[jatrax]

I have been testing some older glass on the K-1. There were some comments early on questioning how this glass would perform so here are some test shots.

Notes:
1) I think the way this test chart is supposed to work is that the camera should be placed so that the chart fills the frame. I did not always do that, on zooms I set the tripod up and did not move for other focal lengths. On some of the wide angles I could not get close enough to the chart to fill the frame. ON some I could not get far enough away in my studio. So I'm not sure you can make any determination on the resolution by reading the lines.
2) These are not scientific tests, just casual shots to support my own decisions on lenses.
3) For the zooms there are 6 shots, one at wide open and one at f/8 at three different focal lengths. Roughly wide, middle and long. For primes there is just two shots, wide open and f/8.
4) The reference shot should be the Pentax-F 50mm macro @ f/8
5) The DFA 24-70 f/2.8 and the DA*60-250 are included for reference.
6) I will be adding more lenses as time permits.
7) I am not going to make any comments on individual lenses, I am honestly not all that good at this. But feel free to look and comment if you want.

Here is the link to the album on Flickr:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskx21uhp

[HoustonBob]

I don't see how to tell what lens shot which shot. Do you expect the viewers to read the exif data in order to do that?

[Davidparis]

I don't see how to tell what lens shot which shot. Do you expect the viewers to read the exif data in order to do that?

You just click on the picture and the lens designation is in the summary, right side, below the picture.

[FantasticMrFox]

You just click on the picture and the lens designation is in the summary, right side, below the picture.

I think he meant that there's nothing in the file name. If you want to find a specific lens you have to go through all of the pictures to find it.

[jatrax]

Do you expect the viewers to read the exif data in order to do that?

I suppose I did.

I'll add the lens name in the title. Flickr seems to be down this morning, at least I cannot update anything, so I'll try again after work.

[TomTom]

I think he meant that there's nothing in the file name. If you want to find a specific lens you have to go through all of the pictures to find it.

Hover your pointer over the image and the file name (lens info) appears.

[i5_david]

Cool, thanks for your effort John!
Where did you get the Chart? I searched a bit in the recent weeks but only came up with a chart on eBay distributed by enjoyyourcamera or so

[jatrax]

Search on ISO 12233.

You can buy one and some are copyrighted but the design itself is not. So there are pdfs out there you can download and print.

I would post a link but I'm on my phone.

Mine is printed on 11x14 glossy.

[i5_david]

Thanks John, interesting idea. Just print it out as a poster. I think I will get one of these in near future too...

[kiwi_jono]

Wow - thanks for this!

Very helpful for those considering a K-1 or legacy lenses for the K-1. Very interesting.

[jatrax]

Thanks John, interesting idea. Just print it out as a poster. I think I will get one of these in near future too...

Here is the link to that chart in PDF form: http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~westin/misc/ISO_12233-reschart.pdf

As I understand it there is a newer version drawn to include higher resolution lines but it is not available for download, you must buy a printed copy. For formal tests, if I were reviewing lenses for a website for example, I think I would probably buy a new printed one. But this one is good enough for my purposes.

[asharpe]

I have been testing some older glass on the K-1.

I asked this on another K1 thread (sorry, Adam), but I am very curious if you have experienced the same exposure problems on the K1 as the other Pentax cameras (like the K20 and K3, for example) with old lenses that do not short out the mount contacts? This is the reason that I'm not using my (excellent) M42 lenses on my K3 so much anymore; I could not trust the meter to do the "right" thing. For a given aperture, I had to adjust the exposure compensation, and the compensation was different between lenses, as well.

[jatrax]

but I am very curious if you have experienced the same exposure problems on the K1 as the other Pentax cameras

Well, I don't consider it a 'problem' really though I can understand your viewpoint. I've used M42 glass on cameras from the k-x through the k-3II and the exposure has been workable. Not precise as we might expect from modern glass but definitely workable.

I did a study at one time on about 20 M42 lenses trying to determine a pattern for the exposure but was not able to come up with anything usable. Each lens has it's own pattern and if you use it enough you can adjust as needed, as you have found. Or just take an average and correct in Lightroom. I found that taking a test shot and adjusting by using the histogram would get me close enough unless I changed the aperture a lot.

To answer your question I have not yet gotten to testing my Takumars. I was working on the AF glass first and plan to do some more as time permits. I do not however expect the K-1 to behave any differently than previous cameras. I'm not sure anyone ever gave a good explanation of the variability, though it has been a few years since that was a hot topic for me. There are certainly members here far more knowledgeable about how this works than me so perhaps someone will jump in. I will be sure to test for this with my Takumars when I get to them, but it will likely be some time before I will have the spare time for extensive testing.