First Manual Lens

Ok I have just brought my First manual lens off JonSchick.
A Pentax SMC-K 135 f2.5. And I must say I wish my new lenses were as well made as this thing! Any ways Ive taken it out this evening and there aint nothing to shoot so I grabbed The landlords dog (whos rather shy) and took a few snaps.

Now I seem to of managed to focus perfectly on the end of her nose despite aiming my centre dot between her eyes (sound like a hunter dont I?)
But the focus past the top of her nose seems to be not so sharp.

So my question is this.
I shot these both hand held on F8 well I know one of them was I think other was to.
using centre weighted focus on the cam (not sure this makes a differene with a manual lens?)
Camera beeped at me that it was in focus looked ok to me so I hit the button.
Could the focusing be due to a to high/lower arpeture or the weighting of the focus?

Any pointers apreciated! Really want to get to grips with this lens!

K lenses can only be used in M mode using the green button to stop down.
In menu set permit use of aperture ring to yes.
If you use it in AV mode it won't stop down, no matter what aperture value you set . Looking at the shallow DOF I think that's the problem. It just took the pictures wide open.

If you have set the aperture ring to permit in the menu and used M mode without the green button, it also will NOT stop down.

So...to summarize:
1# set permit use of aperture ring to yes
2# set metering mode to M(anual)
3# focus manually wide open. ( prevents darkening of screen)
Only use green hexagon as focus conformation.
The red square flashing only tells you about the used focus point, nothing about achieved focus.
4# set aperture to desired value.
5# press green button to stop down and meter.
6# release shutter.
7# check histogram and if necessary dial in compensation + or - with shutter dial wheel(probably front wheel),to compensate for exposure problems occurring with the use of the k20 with non A lenses.(well known issue)

If #7 is used, don't press green button afterwards,because that cancels the compensation input.

HTH,
Martin.

Martin,

Thanks for answering Andy's thread it also helps mine M 200mm f4 K

Ahhhh I didnt know about the green button. Ile try again tomorow.
Thanks Martin!

Oh I forgot to mention I did have the arpeture ring enabled and set to manual focus. (which I assume makes no odds to the weighting? i.e. spot, centre, or the otherone (matrix is it?) Do these setting still mater in manual mode?)

Thanks Again

Only spot and centre weight are available when using non A lenses.
Matrix is not possible . Camera automatic resets to centre weight metering when using non A lenses.

Martin.

Hi,

As per answers in the thread I wonder whether you were in Av mode - in which case the camera will always shoot wide open no matter what aperture you set the lens to (somewhat counter intuitive!).

One option is to use the green button as per advice you have already received.

Another option which I preferred was:

(1) use M mode
(2) select the aperture you want on the lens
(3) turn the depth of field preview lever round the shutter (viewfinder should darken depending upon the aperture you have chosen)
(4) inside the viewfinder, the camera should tell you whether the shot is going to be under or over exposed while the depth of field preview is switched on - so while you've got the preview on with one finger, use another to move the e-dial and change the shutter speed until the camera tells you the exposure is OK.

All of the above is easier than I have made it sound - the procedure will vary a little depending upon whether your camera has one or two e-dials but try it out and you'll get it to work! I much preferred it to the green button once I got into it.

Finally, note that the K10 and 20 bodies are notorious for over-exposing with old manual lenses, so when doing the procedure I described above, I usually set the shutter speed that the camera thought was about 2/3 EV under exposed, and then worked from there depending upon what the histogram told me.

Oh, and an answer to one of your questions - the camera will revert to using centre weighted metering when using a manual lens.

Hope all this helps!

Jon

Thanks guys, That clears alot of questions up

Bi Jove I think Ive got it!

I still cant get the thing to work properly your way martin, Allthough I cant understand why??

However Jon's techniques seems to of worked a treat!!
(well i supose it was his lens after all! )

Ive just quickly took these two and ime happy with the results (now ime learning how to use the lens and worked out what the dof lever is!!)
Allthough I do have a lil motion blur on the 2nd it was a rather long exposure time and I knocked the tri pod

Thank you all for the advice, Ime now going to call it a night and practise more tomorow, and hopfully find a way to get martins technique to work!!

F2.5



F8

Glad to be of service! You definitely got it stopped down with the second shot! It's a lovely lens and I look forward to seeing some great things with it in future posts........

Thanks Jon, I wont let you down

Well ile try not to anyways, Ile see what I can muster tomorow night at the dance

I'm glad I stumbled upon this thread! I've had exactly the same problem.

One quick thing, when you mention using the green button to stop down. Mine ( *istDL ) doesn't have a green button. Or does it??? Sorry to sound dumb.
Should I just use Manual mode and set the aperture ring on the lens and go with that??

Follow JonSchick's advice - use M mode, adjust the aperture with the ring, and adjust the shutter speed on the camera with the DOF lever turned.

You can use the AE-L button instead of the green button on the DL.

Both methods of metering work: green button/AE-L button to set shutter speed OR DOF preview lever and adjust shutter/aperture to center exposure bar. but you must be in Manual for both these methods.

Well Ime glad to see it is not just me and J that were baffled by this LOL

I havent got to play tonight yet but ime hoping to get some shots down the village dance tnite.

We shall see, But Jon's method does seem to work really well and the best thing is you can actually see the result before you take the shot!!

Whichever method you use, you will probably find you get progressive overexposure as you stop down when metering with the K10 or K20. So you will have to use the histogram to correct the exposure.

I think Father Ted's DL will meter correctly at all apertures.