35 mm help!!!

[SolaresLarrave]

So, did you win it? There was one hour left at 12:43 and it's 6:31 PM on this side of paradise.

[paul_noble]

<p>Pentax Spotmatics are always available on eBay, and can often be had for $50 or less, especially with the 55mm, f/1.8 lens. Just be careful that you get one with a working meter. They originally used the 400 battery. Wein makes a zinc-air replacement, but they have a bridge circuit that allows them to use different voltages without recalibrating the meter.</p>

<p>There are also many very good Super-Takumar lenses available for affordable prices.</p>

<p>Paul Noble</p>

[scott_sampson2]

<p>I lost it oh weeeelll...</p>

[andylynn]

<p>Keep trying, there's a limitless supply of good manual focus cameras on Ebay. I've made scored like an excellent condition SRT with a nice lens for $23, an XD11 with a nice lens for $40, and a busted-ass SRT-202 with a really nice lens for $11. (I use the lens.)</p>

<p>I'm just going to have to disagree with Gary - I also have a newer, lighter, autofocus Nikon but the manual focus, metal, mechanical cameras with wind levers and real aperture rings have a tactile quality that is very satisfying and can't be matched by automatic cameras. Not to mention that the simplified interface and manual operation have advantages and the viewfinders are usually better and much better for manual focusing than the viewfinders on newer cameras. If you happen to prefer manual operation, it is much better to use a camera designed for it.</p>

[sd_woods]

<p>You might want to look into Olympus rangefinders, especially ones from the 1970s. There's the RD, RC and the SP(probably more but I'm not sure). The RC is the smallest, the cheapest(£40) too. The RD is somewhere in the middle(£50), and with a fast lens(F/1.7). The SP costs the most. That's about all I know about it.</p>