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Using Old Pentax Lenses on Newer Pentax Cameras

G1DRP
Posted 19/09/2013 - 07:50 Link
Algernon wrote:
Is it true that Nikon don't have a MF equivalent of the Pentax 'A' Series?
i.e. They don't have a MF lens on which the aperture can be set from a DIGITAL camera body and also displayed on the LCD? They only have AF lenses that do that.

If it is true I'm surprised no one has picked up on it from the other mans grass is always greener brigade I'm sure they would if it was the other way around

--

To use an AI or AIS lens and use the aperture ring, you need one of the more expensive Nikon bodies. The D300, D600 and I think the D7100 for example.
I must confess to being a photographic equipment repair technician and I repair Nikon stuff. I prefer my Pentax gear though, so that will tell you something.
Cheers,

Ian
Algernon
Posted 19/09/2013 - 09:39 Link
Thanks.... Ken Rockwell only uses AF lenses so I think
we are more compatible with our old junk!

--
Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi
stalky
Posted 19/09/2013 - 22:29 Link
davidstorm wrote:
stalky wrote:
Is it straight forward to use older lenses on a kx?
Cheers

Yes! You must set the menu option 'Use Aperture Ring' to the 'Permitted' setting and then away you go! It tests your eyesight and your focussing skill, but that's where the fun lies!

Regards
David

Cheers
Anything you'd recommend to have a play with ?
Pentax KX 18-55 DA L 50-200 DA sigma 10-20 DC Tamron 70-300
davidstorm
Posted 19/09/2013 - 22:55 Link
stalky wrote:
Anything you'd recommend to have a play with ?

I would start with one of the Pentax 50mm / 55mm variants, Pentax-A F1.7, Pentax-M F1.4 or F1.7, or SMC K55 F1.8.

All of these are superb lenses; the easiest to find are the M's and A's. For a first lens the A series are the best as they have automatic apertures, so easier to use on a DSLR.

I would also recommend some extension tubes and have a go at macro. These images were shot in exactly this way:

Pentax-A 50mm F1.7

Comment Image



Pentax K55 F1.8

Comment Image



Pentax-M 50mm F1.4

Comment Image


I think the average amount I paid for these lenses was about £60 each, so they are not too expensive.

Regards
David
Flickr

Nicola's Apartments, Kassiopi, Corfu

Some cameras, some lenses, some bits 'n' bobs
stalky
Posted 20/09/2013 - 23:00 Link
thanks, David
I Have My Beady Eye On A Couple On Ebay Now
Pentax KX 18-55 DA L 50-200 DA sigma 10-20 DC Tamron 70-300
ppaul_l
Posted 14/06/2017 - 00:26 Link
I've a K-5 and I use the old lenses as much as the kit lens. Some of the lenses I like to use are the M42 Jupiter 11A 135mm f4 and the Pentacon 123mm 2.8. These have the really smooth bokeh that makes them so popular. I also like to use the 35mm Takumar.
davidwozhere
Posted 14/06/2017 - 01:01 Link
Oh Joy! The Jupiter 11A is something wonderful.
Talking about M42s, the Takumar 50mm f1.4 and f2 got missed off the list. I think Pentacon 123mm (above) is meant to read 135mm?
Both the *istDS and the K5 are incurably addicted to old glass

My page on Photocrowd
Algernon
Posted 14/06/2017 - 08:39 Link
In the 60's and 70's the M42 thread was widely known as the Pentax-Edixa thread. Strangely even though there were some excellent lenses made in West and East Germany for the Edixa camera in M42 Pentax users have always ignored them completely

Too late now they are going for serious money


--
Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi
Edited by Algernon: 14/06/2017 - 08:41
Horst
Posted 14/06/2017 - 08:57 Link
Quote:
Algernon wrote:

In the 60's and 70's the M42 thread was widely known as the Pentax-Edixa thread.

I believe it was actually called an Pentax-Praktica mount.

Regards, Horst
Algernon
Posted 14/06/2017 - 09:58 Link
My first SLR at the age of 17 was a Practica..... Awful camera I traded it in after 3 months for a Spotmatic. I never once heard the M42 thread mentioned as a Practica thread, probably because it was considered a poor quality system. Zenith thread was never mentioned either Exacta/Edixa was and and still is upmarket most of the top optical firms made lenses for Exacta/Edixa. Makers such as Schneider, Alpa (Swiss) Schacht Ulm etc.

Schacht Ulm made some great lenses especially the 90mm portrait lens (now £130 to £300) . Great colours and innovation with built in cable release socket and visual red indication of DOF.

Some Examples

I like the work of this guy with Schacht...

http://www.flickriver.com/search/ocrakraut+schacht/

--
Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi
Edited by Algernon: 14/06/2017 - 10:07
davidwozhere
Posted 15/06/2017 - 01:36 Link
I'm sure I read somewhere that although Pentax walked away with the credit for it, the M42 thread was actually a Zeiss invention?
Both the *istDS and the K5 are incurably addicted to old glass

My page on Photocrowd
Horst
Posted 15/06/2017 - 02:00 Link
Here is a link to settle the question of the M42 thread.

link

Regards, Horst
Algernon
Posted 15/06/2017 - 09:15 Link
Quite a poor page that one Horst. This one lists a lot of M42 lenses by different makers.
http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/M42

The origin of the M42 was actually the Soviet military who wanted a standardised thread.
See:
https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8...

" In 1947, the Soviet military administration ordered to produce a unified screw thread, the birth of M42"

You possibly don't need the translation.

See also..
http://www.ukcamera.com/classic_cameras/wirgin2.htm

For marketing Pentax Edixa thread sounded better also the early M42 Practica cameras were M40. It was the Contax S cameras that were M42.

Another reason could have been the possibility that Practica's weren't sold in the US and although the cameras came out in the late 40's. the lenses were delayed until well into the fifties. (Source Ivor Matanle Revew)

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Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi
Edited by Algernon: 15/06/2017 - 09:44
Algernon
Posted 15/06/2017 - 11:04 Link
Just looking through a 1981 US magazine. They did have Praktica's at least in 1981 and Edixa's were long since dead so I suppose the description Practika thread would have been used. Pentax were now bayonet mount. I did originally say in the 60'70's when I was actually surprised to see Pentax-Edixa used in magazines.

It was a well known Pentax expert that told me that the US didn't have CZ lenses and that was the reason for their prices rising. Maybe he meant 60/70's.

--
Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi
jeallen01
Posted 15/06/2017 - 15:03 Link
Bought my first Praktika (FX2 and note the earlier spelling) around 1962 and that had the M42 fitting, as did the IVB that I got later on - and then there was the very 2nd hand Ediixa Prismat that I got in 1969, and still have in the cupboard. After I fixed that (lever-wind gear problem - no spares available by then in around 1978, but I got around the problem, and it was totally reliable, albeit totally disreputably looking, ever after, and it has the most "delightfully sweet" engineered wind-mechanism.

BTW to Algi, on my budgets through the years, the many Practicas I had were always very reliable, if, I grant you, rather "agricultural" (but nowhere near as bad as the Zenits/Zeniths!) by comparison with the Pentaxes of those times - which I could never afford.
K-3 II, K-3 and a K-70 from SRS (having now relegated the K-30 /"K-50" to a backup body), & some Sigma and Pentax lenses (and a lot of old 35mm gear!)

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