F-mount (Nikon) to K-Mount (Pentax) and visa versa

brewmaster15 · 02-08-2022, 12:07 PM - **1 Like**

I thought I would add to this thread. I have a few Nikon mount lenses that I would really like to use on my K3 .. I finally decided to buy a K&F concept adapter and see how bad it degraded the image. I went into this really anticipating it would be horrendous. Heres is what I got... amazon.com : K&F Concept Lens Mount Adapter - Nikon Lens to Pentax K PK Mount Adapter with Glass for Pentax : Electronics?tag=pentaxforums-20& I decided to use my k3 mk 3 and my Tamron 200-500 in NK mount as its one of my favorite lens and has an aperture ring.

These images are not cropped, but they have been mildly post processed as I do my images since my goal was to see if I would be okay with the results of the adapter. I am not posting these as some sort of scientific analysis or test, but more like a real world example if someone is contemplating trying one of these adapter what they might get as results. Unfortunately you do lose Auto focus and I was handholding the lens as thats how I always use this lens so take that into account.

I was pretty surprised that the degradation was not worse.. I did note that Purple fringing crept into some images and this lens has never had that issue. Easy enough to remove in PP but that wasn't something I expected. Some images I thought were really good (chickens particularly).

Thats the good. Now the bad, In some images, the adapter added artifact to the center of the image...It looks light than the surrounding areas..I'm guessing angle of light / a defect in the adapters optics. I am going to send this one back and order another copy to see if it also shares the issue....before I do though I have a few other lenses I will try it on.. This last image is the worst case I saw on the adapter.

Hope that helps someone,

al

Last edited by brewmaster15; 02-08-2022 at 01:34 PM.

brewmaster15 · 02-20-2022, 09:15 AM - **1 Like**

Some more experiments here with using a nikon to pk adapter. In addition to the K &F concepts adapter I posted earlier this thread, I also picked up a few other brands.. One I got on Ebay was really a piece of junk, but at $13 dollars I guess its to be expected. I never got to test the optics on this one as when I opened the box and shined a light on the glass it was covered in fungus. Never saw that on something new, but oh well. The seller did not want it, so I decided to pop the glass outand make it into a small extension tube. My thoughts were I would lose infinity but gain some close focus and if I wanted to I could even add some more pentax extension tubes and use some nikon lenses in macro mode...

The results are not too shabby I think. I only tried it on my tamron 200-500 in Nik mount. , same as previous post. The lens is still usable for things like back yard birding. I really am spoiled by AF for Birds though...I'm rusty at best with it on birds.

If anyone has some old nikon Lenses and are shooting Pentax now, I would definitely try to pick up one of the cheapo ebay Nikon PK adapters and pop out the glass... it makes a great Nikon to PK extension tube for about $10-$15 . Its not hard to do at all and you get some extra functionality out of a Nikon lens on your pentax gear. Please note though... the lens needs an aperture ring.

Some shots...

still have a few things to try out and I got in a replacement K &F converter to try again ..

al

brewmaster15 · 02-20-2022, 12:38 PM

Revisiting the K & F adapter that I tried 2 posts back. The first copy I had a problem with some weird artifacts in the images.. light areas showed on a few pics in the center of the image.. it was not consistent though so I decided to send it back and buy another copy. The second one has not shown that artifact in any images...so it just may have been a bum adapter I got initially or the quality control may be variable.

As for the second one, I am again pretty surprised by how good it is, and this one is better than the first I feel.... not perfect but at $40, I think its really not half bad to pretty good.. maybe even a tad better than many of the mid class teleconverters people use. Just like with them, using this adapter is trade off in quality for the purpose its used. After trying it out I think its probably not a bad option for some hobbyists, particularly Bird watchers looking to get a tad closer optically without breaking the bank or someone that has old Nikon glass and wants to use it on their pentax bodies. For $40,I would suggest trying it and make your opinions based on what you are willing to accept for a trade off.

