[tromboads]

Was it even called as such? Or was it just labelled as such because of the K* cameras that where released with them?

Is it a K-mount?

[MarkJerling]

It was called the K-mount because it was introduced with the K-series cameras.

[tromboads]

Yeah, but did Pentax call it as such, or did we the public just start referring to it as "the K-mount" then by the time the M* cameras came around it was to late. always to be known as the K mount?

This is a rather silly discussion.

[pathdoc]

Given that the cameras are once more called K-something, the name is appropriate. More bizarre IMO is that the M series preceded the L.

[photolady95]

A Wiki article on the subject:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentax_K-mount

[tromboads]

So just for giggles. I went over the K2 manual.. it makes no reference to it being a "K mount".. It's actually called, "Pentax bayonet mount"

http://www.cameramanuals.org/pentax_pdf/pentax_k2.pdf

So "we" got carried anyway and identified it thereafter as the mount that came out with the K camera, thus we fans / consumers created the name "K-mount" ? I wonder what it is identified in the manuals..

ME Super - Pentax Bayonent mount
LX - Pentax Bayonent mount
Super Program - K, KA and KF, (this was the change of the name away from Pentax Bayonent)
A3- Naming K and KF mounts.
Program A - Calling it Pentax K, KA, and KF,
SF-7 - Reference to it being a KA-F mount , and that it's compatiable with K and KA mounts.. http://www.cameramanuals.org/pentax_pdf/pentax_sf7.pdf
PZ-1 - Calling it a K-mount (pg6). http://www.cameramanuals.org/pentax_pdf/pentax_pz-1.pdf

So there ya go. The Pentax K Mount, was actually born near enough at the release of the Super A's Program A, retrospectively to differentiate the 'Pentax Bayonent mount" from the newer mounts that had the 'A" setting.

This wasn't so boring after all. :P

[CarlG]

There is always Boijar Dimitrov´s K-mount pages for those that are interested:

Features and Operation of the Original K-Mount

[WPRESTO]

REMEMBER, the use of "K" by Pentax SFAIK started with the Asahi Pentax K, a camera with M42 screw mount and I believe the first semi-automatic diaphragm* rather than manual or pre-set. Pentax also offered, at the same time time, the Asahi Pentax S at a lower price, but with only pre-set diaphragm operation and a top speed of 1/500 rather than 1/1000. The "S" is probably derived from the 1949 Contax S, which introduced the M42 thread, and that name came from "spiegel Contax" = "mirror Contax." It may be that the "K" designation for the Pentax bayonet arose during the failed collaboration** between Zeiss and Pentax to share lens-body mount and might be derived from some German word such as "kliicken," but I strongly suspect it was an accidental moniker that evolved from "Asahi Pentax K" to "Pentax K" to "Pentax K mount" to simply "K-mount" and that Pentax took it up because owners and after-market lens makers were calling it the "K-mount."

I have tried to track down what the "K" in "Asahi Pentax K" meant or referred to. No one seems to know, but the speculation is either "king" or "kilo-" referring to the top shutter speed of 1/1000 (the model "S" with only 1/500 top speed was introduced some time before the "K").

* For those who don't know, there was a finger-operated cocking lever on "automatic" lenses that reset the aperture to fully open after the shutter was triggered. IMHO it was only marginally faster and more convenient that a well-designed preset lens. A very small variety of lenses had the cocking lever mechanism.


**The K-mount was an outcome of the Zeiss-Pentax collaboration. After the partnership broke down, Zeiss dropped the bayonet design but Pentax kept it.

[Bob from Aus]

I thought K Mount the K stood for King
The Q mount the Q stood for queen

[tromboads]

Well I suppose they still can :P

[lytrytyr]

The K-mount was an outcome of the Zeiss-Pentax collaboration. After the partnership broke down, Zeiss dropped the bayonet design but Pentax kept it.

Footnote to the footnote: Zeiss revived it briefly as a third-party producer (ZK line) 2007-2010.

[dakotapix]

* For those who don't know, there was a finger-operated cocking lever on "automatic" lenses that reset the aperture to fully open after the shutter was triggered. IMHO it was only marginally faster and more convenient that a well-designed preset lens. A very small variety of lenses had the cocking lever mechanism.

Thanks for highlighting the Pentax-Zeiss connection.

At the risk of sounding needlessly contrarian, my first camera was an Asahi Pentax H2 (U.S. import version of the S2) with a 55mm f/2 lens with the semi auto aperture. I took thousands of shots with it, and operation was straightforward and relatively quick. Take a shot; cock the shutter; cock the lens. Repeat as necessary. The main point being that the muscle memory process of click, cock, cock left the next step to be 100% focused on composing and adjusting for the next shot, with no further necessary mechanical steps beyond triggering the shutter again. I can't imagine having to step out of the creative process (such as it was) to remember the additional step of stopping down the lens before capturing the image, but I suppose it's a matter of what you're used to.

[WPRESTO]

Thanks for highlighting the Pentax-Zeiss connection.

At the risk of sounding needlessly contrarian, my first camera was an Asahi Pentax H2 (U.S. import version of the S2) with a 55mm f/2 lens with the semi auto aperture. I took thousands of shots with it, and operation was straightforward and relatively quick. Take a shot; cock the shutter; cock the lens. Repeat as necessary. The main point being that the muscle memory process of click, cock, cock left the next step to be 100% focused on composing and adjusting for the next shot, with no further necessary mechanical steps beyond triggering the shutter again. I can't imagine having to step out of the creative process (such as it was) to remember the additional step of stopping down the lens before capturing the image, but I suppose it's a matter of what you're used to.

So much depends on what your "muscle memory" has been trained to do. I had a Pentax S and went from it to the familiar auto close/open diaphragm that lasted until the K-mount was introduced. I found flipping the preset diaphragm ring with my finger tips became automatic within a few days, just shift forward from the focus ring. For some time after the fully automatic diaphragm was introduced, longer telephoto lenses continued to have either preset or even manual diaphragms. FYI: my 50mm f2.2 and 135mm f3.5 Takumars had two preset rings, a 250mm f5.6 Piesker had a slide-and-lock preset mechanism, my 300mm f4 Takumar and 400mm f5.6 Piesker had manual diaphragms.

[stevebrot]

I was alive and following the market when the mount first debuted and seem to remember that the bodies were named for the mount (just kidding ). It will take some searching, but I believe that @Nesster has scans on Flickr of early announcements, reviews, and ads from when the line came to market. I will look.


Steve

[tromboads]

Well I think the manuals I went through are very clear.

Before the Program A, 1983, the mount was referred to by Pentax as the Pentax Bayonet. The term K-Mount was used at the release of the Program A to identify the now old original bayonet from the new A mount lenses.