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Suggest me a good, inexpensive manual focus film SLR

9

996GT2

Diamond Member
Last year, someone gave me a Pentax K1000 with 50mm f/2. I intended to use it, but it ended up collecting dust as room decor since I didn't shoot film. However, I'd like to start trying out some film photography. When I pulled out my K1000 and put a fresh battery in it, though, I noticed that the manual focusing wasn't that much better than my Canon 40D, which isn't even fitted with the Canon EF-S screen (optimized for manual focus with fast lenses). I did some research and found that my particular K1000 had a "microprism spot focusing aid." Translation: really hard to see things snap into focus.

I'm going to try out this K1000 (crippled manual focusing and all) on my trip to the Virgin Islands this week, but in the meantime I'd like to know if there are any inpensive, well-made 35mm film SLRs with nice viewfinders/focusing screens (since the screen on my K1000 is not replaceable). A split-image screen would be very nice. Auto aperture control would also be nice (I don't like having to do stop-down metering). Everything else can be manual, except for maybe an exposure needle. Also, a system that offers very cheap MF lenses would be nice too.
 
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I've always loved my Ricoh KR5 Super. It uses K-mount lenses that are a dime a dozen. It's relatively compact, quiet, and sturdy. I've seen them on ebay for $25 or so.

I'm not sure why you want auto aperture control so badly though...it's not that hard to use a manual aperture.
 
angry hampster said:
I've always loved my Ricoh KR5 Super. It uses K-mount lenses that are a dime a dozen. It's relatively compact, quiet, and sturdy. I've seen them on ebay for $25 or so.

I'm not sure why you want auto aperture control so badly though...it's not that hard to use a manual aperture.
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It would be a nice feature to have. When I stop down the lens after focusing, I often end up moving the camera a bit and the picture becomes a bit out of focus. With auto-aperture, this isn't an issue since I just set the aperture beforehand.

Will look into the Ricoh...Do you know if the Ricoh works with Pentax-A lenses that are K mount?
 
My Nikkormat FTN is about as simple as a film SLR can get. Manual everything, but with the luxury of a built-in exposure meter. Gigantic viewfinder and split-prism focusing screen.
 
Not to duck answering the question about A lens on K mounts, I have to agree with angry hampster that manual aperture exposure is not that big of a handicap.

But to some extent its order dependent as the 996GT2 quote of " When I stop down the lens after focusing, I often end up moving the camera a bit", shows his order is wrong here.

Because first the photographer makes a rough guess at exposure option tradeoffs, then points the lens at the target, stop down meters which darkens the view momentarily but meters the light, then adjustments may be made to aperture and shutter speed, once exposure is right, then you worry about getting focus exact at full open aperture knowing full well that if some f stop other than wide open was selected, the depth of field will be greater than the view you have. And when the moment is right, you press the shutter, and the exposure is always made with NO DELAY.

I think we have lost a lot when we expect our cameras to do all our thinking for us. The human brain is always more flexible and better than dumb software that only half way works in totally average situations.
 
canon abandoned FD and there are about a billion FD cameras out there. AE1 program is fairly decent.

the ultimate manual everything camera is the OM-1 though (ok, i suppose the FM3a has an argument). not particularly inexpensive, though (and may need a prism donated from an OM10).
 
Lemon law said:
Not to duck answering the question about A lens on K mounts, I have to agree with angry hampster that manual aperture exposure is not that big of a handicap.

But to some extent its order dependent as the 996GT2 quote of " When I stop down the lens after focusing, I often end up moving the camera a bit", shows his order is wrong here.

Because first the photographer makes a rough guess at exposure option tradeoffs, then points the lens at the target, stop down meters which darkens the view momentarily but meters the light, then adjustments may be made to aperture and shutter speed, once exposure is right, then you worry about getting focus exact at full open aperture knowing full well that if some f stop other than wide open was selected, the depth of field will be greater than the view you have. And when the moment is right, you press the shutter, and the exposure is always made with NO DELAY.