So here are some images... Tamron 200-500 Nikon mount with K & F NIk to PK adapter, on Pentax K3 mark 1 body

I hope someone finds this of use, I learned a bit more today than I knew yesterday.

al

**UncleVanya** · 02-20-2022, 03:19 PM

Originally posted by brewmaster15

Revisiting the K & F adapter that I tried 2 posts back. The first copy I had a problem with some weird artifacts in the images.. light areas showed on a few pics in the center of the image.. it was not consistent though so I decided to send it back and buy another copy. The second one has not shown that artifact in any images...so it just may have been a bum adapter I got initially or the quality control may be variable.

As for the second one, I am again pretty surprised by how good it is, and this one is better than the first I feel.... not perfect but at $40, I think its really not half bad to pretty good.. maybe even a tad better than many of the mid class teleconverters people use. Just like with them, using this adapter is trade off in quality for the purpose its used. After trying it out I think its probably not a bad option for some hobbyists, particularly Bird watchers looking to get a tad closer optically without breaking the banking or someone that has old Nikon glass and wants to use it on their pentax bodies. For $40,I would suggest trying it and make your opinions based on what you are willing to accept for a trade off.

So here are some images... Tamron 200-500 Nikon mount with K & F NIk to PK adapter, on Pentax K3 mark 1 body

I hope someone finds this of use, I learned a bit more today than I knew yesterday.

al

Really quite a bit better than expected. Also was the result about a 1.4x TC or a different ratio?
What did you do about SR - did you set it to actual focal length or an estimated magnified amount like 1.4x times?

brewmaster15 · 02-20-2022, 03:50 PM

Originally posted by UncleVanya

Really quite a bit better than expected. Also was the result about a 1.4x TC or a different ratio?
What did you do about SR - did you set it to actual focal length or an estimated magnified amount like 1.4x times?

Honestly I am not sure what the adapter adds so hard to say as far as if its similar to a 1.4 Tc.

Image attached shows the Nikon adapters vs HD TC

I set the lens to 500mm with SR

I too thought it was pretty good.. I am sure the lens used will also affect the images, The Tamron 200-500 is IMO , a very very good lens. On my nikons its become my go to alot of the time.

Apologies for the lack of technical info here, maybe others can try the adapter and more info... I was looking to see more of a real world, "Is it even worth trying? " "Does it work?" approach.

al

edit.. Image to the left with label cut off is the cheapo ebay one I turned into an extension tube.

**Lowell Goudge** · 02-21-2022, 05:52 AM

I tried optically corrected adaptors when they first came out, and was not pleased. The Nikon to Pentax adaptor is a 1.27x teleconverter, but the ones I tried, (cheap ones from China) had serious color bleeding wide open.

There was a mount available for early Pentax DSLRs that woolly allow Nikon and other brand lenses to mount, while retaining all Kmount functionality. Do a search on the adaptist this is as close as you will get going to Nikon to Pentax.

**UncleVanya** · 02-21-2022, 02:07 PM

Originally posted by Lowell Goudge

I tried optically corrected adaptors when they first came out, and was not pleased. The Nikon to Pentax adaptor is a 1.27x teleconverter, but the ones I tried, (cheap ones from China) had serious color bleeding wide open.

There was a mount available for early Pentax DSLRs that woolly allow Nikon and other brand lenses to mount, while retaining all Kmount functionality. Do a search on the adaptist this is as close as you will get going to Nikon to Pentax.

Only available used. Must be wr version for wr cameras (but doesn’t maintain wr). It’s also a mount replacement not an adapter.

**Lowell Goudge** · 02-21-2022, 02:29 PM

Originally posted by UncleVanya

Only available used. Must be wr version for wr cameras (but doesn’t maintain wr). It’s also a mount replacement not an adapter.

