Which SLR with these features, please?

[witold_grabiec]

<p>Lamberto,<br /> You can have the Wein cell for a one-off try but it is way too expensive long term. For relatively low cost alternative you have the guy in Netherlands who sells a ready made adapter that takes readily available SR44 silver oxide batteries. It costs 16 euors shipped. There are cheaper options, but you would have to hunt ebay for a bit. These are actually voltage lowering adapters (just like the C.R.I.S.), but because of how they are built (unlike C.R.I.S.) they are an exact match size/height wise as the actual PX625 cell.<br /> His email is: battery.adapter@online.nl, His name is Frans.<br /> He will send you a pdf file on how to order it. Payments through PayPal and he mails it as regular mail (adapter is hardly detectable inside a regular envelope). And it will fit any camera that takes PX625, so it could be a future investment too.</p>

[bebu_lamar]

<p>Lamberto!<br>

I am a Nikon user so I do like the Nikon very much but Nikon really have no match needle meter camera except the FE series (including the the FM3a which certainly out of your price range).<br>

Besides due to the longer flange distance on the Nikon F mount to mount an M42 lens on it the adapter requires optic to allow it to focus to infinity. Doing so would degrade the lens quality. <br>

I recommended the Pentax KX because the Pentax K mount is quite easy to adapt to M42 lenses because when Pentax designed the K mount they thought about that problem. <br>

The Pentax KX while doesn't support motor drive (except the very rare motor drive version) or has a split image focusing aid, it does have a good match needle metering system. The MX doesn't. The meter in the KX is very good and is significantly better than that in the KM and K1000. It can measure light all the way down to EV -2 and uses a silicon photocell instead of CDS cell. Besides if you're going to use the meter then get a camera which doesn't use mercury cell. You can adapt but costly and still not working very well. Because building a metering system that requires the battery voltage as reference isn't a good design. As you can see today no meter is built like that. <br>

The KX was in production for may be only 2 years so there aren't many of them around but being the top of the line it is now usually sold in used market for much less than the bottom of the line K1000. </p>

[Mike Gammill]

Of course the XE-1 uses a pair of MS 76 silver cells (1.55 volt) which are easily available.

[randy_cooprider1]

<p>Yashica FR 1</p>

[lambert_s.]

<p>Thanks Randy! That's an interesting model as well and it will be kept into account.<br>

As a side note I finally understand why the CO-Y rear lens cap that came with the Pentax M 50 f/1.7 wasn't closing well, actually it was pretty rubbish at doing its job. :D</p>

[bonsignore_ezio]

<p>If you go for the Minolta SRT 101 series, you should try to locate a 303 (European designation), i.e. the last and best in Minolta's development of fully mechanical SLR cameras. It has the match needle meter and split screen you are looking for (the latter is NOT present in most 101s and 202s), plus speed and aperture visible in finder, double exposure facility and mirror lock-up (the latter is however not present in some of the final production 303b models - to be checked!).<br>

On the other hand a Olympus OM-2n is a vastly superior camera, and easily one of my favourites amongst the some 40+ classic SLR I own. It boasts one of the best (if not THE best) finder ever, 14 interchangeable focusing screen, choice between manual (with match needle) and semi-automatic aperture priority exposure, and most particularly the extraordinary OFT (Off The Film) metering system that will allow automatic exposures up to 120 sec (!)(The camera will actually meter correctly for a teoretically infinite duration, but after 2 min film reciprocity takes over). All of this is a very elegant design, compact size and low weight. The only shortcoming is, this is an electronic camera, and will not work at all without batteries. With some patience, it should not be impossible to locate a OM-2n well within your budget.</p>

 

[lambert_s.]

<p>Grazie Ezio, I will be given a 101, then I'll see for a better model. As many of you will confirm, buying cameras is dangerous :) Once you start with one, you end up with many others (come le ciliege... una tira l'altra) :) That's why I am a bit scared of venturing in Olympus territory... But I admit I've always been fascinated by the design and the compactness of The OM (1 digit) series. And the interchangeable focusing screen is a nice feature for sure! Thanks!</p>

[Mike Gammill]

<p>I don't think any 101's had factory installed split screen, but I think all of the 102 and 202 models had them. The 303 is the European 102 so it should have a mirror lock up. The 303b is the equivalent of the 202 so I don't think it has the lock up.</p>

[bonsignore_ezio]

<p>Mike: you are basically correct, but it depends. My 303b has mirror lock-up. Apparently there were some variations in production.<br>

Lambert: using M42 lenses on bayonet-mount cameras indeed is a convenient way to gain access to an enormous supply of relatively cheap lenses (some of them quite good), but - are you fully aware of the implications as regards metering? This demands a rather long and borish explaination, and I would rather not go into it unless it can be of some help.</p>

[lambert_s.]

<p>Ezio: yes I am, I owned for ages a Pentacon 50 and a Schacht 200 in M42 and I was using them on my ME Super, before getting the Praktica. Not the most comfortable thing in the world, I know.</p>

[bonsignore_ezio]

<p>Good. As you already know the basics, you might wish to consider that the OM-2n is the one and only camera that will allow you to use your M42 lenses in aperture priority semi-auto mode. This is because the OTF metering system establishes the required shutter speed DURING the exposure rather than BEFORE it, as it is commonly the case.</p>

[lambert_s.]

<p>Ezio: Will have to google this because I didn't understand. :) Thanks!</p>

[bonsignore_ezio]

<p>Lambert: if you follow this link<br /><a href="http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/olympusom1n2/om2/">http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/olympusom1n2/om2/</a></p>

<p>you will find all info on OTF metering you need. Anyway I realise now that my earlier statement was misleading, so please ignore it.</p>

<p> </p>

[donnie_strickland]

<p><a href="http://www.butkus.org/chinon/ricoh/xr-2s/ricoh_xr-2s.pdf">Ricoh XR-2s</a>, diagonal split screen and all. I have one and it's a very fine camera which would meet all your requirements, including easy battery availability.</p>

[Mike Gammill]

<p>Lambert, if you like the XE series cameras, there is a way to get aperture priority autoexposure using M42 lenses via adapter: For this to work the lens must have an auto/manual switch. To get autoexposure set switch to manual and open lens to maximum aperture to focus. Then stop lens down until meter needle points to desired shutter speed and shoot. The Olympus is still a good option and has a brighter focusing screen.</p>