[wlwlad]

I am a new recruit to the world of DSLR photography. As a cost effective package my wife bought me a K5 with a Sigma 18mm-250mm zoom lens which work well together.

When I spotted a Vivitar 400mm lens with P/K attachment for very little money I thought it would be good fun to give it a try. The lens is in good condition and the metal P/K interface clicks reassuringly onto the camera. However, I get the message F- - and the shutter refuses to operate. Can any of you good folk explain why, and is there any remedy?

Thanks in anticipation,

John

[Adam]

Here's all you need to know to get the lens to work:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-lens-articles/110657-how-use-meter...k-x-k-7-a.html

[wlwlad]

Thank you. I apologise for being tiresome and asking "the most popular newcomer's question".

Having read the advice my K-5 and Vivitar 400mm are co-operating well.

One thing puzzles me. Before adjusting the camera settings to work with the Vivitar lens I had attached an Asahi Takumar 35/3.5 lens via an adapter which had worked with the camera on 'Auto' without the change of settings.

Clearly I have a lot to learn, but this forum is a great help.

Thanks again,

John

[snostorm]

One thing puzzles me. Before adjusting the camera settings to work with the Vivitar lens I had attached an Asahi Takumar 35/3.5 lens via an adapter which had worked with the camera on 'Auto' without the change of settings.

I think the difference between the functionality of the two lenses is probably in the mount. In the article, it's mentioned that the mount needs to be electrically conductive in the area that corresponds to the contacts on the body. If your Viv's mount is painted black, then this might be the difference.

One additional point. Pentax has a feature called Catch In Focus (CIF) that used to be called Focus Trap. If you set your AF-S/AF-C/M focus mode selector switch to AF-S, and have your AF priority for AF-S set to "focus priority" in the menu, you can use the AF sensor's focus confirmation to fire the shutter. I'm sure that there is an article about this also, so you can look at all the fine points of using this technique. Many MF lens shooters use this almost exclusively, but it also comes in handy for a lot of specialty applications.

Scott