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Any reason why? As I bought the MTL3, MTL5 and TL5b at the bootie and just kept the TL5b...and they all worked ok and seemed to be tough cameras as they are built like a tank
Whats the ultimate cheap 35mm crap camera ?
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Clive K
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Any reason why? As I bought the MTL3, MTL5 and TL5b at the bootie and just kept the TL5b...and they all worked ok and seemed to be tough cameras as they are built like a tank
I couldn't find a working model in places like CashConvertors and many of those on ebay were listed as parts only.
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The reason I bought so many Praktica cameras was for the lenses and at the bootie (years ago) you could buy a camera bag (for £15-£20) with The MTL3 etc 35mm Flektogon, 50mm Tessa and 135mm Sonnar, but the problem with these screw lenses is:- over time it's usually sticky shutters and I've got a few working again but strange I seem to have more problems with the 135mm sonnar
Thank you digi guys for getting rid of your film gear.
Clive K
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It was the film transport that stuck or skipped I seem to remember. Back in the 1990's I used to buy cameras cheap from CashConvertors or ebay.de. Then use them for a while, sell them on and buy something different. I had 35mm and medium format outfits for my mainstream photography, but I also liked to try out early German and Russian rangefinders as well as the 42mm bodies. Praktica and Pentacon were two that I couldn't get on with.
Kevin Allan
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I do have a MTL3 which I use occasionally but the problem I find with M42 lenses is that, as I move the focussing ring, the lens starts to unscrew. Possibly the grease has thickened up so the focusssing mechanism requires too much force which then carries on to unscrew the lens. It's true that I could try servicing the lens but that's probably beyond my DIY capabilities, and with other systems to choose from, there isn't a strong incentive.The reason I bought so many Praktica cameras was for the lenses and at the bootie (years ago) you could buy a camera bag (for £15-£20) with The MTL3 etc 35mm Flektogon, 50mm Tessa and 135mm Sonnar, but the problem with these screw lenses is:- over time it's usually sticky shutters and I've got a few working again but strange I seem to have more problems with the 135mm sonnar
Thank you digi guys for getting rid of your film gear.
Kevin Allan
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I have a Centon K100 which I bought for £30 with a 50mm lens; there are still some for sale at that price. It's a manual focus, manual metering camera taking K-mount lenses. No frills but it works fine.
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Happens to me too with some lenses and is annoying, an important point to mention when using old screw lenses i.e. to check lens is not unscrewing
AndrewFlannigan
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Some older lens have a tiny grubscrew, usually on the "underside" of the main lens body.Happens to me too with some lenses and is annoying, an important point to mention when using old screw lenses i.e. to check lens is not unscrewing
I've never thought about it but perhaps it's there to prevent just such a problem?
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ermm just found another Praktica camera amongst my collection LTL 3...I suppose someone knows the difference between the models, for me I can't be botheredThe reason I bought so many Praktica cameras was for the lenses and at the bootie (years ago) you could buy a camera bag (for £15-£20) with The MTL3 etc 35mm Flektogon, 50mm Tessa and 135mm Sonnar, but the problem with these screw lenses is:- over time it's usually sticky shutters and I've got a few working again but strange I seem to have more problems with the 135mm sonnar
Thank you digi guys for getting rid of your film gear.
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A quick look on one lens and there is a screw on the aperture setting ring on a Meyer Oreston 50mm but can't see how it stops the lens fron unscrewing from the camera.
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The screws I'm thinking about (and I don't have any to hand, so this is just from memory) were on the main barrel of the lens or sometimes on the focussing barrel. If my theory is correct, the latter would have had a different function from those in the main barrel.
If you ever did want to know, this might be a good place to start...I suppose someone knows the difference between the models, for me I can't be bothered
Mostly Vintage Cameras
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In what ways do you want to "hack" it?
I did a £3 camera challenge and ended up with three or four p&s cameras. Samsung zoom compacts deem to be especially good value.
