Moving towards M42 / M42x1

My recent photography interest is sparking new horizons. I kinda made a unique choice by getting a Konica Minolta Dynax 5D, also known as Maxxum 5D is the states. Accessories are limited (very) in Malaysia. Singapore has more but heck it's a hassle. Walking around seeing the abundance of accessories for Canon and Nikon DSLRs makes me green with envy.

Somewhere in January 2006 KM announced it was pulling out of the photo imaging industry. It would transfer some (undefined amount) of it's technology to Sony. Well Sony's known for it's premium prices. Just before the last quarter of 2006, we saw Sony launch it's A100 DSLR. The legions of KM fans are expecting (hoping) alot from Sony, for them to market the product aggresively thus introducing more accessories etc.

Do I wait? Do I move on?

Well I certainly don't have the extra $ to get a new system now. I'm dying for more lenses to play with as I'm getting bored of the kit lens (18-70mm). What options am I left with?

M42 of course!

From dear ol' wikipedia

The M42 lens mount is a screw thread mounting standard for attaching lenses to 35 mm cameras, primarily single-lens reflex models. It is more accurately known as the M42 × 1 mm standard, which means that it is a metric screw thread of 42 mm diameter and 1 mm thread pitch. It was first used in Zeiss' Contax S of 1949; this East German branch of Zeiss also sold cameras under the Pentacon name; after merger with other East German photographic manufacturers, the name Praktica was used. M42 thread mount cameras first became well-known in Japan under the Praktica brand, and thus the M42 mount is known as the Praktica thread mount there. Since there were no proprietary elements to the M42 mount, many other manufacturers used it; this has led to it being called the Universal thread mount or Universal screw mount by many. The M42 mount was popularized in the United States by Pentax; thus, it is also known as the Pentax thread mount, despite the fact that Pentax did not originate it.

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All I needed to fit a M42 lens was an adapter which I just purchased from eBay. When / If I do change systems, all I need to do is to get an adapter for the new system and my M42 lenses will theoratically work on the new cam!


Of course we need a lens. My 1st M42 mount lense:


I've been itching for a 50mm lens for sometime now. This opens a can of worms. I've got quite a few choices now, Helios / Takumar / Carl Zeiss / Soligor / Pentacon .. etc ..

But why buy lenses tht were made during the 1960s truhout the 1990s? It is rumoured tht the quality of these lenses are nothing short of the ones we have today. There are lots of photos taken with these lenses with digital bodies posted on the net. One major change would be these lenses will not work with the AF (auto-focus) mechanism of the camera. So it's manual focusing. The old school way.

I'm excited. My items should b arriving in the range of 7 - 10 working days.