[cristigj]

Hello all,

My just gave me an early xmas gift in the form of a K-o1 with 40mm lens! I am fairly new to Pentax, a total noob to Pentax digital cameras, but not new to photography (I learned on an Olympus OM-1 35mm film camera). From what little time I have had shooting with this camera, I am thoroughly impressed. At the current price point, this is easily the single best MILC on the market, in my opinion. I know others have rated it at somewhat 'good' I think it is an outstanding camera which keeps the Pentax ethos of no-frills (Do I really need built in wi-fi to take a good photo? No, so Pentax eliminated this). It is what I expect from Pentax to provide a no BS serious shooter. Compared to the Olympus PENs and the Nikon m4.3, I think this is hands down the best thing out there. I hope the rumors of Pentax dumping the line are false. In any case, I had some questions that I hope some of you may be able to assist with:

--Use of M42 lenses: Use K adapter? I saw some things about the green button locking exposure on the thread regarding the 1.01 FW update. Perhaps my confusion on this issue stems from lacking a full grasp of what exactly stop-down metering actually is. I understand that, due to the sensor size being somewhat smaller than the 35mm frame for which the older MF lenses were designed, that the resulting image will look as though it were shot with a noticeably longer focal length lens. However, what exactly is the issue with exposure locking?

--Long exposures in Bulb mode? It is my understanding that the camera can take a 1 minute exposure in any mode, but for longer exposures, you will need to use Bulb Mode. Further, it appears there is no way to activate the shutter without touching the camera (thereby greatly increasing the risk of motion blur). In particular, I am talking about the apparent (and rather counter-intuitive) decision to disable shutter actuation using the remote while in B mode. Does anyone have a workaround for this other than just 'be careful and try to keep the camera as still as possible?' Is this fixed in FW v1.01?

--Mitigating dust on sensor: Obviously, I am quite curious about the issue of the shutter being open all the time (except when the camera is powered off or while taking a picture). Has anyone had any ways or tips to keep that sensor clean? My wife had an idea and I am curious if anyone has tried this before. Using a regular balloon, create static charge on surface of balloon, hold camera upside down with shutter open (barrel facing down), activate the in-camera shaking mechanism. Not sure if polarity of static charge can be reliably determined to attract dust away from sensor and not repel dust towards it? Other than that -- I am supposing something like the Pentax cleaning kit or the magic wand thing?

--Nifty Fifties: Last weekend, my wife slapped the SMC 50mm f2.o on her k10d. Wow. What an absolutely sexy lens. While reading up on 50mm lenses in general, I came across the Leica Noctilux f o.95. In manual lenses, is the SMC 50mm f.1.2 the closest thing to this aperture for k-mount? It looks like nobody has made an AF 50mm for the digitals in anything other than f1.4? Is this correct? Also, is there a reason for this -- does the focal length adjustment on a APS-C CMOS sensor (adjusting up from 35mm film) preclude usage or production of a 50mm lens at f1.2 or lower. The Noctilux was developed for a FF sensor. At $10k, though, I cannot even afford to rent this lens for an hour! Maybe this is a different thread, but -- anyone out there? Best 50mm for K-o1, legacy or otherwise? Focus peaking appears to have made investing in vintage glass particularly attractive alternative.

Finally, Soviet-era Russian Lenses -- what's the deal? Some of these appear to have 12, 16 even 20 aperture blades. Is this overkill? I have noticed that the max number of blades on most of the Pentax lenses i have researched (and third party) limits this to a maximum of 9 blades. My understanding is that the rounder the iris, the smoother the bokeh, generally. Having more blades seems to contribute to a more circular iris. Anybody know of any non-USSR lenses that have this attribute, possibly in K-mount?

[Adam]

--Use of M42 lenses: Use K adapter? I saw some things about the green button locking exposure on the thread regarding the 1.01 FW update. Perhaps my confusion on this issue stems from lacking a full grasp of what exactly stop-down metering actually is. I understand that, due to the sensor size being somewhat smaller than the 35mm frame for which the older MF lenses were designed, that the resulting image will look as though it were shot with a noticeably longer focal length lens. However, what exactly is the issue with exposure locking?

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

[hcc]

--Mitigating dust on sensor: Obviously, I am quite curious about the issue of the shutter being open all the time (except when the camera is powered off or while taking a picture). Has anyone had any ways or tips to keep that sensor clean? My wife had an idea and I am curious if anyone has tried this before. Using a regular balloon, create static charge on surface of balloon, hold camera upside down with shutter open (barrel facing down), activate the in-camera shaking mechanism. Not sure if polarity of static charge can be reliably determined to attract dust away from sensor and not repel dust towards it? Other than that -- I am supposing something like the Pentax cleaning kit or the magic wand thing?

Here there are two very important advices with the K-01: (1) lens swapping and (2) in-camera dust removal tools.

(1) With the K-01, your camera must be switched off before swapping lenses. In the negative, the sensor will become dusty very rapidly. This is specific to the K-01 and does not apply to the other K- dSLRs.

(2) In camera settings: using the menu, set your camera to Dust Removal at Startup (and possibly at Shut down) (Manual P. 237). It will help. You may also do a regular Sensor Cleaning every so often.

Hope that the comment will help.

[raider]

I actually find that when the K-01 is switched off, there is a shutter curtain in front of the sensor. It looks pretty well "protected" from dusts already. I wouldn't worry too much on dusts issue on the K-01. I tend to worry more when with my K-30 and K-7.

[VladM]

I would not recommend that you put your camera in contact anything that has a high static charge induced.
If you do, and the static energy discharges through the body, there is a possibility that it might damage the electronic circuitry.
With regard to the "nifty fifties", I use a FA50-f1.4 and find it a perfect match for the K-01. If you really need the f1.2 you can get a used SMC-A 50-1.2 but you will have to focus manually (that is if you can find one since they are relatively rare).