jean_yves_mead

Just... why? What was so wrong with the GX7?

I'd save time and start with a Leica M3 and 50mm Summicron. The rest of the money I've spent on gear, I'd invest instead in travelling.

Warm up the front element under a hand/hair drier.

Really sounds like you chose the wrong type of camera for your needs. One of the various SLRs out there would have offered close focussing and interchangeable backs as standard. Even if you're dead set on a rangefinder, a Mamiya Press or similar would have been a better choice.

With what are you having problems? Loading film can get a bit fiddly, the separation between slow and fast shutter speeds takes a little getting used to, and you do have to remember to adjust the viewfinder's focus depending on subject distance (and get used to separate viewfinder and rangefinder windows) - but once you get past these minor hurdles, it's a very simple camera to operate.

Full frame is a Pentax 67.

<p>Quick size comparison against a Nikon F2 with 85mm f/2 Nikkor (similar capabilities, then and now): <br> <a href=" title="size comparison by Jean- Yves, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7561/16136581469_6d65048171_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="size comparison"></a></p>

<p>I've owned mine (silver finish) since early 2012. Verdict? Small, sharp, pretty fast, draws beautifully, offers pleasant out-of-focus rendering, resists flare, and is an absolute bargain for anyone who wants a short portrait lens.The dedicated hood is stupidly large, but 37mm screw-in hoods are readily available on eBay and work well. The focussing ring's action is smooth and well-weighted, and while the lens is light it still feels like a quality item.</p><p>Really it's hard to find a reason not to own one.</p><p><a href=" title="EPM35616 by Jean-Yves, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2860/9718482555_a35a34efd1_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="EPM35616"></a><br> <a href=" title="EPM22140 by Jean-Yves, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8225/8511788072_489fa745d6_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="EPM22140"></a></p>

<p>I've already made that choice:<br> <a href=" title="M3 by Jean-Yves, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3243/2953942757_db5c3afb31_z.jpg?zz=1" width="640" height="640" alt="M3"></a></p> <p><small>(But actually limit myself to just one? *shudder*)</small></p>

The F mount is the basic Nikon bayonet mount for its SLR lenses. Meter coupling (if any) was via prongs on the lens aperture ring coupling with a lever or pin on the body (part of the prism on an F body, or on a ring around the lens mount for a Nikkormat). AI lenses are a later version of F mount, with meter coupling done with a ridge on the back of the lens aperture ring pushing a finger on the body's lens mount. AIS lenses are a further development of this. The letter after the Nikkor- part of the lens name tells you how many glass elements the lens has: U (Uns) for 1 element B (Bini) for 2 elements T (Tres) for 3 elements Q (Quatour) for 4 elements P (Pente) for 5 elements H (Hex) for 6 elements S (Septem) for 7 elements 0 (Octo) for 8 elements N (Novem) for 9 elements D (Decem) for 10 elements (from here: http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/index.htm) The C, I think, shows an improved antireflection coating? Unless your lens has been AI-modified there is a risk that the rear of the aperture ring will jam up hard against the meter coupling finger on the FM and FM2; the later Nikkormats and the professional Nikon film bodies avoided this by having a meter coupling finger that could be folded out of the way.

<p>You won't get a vintage look from the Color-Skopar - it's a great lens but has a modern, contrasty rendering.</p> <p>A few I can suggest from personal experience (albeit on film cameras) are the Russian Jupiter-12 (35mm f/2.8, a copy of the old Zeiss Biogon - extends deep into the body so check that it can mount without hitting any of your camera's internals), the Pentax 35mm f/2 (either screw- or K-mount), the Zeiss Jena 35mm f/2.4 Flektogon (if you can find one for reasonable money), and the Vivitar 35mm f/1.9 (available in most of the classic SLR mounts, so shop around and you should be able to pick up a bargain).<p>

Google threw up this: http://conurus.com/forum/post2810.html The Contax N mount's flange focal distance is 2.5mm greater than that of the C/Y mount, so any adapter that allowed focussing to infinity would have to include an optical element, and these tend to bugger up the resulting optical performance.

I don't have any particular need for so-called full frame so I just picked up a second-hand micro-4/3 body and a couple of prime lenses for casual use. As it turns out my K5 and the 16-50/2.8 and 50- 135/2.8 have spent most of the time since then gathering dust - they're too big, too *serious*, and frankly the m-4/3 kit (Olympus E-PM1, 25/1.4 DG-Summilux, and 45/1.8 M.Zuiko) pisses all over them in terms of A/F speed and accuracy under most lighting conditions. I really tried to like the K5 - in every respect other than A/F performance it's close to the perfect DX- sensored dSLR - and the lenses I have for it, I find to be rather lovely (in addition to the above there's a 35/2.4 DAL, 50/1.4 FA, and 77/1.8 FA, and even the kit 18-55 is no slouch) - but not being able to trust the camera to focus correctly has rather soured the experience. I'll keep the 77/1.8 to accompany my MX, but I think I'll trade the rest away for either another m-4/3 lens, or perhaps a good printer, and maybe start saving for a 645Z. TL, DR: my manual-focus lenses either stay on a film camera or play on a micro-4/3 body, and my digital Pentax gear is on its way out. By the way, I have three kids - an eight-year-old and a couple of four-year-olds, and I've found the best cameras with which to chase them around have been either a Leica M3 or a Ricoh GRD (originally 3, now 4). YMMV.

Looking back at CameraQuest's for-sale page: starting at $675 for all versions in 2002, in regular but limited production. $639 in mid-2007, when the last production run was offered; by December 2007 the price was $729 (PK and OM mount) or $1500 (EOS) for the few remaining lenses after production ended. (Courtesy of the wayback machine: http://archive.org/web/)

<p>Crossing London Bridge:<br> <a href=" title="juggler by Jean-Yves, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7492/15441406084_b40bc17de2_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="juggler"></a><br> (Leica M3, 50mm f/2 Summicron, Polypan F)</p>