[Fenwoodian]

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Recently we've all read articles on "Pentax is Doomed". Judging by the many emotional postings to these Pentax is Doomed threads, it's clear to me that many of you are concerned about this. While I do sincerely hope Pentax thrives and survives because I love their gear, I don't worry at all about the future of Pentax.

I own three Pentax K mount cameras and dozens of K mount lenses. If Pentax ever does go down, I'll just keep shooting my wonderful K1's and K-70 cameras until they die.

After my Pentax K mount cameras are dead, I'll likely replace them with Sony full-frame mirrorless digital cameras and use my K mount lenses (with aperture rings) with a Novoflex Adapter on my new Sony bodies.

I only own two, inexpensive, auto focus K mount lenses - the rest of my K mount lenses are manual focus primes with aperture rings. Therefore the loss of auto focus caused by the above adapter is of no concern to me.

I certainly realize that some of you would be adversely affected by the loss of auto focus capabilities, and because of that, it would not be feasible for you to shoot your K mount lenses on an adapter. But Pentax photographers (like me) who primarily use manual focus prime lenses, will be able to use their MF lenses on full frame, mirrorless bodies (like those from Sony) should anything ever happen to Pentax.

I also own a few Fuji X bodies. I only have one Fuji auto focus lens for my X bodies. For years I've successfully used my MF Pentax K lenses on my Fuji X bodies with adapters. The K lenses work great on K to X adapters, although most of the K full-frame lenses are much heavier than their Fuji X lens counterparts (making the camera/lens uncomfortably front heavy). So, based on my Fuji X experience, I'm thinking that using K mount lenses on Sony full frame might also work well (maybe even better as the Sony combo wouldn't be so front heavy).

I'd love to hear from those of you who have already used K mount lenses (with adapters) on Sony bodies. What's been your experience? Are your K mount lenses front heavy on the Sony body?

Also, given that Nikon and Canon will be coming out with full frame, mirrorless bodies in the future, there likely will be other full frame mirrorless options available to use MF K mount lenses on.

Manual focus, K mount prime lenses (with aperture rings) will last forever...

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Last edited by Fenwoodian; 06-06-2018 at 02:45 PM.

[ChristianRock]

But my wife would need a new camera... She refuses to focus manually.
I do expect my cameras to last a long time though, and there's also newer models to upgrade to, so I know I would be good for a long time...

[LensBeginner]

Main issue to me is not the lack of AF, but the lack of aperture rings on almost all the "modern" lenses I bought (18-55, 55-300 and a Sigma 10-20/3.5).
All my M series lenses are good to go on a Sony body, but I would lose everything under 28mm.

Apart from the fact that the aperture mechanism has changed in time (at first movement was proportional to diameter, then it became proportional to the area - but this should not be an issue because the lenses of the first kind all have an aperture ring), most lenses have different apertures and movement range, so short of buying an adapter for each of them and mark the steps with a marker, there's no way to know how much you're stopping down. Big bummer to me.

[ChristianRock]

A lot of adapters come with their own aperture control now.

[LensBeginner]

A lot of adapters come with their own aperture control now.

Yeah, but my point is, you never really know how much you are stopping down.
You turn it "some degrees", but it's never precise.

I'm the kind of person that writes down aperture values for each shot I take with lenses without contacts, and the focal length as well if said lens is a zoom (like the M 80-200/4.5). OCD perhaps, but that's how I roll

[Fenwoodian]

Yeah, but my point is, you never really know how much you are stopping down.
You turn it "some degrees", but it's never precise.

I'm the kind of person that writes down aperture values for each shot I take with lenses without contacts, and the focal length as well if said lens is a zoom (like the M 80-200/4.5). OCD perhaps, but that's how I roll

Interesting...

It's sure nice to meet a fellow OCD photographer! But maybe I'm even a bit more OCD than you are?

For example, I don't need to write down the aperture when I use one of my lenses with an adapter, because for each of my lenses I've identified it's "sweet spot" aperture - and I will only shoot a lens at its' particular "sweet spot" aperture. On a few of my lenses (e.g. my Leitax adapted Zeiss ZF Milvus 85mm f/1.4) I've permanently locked the aperture to its' "sweet spot" setting (f/2 in this case) so that I don't have to worry about accidentally shooting it at any other aperture setting! I'm not kidding.

[tvdtvdtvd]

I've identified it's "sweet spot" aperature - and I will only shoot a lens at its' particular "sweet spot" aperture.

