There is a good reason for not putting a Super Takumar 50mm f1.4 lens on to most older screw thread bodies - the rear element will indeed hit the mirror. The S1a is OK provided it has the orange R on the rewind crank.

However, there should be no problem putting any K mount lens on any K mount camera. If the 10-17mm fits a *istDS then it will fit a ME Super. Of course, if there is no aperture ring it won't be much use....

DA lenses and FAJ lenses with no aperture ring can be used by some film cameras, sometimes in program or shutter-priority modes only, but it is only because of the lack of the ring and has nothing to do with protuding rear elements.

I should add to that that being designed for DSLRs there may well be vignetting with full frame film cameras.

Debate is fine, personal attacks are not.

The point about lens design is a valid one indeed. Some older lenses are excellent though on digital, others are not so good. To a great extent the arguments about telecentric design are mitigated by the APS-C sensor only using the centre of the field of view. The SMC coating was always pretty good anyway, so the pentax lenses may be above average in that respect also.

However, I am a great believer in ergonomics and the newer lenses do fit in with the newer bodies very well. Using older lenses is a mixed blessing IMHO and I tend to use them less and less.

The K and M lenses in particular, although very fine, are not the perfect match for the DSLRs.

But in terms of compatibility Pentax are much better than the others. Olympus for example also have an adapter for OM lenses, but they are restricted even to particular apertures and are not fully useable.

Newark, New Jersey? A very mysterious statement, whatever do you mean?

:

Well thank heavens you broke it to us gently....

Actually, I don't agree, but we can all have different opinions.

I don't see the DA lenses as a problem - they are perfect for the DSLRs and that is what I happen to use. My film cameras have their own lenses that they always had.

As for a full frame Pentax DSLR - I don't think it's going to happen. Frankly, the need for such a beast has passed by...

I've copied lots of slides and negatives using a digital SLR and very good results can be obtained. But it isn't quick. You need a good, evenly illuminated lightbox. A totally dark room to avoid reflections. Every slide etc should be firmly fixed down to be flat. The rest of the lightbox should be blacked out to prevent flare. The camera must be tripod mounted and absolutely parallel to the slide. The focusing must be perfect.

After that, just use a white balance appropriate to the light source (lightbox) and use Photoshop to correct the negatives.

Probably as easy if not easier to use the slide/neg scanner.

Sue has a TP327 which is better than nothing, but the head is a bit plasticky and wobbles with anything too heavy on it. Now she has started using her SMC Pentax-FA 100mm f2.8 Macro she needs a sturdier tripod and is currently using an old Slik 35SN. This is much sturdier.

If you need a tripod, IMHO you need a good one and could perhaps look at the Manfrotto 055 range.

I suspect that Pentax have been earning some money from the *istD range, and that as their success increased it made more things possible. A "flagship" model would be all very well, but it isn't in the main part of the market place and the press photographers are already geared up to Canon or Nikon so breaking into that would be a long hard slog. That would also need a lot of investment.

I think Pentax are pitching it just right with an excellent product and it should increase their market share very significantly where it counts.

Better to spend the money on lenses as George suggests. There comes a point beyond which changing the camera body will have very little effect on the pictures we are able to shoot. The law of dimishing returns...

When I get it, I'm sure I will be happy with the K10D for a very long time.

A very interesting insight into the design team's thinking process. Thanks for posting the link.

I know Pennington Flash very well - only a few miles from home.

I presume HSM means "Hyper Sonic Motor" or something like that and refers to a focusing motor in the lens.

We'll be waiting for a while for the pentax versions to appear yet, and that would make any independent ones even further away. I wouldn't worry about it really...