requesting advice on camera purchase and lens adapter

[tcanada]

I am trying to help my mother who desires to purchase a digital camera. She has many years of experience with a film camera but has not used it much in 8-10 years as she took care of my dad for many years before his recent death.

She has decided she would like to return to this hobby. She would also like to find an adapter to convert her many screw lens (listed below) to use with a new digital camera with bayonet mount. I would say she mainly enjoys taking pictures of nature and wildlife.

She previously had a Praktica LTL M42 SLR camera and would like to find a digital camera for $300 or less. She is open to a used camera. I am looking for advise for her on recommended digital cameras and an adapter to convert these lens to be used on the digital camera.

Thank you for any help you can share with us.
Tonya

Mirror lens
075 spirit one
1:8 f500 mm
811616 #072
Minitel-m

Telephoto lens
Protonar
Auto zoom
1:3.5 f=75-205mm
620
#780226

Cambron. Lens. Portrait lens
1:2.8
F=135mm
98234

Cameron. Lens
1:2.8
F 35 mm
98876

Pentacon. Lens
1.8/50 auto

Double 2 x auto
Sears tele converter
Pentax.

[WolverineX]

probably best type of digital camera for your mother would be a mirrorless camera. me, using Olympus mirrorless camera, will recommend you one of the Olympus PEN cameras, someone else using Sony mirrorless camera would recommend their Sony NEX camera.
adapters for manual lenses are in most cases cheap, but when buying adapter for m42 manual lenses be sure to get an adapter that has inner flange that can press aperture pin on automatic m42 lenses otherwise those will always be wide open, unless you get aperture pin stuck in the lens so it is always pressed.
also be aware of crop factor with digital cameras, with Olympus mirrorless (and Panasonic) cameras, crop factor is 2x , so 135mm lens will have a field of view of 270mm lens, on Sony camera crop factor is 1,6x

[hoanpham]

I would recommend a pentax for use with your existing m42 lenses or a canon.

A slightly used Pentax K20d is now so cheap that I got them for my kids to play in the snow ~200usd or some less.
Try to find one with pre-installed focus screen. A such screen costs from 25-30usd, upto 100+usd for the better ones.
Then you need an adapter m42-to-K-mount, get an original pentax one, 20-30usd. Shake Reduction is good to have.
For 250usd you have a Pentax.

If you want FF, I recommend the canon 5D classic. A used body with 40-50K shutter count can be found for 300usd, more likely 400usd, but you also need an EE-S focus screen 35usd, and m42-to-EF-mount adapter, preferred with AF confirm chip 10-15usd.
Try to get a used/re-furbished with guarantee. They are on sale from time to time.

[GeorgeSalt]

+1 for a used Canon 5D classic. Going full-frame will keep a portrait lens a portrait lens, going to a smaller sensor won't have the same handling as the film camera.

Changing to the EF-S focussing screen is an OK idea, but won't be much use with the mirror lens, and might be limiting with the Protonar.

[Lloydy]

Personally, I would recommend a Sony NEX, because I like mine so much and use it all the time with M42 and other manual focus lenses. But any of the mirrorless cameras recommended here would be good.
My second choice would be a Pentax, again I use my old K10 with the same lenses almost all the time. A lot of the Pentax's are weatherproof, although the old lenses obviously aren't, which is a big plus for me. Some, like the K10 and K20 are big bodied cameras, but there are smaller ones in the range that are just as good. I think a used Pentax offers the best value.

[mesinik]

you can pick up a Sony DSLR (3-4 years old, with 14MP, tilt screen and stabilizer) for 150€
an adapter is up from 2 €, like any other system

if you will get autofocus lenses, the old Minolta ones are probably cheaper than other systems

[kds315*]

A warm welcome here Tonya!

I guess you'll get plenty of good advice here...