I think we have lost a lot when we expect our cameras to do all our thinking for us. The human brain is always more flexible and better than dumb software that only half way works in totally average situations.
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Agreed with this. Even with my DSLRs, I only use manual mode for aperture and ss. Almost always use autofocus, but I simply don't trust auto modes.
 
angry hampster said:
Agreed with this. Even with my DSLRs, I only use manual mode for aperture and ss. Almost always use autofocus, but I simply don't trust auto modes.
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I think there might be a bit of a misunderstanding here.

When I say "auto aperture," I don't mean an aperture-priority mode. I understand the importance of a fully manual mode and do use it often on my DSLR in challenging conditions. However, setting SS and aperture manually is NOT the same thing as having to use stop-down metering.

This brings me to my point. By "auto-aperture," I mean the following:

Do I need to physically stop-down the lens to the shooting aperture in order to meter, or can I set the aperture I want but still focus with the camera's aperture wide open?

My Pentax-A 50mm f/2 has an aperture lever, so my K1000 stops down the appropriate aperture just before the shutter opens. This allows me to focus at wide-open aperture, which is much more convenient than having to use stop-down metering. With lenses that don't have an aperture lever, having to stop down the lens after focusing just seems like an unnecessary extra step that could result in blurred images (since the camera is being moved slightly as I turn the aperture ring after I've locked focus). I could live with stop-down metering if I really had to, but since older film cameras are so inexpensive these days, I don't really think it'll cost any more for me to buy into a system that has an aperture lever, correct?

I know that Nikkor AI and AI-S lenses have aperture levers, as do the Pentax-A lens I use currently with my K1000.
Do the older Pentax-M and Pentax M42 lenses have aperture levers? What about the Olympus OM and Canon FD system?


Cliffs:

Looking for an inexpensive film SLR system that has:

Auto aperture control (aperture lever on the lens)
Split-prism focusing screen
Inexpensive fast primes (like a 50mm f/1.4)
 
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996GT2 said:
Auto aperture control (aperture lever on the lens)
Split-prism focusing screen
Inexpensive fast primes (like a 50mm f/1.4)
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Nikon F or Nikkormat FTN
much <3

It'll work fully with D-type lenses if you screw on a meter coupling tab onto the aperture ring. Look on any Nikon D-type lens and you'll find two pilot holes next to the f/5.6 mark.
 
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plenty of decent Minoltas as well.
e.g. Minolta XD5/XD7 (think that they were called something different in the US though like XD-11) are pretty much bombproof (even has a mechanical backup speed just in case your battery fails). Also formed the basis of the Leica R4 etc.
Minolta MC/MD lenses are highly regarded & usually dirt cheap bar a few like the 58/1.2 that is still greatly sought after by people like Canon users converting them for use on Canon DSLRs.
 
angry hampster said:
OHH I see what you're saying. IN that case, yes the Ricoh KR5 Super has auto aperture.
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Does the Ricoh (or other K mount cameras) offer auto aperture with Pentax-M lenses as well as Pentax-A lenses? If it does, what's the differnce between a Pentax-M and Pentax-A lens? I see a lot of lenses coming in both versions. For example, there is an SMC-M 50 f/2 and SMC-A 50 f/2.
 
996GT2 said:
Does the Ricoh (or other K mount cameras) offer auto aperture with Pentax-M lenses as well as Pentax-A lenses? If it does, what's the differnce between a Pentax-M and Pentax-A lens? I see a lot of lenses coming in both versions. For example, there is an SMC-M 50 f/2 and SMC-A 50 f/2.
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auto aperture only with with A series and later (FA/FAJ/DA etc). Pentax-m and petax-k can only be used with stop down metering
 
I had a Pentax ME Super that had a kickass split-prism focusing screen. Unfortunately, some tweaker stole it out of my car.
 
My wife picked up a Canon F-1 for chump change. It's exquisite with an f/1.4 50mm stock. A 135MM and a midrange zoom were had ata similar price. Total outlay wasn't quite $300. AMAZING camera that.
 
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