[kathyk]

Hello,

I wanted to try an -A lens because it seemed like it would be simpler than the -M lens I bought to try, but it seems like the focus ring just spins around and has no effect? It feels slightly engaged at a couple points, but mostly it just seems kind of loose fitting.

Could I be doing something wrong here, or does it sound like a bad lens? Thanks for any help.

-Kathy

[Alvin]

Welcome kathy.

I tried an A50/1.7 at a camera store a while back. You should have a little resistance on the focus ring while it turns. I have a feeling something is wrong with the lens.

[Adam]

Sounds like the lens is broken- does the front element move it and out as you turn the ring?

[kathyk]

No, turning the focus rings isn't moving any part of the lens, unfortunately it does seem to be broken. Thanks to you both for the replies, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't overlooking some basic necessity with the an -A lens before trying to return it.

Do all the A lenses have some of the metal replaced with plastic parts?

[Adam]

Many A's are made of plastic, but a select few (generally the expensive ones like the 50/1.2) aren't. My two A zooms are also all-metal.

[Alvin]

Many A's are made of plastic, but a select few (generally the expensive ones like the 50/1.2) aren't. My two A zooms are also all-metal.

They did use plastic in a lot of A's, but in this series, I found that Pentax never used plastic for parts that were exposed to a lot of wear and tear (their cheapest lenses aside). The lens should still feel quite solid despite this. Pentax used some pretty decent quality stuff back then. If the plastic parts broke, it was more likely due to mishandling.