[davidtb]

Hi there,

I just signed in. I'm a Canon user since about 1990, when I got my first Canon AF SLR that belonged to my father, a Eos RT. Due to practical reasons (interchanging lenses/accessoiries) I'm still using Canon gear, nowadays a 450D and 1000D (flash, lenses offcourse with them) I always enjoyed using prime lenses more then the zoom lenses, when I got an Mamiya with 35 and 50mm M42 I bought a adapter to use these lenses on my Canon. That was june this year, now I own a collection of M42 lenses and the day before yesterday, a ME + f1,7 / 50, Takumar f3,5-4,5 28-80, Takumar f4 70-200 plus a whole lot of filters, 2 flash units, converters and adapters (ow, and a Yashica FR1+f2 50 ML) were added to that collection.

I fell in love with these old MF lenses, primes were my favorite al along but I couldn't afford them new, so this was for me the ideal compromise. Knowing that the majority of the M42 / PK lenses I now own are not near as "good" as modern Canon EF w/wo IS or AF, they are available for much MUCH less then Canon AF primes so the quality-issue is no issue for me at all. I experienced my "Eureka" when I started playing around with the Mamiya/Sekor 35mm on my 450D, shooting cats@rest. This was exactly what I wanted. Diving into the world of MF to DSLR, I purchased a Pentacon MC f2,8 135mm, Helios 44m4 f2 58mm and the Takumar SMC f3,5 28mm, after reading numerous articles and viewing samples, these specific lenses HAD to be mine. And, I paid less then €200, including the M42 adapters.

I haven't been using my modern lenses in months now, I have so much more fun with these lenses, finding-out their specific character, the good-and-bad, do's-and-don't, I discovered my photographic archetype and carefully I started looking into the world outside Canon. This is sth I had done before, since I never fully liked the Eos xxxD series color results, or it's camera build quality (hollow tin-cans with some plastic glued to it). My first Eos DSLR, the 300D was a DOA, then the kit lens died on me, then the build-in flash, then the sub-mirror started to become independant. The following 350D was nice, the 400D was replaced twice during warranty, the present 450D didn't malfunction yet but did have it's moments that caused serious trust issues. To be fairly sure I bought a 1000D as backup...

My recent endavour into the M42 / MF world lead me to seriously overthink what I want with my hobby. I decided to look into the Pentax KxD series, with the K20D as starting-point. No coincidence since my Genesis was the K1000, when I was about 10 years old. Reading about the K20D makes me very enthousiastic, thinking about selling my 1000D and/or EF IS 70-300 and purchase a used K20D. And so I landed here, on this Pentax forum Finding good, K-mount (pref. SMC Asahi-Takumar) 80/100mm and 200mm won't be any problem.

I hope this forum will provide me with enough info on the KxD series, maybe I'll end up changing from Canon to Pentax completely with a K5 or 7

Greetings!

[eaglem]

Welcome to the forum, thank you for that comprehensive introduction. I'm sure you'll find what you want here!

[Docrwm]

Welcome aboard! Oh, you're gonna like it here. Wait until you start discussing unusual glass with people on the Lens forum!

[davidtb]

Welcome aboard! Oh, you're gonna like it here. Wait until you start discussing unusual glass with people on the Lens forum!

Thnx. Discussing unusual glass is one of the reasons of me being here. @MF Forums I took a great deal of information about the of M42 glass. Rebranded optics, ignored manufacturers, laughed at and set aside by people who know the brands from the 60-70's but ran away because it's Red Evil crap, screw-mount or -later- not AF nor zoom. Now, in the digital sharpness era, a picture is only good when sharp. Digital sharpness that is... People seem to forget you never look into the real world @100% crop...

I did a short indoor documentary from a wedding, just the Asahi-Takumar 3,5/28 and the Helios 44m4 2/58, using DoF, contrast, atmosphere and available light with ISO800, guests sometimes didn't notice me delivering human portraits. Where the "official" reporter -€2000- carried 3 40D bodies, 4 lenses and 2 flash units, and a (gorgeous) assistent (he didn't carry his assistent, I took responsibillity for that part ) His pics were offcourse very good, tecnically near perfect. But, when I visit my friend, I mostly see my pics being displayed, also at both the parents home. The answer both gave, your pics are real life, as it was, capturing moments that show emotion. None of my pics were tack sharp, perfectly exposed, or textbook composition, I even excused myself for some pics they later said were their favorites. Due to the characteristics of the lenses and the different technique working with these, it was a winning combination.

Working with these Asahi or Zeiss copies opens a new world, now I would greatly appreciate a camera that fits this new world I found. With limited resources, a K20D is unbeatable, selling between €250-350 with 5-10k clicks, w/wo kitlens.
My dreamset will be the SMC Takumar f3,5 or even the f2,5 series, with the f3,5 28 already in my bag, a 80 or 100, a 135 to replace my Pentacon Auto MC 2,8 135 and a f4 200. Attached to a K20D that is