I'm thinking of trying a FF camera. Suggestions?

Cluster

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I fancy trying some FF photography and would like to use my M42 and/or Pentax K mount lenses.
The Sony Alpha A7 looks to be a cost effective entry to this.
Are there odd restrictions on using M42/Pentax K/Pentax AF (Pentax film AF K mount) lenses on the Sony A7?
I realise that auto aperture operation will not be a feature, nor auto focus, I guess.

What other low cost bodies might suit?
 
Have a look at Amazon for an idea of what adapters are available for your lenses - that will tell you what can take what lenses.

Overall I agree with lee - the Sony A7 is the most obvious budget choice. A Canon DSLR might also work, but not a Nikon with it's long flange-sensor distance.
 
I've taken a lot of pictures with old film era lenses on mirrorless cameras. I started using them on my old Canon 5D but mirrorless cameras are imo the way forward if you want to use old manual lenses.

I don't know of any restrictions with Sony mirrorless but I do know that there were some restrictions with my 5D, for example I don't think Canon FD could be used.

Remember when shopping to search for lens type to body type. For eg. M42 to Sony A7 adapter. If you do get an A7 remember to set the camera to "shoot without lens." You should then be able to use aperture and manual modes together with focusing aids such as the magnified view and peaking.

Good luck with this.
 
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Pentax K1 Mk2. I've had my Mk1 for 9 years now and it is a joy to use. The K1ii might not be the newest kid on the block, but your lenses will work ok on the camera, and the PKAF lenses will work fully.
 
Remember lens adapters are readily available and enable you to use your K mount lenses on just about anything.
 
I've used mf lenses on Sony, Micro 4/3, Fufi & a Nikon D700.

All worked perfectly but did show some of the lenses tried to be nowhere near as good as modern ones.

The best images have been from the Olympus Zuiko 28 & 50mm.
 
I use my 5Diii with a lot of m42 lenses but there are mirror clearance issues with the rear elements of several m42 lenses I have bought to try.

PK lenses will present a problem with Canon FF DSLRs due to the aperture linkage interfering with the mirror, you can mitigate this with a leveroctomy i.e. removing the linkage on the lens. Sometimes it can be done non destructively if you are comfortable taking lenses apart other times it would require cutting the tabs off the back off the lens which ruins any resale value. PK-EF adapters also try to mitigate this by offsetting the lens about 30 degrees placing the linkage out of reach of the mirror but that generally only works with a crop sensor Canon body.

The offset also presents a problem in that any lenses with fixed lens hoods end up having the hood offset as well meaning they end up in your shots.

If I were in the market for a FF body I would go for an A7 as suggested above and completely avoid the faffing about.
 
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Never knew the used prices of Sony alphas were so low.... maybe A7 is the most cost effective, but IMO the best option is still the K-1.
 
Does the Alpha A7 have some kind of focus confirmation indication?
 
I had FF for many years but in the end, I went to MFT as TBH, IMHO, image-wise, I'm not sure it actually matters all that much, but the kit is a lot smaller and lighter.
 
GetBusyLiving said:
I had FF for many years but in the end, I went to MFT as TBH, IMHO, image-wise, I'm not sure it actually matters all that much, but the kit is a lot smaller and lighter.
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The OP wants to use film era lenses, FF is the best option, as there is no crop ratio involved, there aren't many film era lenses (at sensible prices) wider than 24mm, so 58mm equivalent would be very restrictive!!
 
Mr Perceptive said:
The OP wants to use film era lenses, FF is the best option, as there is no crop ratio involved, there aren't many film era lenses (at sensible prices) wider than 24mm, so 58mm equivalent would be very restrictive!!
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There is always the option of a speed booster for using vintage 35mm lenses on small sensor bodies to retain the original lenses focal length, also makes them faster. I have read good things about MFT/ metabones speed booster combos.
 
Mr Perceptive said:
The OP wants to use film era lenses, FF is the best option, as there is no crop ratio involved, there aren't many film era lenses (at sensible prices) wider than 24mm, so 58mm equivalent would be very restrictive!!
Click to expand...
Sorry, I didn't fully grasp what was happening—in feet first! :facepalm:
 
Cluster said:
Does the Alpha A7 have some kind of focus confirmation indication?
Click to expand...

You don't get focus confirmation. What you do have is the ability to call up a magnified view and this is IMO the most accurate way to focus if you have the time to do it. I find that peaking can be quite accurate at wide apertures when not much is in focus and shimmering but is less useful at smaller apertures becuse just about everything will be shimmering so it can be difficult to judge where or if anything is the point of focus and sharp.
 
Just a quick note about MFT v FF, just in case it helps as MFT has been mentioned.

MFT is a x2 crop system so a 50mm for example will give a 100mm like FoV. This may be an advantage or disadvantage depending upon how you think. Another issue could be that I found film era lenses to perform less well on MFT but that needs explaining. Firstly with MFT you'll lose the weaker edges of the frame but the image will be magnified more and thus any weaknesses may be more visible. Anyway. Personally I think old film era lenses perform better on FF.
 
The other thing with using old manual lens and focus, is that they will come with lens markings for focus distance. So it is possible (aside from big apertures I guess) to focus without even looking at the focus ;)
 
I've never found them accurate enough to be honest. I suppose the marking will be good enough if you shoot at f5+ and only look at small pictures but if you look closely or take a wide aperture shot I don't think the markings are accurate enough, well, not for me anyway. What they are useful for is for setting and getting you somewhere near where you need to be and then fine adjusting the focus with the magnified view. That's what I often do, set the lens to an approximate distance to speed things up a fraction during manual focusing.
 
I have film era lenses from different manufacturers in different mounts so I need a few different adapters including some Novoflex and all I can say is that so far the adapters aren't the problem and when they are it's obvious in other ways. I think distance markings being thrown off by lens adapters is a bit of a long shot or at least it's not something I've seen.

I just don't find them accurate enough when looking closely and that goes for my modern Sony mount Voigtlanders too. Infinity being at the hard stop also isn't a given with old lenses but it'll be dependant on the make and model and how well it was made back in the day. They could be more likely to have infinity or something like it at the hard stop than modern lenses as modern ones probably / generally / more often go past infinity although I did have a modern Syoptic 50mm f1.1 which did indeed have infinity at the end stop but maybe that was more a happy accident than by design and build.

I take lens markings as being "for indication only". As above, I think they get you near enough for a smaller picture at stopped down apertures but I wouldn't trust them for close viewing or at wider apertures. YMMV. Infinity is another issue.

PS.
Other than hyperfocal I think the only time I've set a distance using the lens markings and shot with it is zone and when stopped down with a 50mm or wider. They're ok for that, not for critical close viewing, just ok for general viewing :D
 
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The distance markings are only really useful if you're going to either use them to estimate depth of field, or if you're going to stop down a bit for a wide depth of field. Forget about the distance marks and f1.8 or wider.
 
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