Pentax MX SLR - lens mount question.

By a complete stroke of luck, I have today picked up a tidy MX with immaculate SMC M 1:1.7 50mm & 1:3.5 135mm lenses.

The camera came with a leather holder and a Hanimex TZ1 flash, diffusers and Colkin square filter holder and some filters to boot.

The MX is spot on with the exception of the lens mount which appears to have some discolouration - can this be replaced?

Needless to say, I am very pleased - now I just need to learn to use it....

True John, good point

Yes it can...but as John says does it really bother you?

Spares or repair MX bodies don't tend to go cheap enough that you'd buy one just for the mount.

They are very simple to use, you can find a manual as a free PDF online.

Consider looking for an SMC Pentax-M 28mm f3.5 to complete the set, they take up next to no space and are very sharp indeed.

What do you mean by leather holder by the way - is it the ever ready case (back half stays wrapped around camera body, front half unclips to reveal the lens when you want to use it) or a camera bag? If the former then it's quite hard to find, if the latter then it sounds suspiciously similar to one I had with an MX, flash and light meter a couple of months ago.

In my limited experience, the "ever-ready" cases of the period of the MX had already been downgraded to what is really little more than plastic coated cardboard and often in very poor condition these days

I'm not sure how the mount can be discoloured. Isn't it chromed steel? Or do you mean some other part?

K.

Manual available HERE.

Good luck with your new toy, I love my MX bodies and use them on a regular basis.

But be warned, the next step will be another manual body, then another then LINK

The chrome can deteriorate - I know I have one which has bubbled and corroded around the edge. It doesn't make any difference to the camera as the surface which touches the lens is unaffected (so the lens isn't pushed away from the mount) but it doesn't look very good close up.

Thanks all for your comments.

The case sounds like the "ever-ready" one to me. I will be taking the kit to the local independent camera shop next week for him to give it all the once over.

Yes the lens mount isn't that bad to be honest - just me being picky as the rest of the kit is A1.

I can't wait to get playing with it - have already slapped the lenses on my K-r for a play - some lovely sharp images have resulted.

Matt - please don't tempt me to more lenses just yet....

Am just of to download the link that Hardgravity provided

To be honest there isn't much to go wrong on an MX providing the shutter speeds are reasonably accurate and the light meter works. Don't leave the shutter cocked for long periods as it can damage the spring tension, and when you aren't using it give it a wind on/fire cycle every few weeks to keep it happy.

As for accessories there are a couple of motor winders, various focussing screens and a databack. All listed on the Dimitrov K mount site.

The MX looks superb too....how well would a DSLR sell with those classic silver and black Pentax looks eh? So long as they don't plastic and round it all up that is

We've talked about the lust for a digital MX on other threads, we may eventually get one..

.. about the same time pigs learn to fly!

But we dream on.

I would sell my kids, and maybe Mrs A for one too....but don't tell her

Well, actually, there was something else with mine (but now fixed, thanks to Ben Vang )

When I purchased mine, unknown to me at the time, there was some kind of fabric baffle covering the hinge end of the mirror (presumably to keep light from seeping there) which had become displaced and interfered with the light path at the gate, resulting in an irregular strip of vignetting along one long edge of the negative and resulting print. (This took a bit of diagnosing BTW:shock)

All fixed now, of course.

The only other common fault with the MX is that some little part somewhere gets bent and leaves the meter on continuously. As a result the batteries run flat after a few days. It is an easy repair, so I am told, and there were instructions on the web somewhere.

I'll admit that I just sent mine off and got it fixed and serviced at the same time.

K.