chinon lens compatability

I have been offered several chinon lens and told that they will fit the Pentax K. Have read horror stories of lens with a pin that can give grief. Does the chinon lens fit into this catagory, please
regards thoramay.

Not the Chinon lenses I've come across in the past, they've all been harmlessly pin-less.

Chinon actually made some quite nice lenses - the Alpa 2001 was a rebadged Chinon Memotron and most "Alpa" branded M42 lenses (the ones you see on eBay with price tags of £hundreds) were just re-badged Chinons. If they're good enough for Alpa...

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Joining the Q

What flavour lenses are they?

From what I've read, most (if not all) of the Chinon lenses don't have Ricoh P-pins. However, check the mount side (or the rear-cap, if it's original). If it says 'PK' you're probably ok - if it says 'RK', look for a pin!

In my experience, removing a Richoh P-pin is childs-play - I've done it on both the Ricoh & Vivitar lenses that I have which had them. Four screws, take off the back mount bezel, find the pin, slide it out with tweezers, put the bezel back on, screw it down. Most difficult thing was finding somewhere to keep the pins in case I ever needed to sell or give the lenses to a Ricoh owner - though I could've thrown them away, for all that!

Only thing I've read which is potentially worrying about a Chinon (200m) was that it wouldn't focus to infinity on a Pentax body - and the answer given was that it was set to project differently to a Chinon focal plane that was different to a Pentax's. Not sure I wholly believe that (but it's possible - I don't know enough about individual Chinon cameras). In any case, the fault is apparently correctable, but involves adjusting the focus barrel alignment. Not for the fainthearted, I'd say. (more info here).

I would definitely (a) check for pins, just in case and then (b) give each lens a spin on your camera just to be sure you can focus them to infinity. And don't pay too much, either. IMHO Chinon lenses weren't 'all that' - though they weren't rubbish, they're not top-grade, so price accordingly... Of course, if they're free, just stick 'em in your bag, and worry about it later!

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Neil
≡≡≡≡
Pentax K-x ♥ Pentax DA L 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL ♣ Pentax DA L 55-300mm f4-5.8 ED ♦ Pentax A 50mm f2.0 ♠ Pentax AF360FGZ flash ♥ Rikenon P 50mm f1.7 ♣ Vivitar CF 28mm f2.8 (K02 Komine) ♦ Tokina 80-200mm f4 ♠ Vivitar MC 2x22 Tele Converter

"Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men" - Douglas 'Tin-Legs' Bader

I can't recall if I ever tried to fit my Chinon 50mm f1.9 onto my Z-10. But in any case, I didn't come across any warning notes not to use Chinon lenses on other products with the K-mount.

the only difference that although the lens I had was 'Auto' it had no 'A' setting so in P-mode on the CP7-M you would leave the lens at the smallest aperture and allow the camera to set the f-stop accordingly.

As Neil says, not rubbish...

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Z-1p, K-1, P50
F50 1.7. FAs 24, 35, 50 1.4, 85, 135. DFA15-30, DFA24-70, D-FA*70-200. D-FA 100 (gone now!). The SMC-FA Limited Trinity.
Metz 45 CL-4, AF500FTZ. AF540FGZ.
Some Mamiya and some Nikon

I've owned a few Chinons in the past and never had any fitment troubles with them and they are surprisingly good value for money, but stick to the primes, the zooms unfortunately in my experience not so good.

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A poor life this, if full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare. W.H Davies

Hi Gareth

I've been shiffing round that one as well, but I agree the price is not quite right yet, but all in all it is suppose to be a mean performer, £20 less then the fun starts.

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A poor life this, if full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare. W.H Davies

Chinon lenses never did very well in magazine tests. They are probably similar to Ricoh's being made by the same maker, but were a lot cheaper to buy, so probably cheaper made as well.

Most people who had Chinon camera's in the 70's/80's swapped the lenses for proper Pentax ones

The only Chinon worth having is the f/1.2 which was a rebadged Tominon expect to pay £300+

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Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi

It's a 55mm Gareth not 50mm. The 55mm might well be a nice lens.

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Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi

I have a Chinon M42 55mm f1.4 and it is a nice lens - a bit soft at f1.4 but sharp by f2.8 and nice colours. Quite nice to use as it is physically than the comparable Takumars. Good for portraiture on a crop DSLR.

I believe (or, more specifically, have read) that it was made by Tomioka, as with the F1.2 and it seems pretty highly regarded. I think £60 is a tad steep, though.