Get yourself an M42 to EF adapter and shoot some old SMC Takumar Glass or a find something like the Helios 44-2 and make sure to scan your negatives at a minimum of 40-50 mp and you will find some new love shooting that camera.
I sold my old Nikon gear to buy a Canon system that I built around the A2E, specifically to enjoy the benefits of AF. Unfortunately my experience wasn't anywhere near as positive as yours. I am very gentle with my gear and despite the use, my cameras often have a near new appearance - same for my fly fishing gear. I simply take care of my stuff. Despite that, the bottom plate on the A2E developed cracks and had to be replaced. The camera was never dropped and rarely used on a tripod. The nature of the cracks suggest a flaw in the plastic formulation. Then the command dial fell apart. Quite literally fell apart. One minute it was on the camera, the next it was in my hand in pieces. On top of that, the front barrel of my 28-105mm wobbled badly, the tolerances were that sloppy. The experience soured me on plastic cameras. Going digital, I didn't have much choice but to continue with plastic DSLRs (Pentax - at least some of the innards were metal) but at the first opportunity I ditched them for all metal Fujifilm cameras and haven't looked back since.
Sounds like you got a lemon. My A2e is still going strong. The only thing is the grip has gotten that stickiness when the rubber dissolves. I love my Fuji cameras, they are well crafted and the quality rocks!
I still have my A2E and use it on occasion. Loved the eye control focusing and the vertical grip. If you find it fighting to focus, turn the auto focus off. I like the CF features like keeping a film leader out. I can't remember but I think you can turn off the DXing of the film canisters too. I bulk roll my film and I develop my own and scan with an Epson V600 scanner. Now days, I shoot mainly medium format. To me, digital has a hard time keeping up with medium format when it comes to detail, and yes I have a Canon digital camera. But I still love the A2E and I bought it new when they first came out.
I had the European model, Eos 5 & it served me well for many years, with no major issues. I shot Canon for nearly 40 years from a F1 film camera to the digital age with a 5DSR. I felt their cameras & lenses were competitive with Nikon or any other camera systems manufacturers. IMHO, the RF lenses became cost prohibitive for me, even though their adapter could be used with the EF lenses. I moved into the Fuji system, mainly because of their cost effective camera bodies & lens line. I have no complaints. Canon served me well for many years& I believe Fuji will certainly be “good enough” for my needs.
I feel the same way as a long time Canon shooter (over 20 years). The RF lenses are cost prohibitive plus very large and bulky. The XH2s is on par with the R5 in terms of AF speed and performance when I tested it, although still not as quick. But for the smaller weight, cost difference, and also Fuji's color science, it's not a bad compromise.
It was a badass workhorse fir the time, and for me worked almost always (sometimes during rainy days it failed me). I still have it but like you said the price and time of film and scanning it’s brutal. Canon took it out because it got a DOD contract. The same reason why Canon has cloud storage and transfer in military cameras but civilians don’t have it in their cameras (you guys still using memory cards). You took me back to memory lane!
Get yourself an M42 to EF adapter and shoot some old SMC Takumar Glass or a find something like the Helios 44-2 and make sure to scan your negatives at a minimum of 40-50 mp and you will find some new love shooting that camera.
That sounds awesome!
If you get the Canon A2 (without eye control focus) it has a built-in diopter correction for the eyepiece.
I sold my old Nikon gear to buy a Canon system that I built around the A2E, specifically to enjoy the benefits of AF. Unfortunately my experience wasn't anywhere near as positive as yours.
I am very gentle with my gear and despite the use, my cameras often have a near new appearance - same for my fly fishing gear. I simply take care of my stuff. Despite that, the bottom plate on the A2E developed cracks and had to be replaced. The camera was never dropped and rarely used on a tripod. The nature of the cracks suggest a flaw in the plastic formulation. Then the command dial fell apart. Quite literally fell apart. One minute it was on the camera, the next it was in my hand in pieces. On top of that, the front barrel of my 28-105mm wobbled badly, the tolerances were that sloppy. The experience soured me on plastic cameras.
Going digital, I didn't have much choice but to continue with plastic DSLRs (Pentax - at least some of the innards were metal) but at the first opportunity I ditched them for all metal Fujifilm cameras and haven't looked back since.
Sounds like you got a lemon. My A2e is still going strong. The only thing is the grip has gotten that stickiness when the rubber dissolves. I love my Fuji cameras, they are well crafted and the quality rocks!
I still have my A2E and use it on occasion. Loved the eye control focusing and the vertical grip. If you find it fighting to focus, turn the auto focus off. I like the CF features like keeping a film leader out. I can't remember but I think you can turn off the DXing of the film canisters too. I bulk roll my film and I develop my own and scan with an Epson V600 scanner. Now days, I shoot mainly medium format. To me, digital has a hard time keeping up with medium format when it comes to detail, and yes I have a Canon digital camera. But I still love the A2E and I bought it new when they first came out.
I use mine occasionally as well but film cost is so prohibitive nowadays and I always wind up scanning it too haha
I buy bulk rolls of BW and roll my own. LOT let expensive that way.@@PeteCocoPhoto
I had the European model, Eos 5 & it served me well for many years, with no major issues. I shot Canon for nearly 40 years from a F1 film camera to the digital age with a 5DSR. I felt their cameras & lenses were competitive with Nikon or any other camera systems manufacturers. IMHO, the RF lenses became cost prohibitive for me, even though their adapter could be used with the EF lenses. I moved into the Fuji system, mainly because of their cost effective camera bodies & lens line. I have no complaints. Canon served me well for many years& I believe Fuji will certainly be “good enough” for my needs.
I feel the same way as a long time Canon shooter (over 20 years). The RF lenses are cost prohibitive plus very large and bulky. The XH2s is on par with the R5 in terms of AF speed and performance when I tested it, although still not as quick. But for the smaller weight, cost difference, and also Fuji's color science, it's not a bad compromise.
It was a badass workhorse fir the time, and for me worked almost always (sometimes during rainy days it failed me). I still have it but like you said the price and time of film and scanning it’s brutal. Canon took it out because it got a DOD contract. The same reason why Canon has cloud storage and transfer in military cameras but civilians don’t have it in their cameras (you guys still using memory cards). You took me back to memory lane!
Wow brother I bet you have some amazing stories you could tell!