That is the way it is supposed to work, so the ball point pen or similar item is necessary to release the lock on the adapter. It's not any more of a hazard than attaching or removing anything else, but if you're not happy with it then don't do it....

It is quicker to use bayonet lenses on bayonet bodies, but there are plenty of very good screw mount lenses that can be very useful, and the choices are there.

Hope that helps, but only the individual can decide how they want to proceed. I do use the Pentax adapter, but only rarely because it isn't particularly convenient IMHO. And I do use a jeweller's screwdrive instead of a ball point pen, but it amounts to the same thing!

Glad you were successful!

The correct procedure is to attach the adapter to the lens, and then put the lens onto the camera. When you unscrew the lens, the adapter stays behind on the camera body.

This means you can then use the body to mount and remove screw thread lenses, until such time that you remove the adapter.

1) There is no such thing as a Takumar 50mm f1.2 lens, do you mean a 50mm 1:2 (i.e. f2) lens? Anyway, the adapter fits on the lens, and you put the lens on the camera. Then you can unscrew the lens, leaving the adapter in place on the body. This should not be a problem.

2) OK, the adapter is now on the body. To release it, take a ball point pen tip to press the "little bit of springy metal" which will enable you to rotate the adapter and it should easily be removeable.

3) Follow the procedure described in answer 1) and you will be able to use the adapter on any Pentax bayonet body, including the MZ-S

Do please let us know how you get on!

In effect, these adapters change a bayonet body into a screw thread body. That's fine, but I think it would be better to have an adapter that converts a screw thread lens to bayonet. Then you could have an adapter on every lens in the same way as leica make for their rangefinder cameras.

Still, at least we can still us screw thread lenses on bayonet bodies and some of them are very fine lenses indeed.

Sometimes it's nice to simplify things, go back to basics and re-discover simpler days. Thanks to a bit of buying on eBay I have assembled a small kit based on the Spotmatic along with 24mm, 28mm, 50mm and 105mm lenses. So now I'm in retro mood, the Tri-X is loaded and ready, the Wein Cell ordered and when the rest of the kit arrives it'll be interesting. I always have had a soft spot for the Spotmatic (Hmmm...)

At the same time, it may be sacriledge here, but I am also dabbling with a Voigtlander Bessamatic, heavy, superbly made and one of the few really useable 1950s SLR designs.

Progress report later!

It's probably worth mentioning that some lenses not necessarily designed for Pentax can actually get stuck on the mount. I think this applies particularly to some Ricoh lenses.

This lens is very highly thought of. Set an aperture just like an "M" lens and you can use aperture priority. If it has an "A" or "AE" setting it might be suitable for Shutter Priority with suitable cameras.

I mentioned that the lens was an f2 normally simply because it indicated that the body and lens were probably not originally bought together. The f2 and f1.7 lenses are exceptionally good, better, in my opinion, than the more expenseive f1.4 which sacrifices resolution for very high contrast.

In the case of the screw thread lenses, the f1.8 and f2 versions were sometimes actually identical, with the f2 version simply having a mask inside to cut down the maximum aperture!

In summary, all the 50mm lenses are of a very high standard and differences will only be noticed with very large prints.

I've had a look at the item on eBay and on the face of it it looks very nice. The lens included is an f1.7 which is not what the K1000 was originally shipped with - as far as I know it was always an f2.

Other than what we can see there is no way of telling if it's a metal or plastic K1000, and according to a repairer that I was recently talkin to it makes a very big difference.

However, if the price is right.....

I'll have a look in a while, but if you can't contact the seller be careful!