New SLR - Quick, run away!

Ebay is always a chance. I have gotten a couple of stinkers, but so far, mostly nice stuff. That includes a Fujica ST 801 (with a wonderful Vivitar Series 1 35-85mm varifocal). I can't tell you much about how it is to take photos with. Very shortly after I got it, I gave it to my daughter to encourage her to try SLR shooting rather than one time use cameras. I can't pry it out of her hands now. She just likes it, and the reaction she gets from her friends about her "professional" camera really tickles her. They do tend to be expensive, and have been for years. My ST 901 keeps on plugging away, so I don't mind at all my daughter using the ST 801. In fact, that kind of tickles me.

At the risk of driving ebay prices up, anyone considering a screw mount camera might want to look at the Yashica TL Electro X. The TL Supers sometimes are OK, but I doubt you will find one with a working meter. Even the TL Electro's might be OK. I have no experience with them. I have two TL Electro X bodies and they are fine after minor repairs. Of course, other peoples mileage may vary. The Electro X's use stop down aperture metering via a plastic button on the right side of the lens mount. That plastic seems to last, and is about the only cheesy part of what otherwise is sort of a tank.

The old Pentax SV's are cute cameras too. They seem just a tad overpriced now to me. They do have two types of accessory meters that mounted over the pentaprism. Some of the meters work, some don't. Of course, that is true of the SV's also. Neither of mine work correctly. The first went through a house fire and the focal plane shutter was never the same. The second, from ebay, has a weak film advance lever spring. Some day when I get around to it I will try to fix the second from the first. (Yet one more probably never to be done project put on hold until all the honeydo projects are complete :bang: )

Anxious to hear about the Bessaflex Bill.
 
pshinkaw said:
Bill:

I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with your new Bessaflex. I went the other direction when I wanted an M42 body. I looked and looked for a Fujica ST series and couldn't get one at a reasonable price that wasn't beat -up. Eventually I reasoned that the minimal features I wanted were all in one of the best selling M42 cameras, the Spotmatic family. I then started looking for a meterless version (SV) since so many of the TTL meters have corroded battery compartments and I didn't need the TTL feature very much anyway. I found that the SV is one of the hardest to buy at a reasonable price. However, a good Spotmatic (oriiginal model) body with a welded shut battery compartment can be quite reasonable.
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I went through some of the same perambulations as you did, but I kept buying those 'iffy' Fujicas and ending up with junk - your instinct was dead-on.

There is one guy who buys almost every nice Spotmatic on e-Bay, refurbishes them and resells them on e-Bay. He keeps the auction prices up with his bids and his sales. Once I ID'd him, I managed to buy a nice body at a reasonable price when he wasn't around. Next I'll try to fix-up the meter, but if I can't, it's no big deal since I have basically what I was originally looking for and I have other cameras with working TTL metering systems.
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Ah, I wondered why the Spotmatic prices seemed so high!

And I've kind of decided that I *like* a nice TTL meter if I can get it. I'm not big on other kinds of automation, but I have to admit that a TTL meter is very nice to have. I have a nice external meter for my classic fixed-lens rangefinders and I love it, but sometimes you don't want to deal with an external meter when shooting, ya know? This gave me a great way out. Consider it a reasonable M42 platform with a trustworthy internal meter - that's pretty much what it is for me.

By the way, the Cosina made Vivitar XC series (probably smaller than what you want) has an M42 mount and an unusual stop down meteringng switch. The shutter release stops the lens down and turns on the meter, but a separate button on the bottom front of the body pops and locks the lens iris open again so you can re-focus. It's a 2 finger operation on the same hand. Push to close - push to open.
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Pretty much the same deal as the Cosina-made 450/SL that I have. Here's a snap I found online.

Vivitar XC-3 (in Japanese, I suspect)

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
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Congrats on the Bessaflex, Bill, and I'll be watching for your followup reactions to it.

Hmmm. You wouldn't be interested in some nice Super-Takumars at a good price would you? :D

Gene
 
Gene said:
Congrats on the Bessaflex, Bill, and I'll be watching for your followup reactions to it.

Hmmm. You wouldn't be interested in some nice Super-Takumars at a good price would you? :D

Gene
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Hehehehe. I've got a couple of nice Super-Multi-Coated Taks, primarily a 50mm 1.4 and a 35mm 2.8. But if you had maybe a 90mm in about 1.8...

How cheap is cheap? I've got LOTS of trading gear, or you can wait until I unload a bunch of it on eBay and then we can talk!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
Given a little experience with the Bessas, I wouldn't hesitate to go for a Bessaflex. Looking forward to hearing your experience with it, Bill. But I have to admit I'd prefer auto exposure as an option.