If you want something a bit different a Nikon F50 might fit the bill (can't really put screw lenses on it however)
Just today I got a Zenith 12XP with the 44m-4 lens for £12, whi h is nice as the lens sells for more than that!
Why not ask friends, family or colleagues if they have an old film camera they no longer want and start with that?
I did a £3 camera challenge and ended up with three or four p&s cameras. Samsung zoom compacts deem to be especially good value.
If you want something a bit different a Nikon F50 might fit the bill (can't really put screw lenses on it however)
Just today I got a Zenith 12XP with the 44m-4 lens for £12, whi h is nice as the lens sells for more than that!
Why not ask friends, family or colleagues if they have an old film camera they no longer want and start with that?
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Saw this, never heard of it before (I wasn't living in the UK when Jessops sold them), looked it up, then found one on ebay.
Just arrived, looks new and came with a bag worth what I paid for the whole lot. £15.95
Just waiting for it to get to room temp to test it, won't get any condensation, 34% indoors at the moment, just feel happier to warm it up first.
Lens is totally clear, viewfinder has no dust, and I have a whole box of PK lenses.
I think it qualifies as cheap
Kevin Allan
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Saw this, never heard of it before (I wasn't living in the UK when Jessops sold them), looked it up, then found one on ebay.
Just arrived, looks new and came with a bag worth what I paid for the whole lot. £15.95
Just waiting for it to get to room temp to test it, won't get any condensation, 34% indoors at the moment, just feel happier to warm it up first.
Lens is totally clear, viewfinder has no dust, and I have a whole box of PK lenses.
I think it qualifies as cheap
I hope you enjoy it. I find this camera helps me just focus on taking photos because I don't spend time thinking about the camera ....
Sangoma
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Thanks, I'm sure I will.
The shutter is more accurate than any Pentax or Zenit I have, put a 400 film in to try it, it does feel nice to use.
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Well I had the Centon K100 but can't find it, looking in forum search I made many comments from 2010-2018 e.g. "erm not for my Centon K100 (which I played with over the weekend), it has an annoying procedure for getting the exposure correct...you have to fiddle with shutter speed or f-stop until you get the green diode in the viewfinder lit.."Saw this, never heard of it before (I wasn't living in the UK when Jessops sold them), looked it up, then found one on ebay.
Just arrived, looks new and came with a bag worth what I paid for the whole lot. £15.95
Just waiting for it to get to room temp to test it, won't get any condensation, 34% indoors at the moment, just feel happier to warm it up first.
Lens is totally clear, viewfinder has no dust, and I have a whole box of PK lenses.
I think it qualifies as cheap
View attachment 472159
But I'm a fussy/nit picker about using cameras so it's just me, so enjoy your camera.
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If you are looking for one of the smallest 35mm SLR that takes M42 screw lenses? Well I had the Petri MF 1, it takes M42 lenses but can't remember if I used a 1.5v battery to replace 1.3v one...I quite liked it but had to throw it away because I just couldn't solve an intermittent light leak in bright sunshine (with many post in the past about it)..... But unfortunately there are no cheap ones on the bay ATM.
Sangoma
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Same as Pentax and many others, LEDs are more robust that moving coil meters.
I usually decide on either a speed or aperture depending on the subject and needs, so only have to move one of them, in fact exactly how I use a digital camera, just no ISO to adjust
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Found a shot of the K100 (that I used to have) with a Rikenon lens:-Same as Pentax and many others, LEDs are more robust that moving coil meters.
I usually decide on either a speed or aperture depending on the subject and needs, so only have to move one of them, in fact exactly how I use a digital camera, just no ISO to adjust
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Amazing put a hearing aid battery P675 in the LTL 3 and the exposure meter is accurate, mind you the battery is about 10 years old and now reads 1.37v and new ones are about 1.45v.ermm just found another Praktica camera amongst my collection LTL 3...I suppose someone knows the difference between the models, for me I can't be bothered
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Well I couldn't believe the bargain at cash converters about 15 years ago..in the window a mint Canon 50mm fdn lens for an unusual price of £1.80 erm why not round it up to £2
they probably thought it wasn't working as the IRIS doesn't work off the camera.
