Shootout! Of the eBay Specials

eBay specials, clockwise from front right: Pentax Spotmatic SL with dented prism and Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 50mm ƒ/1.4 M42 screwmount lens; Minolta XG-M with 45mm ƒ/2 lens; Olympus OM-2N with Zuiko 40mm ƒ/2 (the lens was the gift of a kind reader); Contax RTS II with Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar 60mm C (the camera was the gift of a kind reader); late-model Pentax LX with Pentax-K 50mm ƒ/1.4 and wooden grip; and Nikon FE with AI-S Nikkor 85mm ƒ/2.

Over the coming Winter I plan to write a bit from time to time about these "eBay specials," for absolutely no good reason except for fun. I'll compare various "haptic"* or ergonomic aspects of holding, handling, and using them. All of these cameras or various close cousins of theirs are available on eBay or other used camera sites if you go looking for them.

Mike

*Haptic: "relating to the sense of touch, in particular relating to the perception and manipulation of objects using the senses of touch and proprioception**."

**Proprioception: "perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body."

(That's the first time in a while I've looked up a word and then had to go look up another word from the definition of the first one.)

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

Please help support The Online Photographer through Patreon

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Luke: "Is there a word for following a trail of words through the dictionary?"

Mike replies: How about "Rathole, n., Pointless waste of money, time, or resources"....

I've been doing that all my life. In fact I used to read the Encylopedia Britannica that way (14th edition, to 1973—I was one of those who was not a fan of Mortimer Adler's split 15th edition). I'd go from one article to another letting each one suggest the next thing to look into. I could read for hours that way.

Crabby Umbo: "The Nikon, screwmount Pentax, and Contax are cameras I've known, owned and loved! Still have a screwmount Pentax (fixed up by Eric Hendrickson, thanks Eric!) that I use today. Something about those Pentax Spotmatics that fit in the hand so perfectly, and the lenses are just something. Loved the Carl Zeiss lenses, the Nikon robustness, but something about the Pentax Spotty....

"Might I suggest a Canon FTb or TLb as well? Had a few FTb rebuilt one time back in the '90s—sorry I sold them—and for some reason, love the breech-mount lenses better than the later, more plasticy FD (non-breech-mount) series. Fair warning, though, the breech-lock lenses seem to get their fit and feel from grease on the focus threads; if they're old and dried out, they spin pretty loosely."

Mike replies: That was known as "packing" and it was an integral part of the helical design. One of the kindest things you can have done to an old manual-focus lens is to have it re-packed by an expert repairman. Not terribly expensive, and it gives them new life. I used to like finding lenses in otherwise excellent condition that were dried out, talk the seller down because of the loose, dry focus action, then pay ~$65 to have the lens repacked, resulting in a fine, smoothly-working lens that focused like butter. Old Nikkor AI and AI-S lenses were prone to the problem and responded beautifully to the treatment.

I agree with you about Spotmatics. If I could suggest one manual-focus film camera that should be revived today in deluxe, modernized form, it would be a Pentax based on a Spotmatic. Cf. the Nikon S3 2000, a gorgeous modern copy of the 1958 S3. My Spottie would be a "resto-mod," though, as they're called in the car world, with a 100% finder and centerweighted AE metering. Alas, it would cost three or four thousand dollars and I would never be able to bring myself to buy one.

Juan Buhler: "Just a week or so ago I bought a black Pentax ME Super on eBay for $25. It was a bit of a gamble because the condition was unknown, but the camera works fine and looks great! The ME Super was my first 35mm camera back in 1992 or so, so this was mostly a sentimental purchase. I did shoot a roll of Fuji color film with it though. It’s hard to remember to wind the camera after each shot.... I also still have my two black MXs, and every now and then I run an old roll of black-and-white expired film and develop it in caffenol, just because it’s fun. I look forward to those posts!"

Dan Khong: "Mike, Thanks for letting me choose a present for this Christmas. I want the Olympus. It's the smallest camera made during the days when others were huge, clunky and qualify to be more like paper weights. And the 40mm focal length—neither too long like the 50–55mm nor too wide like the 35mm—is just right for my style of street photography. Please bubble wrap and courier by either DHL or FedEx. Merci beaucoup!"

Comments

[MikeR]

Ever do a series of definition look ups, only to end up at the word you first looked up?