Wow, that is hardcore. So, I'm guessing you rely heavily on variable ISO and/or ND filters to get the shutter speed you want for the shot.

I tend to stay away from the extremes, ie max and min aperture for a given lens, but I'm not afraid to use its range even when I know
where the sweet spot is. If I want DoF, I'll happily punch it up to f/16, or open it up to f/2 if I want the speed, always preferring to keep
ISO down. My priorities tend to be; desired aperture, appropriate/acceptable shutter, tolerable ISO, in that order.

[Fenwoodian]

Wow, that is hardcore. So, I'm guessing you rely heavily on variable ISO and/or ND filters to get the shutter speed you want for the shot.

I tend to stay away from the extremes, ie max and min aperture for a given lens, but I'm not afraid to use its range even when I know
where the sweet spot is. If I want DoF, I'll happily punch it up to f/16, or open it up to f/2 if I want the speed, always preferring to keep
ISO down. My priorities tend to be; desired aperture, appropriate/acceptable shutter, tolerable ISO, in that order.

Yeah, I guess that you could call me hardcore.

I only shoot at the base ISO of the camera. I usually rely on shutter speed to control the exposure. All exposures are determined using a hand-held incident light meter. I rarely shoot in bright sunlight (from Transylvania ) so I'm usually able to avoid ND filters.

I have three priorities - subject illumination, subject sharpness, and bokeh.

[LensBeginner]

Interesting...

It's sure nice to meet a fellow OCD photographer! But maybe I'm even a bit more OCD than you are?

For example, I don't need to write down the aperture when I use one of my lenses with an adapter, because for each of my lenses I've identified it's "sweet spot" aperture - and I will only shoot a lens at its' particular "sweet spot" aperture. On a few of my lenses (e.g. my Leitax adapted Zeiss ZF Milvus 85mm f/1.4) I've permanently locked the aperture to its' "sweet spot" setting (f/2 in this case) so that I don't have to worry about accidentally shooting it at any other aperture setting! I'm not kidding.

I'm a little more tolerant... I usually have a range
The problem with my non-ringed (?) lenses is that they are either cheap kits (18-55, 55-300) or their performance is... uh... less than stellar at the corners/sides (10-20)...
I usually shoot the kit lenses between f/8 (but it's not that good so ideally 9.5 for the 18-55) and f/11-13 (riding the diffraction limit).
The Sigma can be actually shot wide open, unless it's at 10mm, where I need lots of DoF and MF (I know a specific spot) because of a weak right side - so it's f/8.

The SMC-M I own are better, in this respect... and, oh, when it's dark all bets are off. Lens softness is better than high(er) ISO which is in turn better than motion blur.
Or, I could do like a member of the Italian forum says: "when ISOs go past 800, I put my feet under the table". One must have his priorities straight...

[stevebrot]

A lot of adapters come with their own aperture control now.

Yeah, but my point is, you never really know how much you are stopping down.
You turn it "some degrees", but it's never precise.

I'm the kind of person that writes down aperture values for each shot I take with lenses without contacts, and the focal length as well if said lens is a zoom (like the M 80-200/4.5). OCD perhaps, but that's how I roll

I too was surprised when I took a look at available adapters. Those with aperture ring emulation worked through the actuator lever (dud) and the one's I looked at had ridiculously short throw, making it difficult to do aperture bracketing and fancy stuff like that. The current generation K-mount lenses (FA series aside) are instant orphans should replacement bodies not be readily available.


Steve
Steve

[GUB]

I only shoot at the base ISO of the camera

Nice to know I am not the only one doing this.

[Kerrowdown]

Shooting Only Manual Focus Lenses

You mean there's some other way?...

[LensBeginner]

Nice to know I am not the only one doing this.

Hey since or cameras are nearly ISO-invariant, why forgo a huge chunk of dynamic range? It makes sense, when the scene has it!

[ChristianRock]

Not only am I covered with what I consider to be nice manual focus lenses (though not nearly in the league of renown of the OP's collection of Zeiss glass), these manual lenses also got me covered in case either my K-50 or K-S1 develop the aperture block problem. Well if both do, I'll have to get at least one fixed, but if one does, it's not a big deal. The K-50 that I got recently has basically seen nothing but manual lenses. I got it with over 35K images and no aperture block issue, so I hope and pray it stays that way...

[Fenwoodian]

Nice to know I am not the only one doing this.

Maybe we need to organize our own little club here within the Pentax Forums? We could call it the MEBI (Manual-Everything Base-ISO) Club!