[fractal]

Hey guys,

I went to a gigantic used camera supermarket here in Guangzhou. Drool worthy to say the least. Anyway, i found a Super Tak 55/1.8 there selling for about $AU73 ($US58).. looked pretty clean but not sure if its too much for a clean one. Felt very nice and it was exciting seeming as though its only the second lens i have ever had on the camera. One thing i did notice is that when i mounted the lens to my K200D and took a couple of shots, the shots were incredibly dark.. i had to compensate to +2.0. Can anyone explain why this is?

More to the point, the woman in the shop helped me get the adapter off, but quite frankly i was terrified. It required some sort of key to take it off and i certainly did not like the idea of it. Do all these adapters require a key to remove them?

Any advice appreciated. Cheers.

[newarts]

Hey guys,

I went to a gigantic used camera supermarket here in Guangzhou. Drool worthy to say the least. Anyway, i found a Super Tak 55/1.8 there selling for about $AU73 ($US58).. looked pretty clean but not sure if its too much for a clean one. Felt very nice and it was exciting seeming as though its only the second lens i have ever had on the camera. One thing i did notice is that when i mounted the lens to my K200D and took a couple of shots, the shots were incredibly dark.. i had to compensate to +2.0. Can anyone explain why this is?

More to the point, the woman in the shop helped me get the adapter off, but quite frankly i was terrified. It required some sort of key to take it off and i certainly did not like the idea of it. Do all these adapters require a key to remove them?

Any advice appreciated. Cheers.

Many people use a fingernail rather than a tool to remove the adapter by disengaging the spring clip.

Others (me among them) remove the spring from the adapter & leave the adapter on the lens. I buy a low cost adapter for each lens.

Pentax brand adapters work best, but non-pentax adapters can work well too - often a minor fix is required.

Iowa Dave

[newarts]

Hey guys,

I went to a gigantic used camera supermarket here in Guangzhou. Drool worthy to say the least. Anyway, i found a Super Tak 55/1.8 there selling for about $AU73 ($US58).. looked pretty clean but not sure if its too much for a clean one. Felt very nice and it was exciting seeming as though its only the second lens i have ever had on the camera. One thing i did notice is that when i mounted the lens to my K200D and took a couple of shots, the shots were incredibly dark.. i had to compensate to +2.0. Can anyone explain why this is?

More to the point, the woman in the shop helped me get the adapter off, but quite frankly i was terrified. It required some sort of key to take it off and i certainly did not like the idea of it. Do all these adapters require a key to remove them?

Any advice appreciated. Cheers.

Regarding exposure it is often helpful to make certain the contact nearest the bottom of the lens mount is grounded. This can be done with a piece of aluminum foil, or by removing a little finish from the lens base.

Iowa Dave

[fractal]

Thanks heaps for your advice Dave.

It would seem logical for the lens to be unscrewed with the adapter. With removing the spring the adapter can simply be screwed out.. is that correct?

[newarts]

Thanks heaps for your advice Dave.

It would seem logical for the lens to be unscrewed with the adapter. With removing the spring the adapter can simply be screwed out.. is that correct?

Yes, just screw it off - it'll stay on the lens.

The difficulty that some people have with non-pentax adapters without spring is that if you turn it too far when mounting, it may over rotate & give you a scare. You'll be able to remove it but first time it happens it is disconcerting.

The simplest solution for this potential problem is to square off the fillets of the adapter's ears flanking the red dot (Genuine Pentax on left).


Or, drill or file an indent in the base of the m42 lens for the camera's locking pin to engage - this is probably the best thing to do.

Iowa Dave

Forget all those fancy new lenses and come live with us in the M42 world. You only need one adaptor and it lives on the camera. All your m42 lenses screw into it.

Buy some more wonderful S-M-C tak's, Helios, Tair's, CZ Jena's, Jupiters, Pentacons, Meyer's, Fujinon, Cosinas, Vivitars.... etc

Once you go MF, you never go back