Upgrading my bridge camera

[stephen_lumsden]

I have a Panasonic fz1000 which I use occasionally and also scan negatives with using a raynox attached lens. Although it's good sometimes I find the zoom lens a bit too much for street shot and there is no chance of subject separation. I use mostly contax ii rangefinders or Yashica TLRs but would like to have some digital SLR options. I have a praktica L2 also with M42 primes I would like to use even if I get rid of that camera ( got to thin the herd).

I saw somewhere that Pentax DSLRs are best to use with M42 lenses and my 29mm,35mm,50mm, 100mm may be good with a Pentax KF as I rarely use video. I missed the DSLR rush years ago and may prefer a simpler ovf. It's has shake reduction, pixel shift and is weather sealed also. I see it's going for about £750 with lens in the UK now.

In contrast with this would be the Nikon Z50 twin lens kit for £1000. I think it could put my M42 lenses on the also?

The next option would be to get an mft camera, say an em1iii or a g9. I am tempted to ho for a g9 as I am already familiar with the Panasonic menus, but it looks a bit big.

Any preferences known in DSLRs or mirrorless for people who shoot mostly film and want to use the camera for scanning negatives and occasional street or landscape?

 

[Cascadilla]

I like and use Pentax DSLRs, and the KF has a good reputation. Bear in mind that it has an APS-C chip, so your wide angle lenses won't be as wide as they were on 35 mm film. There is a Pentax adapter for screw mount M 42 lenses to the Pentax K bayonet, so your lenses will mount and focus to infinity, but without any diaphragm or exposure meter connections. If you get the adapter, make sure that you get the genuine Pentax one since some of the knock offs can cause problems when you want to remove them from the camera to mount K mount lenses. If you want to get the full wide angle from these lenses then your choice is a Pentax K 1 or K 1 Mark II. These are both excellent cameras (I have and regularly use a K 1 in my studio) but they are on the large side and not light weight if that matters to you.

I'm sure you can get an adapter to use your lenses on the Nikon Z 50 also. I think that this is also an APS-C chip with the same effect on the angle taken in by the lenses because of the small chip. If that isn't important to you, then either system should work for you. The choice comes down to whether you prefer an optical finder (Pentax, which is excellent with a solid pentaprism) or mirrorless (Nikon). I would strongly urge you to handle both of them if you can before you buy, to make sure that your final choice fits your hands and that the controls make sense to you.

 

[stephen_lumsden]

The diaphragm and exposure not being connected sounds like a bit of work, prefer that manual process in film but may be not digital. Is that the same in mirrorless?

 

[Tim Murphy]

Dear stephen,

I can confirm that when using m42 mount lenses with a genuine Pentax branded m42 to P-K adapter that aperture priority auto exposure works well on my K-3-II. I have the camera set to confirm focus both in the viewfinder with a target that lights up and with an audible beep. Coming from Canon and Nikon DSLR's the Pentax menu took some time to set up, but I am happy with the results now that I have things dialed in.

In addition, full manual exposure can be used.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg PA 🙂

 

[Cascadilla]

The diaphragm and exposure not being connected sounds like a bit of work, prefer that manual process in film but may be not digital. Is that the same in mirrorless?

There are some adapters for mirrorless cameras that maintain auto diaphragm and exposure meter connections, but I don't know if there is a specific one for M 42 lenses to Nikon mirrorless. Mirrorless could have an advantage here with finder brightness when a lens is manually stopped down over the traditional ground glass/pentaprism of an SLR.