Originally posted by Beepaitch
Hi, please excuse the baited title/subject.
Does such a thing exist? It seems to me (as someone new to Pentax mounts and lenses) that the aperture lever and actuation is a fairly simple affair on old film bodies and their lenses.
I wondered if there’s an adapter or clever trick/mod people have used to get DoF preview on bodies without it, like ME Super?
Thanks!
There is an old trick that requires a little sleight-of-hand to use and is rather difficult because you don't want to drop your lens. While set at the desired F-stop, and with eye to the viewfinder, release the mount locking tab and rotate the lens to the right as though you were removing it while keeping it flush to the mount flange. When the aperture coupling lever is clear of the camera's coupling the lens will stop down and, although awkward, the subject can be seen at taking aperture.
I would not recommend this for the heavier, long lenses because you usually would only have one hand on the lens and the other holding the camera. It is the only way I know of to see stopped down on these cameras but hard to do while trying to make any useful evaluation of DOF.
For normal to wide-angle focal lengths DOF tables or the scale on the lens may suffice.