old school is cool - m42 lens on your DSLR

Folks, has anyone here looked at using old school lenses on their DSLR's -

I've got my nostalgic cap on at the moment and wonder if you of you folks have tried using an M42 lens on you DSLR.

Is this viable - I know you can get an adapter so that you can fit the old lenses to your camera..

why spend hundreds/ Pounds /Dollars on a low light prime when you can get a second hand m42 low light prime for pennies... (Yes I know you would lose AF)

Has anyone tried this?
Have you got any pictures?

M42 lenses work on canon EOS cameras with an adaptor. Unlike adapting FD to EF, M42 to EF does not require a lens element in order to retail infinite focus. Because of this, you get to retain the origonal quality of the lens .

I haven't tried this yet, so I dont have pictures, but I do have an adaptor on the way for my 135mm F2.8 prime . Best place to look for these adaptors would be ebay... make sure you go with one that has a stoping screw to prevent over tightning and dont go for the dirt cheap ones, you will thank yourself

a lot of people have m42 lenses on their dSLRs
i love my czj 135/3.5 sonnar. there are more 50s than you can count (chinon, takumars, pancolars). czj 35/2.4 flektogon is another favourite.

I have shot a lot with my M42's and k Mount. being able to buy one of the best 50mm, 35mm and 135mm's ever made for silly money is one advantage. Another is that you really learn how to expose a shot. problem with the Canon DSLR's is that you really need a split screen to MF properly. You can do without but your keeper ratio drops.

is it true that you can buy a focus screen for the 5D?

Yes, the Ee-S focus screen is a nice addition when using one of these older M42 manual focus lenses. I also put together a Nikon eye-cup and viewfinder mangnifier to help with manual focusing. I have the Asahi Pentax Super Takumar 50mm f/1.4 and Asahi Pentax Super-Takumar SM 105mm f/2.8 and love them both.

Hawg Hanner wrote in post #2182482
snip.... I also put together a Nikon eye-cup and viewfinder mangnifier to help with manual focusing....

interesting -

can this Nikon setup work on a 20D?

if yes, please provide info re; model # of eyecup & viewfinder

thanks!

btw; Haoda & Katzeye are 2 aftermarket focus screen sources for the 20D & 300 series bodies

I bought a Nikon DK-17M magnifying eyepiece (which may be out of stock in many locations, but can be found on a semi-regular basis on eBay), a MEA-17M adapter from the link below, and a Nikon eyepiece adapter and fit them together (takes less than a minute). I then slid off the eyecup on the back of my 5D, which should be identical on the 20D, and the contraption above mates perfectly to my camera. It is a big help when manually focusing. Additional links with more information are below.

Frankly I Canon should sell an accessory similar to this for all of its cameras.

http://www.adorama.com​/NKEPAN.html
http://www.ircube.jp/m​ain/product/mea/eng.ht​ml

Hawg