Bellows adaptor

Hello guys, this is my first post here since I intend to buy a Pentax in the near future... very near in fact. I have already bought plenty of acceossories for my future Pentax including the Asahi Pentax bellow.

Now to the point...

Fitting the bellows to the lens is no problem... all I need is an M42 to K mount adaptor (correct me if wrong).

But fitting the Pentax lens to the other side is becoming a dilemma for me. I am presented with an M42 inner thread, so I need an adaptor with an outer thread plus the lens mount in which the lens enters... i.e. like the mouth of the camera body (if this makes sense).

Any one can throw some light on this for me please, what is it called and where to get it from?

Cheers

Welcome to the forum

If you mean that you have an M42 bellows... I think you may come unstuck a little unless you get hold of an M42 lens to go with it.

The K-mount is wider than M42, so you can't get an adapter that allows a K-mount lens to fit into an M42 body (or bellows).

You have two choices:
1. Get a K-mount adapter (I suggest getting an original Pentax. SRS Microsystems have them I think. Be aware there are some dodgy K-to-M42 adapters floating on ebay). Also get an M42 lens - something like the Pentax Super Takumar 50mm f/1.4 (or f/1.7) is pretty easy to come by.

2, Sell the bellows and get a K-mount bellows instead.

(I'm sure there are others here who actually have bellows that can explain a little more...)
I hope that makes sense and agrees with what you actually have!!
Matt

The SMC Takumar 55mm f1.8 lens would be ideal for use on bellows. The 50mm f1.4 does not have a flat enough field at close distances.

Your cheapest option if you want to have a go is to buy the screw mount lens and the Adapter K for the camera body.

Thank you for your input and information. I never thought of getting an M42 lens and put it straight in... silly me.

I notice the Takumar are quite expensive and may opt for a Pentacon or Zeiss. However, I will keep looking for one.

The reason why I got these bellows is because it comes with a slide copier... no I do not have slide... but it has a slot through which one can slide negative film (or slides in film). This way I would be able to snap all important negatives of past years and put them on the computer.

The Zeiss Flektogon 35mm is a lovely lens close focused, I've never tried mine on extension tubes or bellows though, and they do have a bit of a following so probably as expensive or more so than the equivalent Taks.

Here's a Super Tak on BIN for £29 all in

Here

I have no relationship with the seller, just did a search, so caveat emptor but he seems to have good feedback.

Thanks Mongoose, I have seen it and is in my Watched items... expensive though... or is it worth every penny?

TBH I doubt you'll find a lens worth having for much less, you might strike it lucky but the good M42 lenses are always in quite high demand from Pentax and Canon users who use them with an adaptor on DSLRs.

A few months ago you could probably have found one for £15, but the runaway success of the K series digitals has pushed the price of everything Pentax on ebay through the roof, including M42 lenses and M42-K adaptors.

Hi,
My twopennyworth...

Often with bellows, one reverses the lens (eg a 50mm lens). My understanding is that this improves the quality of the optical path because a standard lens is designed to have a greater subject to lens distance than the lens to film/ sensor plane distance. So by reversing it on bellows you are allowing that to happen again. This means that what you now need, in addition to the M42 -k bayonet for the camera end of the bellows, is a reversing ring from M42 to whatever the filter thread size of your lens is.

So, if using your K-mount lens, you then adjust the aperture by rotating the ring on the open end of the lens, and the lens will shut down accordingly.

Hope this helps

Andy