[Jim Grey]

Oh nice! I love that Zuiko 40/2. I've read some reviews panning the Rokkor 45/2 but when I owned one I got some truly lovely photos from it. As for the Pentax 50/1.4, I own one, but I like the 50/1.7 better. Ah, lens preferences, as individual as your fingerprint.

[Roger Bradbury]

I had a Minolta XG-M, and it took the same motor drive as their X700. On both cameras in portrait mode, the rewind knob used to go up my nose when the motor drive wound on the camera. It was a bit of a surprise the first time it happened!

[JimF]

Is this part of the black and white darkroom project or is that dead? I've been wondering what happened with that one. Was hoping to see more of it.

[Michael Korak]

OH Mike...Do not bother to compare all of them. You have a ZEISS lens on that RTS II. Automatic winner!! Ergonomics, image quality, ease of operation. The whole ball off wax.

Did I fail to mention that that is the system I cut my photographic teeth on?? OOPS! Even to this day, Zeiss glass holds a place of high regard in the digital world..IMHO

Michael

[hugh crawford]

A post on the fetishization of the JCII / JMDC PASSED sticker would be amusing. I bought a Nikkor lens at a swap meet and was talking to a friend as I was cleaning the 50 year old glue off the lens barrel and some guy freaked out about it. Note that this was not a NOS lens with box and paperwork but just a beater micro nikkor 3.5 (great lens!) that for some reason still had the sticker on it.

[magma]

Great set of nice classic cameras.

I have used and loved Pentax LX for years (i still love it). Easy to use and comfortable.

[Sylvain G.]

To my great despair, a search for the Zuiko 40mm turned zero results.
Every year I have this urge to go back and look for one to eventually conclude "nah, you don't need it". But now, it's gone! Sad !

Enjoy yours Mike !

[Earl Dunbar]

OM-2N with 40mm f2 ... sigh.

[Richard Parkin]

Luke asked "Is there a word for following a trail of words through the dictionary?". It’s similar to “going down a rabbit hole” so “ferreting” would seem to work and is already in common usage for searching.

[Roger Bradbury]

You know, if you are going to be using film cameras, you could build a nice little darkroom at one end of that pool hall you are planning. Just a thought... : ]

[JimH]

Too bad you didn't post this 2 months ago, I would have given you a Nikon FM with 35/50/100 lenses. After your posts about trying film again,I bought them from eBay and while everything worked they were markedly less than the enthusiastic descriptions from their sellers.
And even selling them on eBay was a bad experience with complaints even when I explained their actual conditions.
I've had it with eBay.
Caveat emptor.
Anything else I buy used I will buy from a reputable dealer like KEH.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

I had a Spotmatic; at the time I had it it was already out-of-date (must have been roughly 1973-1977); stop-down focusing, and screw mount for lenses, had both been passed by for good reasons. Solid cheap camera, and I traded into a system with a wide range of lenses, as a supplement for my Leica M3 which I used for the commonest focal lengths (35, 50, 90 in my case, all Summicrons). Made sense for me at the time but I feel no nostalgic draw.

Didn't have a Nikon FE, but had various FM and FM2 (maybe as many as 4 at once at one point? Seems excessive, but they got cheap). Didn't care for the automation in the FE, but the FM was a solid, capable camera, with a fully mechanical shutter so there was nothing lost but metering if the battery went. (The more I think back on it, the more I think that was a really dumb thing to worry about; in all my years I never had a meter or shutter battery die on me without a spare on-hand. Carrying a spare was simple and easy. And the electronic shutters were more accurate. Still, the FE was also more complex internally and more expensive.) Arguably the best bit of design Nikon every did (the FM, somewhere in the FM series).

Never had an OM2n, but had a pair of OM-4Ts. A clear mistake. They were fine cameras, but I switched to them at the wrong point and had to switch again only 7 years later (when autofocus became necessary to me). I didn't find them in any way revolutionary the way others did, though. They didn't seem notably lighter or smaller than the FM, or my Leica. The OTF metering got a friend more into night shots—but using my Nikon FMs I got technically equivalent shots, so the automation wasn't really changing what was possible. (I say "technically equivalent" just to side-step the question of whether mine were "as good as" theirs; if they weren't, the reason wasn't exposure.)

I don't seem to have nostalgia for photo gear in any great amount. I kind of like talking about how things were done in the old days, but at least partly that's because it feels so good to know I don't have to do it that way any more!