And then I already have 4 Pentax M42 mount bodies working well, including a Motor-Drive Spotmatic and an ES, both of which I bought new. I'd like a silver Bessaflex with Topcon lens, but...

I also have 4 manual-focus Pentax K-mount bodies, not to mention two Auto-110's and two big 6x7's. All the related lenses are Pentax-made, except for a recently purchased 20mm Zeiss Flektogon. Always open to more!

But I'll be interested to see what new Voigtlander goodies Cosina has for us this Fall!
 
In answer to the questions about the Bessaflex compared to the Vivitar (Cosina) 400/SL (by the way, I called mine a 450, but I erred - it is a 400)...
 
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I have an identical Takumar, a little older, which I use on a Canon Rebel TI with an adapter, of course. I bought it at Adorama for $45.00. It had some stickum on the barrell which turned out to be
from a previous price tag. When I cleaned it off the lens went from a 9 to a 10. The pictures are incredibly sharp although you really don't want to see some traffic agents writing parking tickets in the borugh of Queens, NYC.
Kurt M.
 
Gene said:
Congrats on the Bessaflex, Bill, and I'll be watching for your followup reactions to it.

Hmmm. You wouldn't be interested in some nice Super-Takumars at a good price would you? :D

Gene
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Yeah, congrats on another nice cameraBill!

My non working Cosinsa CSM looks absolutely identical to that Vivitar.
Tomorrow I should get my M42 Mamiya, which will apparently need v. minor surgery to mount Takumars properly.

Gene are you considering selling some Super Takumars? I'm v. interested :D

Cheers,
Nick
 
chenick said:
Yeah, congrats on another nice cameraBill!

My non working Cosinsa CSM looks absolutely identical to that Vivitar.
Tomorrow I should get my M42 Mamiya, which will apparently need v. minor surgery to mount Takumars properly.

Gene are you considering selling some Super Takumars? I'm v. interested :D

Cheers,
Nick
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Nick,

The Vivitar, as you know, was made by Cosina, who actually made a lot of cameras for others. I believe you're right about the Cosina CSM being identical or a near-twin of the Vivitar 400/SL. The only differences I see are that the prism housing is a slightly different shape and the shutter release button is also shaped a tad differently. Other than that, they sure do look the same, and the layout is definitely correct.

Hope your Mamiya works out well for ya!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
chenick said:
Yeah, congrats on another nice cameraBill!

My non working Cosinsa CSM looks absolutely identical to that Vivitar.
Tomorrow I should get my M42 Mamiya, which will apparently need v. minor surgery to mount Takumars properly.

Gene are you considering selling some Super Takumars? I'm v. interested :D

Cheers,
Nick
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What surgery is needed? I would have thought it would be the other way around. I have a 28mm Mamiya M-42, and it has a pin which I presume was a registration pin sticking out the back. It also has a projecting rim as I recall. Makes it a little more difficult to mount on my Fujica ST 901. But iirc, a friend in Korea in the 80's, was able to mount all my M-42 lenses on his Mamiya M-42 camera.
 
chenick said:
Well according to the following page there is a small cushion/stopper in the mount which gets in the way.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll find out!

http://eddy.uni-duisburg.de/joerg/allerlei/mamiya/smc_on_tl.html

-Nick
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Well, I didn't know that. Now I will have to look at my old Pentax Takumars on my SV's. I wonder if that was a later addition for the Spotmatic and ES cameras as a registration for the meters?
 
chenick said:
Gene are you considering selling some Super Takumars? I'm v. interested :D
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Nick, Bill and I did some trading and I no longer have any S-T's. Sorry ...

Gene
 
No problem Gene!

I was looking at your Digital Rebel shots using those old manual focus lenses - great results!

-Nick
 
Nick, with a couple of lens adapters, you can put a whole new spin on 'recycle'. I've had great luck with both Super-Takumars and my bag full of Zuikos on the Digital Rebel. Stephen Gandy is working on an adaper to allow M-mount lenses to be used on the DR for close focusing -- they won't focus to infinity. I'm not entirely sure what the point is though ...

Gene
 
lately i've been shooting with my ricoh TLS401 and takumar lenses. i got the camera for a couple of bucks at the flea market, it had been dropped on the prism, which obstructs the top corner of the viewfinder. fortunately, this model has an alternate viewfinder straight down thru the prism (like a tlr), so framing isn't really an issue. it has the bionic copal square shutter--about as loud as shutters get but a very satisfying 'clunk' nonetheless. although the tls401 has a spotmeter, i haven't been able to get it to work yet. no worries, i meter with my gossen luna pro and have great results to show for it. it's fun, too. i am looking for a spare body to scavenge a prism / topplate from--if anybody happens to have one. until then, i'll keep using it like a tlr.

here's a sample with the ricoh tls401 and takumar 50/1.8
 
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