I would love to have a full frame Pentax . At least the focal length markings of my lenses would fit again.

However I don't believe the Pentax could get a deep hold in the PRO market.

When the Spotmatic arrived, The M series Leicas where still reigning supreme until Nikon ousted it.

This days, the standard punter has not even heard of Pentax and many pro's don't go near it. Pentax, despite being a great innovator, always satisfied the amateur marked. The technical institutes used the Leica or Exacta with the hundreds of accessories at first and then again the Nikons. Very little Pentax was used.
Pentax made some fantastic cameras. my favourite being the Super-A. but still not used by professionals.

The above comments are of course just my own opinion. The Pro's which are using Pentax are just a bit smarter than the ones who don't.

Regards, Horst

The most useless part on my K5 is the inbuilt flash. With the enormous sensitivity now available and with the anti shake feature, I can not see much use for it. Everything looks nasty and flat and hard when taken with the inbuilt flash.
Without it, the camera looks would also improve.
I have taken shots in a goldmine tunnel with just a few incandescent lamps operating. The pictures looked like a tunnel in a goldmine with just a few incandescent lamps operating. The background was still visible and showed the length of the tunnel. When using the inbuilt flash,
the walls close enough appeared just about white and the contours missing. The background black and dead.
Regards, Horst

These days many manufacturers don't support older equipment. They are only interested in selling new equipment. Not only in the camear field, but also in electronic equipment.one of the worst are manufacturers like Agilent (previous HP) or just about all Japanese manufacturers. They don't want to know you if you come to them with a 10 year old piece of gear.
Some camera manufacturers have still one oldtimer working who does repair old cameras, but when he retires thats also the end of these repairs.Canon in Australia repaired a Canon IIf from 1953 for me a few years ago, but I think this is finished now too.
I believe Leitz does still do older Leicas. (repair and service), but they are the exeption.

This is my dream lens.
If only the bloody electricity and gas bills wouldn't arrive every second month, I possibly could afford one too.

Lucky you.

Regards, Horst

I too

Regards, Horst

Thanks for all the information.

The strange thing was, that there was really no information on the F but all on the FA.

Thanks again to all of you.

Regards, Horst

No, this didn't help very much.

However the SFX camera came with the 50mm lens and also with a F 35-70mm lens.
I paid about $ 60.- for the lot.
Regards, Horst

Hi,
a while ago I bought a SFX (SF1) camera with a SMC-F 50mm f1.4 lens attached.
The lens looks like new and it was cheap enough.
However I am trying to find a review for this lens on the internet, but
I can only find it for FA lenses. The FA looks somewhat different.
I can not find anything at all for an SMC-F 50mm lens.
Does anyone know what the difference between the F and FA lens is?

Regards, Horst

This is correct.
I do have an Autobellows-A and had an Autobellos M.
There is no difference.
An A lens can not be used with the A setting, but has to have the diaphragm manually set to the f-stop you require. It uses a double cable-release. This means all K, A, F and FA lenses operate the same way.
One part of the Cable-release goes in to the bellows and the other in to the camera.
When pushed, the part which goes in to the bellows and emerges earlier to operate the diaphragm towards the f-stop setting selected on the lens, ,further pushing on the cable release operates the camera.
However this only functions on cameras with a screw in cable release.
It won't work like this with a DSLR with the electronics release only.

Regards, Horst

Hi,
having now used my f 35-70 lens for a while, I am convinced this is the lens I would take with me.
Why?
It is light and not to bulky.
I like the focal length. I am not to keen on wide angles.
It has some macro facility.
It auto-focuses very well and quick on my K5.
It has a 49mm thread. This lets me use relatively inexpensive filters,
It makes very nice portraits (in case some mermaids visit me)
I am not as fuzzy about the last bit of edge sharpness, probably wouldn't even notice it.
Despite the relatively small aperture of 3.5 - 4.5, this can be overcome by the large range of sensitivity the K5 lets me select.

And finally: I just like it the best of all my lenses, at least, at this time.

Regards, Horst