All true but does allow swapping lenses between systems, at least in one direction

**pepperberry farm** · 02-21-2022, 05:32 PM

Originally posted by UncleVanya

Only available used. Must be wr version for wr cameras (but doesn’t maintain wr). It’s also a mount replacement not an adapter.

please see post #3 of this thread....

**UncleVanya** · 02-21-2022, 05:48 PM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by pepperberry farm

please see post #3 of this thread....

I owned one. And you didn’t mislabel it. The quote was not meant to implicate your terminology.

Thagomizer · 02-22-2022, 09:23 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by brewmaster15

Some more experiments here with using a nikon to pk adapter. In addition to the K &F concepts adapter I posted earlier this thread, I also picked up a few other brands.. One I got on Ebay was really a piece of junk, but at $13 dollars I guess its to be expected. I never got to test the optics on this one as when I opened the box and shined a light on the glass it was covered in fungus. Never saw that on something new, but oh well. The seller did not want it, so I decided to pop the glass outand make it into a small extension tube. My thoughts were I would lose infinity but gain some close focus and if I wanted to I could even add some more pentax extension tubes and use some nikon lenses in macro mode...

The results are not too shabby I think. I only tried it on my tamron 200-500 in Nik mount. , same as previous post. The lens is still usable for things like back yard birding. I really am spoiled by AF for Birds though...I'm rusty at best with it on birds.

If anyone has some old nikon Lenses and are shooting Pentax now, I would definitely try to pick up one of the cheapo ebay Nikon PK adapters and pop out the glass... it makes a great Nikon to PK extension tube for about $10-$15 . Its not hard to do at all and you get some extra functionality out of a Nikon lens on your pentax gear. Please note though... the lens needs an aperture ring.

Some shots...

still have a few things to try out and I got in a replacement K &F converter to try again ..

al

Great series of experiments. Thank you for posting!

02-20-2022, 09:15 AM - 1 Like	#17
brewmaster15 Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: CT Posts: 1,860	Some more experiments here with using a nikon to pk adapter. In addition to the K &F concepts adapter I posted earlier this thread, I also picked up a few other brands.. One I got on Ebay was really a piece of junk, but at $13 dollars I guess its to be expected. I never got to test the optics on this one as when I opened the box and shined a light on the glass it was covered in fungus. Never saw that on something new, but oh well. The seller did not want it, so I decided to pop the glass outand make it into a small extension tube. My thoughts were I would lose infinity but gain some close focus and if I wanted to I could even add some more pentax extension tubes and use some nikon lenses in macro mode... The results are not too shabby I think. I only tried it on my tamron 200-500 in Nik mount. , same as previous post. The lens is still usable for things like back yard birding. I really am spoiled by AF for Birds though...I'm rusty at best with it on birds. If anyone has some old nikon Lenses and are shooting Pentax now, I would definitely try to pick up one of the cheapo ebay Nikon PK adapters and pop out the glass... it makes a great Nikon to PK extension tube for about $10-$15 . Its not hard to do at all and you get some extra functionality out of a Nikon lens on your pentax gear. Please note though... the lens needs an aperture ring. Some shots... still have a few things to try out and I got in a replacement K &F converter to try again .. al Last edited by brewmaster15; 02-20-2022 at 01:23 PM.

02-20-2022, 12:38 PM	#18
brewmaster15 Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: CT Posts: 1,860	Revisiting the K & F adapter that I tried 2 posts back. The first copy I had a problem with some weird artifacts in the images.. light areas showed on a few pics in the center of the image.. it was not consistent though so I decided to send it back and buy another copy. The second one has not shown that artifact in any images...so it just may have been a bum adapter I got initially or the quality control may be variable. As for the second one, I am again pretty surprised by how good it is, and this one is better than the first I feel.... not perfect but at $40, I think its really not half bad to pretty good.. maybe even a tad better than many of the mid class teleconverters people use. Just like with them, using this adapter is trade off in quality for the purpose its used. After trying it out I think its probably not a bad option for some hobbyists, particularly Bird watchers looking to get a tad closer optically without breaking the bank or someone that has old Nikon glass and wants to use it on their pentax bodies. For $40,I would suggest trying it and make your opinions based on what you are willing to accept for a trade off. So here are some images... Tamron 200-500 Nikon mount with K & F NIk to PK adapter, on Pentax K3 mark 1 body I hope someone finds this of use, I learned a bit more today than I knew yesterday. al Last edited by brewmaster15; 02-21-2022 at 03:56 AM.

