Lens compatibility with MZ5

Hi

I have reciently purchased an MZ5, I only have a vivitar Zoom lens for this and a standard pentax 35-80 zoom. I have read that some of the older pentax lenses with the K mount will fit fine and are often better quality, I have tried an older lens without any contacts(i think it was from an me or mx) and get no apature reading in the viewfinder, I want to start using the metered manual mode anyway so was wandering if this really matters?


thanks

will

The MZ5 is a great camera, and will work fine with older Pentax lenses (pre-A series). You can't see aperture information because M and K lenses have no way to transmit it. Nonetheless, the camera will operate fine in manual or aperture priority modes. You simply have to select the aperture on the lens, and (in aperture priority mode) the camera will set the correct shutter speed.

Thanks for the reply, I will get some pentax lenses and hopefully have some fun.

cheers

Will

I've also heard that you can lose matrix/zone/evaluative (I forget what Pentax calls it!) metering with k-series lenses (the ones with no metal signal contacts on the bayonet), and the camera will switch to centre-weighted. Can anyone confirm this?

Cheers

Matt

You will lose matrix metering, but to be honest whichever form of metering you use as long as you are familiar with its foibles its OK. More and more I find myself using spot metering.

The trouble with matrix maetering is that the camera is guessing what you are doing as defined in its algorithms. And I find it tends to over expose, but a different photographer taking different sorts of pictures might disagree!

Hi John

"You will lose matrix metering, but to be honest whichever form of metering you use as long as you are familiar with its foibles its OK."

The only problem with the MZ-series is that the metering pattern is set by switch and doesn't have an indicator, hence it took me a few poorly exposed slides to realise that it automatically changed to centre-weighted even though matrix was selected! I also use a PZ-1p and this has an indicator that automatically changes when k-series lenses are attached, preventing that particular mistake from being made!

I've found matrix metering to be fine on the MZ-3 (basically a slightly tweaked MZ-5n) unless the central part of the frame is filled with something light (deer cause quite a few problems, hence I try to spot-meter grass or foliage). When not in woods or fields I seem to stuggle to find an appropriate mid-tone that's in the same light as the object of interest whenever I try spot-metering, hence my reliance upon matrix metering. It is perhaps better to try to use spot metering as then you are in complete control of exposure, and I find that simply trying to consider where to meter from makes me think more about the light. Not that my photos are any better because of it!

Cheers

Matt

Hi Matt

There a couple of other ways around the problem of not finding a suitable mid-tone, and they depend upon a slight knowledge of the Zone System. This only applies to negative films, but if you find the darkest area you want a whisker of tone in and then give three stops less exposure, you should be about right. You can do the reverse with the lightest tone - but this time three stops more than the indicated exposure.

It works great for monochrome.

Hi John, thanks for comments.

Please excuse my ignorance, but is that Ansel Adams' zone system? I've heard references to it before, but never actually read it. Is this something to do with negs having a range of 6 stops? A useful 'rule of thumb', thanks for passing that on.

In most cases, it's only really with slides that I have a problem - and it always seems to be overexposure, which is odd as mostly light objects in the centre of the scene cause problems so I thought that would result in under-exposure (the light object fooling the meter into thinking there's more light than is actually the case, hence under-exposure). Unless the matrix algorithm assumes that it's a pond or lake? Either way, it does occasionally cause problems, thank God for spot metering and auto-bracketing!

Cheers

Matt

Hi Guys,
If you really want to improve your photography 100% then study and learn the zone system, it works well for colour, monochrome, slides or prints, its the principles that count.
For an excellent tutorial and practical tests follow the link;

http://carbonphoto.cicada.com/zs/chapter1/

work through all the chapters

cheers,

Rob.

Hi Matt

Yes, I'm referring to Ansel Adams's Zone System. It's not half as complicated as is sometimes made out, and there are some simple ways it can be applied to good effect.

It's very worthwhile reading it up enough to understand the basics, but it doesn't need a huge tome to achieve that.

In slides, of course, the requirements are different in that the ultimate "sin" is to over-expose and have washed out areas. In this instance I tend to use centre-weighted metering and compensation based on experience. It doesn't take too long to assess if we routinely over or under expose and in what situations, and then correct our technique.

Hope that helps!

Hi,
I tried various metering methods including Zone etc. In the end I have found the best method is to use a "proper" lightmeter, preferably using an incident reading. I now use a Gossen Sixtimat and have never looked back. Fantastic on the ground and essential in the air.

Regards
Kim