditional viewfinder
which gets over this, or you can buy a cheap viewing shade. Manual focussing is much easier on these cameras as the image can be
enlarged and some cameras have "focus-peaking" which highlights edges in focus. These cameras are generally smaller and lighter,
and adapters are available to fit virtually any lens, including lenses for rangefinder cameras which can't be used on a DSLR.

I started with a Canon 300D DSLR followed by a 400D and used that for several years, but when the time came to buy a new camera
I decided to pass on a DSLR because of the small dark screen, and chose a NEX-7 instead. I'm very pleased I made that choice.

I'm sure you'll get lots more advice and different opinions, but I hope this helps you a little.