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02-08-2022, 12:07 PM - 1 Like	#16
brewmaster15 Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: CT Posts: 1,860	I thought I would add to this thread. I have a few Nikon mount lenses that I would really like to use on my K3 .. I finally decided to buy a K&F concept adapter and see how bad it degraded the image. I went into this really anticipating it would be horrendous. Heres is what I got... amazon.com : K&F Concept Lens Mount Adapter - Nikon Lens to Pentax K PK Mount Adapter with Glass for Pentax : Electronics?tag=pentaxforums-20& I decided to use my k3 mk 3 and my Tamron 200-500 in NK mount as its one of my favorite lens and has an aperture ring. These images are not cropped, but they have been mildly post processed as I do my images since my goal was to see if I would be okay with the results of the adapter. I am not posting these as some sort of scientific analysis or test, but more like a real world example if someone is contemplating trying one of these adapter what they might get as results. Unfortunately you do lose Auto focus and I was handholding the lens as thats how I always use this lens so take that into account. I was pretty surprised that the degradation was not worse.. I did note that Purple fringing crept into some images and this lens has never had that issue. Easy enough to remove in PP but that wasn't something I expected. Some images I thought were really good (chickens particularly). Thats the good. Now the bad, In some images, the adapter added artifact to the center of the image...It looks light than the surrounding areas..I'm guessing angle of light / a defect in the adapters optics. I am going to send this one back and order another copy to see if it also shares the issue....before I do though I have a few other lenses I will try it on.. This last image is the worst case I saw on the adapter. Hope that helps someone, al Last edited by brewmaster15; 02-08-2022 at 01:34 PM.

02-20-2022, 03:19 PM	#19
UncleVanya Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2014 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 28,401	Originally posted by brewmaster15 Revisiting the K & F adapter that I tried 2 posts back. The first copy I had a problem with some weird artifacts in the images.. light areas showed on a few pics in the center of the image.. it was not consistent though so I decided to send it back and buy another copy. The second one has not shown that artifact in any images...so it just may have been a bum adapter I got initially or the quality control may be variable. As for the second one, I am again pretty surprised by how good it is, and this one is better than the first I feel.... not perfect but at $40, I think its really not half bad to pretty good.. maybe even a tad better than many of the mid class teleconverters people use. Just like with them, using this adapter is trade off in quality for the purpose its used. After trying it out I think its probably not a bad option for some hobbyists, particularly Bird watchers looking to get a tad closer optically without breaking the banking or someone that has old Nikon glass and wants to use it on their pentax bodies. For $40,I would suggest trying it and make your opinions based on what you are willing to accept for a trade off. So here are some images... Tamron 200-500 Nikon mount with K & F NIk to PK adapter, on Pentax K3 mark 1 body I hope someone finds this of use, I learned a bit more today than I knew yesterday. al Really quite a bit better than expected. Also was the result about a 1.4x TC or a different ratio? What did you do about SR - did you set it to actual focal length or an estimated magnified amount like 1.4x times?

