Pentax Ghostless Filters

With Halloween fast aproaching, I thought this topic might fit right in.

Was looking through an old Asahi Pentax booklet on SMC lenses that must have come with every new Spotmatic F, and when I paused to mop up the drool, I noticed on one of the last pages, a diagram and description for their ghostless UV filter.

Has anyone had any experience with this rare bird (I've certainly never seen one). Were they only produced as UV filters? They must have been Multi Coated? - didn't say. They did say it was only available in 49mm.

Was this a good idea that was just too expensive? (I mean that's gotta be a lot of money to shell out for an accessory you only use once a year!)

Hi Mac,
I have seen one and although they were a good idea at the time , they soon became outmoded.

They were not multicoated but curved. The idea was that any reflections were pushed outside the filter by the curvature rather than inside as would happen with a flat filter. With the advent of better multi coating, this became unnecessary and as they were very much more expensive to make than an SMC flat filter, they were dropped. I don't know whether they were any good for taking pictures of Ghosts but they did prevent the unwanted reflections or "ghosts" caused by uncoated flat filters.

Kim

Kim,

That's kinda what I figured. So these must be rare as hen's teeth, and rank right up there in the collectable catagory with Edsels. (Old guy joke!)

Couldn't imagine ghosthunters ever wanting one. Image forgetting this was on your lens when you finally get that one-in-a-million shot of the gang at the Tower of London?

You gonna take a camera on your narrowboat trip? I'd love to see what one looks like.

Cheers

Rarer than a brown Edsel with cuffs!!

(in-joke for old geezer Americans)

The "Ghostless" filter not only had a curved surface, but a curve that matched the curve of the fron element of the Taakumar series 50mm/55mm lenses.

This may or may not have worked, but as later standard lenses have different cirves to the front elements, it's sort of obsolete for these anyway. To be of any use, the idea would presumably have to have been extended to every filter in every size, with different curvatures for different lenses.......

Perhaps this explains why it never caught on!

John said "....and I guess that's why it never caught on."

I GUESS!

Hi Mac,
You wish is my command, I took these on the shackdown trip in July for the brochure.
http://pentax-manuals.com/portal1.jpg
http://pentax-manuals.com/portal2.jpg

Kim!

Those a beautiful shots of a very unique craft. - A water bus - tour boat? What are they built with, and how are they powered?

What did you use for the photographs on the shakedown? Can I get a copy of the brochure?

Huh? Huh? Can I? Pulleeezzzeee?

I love this stuff!

Cheers