Not had any locking so far Nipper, and have used a variety of lenses. I don't own any SDM lenses though so I can't make any comment on whether or not this could be a cause.

Regards
David

I think your last quote says it all Ken. The SMC Taks are absolute proof of this and the fact that there are still so many being used so often makes the effectiveness and durability of the coatings indisputable.

My humble SMC Takumar 135mm F3.5 is one of my favourite lenses despite its 'slowness'. It takes stunning quality pictures that suit my style very well.

Regards
David

This is a very interesting post. I only have modern 'automatic everything' cameras (K-5, K-x), but grew up (in a phtographic sense) using an old manual only Petri SLR. I really appreciate the many options and modes that the modern DSLR's provide me with and I think I have become pretty good at using them, but most of my images are taken in full manual and a high proportion with manual focus lenses. I have no idea whether this makes my pictures better or worse, but it is a comfortable way for me to work. If conditions dictate, I'm happy to use AV mode and autofocus instead and it's nice to have this option.

Regards
David

Welcome Julien, your English looks pretty good to me! I hope you enjoy your photography and the PU website.

Best wishes
David

I have also been following this post with interest. If you get a decent quality flush-fitting adaptor (you don't need to buy the genuine Pentax ones as there are alternatives at a fraction of the price that do fit properly) you won't need a locking pin, especially with a small, light lens like the 50mm.

The better quality ones fit quite tightly (at least, mine do) and are sufficiently snug to leave no possibility of the lens accidentally slipping off the mount. I have removed all of the metal spring clips from mine and fixed them permanently to my various M42 lenses, including a Tamron 300mm F5.6 Adaptamatic, which is quite a large and heavy piece of kit.

I have had no issues whatsoever and my M42 lenses are now as easy to use as my K-mount ones, albeit they only work in manual. Please see the link below for the ebay supplier I use; I have had many adaptors from this supplier and all have fitted perfectly. They are flush fitting, so maintain infinity focus.

link

Hope this is of assistance.

Regards
David

Shaun, I would take one of your cameras if I were you. Oh, and don't forget to stick a lens on the front.

You can take this good advice as a partial repayment for all the help and advice you've given to me!

Regards
David

I'm not really qualified to advise Chris as the only one I own is an old Miranda multi-dedicated unit (500CD) that I bought about 15-20 years ago. It still works perfectly and I would imagine would cost peanuts now. There are other users on here who could give excellent advice but I have noticed some good deals in the past on the Samsung version of the Pentax AF360FGZ, which is a program TTL flash, identical to the Pentax one except for cosmetics.

Can anyone help Chris with this?

Regards
David

Whilst on a model shoot on Saturday, I took two pictures less than a second apart on my K-5 without moving the camera at all and without adjusting any settings. The scene was identical, yet the results were very different! One is the correct colour, the other came out with a purplish tinge, as if the white balance had changed! The exposures were ever so slightly different too. The camera was set on AWB but the light did not change so this should not have been a factor. Exposure was set on manual, so no variables here.

This is not something I have experienced before or since, so I have no easy explanation!

Could I make a suggestion that your issue could be a lens aperture problem? If the aperture is not opening / closing quickly enough, could this cause the symptoms displayed in your image? It's not an explanation for what happened to me as I was using a SMC Takumar M42 in fully manual mode, but it may be worth investigating.

Regards
David

If you are serious about insect shots, I would concur with the previous post and get a dedicated macro lens. The obvious choice of zoom would then be either the DA L 55-300 or the DA 55-300. They are exactly the same optically, but the 'L' version is the lighter in weight, has a plastic mount, no 'quick shift' (i.e. no ability to manually focus in autofocus mode) and doesn't come with a lens hood, although these can be bought from ebay for a couple of quid, so no real issue with the hood.

The 55-300 in either version is superb and far better than the Sigma in optical terms, which I also own but never use. The 55-300 lives on my K-x almost permanently and never lets me down.

Regards
David

Hi Mandy

I am a K-x owner (for approx 1 year) and I have also just bought a K-5 about a month ago. I can tell you without hesitation that the K-5 is a seriously great camera, but also that I still rate the K-x very highly too. For the money, I don't think the K-x could be beaten when it was brought out and only the K-r tops it at the price now (BTW, I actually prefer the handling of the K-x to the K-r, but that's just a personal thing).

The K-5 is a semi-pro body, fantastic build quality and more features than you could wish for. It also takes scintillating images and is significantly better than the K-x for colour depth, dynamic range and shots taken in very low light (although the K-x is very good in low light / high ISO, it is not as good as the K-5). If you use auto-focus, the K-5 is also miles better than the K-x in this regard (faster, more accurate, less 'hunting'). It is a lovely camera to use and has a very quiet / vibration-free shutter action which helps to avoid undue shake and doesn't scare off birds!

The K-5 beats the Canon / Nikon equivalents in many reviews, even when comparing Canon / Nikon bodies that are considerably more expensive. It compares even more favourably if you look at price-equivalent models.

If you can afford to buy a K-5, I don't think you would regret it, but I would keep the K-x as well. You can then have a long lens on one and a more general lens on the other and swap lenses less often.

Hope this is helpful, if you would like any specific information that has not been covered in this post, please feel free to PM me and I will help as much as I can.

Best wishes
David