I have M42 lenses, need body

[DustyC]

In my Dads loft wer a lot of good M42 lenses.
(I believe this is what they are. They have a fine thread fitting).

Im interested in buying an old camera body to suit these. If anyone knows of anything please let me know.
In the mean time I'll pop down the second hand shop for a browse.

Need to keep it cheap. Thinking of giving it to my Dad or perhaps practicing with a totally manual camera myself (currently have an EOS300). Seems a waste to put these good lenses to waste as they range from wide angle to 500MM.

Thanks.
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[te51cle]

Your choice is a bit limited, mostly down to clunky old Zeniths, Prakticas, or if you're lucky a Pentax Spotmatic. Note that the latter are considered to be collectible and so command a premium !

I have my dad's old Zenith lurking at the back of a cupboard but as the mirror doesn't fold up I can't recommend it !

>> Edited by te51cle on Tuesday 17th February 09:16

[simpo two]

There are also a lot of adaptors that allow M42 lenses to fit other bdoies - I posted a link on this subject a few days ago. That means you could have, say, a camera body with a Pentax K bayonet (as used not only by Pentax but most of the independents) and still use your lenses. However, they won't be very fast and don't expect any toys like autofocus!

[kojak69]

te51cle said:

Your choice is a bit limited, mostly down to clunky old Zeniths, Prakticas, or if you're lucky a Pentax Spotmatic. Note that the latter are considered to be collectible and so command a premium ! I have my dad's old Zenith lurking at the back of a cupboard but as the mirror doesn't fold up I can't recommend it ! >> Edited by te51cle on Tuesday 17th February 09:16

You should be able to find a few of these bodies from any good camera shop.



>> Edited by kojak69 on Tuesday 17th February 12:25

[DustyC]

Thanks for the advice so far. I really want to put the lenses to some use so will first see if I can get a camera body cheap enough (would like to give it to my dad so he can take his hobby up again).

Failing that I'll start asking around for an adaptor that converts M42 to Canon EF.

[simpo two]

DustyC said:

Thanks for the advice so far. I really want to put the lenses to some use so will first see if I can get a camera body cheap enough.

Quite seriously, £10 should do it. You might find Cash Converters more useful than a camera shop I think. Zeniths were very basic starter cameras 20 years ago!

>> Edited by simpo two on Tuesday 17th February 14:02