Lense compatibilty between Z50P and K10D, K100D ?

Hi ... (sorry for my english, i'm french)

I'm not a photo specialist. But the father of my girlfriend asked me to find him a good pentax cam.
He had got a Pentax Z50P, with plenty of lense. He'd like to keep them, so he asked me to find a numeric cam which could be compatible with all its old lenses.

So i'd like to ask the specialists ... is the K10D or K100D full compatible with old z50p lenses ?

Thanks for all your comments ...

Another question, should i target the K10D or the K100D for an amateur ? (perhaps the K10D is too much overfeatured for an amateur ... or perhaps, the K10D is a way better than the k100d)

All pentax lenses will work on the K10D and K100D

For an amateur, the K100D would be fine, though with the dropping price of the K10D, its worth buying if its in the price range.

My view on things anyway.

thanks for your quick reply !

did you say that the z50p lense are compatible with canon, nikon reflex too ?

No, they are not compatible with Nikon and Canon.

What designation do your lenses have? The best Pentax lenses to use, for full compatibility, will have an "A" setting on the aperture ring.

Manual focus ones will be called SMC Pentax-A and autofocus ones SMC Pentax-F or SMC Pentax-FA and so on.

Earlier lenses than these are still useable, but with some limitations.

I don't know the designation of the lences ... (i haven't seen myself)
I just know they are for an old z50p ...

So, we will take a K10D or a "K100D super" ... It's enough, more sure and more simple for the needs ...

Thanks a lot for yours (very !) quick reply !
Thanks again !

My first SLR was a Z50p (and I still have it) - any lens which can be used on it can be used on a DSLR. If the lenses are powerzoom ones then some of their functions might not be available, however you wouldn't be losing anything useful.

any autofocus lens will work perfectly (except power zoom which died with the Z series, though even Power Zoom lenses will work fine in manual zoom mode).

Manual focus lenses with an A setting will be fine

those without an A setting will have limitations on their metering. If he has a lot of non-A manual focus lenses then he is better off with a K100D because the stop down metering is better. If most of his lenses are modern and he knows his way around the Av, Tv and M modes of a proper SLR then the K10D is far superior and a steal at it's current price.

Apparently the alledged metering problems with the K10D and manual lenses are to do with the focusing screen.

Well, I have a (brighter) screen that's meant for the K10D in my *ist DS and the metering is generally fine with it - with both manual and auto lenses. Occasionally there is the need for some adjustment - but that was true with the "correct" screen as well sometimes.

I've heard that too, though I have yet to get my hands on a *istD/DS screen to confirm it.

All I know is my K10D gets its metering wrong with most non-A lenses. The only exceptions I have yet found are my two 300mm primes (one cheapo Tamron 300 F5.6, one pro level Tamron 300 F2. which both meter pretty close to spot on at all apertures despite being effectively M series.

My *istDL2 is spot on with all lenses except in very dark conditions where it starts to underexpose.

...Does the amount of under/over exposure tend to be predictable?

I've got an M50/1.4 and that's very easy to predict on my K10D. Wide open is fine, by f8 it's 1 stop under, by f22 it's 2 under. I've not really used it since I got the FA43 but it was just a case of guesstimating the right shutter speed and taking a test shot to double check each time. From what I've read peoples' experience varies from lens to lens (and camera to camera in some cases).