Darkmunk!

I'm so sorry!

The way the thread showed up when I logged in this afternoon had Martin's reply at the top, and I went right to thanking him.

It is only now that I saw your very welcome response - which I really appreciate!!!!!

Please don't think I ignored your effort or don't appreciate it!

Wow, I think I've managed to really irritate enough folks for today - or maybe forever.

Cheers all - back to lurking.

Richard,

In my rush to ask my question, I forgot to open with how much I love the shot!

Sorry about that, and I surely didn't mean to hijack the thread!

Thanks for the link, Martin - EXACTLY what I was looking for.

Speaking of histograms - which baffle me - and seem to have no explanation in my K110D manual, how do they work, and what can I learn from them?

Can someone point me to a good article?

Cheers

I'm in.

Like Peter, I also have a Russian 500mm Mirror lens. Amazingly sharp with terrible bokeh.

Built like the proverbial tank for M42 screw mount.

I use it for photographing loons on our lake. I shoot from a kayak, and one day will wind up under water - this thing is HEAVY

I've used it with 2x extenders, but the DOF is paper thin and begs a tripod, cable release and a flat subject that stays put.

Unfortunatelty, my lens barrel is too large in diameter to mount on my K110D - runs into the pop-up flash overhang. Thus back to needing the 2x converter and really limiting the use of the lens.

Along with my 1:2.5 135, I also have this lens.

They are both excellent in different ways.

The 2.5 has become my favorite portrait lens on film (bit much on DSLR).

The 3.5 on bellows is an amazing Macro lens, as well as being terrific on its own in the field.

The 3.5 takes all the usual 49mm filters and hoods, while the larger 2.5 needs 58mm. I strongly suggest a metal hood for that big piece of glass.

From the pose - he sure is a GUY

But what a great shot.

Nothing but kudos from me.

Somebody look up UNIVAC II - 1961.
NO solid state - NO transistors - all tubes - Tape Operating System (TOS).
Only media was oxide coating on steel tape - 7 track, 200 BPS. The 2400 foot tapes each weighed over 20 pounds.
For repair - which was constant - the customer engineers walked inside the CPU - the size of tram cars.
Energy coscumption could power a small town.
Mostly what the beasts did were tape sorts. The longest I remember took the better part of a 24hr day, and seldom completed without checkmarked restarts, as the tubes were forever blowing.
No memory - iron core - 256k maximum.

God, I'm OLD!

Roy,

To be clear, I use the flush mount Pentax adapters - not the inexpensive flange type which add length to the mount and we lose the ability to focus on infinity.

I don't do anything to the M42 Lenses at all.

I remove a flat little tempered leaf spring from the adapter so it won't lock into the camera opening (this may just be paranoia on my part as a tool is included to compress the spring and turn the adapter for removal).

Now, the adapter twists onto the camera body just like a K mount lens and you snug it up without it locking. Next we screw in those wonderful old M42s - set on M for manual. Snug is all that's needed to keep the lens steadily and safely mounted.

I find that when I unscrew the lens from the adapter, the adapter usually releases from the body - no biggie - just a matter of then unscrewing the adapter from the lens.

Don't overtighten anything and all will be fine.

I've found on my K110D that these lenses let a lot of light through and I think this overwhelms the light meter - resulting in underexposed shots.

I've compensated by a full 2 stops on the Av buttom and this usually does the trick.

I set the camera to AV and let it find the appropriate shutter speed and ISO for the manual f stops I set on the lens.

I'm sure this isn't the only or even the best way to accomodate these lenses, but it works a treat for me.

(Thank Goodness for the preview switch - sure helps with trial-and-error).

Get yourself a Tak or two and have fun