M42 Apadter Fitting Key

Good Morning One and All

I'm after the key for fitting a genuine M42 to PK adapter to the body, by all intents and purpose a bent bit of tin with blades on it, I'm struggling to tighten it up with my fingers and your cannot fit the adapter if you screw it to the lenses first.

Kind regards

There is no key on the Genuine M42 to PK adapter - that's something the non-genuine ones need.

IIRC you put the adapter on the body - it clicks into place and voila. To take it off, you use a pen / anything small to pull the metal lever forward and it spins off.

Ah I see, I must admit because it has Pentax PK stamped on it I thought it was genuine, mind you I could use a small pen in the slot to tighten it up if my search fails, thanks Whelmed.

The correct technique with Pentax Adaptaer k is to screww the adapter onto a screw thread lens. Then the whole assembly can be bayoneted onto the camera body.

Screw thread lenses can now be changed by unscrewing in the normal way - in effect, the adapter converts a bayonet body into a screw thread one.

When you want to remove the Adapter K, press the small spring with a sharp point and simply rotate the adapter whilst the camera is pointed downwards andf it will just fall off into your hand. The engineering of the pentax adapter is so good that this will work freely and easily without any damage or force.

According to my Pentax Mount Adapter K (printed 11/86!) instructions:
_____________________________________
How to use the PENTAX mount adapter K
This adapter is used to attach the conventional TAKUMAR screw-mount lens to the PENTAX K mount camera.
The distance scale of the lens can be used as it is and picture taking is possible up to infinity. However, the automatic diaphragm of the lens will not function, so meter reading must be made with the lens aperture stopped down.

(1) Fit in the adapter, matching the red dot of the adapter with the red dot of the body mount.
(2) Turn the adapter clockwise until it stops (65°) by using a ball-point pen or the like to lock it.
Then screw-mount lenses can be used.
(3) To remove the adapter, push the spring with a ball-point pen and turn the adaptor counter-clockwise until it stops.
• The accessories (auto extension tube, helicoid extension tube,etc.) can be used in a similar way. The No. 1 Auto Extension Tube cannot be used alone.
_____________________________________

Then shows images of the adapter being fitted and removed with a clear plastic ball-point pen. All caps, spelling mistakes, etc. are as they were printed in the instructions.

Whether this is the "correct technique" or not, is questionable. I do know that the imitation adapter I bought from eBay says to mount it to the lens first, then attach it to the camera. To remove you unscrew the lens and use the key to take it out of the camera.

And John's right, my Pentax adapter moves so freely and easily that my lenses jiggle.

I found the key to my fake adapter; if you want it - it's yours! Just let me know where to send it.

As a side note, some of my lenses (S-M-C Takumar 50mm, wide-based Helios 44M) won't even mount unless I put the adapter on the camera first. The other Helios I have, the ones with a skinny base, will go either way. You might say they're bi-mountable!

That's odd, my Super Tak 50mm has an adapter permanently attached to it and I've never had any problem mounting it on a K100Ds or a K20D.

I take it back! They will with the real adapter, but not with the fake. Which makes the fake instructions completely unusable! Perhaps that's why they're fake...

Ahh, I think perhaps you have one of the Chinese adapters with the flange? That might be why it doesn't fit if you mount on the lens first. I have the Chinese no-flange ones on my Taks.

Nope, no flange; identical to the original, just a tighter fit.

The moral clearly is to use a genuine pentax adapter. Unfortunately the price seems to have rocketed at SRS. I think a few photo dealers still have them at the old price.

Incidentally you do not need to fiddle about with ball point pens, your fingernail is all that is required.

Archie

I've got two adapters one which readily screws to the lens and then can be mounted to the body in the conventional way, but I realised it would not focus to infinity, this second one cannot be mounted to the lens and then the camera because it is a very tight fit, but if I mount the adapter to the body first, no problems and this one does focus to infinity. I tried the ball point method and it works fine, so thanks guys, job done.

I don't know.. having both I don't think the official Pentax version is £50 better than the knock off.. Mine is good enough I don't need the removal key, which is why I'm offering it to Noddy.

I think next time I'll try a Kood and see how they work. I'd say it comes down to how much effort you want to put into it. If you're happy with something slightly more fiddly I don't see the difference. Especially if you're so broke your lens buying addiction limits you to cheap Russian lenses

edit: posted just after Noddy - glad to hear it works!