Best cheap SLR for manual focus

[Cephalotus]

In the Oly E series, the E1 is decent for manual focus (similar to
Canon 10D/20D/30D), the rest aren't so good (unless you use live
focus on the E330). I don't know about split prism finders for E
series.

you can get them from Katz Eye, but there are some metering issues here, because those 3rd party screens have different reflection characteristics compared to original screens which can fault the meter.

 

[tomalban]

Adapters of varying quality:

Note that some of the Canon EOS adapters come with a set of
contacts that trick the camera into thinking an AF lens is mounted
so that focus confirmation (i.e. AF points light up in viewfinder
when they are in focus) works.

Really helpful advice, thanks.

Final questions:

Do I really need the expensive Cameraquest adaptors, or are the cheaper ones OK?
Do the the ones which offer autofocus confirmation really work?

 

[nickleback]

Do I really need the expensive Cameraquest adaptors, or are the
cheaper ones OK?

Depends on the adapter. Some cheap ones are OK, others are not. Go for brass if you want durability. With some mounts there are specific design issues that some adapters will handle better than others -- I don't know about OM in this regard.

Do the the ones which offer autofocus confirmation really work?

They appear to:

http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/reviews/m42_eos_focusing_adapter.html

--
Seen in a fortune cookie:
Fear is the darkroom where negatives are developed

 

[tbcass]

Most of the cheaper DSLR's I tried have screens that are not the best for manual focusing. My old film SLR's had microprism and/or split screen focusing aids. The cheaper DSLR's do not.
--
Tom

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25301400@N00/