What is the cheapest used Chinon CS in the UK?

The cheapest used Chinon CS currently listed is £15.98 at eBay, based on 9 listings compared across 2 UK retailers.

How many used Chinon CS are for sale in the UK?

There are currently 9 used Chinon CS listings available across 2 UK retailers on UsedLens, updated daily.

Used Chinon CS for Sale — From £16

£15.98 Low price

£79.00 High price

9 Listings

2 Retailers

2 Reduced

Great for: general student beginner portrait

Chinon's mid-1970s M42 SLR — stop-down CdS metering, 1s-1/1000 shutter, also sold as GAF L-CS

The Chinon CS is a mid-1970s all-mechanical 35mm SLR made in Japan, with CS standing for Chinon Screw, the company's name for the universal M42 Praktica/Pentax thread mount. It was widely rebadged, appearing as the GAF L-CS in the US and the Hanimex 35SL elsewhere, and was sold in the UK from around 1976 as a keenly priced manual SLR.

The body offers shutter speeds from 1 second to 1/1000 with flash sync at 1/125, a hot shoe plus X and M PC sockets, and a self-timer. Metering is a centre-weighted CdS system read stop-down, with a centre-needle display in the finder, originally powered by a 1.35V PX13 mercury cell; the mechanical shutter fires with no battery fitted. Bodies came in chrome or black metal finishes.

As an M42 body it accepts the enormous pool of affordable screw-mount lenses, which keeps it relevant for students learning manual exposure and stop-down metering. It is sturdy, entirely manual and simple to operate, though the stop-down routine is slower than the aperture-coupled SLRs that followed it.

Mercury PX13 cells are no longer made, so the meter needs a zinc-air replacement or compensated cell to read correctly; verify meter response before trusting it. Also check the slow shutter speeds run true, the mirror returns cleanly, light seals have not crumbled and the focusing screen is clear.