Clive K
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Well I couldn't believe the bargain at cash converters about 15 years ago..in the window a mint Canon 50mm fdn lens for an unusual price of £1.80 erm why not round it up to £2
Nice. I love bargains.
Around 2000 I went into a posh camera shop in Sheffield to look at two Contax II rangefinders they had in the widow. Both had lenses and were priced at £75 each which was very cheap at the time. When the assistant brought them out of the window for me to examine he confided that they were both broken and I could have them both for £75. He wandered off to let me play with them and I discovered that they weren't broken, but they had fitted the lenses on incorrectly. With these you have to mount the lens when the camera adjustment is at infinity or they don't focus correctly. I haggled him down to fifty quid for the pair and ran all the way back to my car with them in case he changed his mind.
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Well I could bore you tears with different stuff I bought for peanuts most at the bootie....for photography, abut forty 35mm SLRs and about sixty lenses and for the cameras, about fifteen didn't work properly or stopped working in use and dismantled then for parts and screws, so I'm left with twenty five SLRs but now I haven't the mojo to use them in a rotation system like in the past.
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Barney
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Is there no one your area you could get out for walk and a shoot with Brian?Well I could bore you tears with different stuff I bought for peanuts most at the bootie....for photography, abut forty 35mm SLRs and about sixty lenses and for the cameras, about fifteen didn't work properly or stopped working in use and dismantled then for parts and screws, so I'm left with twenty five SLRs but now I haven't the mojo to use them in a rotation system like in the past.
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Not any more Wayne
.....A few here have mentioned the same as me i.e. they have shot everything about 6 mile radius from home, but in the warm sunny days take the motorbike to go somewhere so there is something to look forward too
Clive K
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Well I could bore you tears with different stuff I bought for peanuts most at the bootie....for photography, abut forty 35mm SLRs and about sixty lenses and for the cameras, about fifteen didn't work properly or stopped working in use and dismantled then for parts and screws, so I'm left with twenty five SLRs but now I haven't the mojo to use them in a rotation system like in the past.
I was the same in the late 90's to early noughties, but unlike you I bought, tried and sold. I had a core of equipment for 'proper' use and an ever rotating number just to try out. Mainly they came from ebay.de and after I had used them they were re-located to the States and Asia on ebay.com usually at a healthy profit. I mainly bought German rangefinders, folders and compacts. At that time I was doing 3 or 4 films a month, 35mm & 120. I processed my own C41 & mono in the club's darkroom.
It came to an end in 2006 when I sustained a serious eye injury whilst making an arrest. I couldn't see through viewfinders for years. At that time digital was coming to the fore and film equipment was dropping in value so I sold the lot. Or so I thought. 10 years after moving to France I found a cache of old Zeiss cameras in a storage box, under my fishing waders. My eye is now healed and so I am back at it. However slide film isn't available and C41 & mono costs an arm and a leg so I mainly use digital with vintage lenses where possible.
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Anyone reading this might think I'll go to the bootie and pick up a camera and a roll of film 10-50p, dev tank 50p etc etc erm well you'd be lucky to see any decent photography stuff in the last about five years, the last camera I bought was about 3 years ago, and was lucky to see a Pentax MX with tak 50mm f1.4 and it was mixed with a load old junk..for a fiver.
The MX? well it's in my junk box as it works perfectly mechanically but the meter doesn't work and can't be bothered to find out why.
The MX? well it's in my junk box as it works perfectly mechanically but the meter doesn't work and can't be bothered to find out why.
Clive K
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Over the years, here in France and in the UK we found a massive difference in car booty dependent on the general wealth of the area. Where we live now was an agricultural economy of small farms. Any cameras found in second hand shops and car boot sales are typically cheap, simple, plastic, mass produced junk. Whereas when we have holidayed in more affluent areas there are all sorts of treasures to be found. When we were in Sth Yorks we used to have a ride out to Harrogate and Hemsley to browse the car boots and charity shops.