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A guide to M42 lenses

russ

By russ
in Imaging - Discussion

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russ

russ

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With more and more people asking about using M42 lenses with their DSLR, i thought it would be good to have a nice link to an informative website that knows a fair bit about these lenses. I found the following site which gives the pros and cons of using such lenses and also some short reviews of a good selection.

Digital World for M42 screw mount lenses

I'm a personal fan because i simply cannot afford a modern, good quality lens for my DSLR. I first bought an EOS to M42 adapter in 2005 and found it invaluable. I know a lot of people are less than enthusiastic about the use of M42 lenses but when your budget is stuck at mega modest limits, they are a saviour.

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MartinB

MartinB

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Fantastic link Russ, thanks a lot for this. I've got 3 M42 lenses which I haven't got round to using in anger yet but have checked out during the day with my 1000D and they all appear good to my non critical eye. With an EOS to M42 you can use the astronomic clip filters. If you can get a low profile M42 to T adaptor then you can use most CCDs. Trickier to use filters but Astronomic now do T2 filters.

Stop them down a tad and you have a super fast, wide field astrograph for a few quid. Magic!

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russ

russ

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Pentax SMC Takumars and Fujinon EBC lenses are very good. Worth keeping an eye open for them secondhand.

hehe my god i would have to be incredibly lucky to find one in my budget :p I can only hope. A quick look on Ebay and they range from £35 (55mm F2) for the not-so-popular models to just shy of £500 for the most wanted (400mm f5.6). :)

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russ

russ

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Fantastic link Russ, thanks a lot for this. I've got 3 M42 lenses which I haven't got round to using in anger yet but have checked out during the day with my 1000D and they all appear good to my non critical eye. With an EOS to M42 you can use the astronomic clip filters. If you can get a low profile M42 to T adaptor then you can use most CCDs. Trickier to use filters but Astronomic now do T2 filters.

Stop them down a tad and you have a super fast, wide field astrograph for a few quid. Magic!

Look forward to seeing what you can do with them Martin.

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Steve

Steve

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hehe my god i would have to be incredibly lucky to find one in my budget :)

They used to be cheap as chips...

Perhaps you can find one with a sticky iris, as an astronomer that won't affect you but it'll lower the selling price significantly. Back in my astro retail days we used to throw out perfrectly good M42 lenses if they had the slightest blemish or defect :p

I might have a 200mm f3.5 Chinon you could have silly-cheap.

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russ

russ

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I suppose a lot of people, even now, will just throw them out as useless not realising. I gave mine away for nothing in 2002......doh

Many thanks for the offer Steve :) And if it had been something in the 24-28mm range I would have bitten your hand off. But i already have two at 200mm, just need to see which one is better and sell the other.

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Steve

Steve

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Okay Russ, probably just as well because I'd have probably struggled to find it :p

Not that I've been looking into this or anything :)

:hello2:

Pentax were at the forefront of lens design and manufacture with thier SMC Takumars. They did get a little carried away with the marketing though. I heard the Pentax marketing team once claimed 100 % light transmission for thier multicoated optics, until someone pointed out that if that were true the optic would be invisible...

Today they make what are possibly the finest commercially available optics (hate mail from Leica and Zeiss fans will be ignored!) in their 31, 43 and 77mm AL Limited series. I had an opportunity to test the 43mm. Marvellous!

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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I have a couple of 35 and 50mm fujinons and also a couple of 135mm Takumars... as both Me and the OM had Fuji 35mm cameras back in the late 70's... also have 300,400 and 500mm Teles (used as guidescopes)

Got a wideangle zoom and a coupel of other bits and pieces with Pentax-k

Billy...

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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Havent really tried them all yet Steve been using the Canon EF lenses I have picked up but they have been on for daytime testing and look ok... although they seem rather small compared to the more modern lenses...

Apart from the nifty 50 (EF 50 MkII) I am disappointed with the Canon lenses - need to go up market and get some L's the AF-S Nikkors on the D200 give much better results for general photography...

I am Hoping to get a chance in the next fortnight... I am using Focus assist Adaptors and modified one to give me a focus assist T2 adaptor...

Billy...

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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Me to...

Started with A Zenith TTL , then Fujica ST705N (a hand me down when somone bought a Canon A1) , Dabbled with some others Then splashed out a pair Minolta S9000's...

Took a few years off whilst Consumer Digital got anywhere near the quality and price I was after... Although had works toys to play with...

Billy...

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russ

russ

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I started with the Zenith II, bought brand new for £25 with lens. Still have it to this day. Retired it when i bought a Canon AE1 Program but then 're-activated it' when i realised the Canon wasn't the best choice for astro......£9 a battery and a new one needed every other session.

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greenkat

greenkat

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Great link Russ :)

I've got an M42-EOS adaptor to stick my M42 lenses onto my Canon 1000d & MY DSI3 has an M42 thread anyway so no adapter needed for that.

However, I also have 3 Contax fit lenses but cant seem to find any adaptors to connect them to an EOS mount or M42 mount . Does anyone know if one exists ?

I started out with 110 camera from Boots also, then got hold of a Zenit slr which I strarted doing a bit of astrophotography with, startrails, constelations ect, then picked up a practika from car boot. Along the way, people seem to give me what they think is their old out of date rubbish.

I have aquired 3 olympus om10's, canon 300, several kodak cameras, a carl zeiss ikon folding camera, a voiglander folding camera, several lenses & filters, all for free :p

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Dave S

Dave S

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Still have my Zorki 4k range finder which I used to do star trails with way back then. Later got a Pentax ME super which again I still have and use the lens I had for it on my current Pentax istDS.

Dave...

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