[GibbyTheMole]

Hey there.

I recently acquired a very nice Tamron 60-300 and the 2x Tamron TC for a good deal on eBay. It was supposed to have a Pentax mount included, but it wound up being for Canon.

There's a bunch of generic adaptall mounts for P/K on eBay for around $10. The genuine Tamrons are around $30-$40.

Has anyone used the cheap adapters & if so, what's the difference other than the name on the ring? Is there a significant quality or durability difference?

Cheers,
Bobbo :-)

[SOldBear]

Beware of adapters with no aperture mechanism. You will have to use the lens in stop-down fashion (similar to an M42 lens in manual mode). I believe the $10 version has no aperture mechanism.

Please check your PM.

[Coeurdechene]

Definitely get the original one.
I got one cheapo wich is fine but for 20 bucks more the original is a good buy.

[jolepp]

My impression has been that the El-Cheapo just provides for physically fitting the lens on the mount. Aperture automation is worth having and the mechanical quality of the knock-off M42 adapters at least is so-so .. which means getting the genuine job is probably a $20 well spent. (I seem to recall seeing those go kind of cheap in ebay.co.uk, BTW ...)

[GibbyTheMole]

Jolepp:

If I have to buy one, I'll get the original just for the better quality if nothing else... But just to clarify, when you say "aperture automation", do you mean the "A" setting on the PK-A version of the adapter, or are you talking about the camera's ability to stop down the lens to the selected aperture setting when the shutter is released?

Maybe a dumb question, but though I've been into photography for 25 years, I've never used adaptall or M42 lenses. All of my cameras have always been some sort of fixed bayonet mount.

Cheers & thanks,
Bobbo :-)

[jolepp]

I seem to recall that the mechanics for both the A setting and the automatic stopdown come with the genuine deal only, that is, the El-Cheapo is just a lump of metal that fits in both ends, whereas the genuine thing has the linkage lever and (so I would seem to recall) the pin which tells the body that the aperture ring is in the A position, which is an invitation to fully take over the aperture lever (A series and later Pentax lenses in 'A'), as opposed to just letting the spring loaded lever to go during exposure to stop at the position set on the ring (M series and earlier or the newer not in 'A').

[kryss]

Jolepp:

If I have to buy one, I'll get the original just for the better quality if nothing else... But just to clarify, when you say "aperture automation", do you mean the "A" setting on the PK-A version of the adapter, or are you talking about the camera's ability to stop down the lens to the selected aperture setting when the shutter is released?

Maybe a dumb question, but though I've been into photography for 25 years, I've never used adaptall or M42 lenses. All of my cameras have always been some sort of fixed bayonet mount.

Cheers & thanks,
Bobbo :-)

Hi,I have been shooting 50yrs + and amassed 35+ Tamron adaptalls,I have 3 PKa adapters,2 PK and 2 m42.I shoot mainly Macro or portraits and therefore am in manual focus mode I recently bought one of the $15 China Adaptall mount and was very impressed with quality and ease of use ie you do not need to put lens in min aperture before mounting,much easier to use in the field. $15 opposed to $120-$150 was a no brainer for me.

[jolepp]

Hi,I have been shooting 50yrs + and amassed 35+ Tamron adaptalls,I have 3 PKa adapters,2 PK and 2 m42.I shoot mainly Macro or portraits and therefore am in manual focus mode I recently bought one of the $15 China Adaptall mount and was very impressed with quality and ease of use ie you do not need to put lens in min aperture before mounting,much easier to use in the field. $15 opposed to $120-$150 was a no brainer for me.

So are there other than those 'a-single-lump-of-solid-metal' knock-offs? (Or are you saying that the lump-of-metal kind is convenient enough to use?)

