newbie advice

hi i would like to buy an old film slr as i did a course many moons ago where we went out armed with one and had to develop the pictures ourselves and loved it and want to have a play around again has anyone got any advice on which one had a look on ebay plenty of cheap ones to test the waters just need some advice on which one etc and what lenses fit like that any advice wil be of help
thankyou

Well, that question is a bit open-ended! It really depends on (a) how much you mind everything being manual and (b) how much money you have to spend!

Here are my suggestions:

All manual and lightweight (and very popular): the MX. Very lightweight which is an advantage but tends to dent easily. As it is very popular you may have to pay about £80 for a reasonable one.

Manual focus, manual and aperture priority exposure: The ME Super. Lots and lots around and cheap as chips. Nicely built, light like the MX. Be careful not to get a battered one.

Manual focus and a choice of exposure modes: the Program or Super A. Nice rugged cameras but still quite small and light.

Manual everything but heavier and much more sturdy: the KX or KM.

Auto-everything including focus: the MZ6 or MZ7.

Lenses: If you are going for manual focus, pick up a M series 50mm f/1.7, a M series 135mm f/3.5 and a M series 28mm, either f/2.8 (common but not so sharp) or a f/3.5 (a bit sharper). Autofocus: try and pick up a F 35-70 zoom.

Hope that helps. My guess is everyone else will have slightly different ideas!

Best wishes, Kris.

i prefer manual i just been looking at the p30T will have a look at KX and KM and budget not really sure as i said on another thread its my birthday coming up so looking at ideas thankyou

KM looks very nice too though

Some of these are hgetting a bit old now to expect that they won't need some servicing before regular use.

You might look at the late Pentax film SLRs that have conventional shutter dials and can be used in a traditional way.

Manual focus: MZ-M
Autofocus: MZ5, MZ5n and MZ3

All these should be fine if in good condition. The other MZ series cameras operate in a very similar way to current DSLRs - the MZ6 even has Custom Functions that can be set.

The P30t is lovely. Very simple, it's got manual control and Av. It's also indecently cheap - less than 10.00 if you are lucky. It doesn't attract the same premium as some of the others but it is a nice camera. If only the K-7 looked as good

there is a p30t on ebay for 34 quid so is that too much and mz-10 for 53 quid

I was almost tempted by this a few weeks ago (but ended up buying a cheap MZ6 body).

http://www.srsmicrosystems.co.uk/4044/Used-Pentax-MZ7-Body-with-28-80mm-Lens.htm...

Not as "traditional" as John's MZ-M/3/5 but cheaper(?), still with manual overides. There are cheaper MZ30/60s which are more limited on lenses that can be used (i.e. without aperture ring).


Regards
Peter

ooooh MZ6 looks good very good theres one on ebay 89 quid very tempted

whats the difference between the MZ6 and MZ7 they got on srs then?

I don't know the full details, but the following link was recommended to me for Pentax Gen:

http://kmp.bdimitrov.de/

The MZ6 is from the early 2000's whereas the MZ7 is from the late 1990s.

Peter

Bear in mind with the film cameras on ebay, a lot of people are bidding on the lens attached, rather than the camera! You're almost better off looking for a nice lens and treat the camera as a 'bonus'!

ok thankyou all for your advice i now in the market for either a P30T or MZ6 amonst others

I would avoid the MZ30/50/60 as they have a "crippled" mount which limits your choice of lenses. Any of the single digit MZs is probably fine.

I'm afraid I am pretty much addicted to the older M series cameras. They just "feel right" in my hands, which might be because I spent the first 20 years of my photographic experience using an ME Super or an MX.

Best wishes, Kris.

To throw a bit of an oddball into the suggestions, what about a Super A?

It'll operate in aperture priority auto or metered manual with any K lens, with A series or later lenses it will work in program or shutter priority modes. It'll do everything a P30T does but also allows shutter priority and the use of a motor winder. It also displays the aperture in the viewfinder when in P or shutter priority mode.

The P30T is a fine camera though - I used one for a few years with a generic zoom on the front and it produced decent photos. I just think the Super A is more flexible in terms of what you can fit and what it can do.