[snake]

I've located a local shop that has a couple M-series lenses for sale, but two of the ones I'm interested in have aperture rings that spin freely. To clarify, they work fine, but there's no detent anymore- infinitely adjustable and doesn't lock into place.

I'm actually considering buying one of these examples, but I don't know if I can repair the ring or if it even needs repair and I should just shoot with it, as the lens and aperture operate fine.

What is the opinion of this?

[eddie1960]

Actually for shooting video these would be better since there would be no noise from adjusting aperture while shooting. I have a couple of m39 and m42 lenses that work this way. as long as the aperture operates i wouldn't worry overly, but I'd beat him down on the price over it since they are obviously not working the way they should.
If I'm not mistaken people sometimes do this to lenses specifically for video. if you had the removed part it could easily be restored

[snake]

Thanks a bunch for that. In fact, I got older FA lenses, rather than current DA equivalents because I do stop down and go back up during video. The only thing is when I do, the clicks are distracting, so it's a great idea you focused on that I didn't even think of. So perhaps these lenses were modded for video use.

[eddie1960]

Thanks a bunch for that. In fact, I got older FA lenses, rather than current DA equivalents because I do stop down and go back up during video. The only thing is when I do, the clicks are distracting, so it's a great idea you focused on that I didn't even think of. So perhaps these lenses were modded for video use.

A lot of the Russian m42 lenses are like this. I think a lot of people modify Taks this way for use on canon

[snake]

So long as I can get the aperture ring to not drift to often, I think this might be a preferable way to use it. I'll check back with the store or see if I can put o-rings on either side to generate a slight bit of friction if there is some drift.

[snake]

Looks like I'll be getting one such example from ebay, supposedly good condition, for 94 euros shipped. Hopefully it's in otherwise good working order.

Thanks for the help with this. I'm looking forward to seeing how good this M85 f2 is and finding a decent hood for it.

[snake]

Sorry, I wanted to get some clarification on how to shoot with this lens, since the ring doesn't stop. I've read about stop-down metering, tried it out on my other lenses (both F.FA) in MF+M mode to get the gist if it. Now the issue is that if the ring moves when I'm trying to meter, then what is one to do?

I've used manual lenses in the past, but on Olympus, and it was relatively straight-forward, simply observing the exposure meter, but it seems a bit less straight forward here with the K-5, or is it?

[snake]

Ok, received the lens and it's really in much better condition than advertised.

I mistakenly posted in the stop-down metering thread about the ring issue-

I can 100% confirm that without the detent ball, the ring does drift during the stopdown metering process. It's worst at f2, when it goes to about f2.4-2.8. Later, there's little movement.

I removed the ring, greased it lightly with a sticky grease, which minimized the drift, though there is still a small amount. The detent ball was there, stuck, and nothing behind it, so it just popped off. I removed it and put it in a safe place, but there was nothing there to hold it in place, oddly.

I'm still trying to figure out how and in what mode to use the lens, as it's not as straight forward as it was on my Olympus e510. Simply, one need only look at the EV meter, adjust, then shoot. Here, I don't seem to have that luxury and I get massive overexposure over f2.4 or so.

[eddie1960]

Ok, received the lens and it's really in much better condition than advertised.

I mistakenly posted in the stop-down metering thread about the ring issue-

I can 100% confirm that without the detent ball, the ring does drift during the stopdown metering process. It's worst at f2, when it goes to about f2.4-2.8. Later, there's little movement.

I removed the ring, greased it lightly with a sticky grease, which minimized the drift, though there is still a small amount. The detent ball was there, stuck, and nothing behind it, so it just popped off. I removed it and put it in a safe place, but there was nothing there to hold it in place, oddly.

I'm still trying to figure out how and in what mode to use the lens, as it's not as straight forward as it was on my Olympus e510. Simply, one need only look at the EV meter, adjust, then shoot. Here, I don't seem to have that luxury and I get massive overexposure over f2.4 or so.

how are you metering? massive overexposure seems off, I use manual lenses almost exclusively (either m42 or k and m series) and though there is some exposure issues nothing i would define as massive, and mostly using my m42 lenses in manual where i make a small adjustment using =/- ev

you should be able to spin it to where you want camera in m mode and hit the green button and shoot. metering is limited to spot or center no matrix (i use spot mostly)

[snake]

I would have thought so, too. I have it in center-weighted, but will try spot. I thought it only worked in spot, anyhow.

However, I've tried it again and again and the metering doesn't work right in anything but full or near wide open. Once I get past about f2.8, massive blowing, Like half a dozen stops. I remeter, naturally, using the green button, and the shutter speed drops accordingly, then bam, overexposure.

I know there's a method to this, but I'm not finding it yet and slightly disappointed that using manual lenses is not as easy as with the Olympus+Konica. Mainly, I don't like that the aperture isn't allowed to stay where I put it- meaning the adjustment cam in the body holds it open until the shot is taken or I stop down meter.

Edit: Spot overexposes even more.

I think I'll really have to read much more into this. I think I'm doing it all right, but then I'm getting overexposures. At full open, the exposure is quite good, perhaps 0.3 too high, so it's easy to sett, but below that, it's massively blowing.

[snake]

I'm still working through the overexposure issue when stopping down. Odd behavior, to say the least.

Ok, is there any way to get the ev meter displayed full time? I know I can move the power switch all the way over for the aperture actuation/preview and it will display the current light reading in cam, but having this available full-time would really, really make the whole process straight forward for me and is what I'm used to.