I have not gotten into the adapalls (yet ), but have been tempted enough to try and figure out the adapters (thought I had ), as there would seem to be a number of fine lenses to be had for a good price . Got myself an adapt-a-matic 200mm 1:3.5 with the Konica adapter by misunderstanding / vaguely worded listing though, it seems that the M42 adapter I thought I was getting with the lens is next to impossible to score, let alone for a reasonable price ... I guess those were made for a short time only before they upgraded to adaptall ... something to be aware of I guess ...

[kryss]

So are there other than those 'a-single-lump-of-solid-metal' knock-offs? (Or are you saying that the lump-of-metal kind is convenient enough to use?)

I have not gotten into the adapalls (yet ), but have been tempted enough to try and figure out the adapters (thought I had ), as there would seem to be a number of fine lenses to be had for a good price . Got myself an adapt-a-matic 200mm 1:3.5 with the Konica adapter by misunderstanding / vaguely worded listing though, it seems that the M42 adapter I thought I was getting with the lens is next to impossible to score, let alone for a reasonable price ... I guess those were made for a short time only before they upgraded to adaptall ... something to be aware of I guess ...

Hi,I got mine from rocksphoto and was very good quality and fit,impossible to jam on lens or body,I use it on my spotmatic etc,and also with a M42-Pk on my P1Z etc. You may want to consider Tamron SP lenses though in future and yes this adapter fits them as well.Good hunting.

[excanonfd]

Tamron PK/A mounts (most expensive, $80+) is the most versatile, gives you the same functionality of Pentax A mount lenses. PK/M mounts ($30-45) works like Pentax M lenses; shoot in M mode and press the green button to meter, or shoot in Av mode with aperture wide open. The Chinese knock-offs (I paid 15.00) works like your Pentax screw mount lenses plus an m42 adapter; stop down metering in Av mode. This is most suited for 06B, 55B, and 55BB mirror lenses with fixed aperture. Because there are no moving parts to these knock-offs, they are more robust than the original PK/A or M mounts. Some of the A mounts won't show aperture value larger than f4.0 on my K20D, or may show the dreaded F-- momentarily until you jiggle the mount a little bit to bring it back in alignment(?). Anyways, A mounts can be finicky at times...

Oh yes, there is also an m42 adaptall mount which I don't have but I surmise it functions same as Pentax screw mount lenses with an m42 adapter. Pretty well redundant for use with Pentax K mounts.

Hope this helps,

[Laurentiu Cristofor]

excanonfd has covered all. I'll just add that I am happy with the $15 adapters I have - the only problem I hit with a couple of them was that I had to widen a bit the hole that is used to lock the adapter on the lens - it was just tight enough that the mount locking pin wouldn't get into it. I just used a small file for a minute and that fixed the issue. As for the PKA adapters, I have one and mine also has the problem that it doesn't work with slow lenses. Another thing to keep in mind about the PKA is that it's not as easy to mount - the procedure is a bit more involved, so it's best done at home than in the field.

I would recommend getting a cheap adapter for starters and then consider the PKA only if your interest in adaptall lenses is still alive.

[GibbyTheMole]

Thanks for the advice, guys. Looks like a genuine Tamron PK-M is the way to to go for me. I don't have a problem with hitting the "green button" for metered manual shooting, since I do it all the time with my Pentax-M primes. Plus, if the PK-A adapter is kinda flaky in it's operation, it wouldn't be worth the $80+ dollar investment to me.

Thanks for clearing that up!

Cheers,
Bobbo :-)

[excanonfd]

Thanks for the advice, guys. Looks like a genuine Tamron PK-M is the way to to go for me. I don't have a problem with hitting the "green button" for metered manual shooting, since I do it all the time with my Pentax-M primes. Plus, if the PK-A adapter is kinda flaky in it's operation, it wouldn't be worth the $80+ dollar investment to me.

Thanks for clearing that up!

Cheers,
Bobbo :-)

Good, one less competitor for the dwindling PK/A mounts! One thing I forgot to mention, whichever genuine Adaptall mount you buy, you must make sure the aperture ring on the lens is set to the widest position before mounting/dismounting to/from the lens. This is specific to PK mounts.

Thanks,