[stgmgr]

Rookie question..................
When you folks are referring to the M42, are you referring to the SCREW mount that was pretty much common to most cameras back in the 60's and early 70's before the bayonet mount?
And if so, they are adaptable to current Pentaxs?
Hope so cuz my father has a mess of old thread mounts lying around.........

[jsherman999]

Rookie question..................
When you folks are referring to the M42, are you referring to the SCREW mount that was pretty much common to most cameras back in the 60's and early 70's before the bayonet mount?
And if so, they are adaptable to current Pentaxs?
Hope so cuz my father has a mess of old thread mounts lying around.........

Pm sent.




(kidding
.

[Steinback]

@stgmgr

For the record, yes we are using M42 to refer to old "universal" screw mount lenses. Pentax and (many) others manufactured them for use with cameras like the Spotmatic as well as bodies from Praktica, Yashica several other companies.

All you need to use them on a current Pentax body is one of these: PENTAX SP-K ADAPTER

(link to Henry's because you live in Canada)

Seeing as you live in Milton you might want to give Halton Camera Exchange in Georgetown a call, they usually have the adaptors in stock and will price match Henry's at $25.

[Nesster]

Yashinon DX 35mm f/2.8

Yashinon DX 135mm f/2.8

My DX 135/2.8 is not a great lens - stopped down a couple of stops there contrast goes, some sort of internal reflection haze develops.

[Rense]

Nesster, that first one is....is....uhhh.....
No words for it

[Nesster]

The Vivitar TX 28mm f/2.5 - Tokina made. Overall, this lens is close to the Takumars and SMC-A 28's in resolution, and perhaps better than they are in retaining good color density. It is a large lens that covers the K mount pins, and looks at home on a dSLR.

The first copy I had has an interesting iris shape, however I think the lens was faulty as after a while it stopped focusing to infinity. So I got a second copy, this one has a normal iris. These are TX mounts, so not strictly M42... however I only have an M42 adapter.









Naturally I had to use that iris shape

[Steinback]

DOF test with Seimar 135mm f/2.8 on film with KX.



Statue with the same lens, trying to focus somewhere around the horse's eyes:

[Nesster]

DOF test with Seimar 135mm f/2.8 on film with KX.

That's super interesting bokeh. I'll have to read up on the Seimar.

[Arjay Bee]

It was either post here or in the lens fetish club but here it will be placed. A few weeks I mentioned in the "what lenses have you bought lately?" thread that I had purchased from a NZ vendor the Schneider Kreuznach Tele-xenar 360mm f5.5 m42 lens from the late 50s early 60s.
It arrived safely last week and I have had some fun trying it out just to see how it performed. I had viewed images in a couple of places on the web of some excellent shots taken with it and hoped that this copy would manage the same performance. Ihave not been disappointed so far.
It is old and slightly brassed in places but it is optically very fine and crisp. Long throw focus and preset aperture with both rings working well and placed right where the left hand naturally cradles the lens. 15 aperture blades that move freely and deep metal hood that is reversed for storage. Interestingly the hood has an integrated skylight filter. Filter ring is 72mm in size same as my Tokina AT-X 80-400 and will also fit my CP filter. The lens arrived without a front lens cap (skylight filter does that job) and a generic rear 42mm cap.
It is long and heavy but is handholdable, but a brace or tripod would be most useful most of the time. The weather has been overcast lately (wet season) but managed a decent shot of a friarbird in a tree from the front balcony hand held:


This pic has only been resized and is a bit underexposed but comes up nicely with levels and other pp. The bokeh is pleasant at this aperture - about f8 I think. I am looking forward to using it in brighter lit conditions. Sharpness is better than the Tokina 80-400 zoom at the same length but this lens is twice as long and a little heavier.


Has the nice zebra look common to this age.
Taking sample images mounted on a tripod of the dark grey metal structure of a distant radio tower does show some PF at 5.5 but this improves at smaller apertures.
Will post more shots in near future as the weather improves.

Cheers, Arjay

[Sieg247]

CZ Jena Flektogon 35mm f2.4 @2.4 :

[Bumblebee71]

I recently bought a original pentax adapter for my K20D, and also bought a Vivitar 135mm F2.8, I took some tests, and I have a question:
Aperture Ring goes to from 22 to 4 only I can´t reach 2.8, and it doesn´t mattter what aperture I choose, photos are the same if I shoot at F22 or F4.
Is this lens broken perhaps? if I press the pin it has at the connector end the blades got closed.
thanks for helping this newbie.

[Nesster]

1) is there a way to put the Vivitar in 'manual' mode on the lens - there should be a switch somewhere on the lens itself with "M"anual and "A"uto settings. "M" closes the aperture directly as you turn the aperture ring; "A" waits for the camera to push the pin at the back of the mount. Since K cameras don't have anything to push the pin, you'll be wide open unless you either have a "M" setting or do something to the pin to keep it pushed in all the time.

The other thing - you should be able to move the aperture ring to all apertures, and pushing the pin in and letting it go, see the blades close and open freely.

[stevebrot]

This is a cross-post...please forgive me!


Vivitar 128/2.8 (M42), f/8

Steve

[noel]

Taken with the M42 Mamiya/Sekor M42, the older non-'SX' version without the locking pin

[Nesster]

Noel, that M-S looks to have a bit of the swirly bokeh - that's a nice flavor to have