02-20-2022, 03:50 PM	#20
brewmaster15 Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: CT Posts: 1,860	Originally posted by UncleVanya Really quite a bit better than expected. Also was the result about a 1.4x TC or a different ratio? What did you do about SR - did you set it to actual focal length or an estimated magnified amount like 1.4x times? Honestly I am not sure what the adapter adds so hard to say as far as if its similar to a 1.4 Tc. Image attached shows the Nikon adapters vs HD TC I set the lens to 500mm with SR I too thought it was pretty good.. I am sure the lens used will also affect the images, The Tamron 200-500 is IMO , a very very good lens. On my nikons its become my go to alot of the time. Apologies for the lack of technical info here, maybe others can try the adapter and more info... I was looking to see more of a real world, "Is it even worth trying? " "Does it work?" approach. al edit.. Image to the left with label cut off is the cheapo ebay one I turned into an extension tube.

02-21-2022, 05:52 AM	#21
Lowell Goudge Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,887	I tried optically corrected adaptors when they first came out, and was not pleased. The Nikon to Pentax adaptor is a 1.27x teleconverter, but the ones I tried, (cheap ones from China) had serious color bleeding wide open. There was a mount available for early Pentax DSLRs that woolly allow Nikon and other brand lenses to mount, while retaining all Kmount functionality. Do a search on the adaptist this is as close as you will get going to Nikon to Pentax.

02-21-2022, 02:07 PM	#22
UncleVanya Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2014 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 28,401	Originally posted by Lowell Goudge I tried optically corrected adaptors when they first came out, and was not pleased. The Nikon to Pentax adaptor is a 1.27x teleconverter, but the ones I tried, (cheap ones from China) had serious color bleeding wide open. There was a mount available for early Pentax DSLRs that woolly allow Nikon and other brand lenses to mount, while retaining all Kmount functionality. Do a search on the adaptist this is as close as you will get going to Nikon to Pentax. Only available used. Must be wr version for wr cameras (but doesn’t maintain wr). It’s also a mount replacement not an adapter.

02-21-2022, 02:29 PM	#23
Lowell Goudge Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,887	Originally posted by UncleVanya Only available used. Must be wr version for wr cameras (but doesn’t maintain wr). It’s also a mount replacement not an adapter. All true but does allow swapping lenses between systems, at least in one direction

02-21-2022, 05:32 PM	#24
pepperberry farm amateur dirt farmer Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: probably out in a field somewhere... Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 41,660	Originally posted by UncleVanya Only available used. Must be wr version for wr cameras (but doesn’t maintain wr). It’s also a mount replacement not an adapter. please see post #3 of this thread....

02-21-2022, 05:48 PM - 1 Like	#25
UncleVanya Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2014 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 28,401	Originally posted by pepperberry farm please see post #3 of this thread.... I owned one. And you didn’t mislabel it. The quote was not meant to implicate your terminology.

02-22-2022, 09:23 AM - 1 Like	#26
Thagomizer Pentaxian Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: London Ontario Posts: 2,068	Originally posted by brewmaster15 Some more experiments here with using a nikon to pk adapter. In addition to the K &F concepts adapter I posted earlier this thread, I also picked up a few other brands.. One I got on Ebay was really a piece of junk, but at $13 dollars I guess its to be expected. I never got to test the optics on this one as when I opened the box and shined a light on the glass it was covered in fungus. Never saw that on something new, but oh well. The seller did not want it, so I decided to pop the glass outand make it into a small extension tube. My thoughts were I would lose infinity but gain some close focus and if I wanted to I could even add some more pentax extension tubes and use some nikon lenses in macro mode... The results are not too shabby I think. I only tried it on my tamron 200-500 in Nik mount. , same as previous post. The lens is still usable for things like back yard birding. I really am spoiled by AF for Birds though...I'm rusty at best with it on birds. If anyone has some old nikon Lenses and are shooting Pentax now, I would definitely try to pick up one of the cheapo ebay Nikon PK adapters and pop out the glass... it makes a great Nikon to PK extension tube for about $10-$15 . Its not hard to do at all and you get some extra functionality out of a Nikon lens on your pentax gear. Please note though... the lens needs an aperture ring. Some shots... still have a few things to try out and I got in a replacement K &F converter to try again .. al Great series of experiments. Thank you for posting!