Using Old Pentax Lenses on Newer Pentax Cameras
we are more compatible with our old junk!
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Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff
Algi
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 ?
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
Pentax K55 F1.8
Pentax-M 50mm F1.4
I think the average amount I paid for these lenses was about £60 each, so they are not too expensive.
Regards
David
I Have My Beady Eye On A Couple On Ebay Now
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?
Too late now they are going for serious money
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Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff
Algi
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
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/
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Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff
Algi
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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Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff
Algi
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.
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Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff
Algi
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.
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55 posts
10 years
Staffordshire Moorlands.
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
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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.
Ian