M42 Adapter, help!

I bought a Kood M42 to PK adapter. Naively I thought it was compatible with the pentax adapter.

I attached it to a M42 lens and then put it in my K100D. It engaged, as expected - I did not have to force anything, then I turned until I heard a click.

The first thing I noticed was that the body did not ask for focal length - I thought it was supposed to do this. Then in M mode I could not get the body to provide an exposure so I decided to remove the lens.

I unscrewed the lens and then used the Kood tool to try and remove the adapter. It did rotate, but the adapter won't come out. I then heard a ping and the leaf string from the adapter fell out.

Now I have the adapter in the body, I can rotate it 30 degrees or so, but I cannot remove it.

Help! what do I do next?

Richard

If the spring has fallen out, you should be able to remove the adapter. Put two fingers into the throat and press outwards. Then, twist anti-clockwise, and pull.

G

George is almost certainly correct on this. I'm not familiar with the Kood version but it cant be too different from the genuine Pentax article. M42 lenses dont have microprocessors built in and dont have the the necessary electronic contacts so no communication between body and lens, they also have a different diaphragm actuator. Use them in manual mode. If the lens is an SMC takumar with the auto/manual switch near the mount, focus wide open then stop down using the switch to meter and expose.

Bloody hell George, I just noticed your new PS, if thats your 'core kit' whats your flesh, skin and stalk kit

Ken

George
You have enough flash power to light up the whole Isle Of Man are you scared of the dark : :

Nice kit though im very jealous

Thanks George, I rather nervously tried that. It did not come out. So I applied some more force and after jiggling it around a bit the adapter came out. I think the screw that held the leaf spring had got jammed and would not let the adapter be removed.

Now without the spring I can attach an M42 lens. However, the camera still does not ask for the focal length, is it supposed to? Anyway I find that I have to apply +2 EV to get a reasonable exposure. I don't think my idea of using M42 lenses in my K100D is turning out to be a good one. (I had thought that I could get some Super Takumar M42 prime lenses cheap on ebay.)

I thought I'd answered this stuff about focal lengths

Go for SMC Takumars rather than Super Takumars

Ken

If you can find a way to permanently attach the adapter to the lens. ( I seem to recall it was George who had the idea for doing this) then it will work like a regular K mount but you won't get the metering from the body.

Hi.
I have an M42 PK Adaptor from way back and a SMC Tacuma 300mm lens. I also bought a little telephoto lens adaptor when I was green behind the ears which I never used to use. However with you lot talking about the M42-PK adaptor I thought lets put the two together and now I have myself a nice little telescope with tripod mount built in. Thanks for the memory jog.

I've collected my kit over a period, and (in addition to the core kit) have a number of lenses that either came along with something else that I wanted, or have been supplanted by later and better items.

Some day I'll make another effort to sell it. On my last attempt, advertised here, I parted with most of the more desirable items, but there are still one or two nice M lenses and the F 135mm 1:2.8.

G

PS: Clarky. I don't suppose you've been to the IOM in winter. Dark and stormy nights are the mild ones.

Seriously, I used to use the 400s on the *ist D, but they are no good with the K10D, and they lack the controls you need for manual use.

Whilst the 360s work well, I consider them to be a little under-powered. The budget did not permit a brace of 540s, so I bought a couple of 500s and use them on manual. They have a built-in slave, and are very versatile.

Ken,

Thanks, I now know what to look for.

Hmmm, did you do this in another thread? Any chance of indicating where?

Richard

Just a few posts further up but to clarify: the older lenses dont have any electronics in them to communicate with modern bodies - who cares really, you know already what lens you've stuck on the front - the optics are sublime.

best wishes,

Ken

Ken, I don't think that really answers his question. He's asking why the camera ISNT asking for a focal length even though the lens is too old to set it automatically.

Richard,
You may want to check the following:

1: SR is switched on
2: you are changing lenses with the camera turned off (the menu only comes up automatically when you turn the camera on with a non-auto lens)
3: the custom functions are set up correctly to allow using old lenses. It's something like "Allow use of Aperture Ring".

Hope this helps

Unless you already have a collection of M42 lenses, I see no point in buying them to use on a K mount camera. The prices have not dropped as other MF lenses have because they are sought after by many non Pentax users as most makes have an M42 adapter. The price of K mount lenses has dropped and quite often they can be less than the M42 version.

I would go for the K mount lenses. If you want the best search out the original series or go for the A versions which are much more compatible.

Kim

I agree with Kim and have accumulated a nice little group of A series lenses which i love and for not much money