Camera Labs

Has anyone tried using old K1000 lenses on Pentax digital SLRs? I understand they fit (with limitations, eg a manual exposure and focus lens will obviously stay manual even if placed on an auto camera)? I was wondering how the quality of say the old 50mm f2 or 50mm f1.7 are compared to the lenses they ship with current Pentax digital SLRs? Is it worth the bother? Anyone have any first hand experience?

Hi,

I'm using Pentax K as well as M42 and Pentacon Six lenses on my Samsung GX20. They all work fine! The M42 and the Pentacon Six are all shutting down aperture as you turn the ring, so you can use them in Aperturepriority without any problems.

The Pentax K mount lens I own, a Vivitar Sieries 1 70-210 f3.5, can only be used in Aperturepriority at f3.5. If you want the camera to shut down the aperture you have to be using Manual. As I undestand that is the case with all Pantax K lenses. So you will need an SMC-A or Autofocus lens to stop down in Aperturepriority!

Anyway, I really love my manual lenses! To be exact, this is the reason why I use Pentax at all! Their bodies meter with manual lenses, they have focus confirm without any chips on the adapter and their range of manual lenses is huge!

My Super Takumar 55 1.8 outperforms my Nikkor 50 1.8 AF lense I had on my D1x by far and my new M42 Porst 135 1.8 is just beautifull especially considering the price of 180€ for such a fast tele!

So just buy a digital Pentax and have fun with your old lenses!

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Thanks for the advice, I'll give it a go. it will be good to dust off the old lenses! Cheers!

This was one of my main hightlights of buying into the Pentax line. I've picked up some real gems that are just as old as I am for a very cheap price. My 50mm F1.7 M series lens is one of my favorites. Sure you have to use it on manual mode and manually focus the lens but at such a cheap price you cant go wrong. My 50mm cost me I think $30 bucks! Still laughing all the way to the bank.

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My k200d has catch in focus, which is brilliant for manual focusing, but I also get an extreme amount of color saturation. flower portraits are out of the question because a rose just turns into a lump of paint with no contrast. Images (especially in low light situations) also tend to get red or reddish. Have you had this problem?

cheers

try going into your function and setting the saturation down. Even by changing the function mode to portrait would help a lot. Otherwise id say there may be some hazing on your lens

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I'm just buying up a few M42/K mount lenses for my K10D at the moment, basically because it seems to be the cheapest way of getting some experience of what the more unusual lens sizes perform like, ahead of buying a couple of the new ones (or possibly a change to Nikon if my friend gets an upgrade).

I was just wondering, and this seemed the place to ask, what the crop factor does to the lens? As far as I'm aware it multiplies the focal length by 1.5, but does it have any other effects? On aperture or anything?

Cheers!

Phazaar,

The answer to your question is no. 1.5x is the crop factor of the camera so you are correct at multiplying the lens focal length by 1.5. The lens is still the lens though. The aperture is an iris similar to the pupil in your eye that opens and closes allowing more or less light into the camera thus to the camera sensor. So basically the aperture does not change.

As for buying old lenses. I have no experience with using an M42 lens on my dslr however keep an eye out for M and FA series lenses as they are quite cheap. Some FA lenses are still in production and are just as expensive as DA series but some of the FA series are a bit cheap used. Do not confuse the Pentax FA with Pentax FAJ which are the worst series of lenses ever produced by Pentax. The FA series also have auto focus which I consider a valued bonus in some situations. Happy lens hunting

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