[RedTurian]

From your description, your camera is not a good mate for K-mount lenses. The aperture actuator is dying and the mode selector is not able to engage for M mode (needed to shoot with K or KM mount lenses). Please don't snip the aperture actuators on the lens. That little bit cannot be undone and makes the lens much less practical for shooting with a body that is not broken. Your K-30 may still work with M42 lenses having A/M switch or with the aperture actuator pin reversibly set in the depressed position.


Steve

Of course it works ! What i was saying is not breaking the lens but the body, in retiring the aperture controlling device (the small black thing that moves up and down to control the aperture). But maybe that "cutting" the aperture control pin on the lenses would be a better idea...

---------- Post added 06-28-18 at 08:16 PM ----------

Of course it works ! What i was saying is not breaking the lens but the body, in retiring the aperture controlling device (the small black thing that moves up and down to control the aperture). But maybe that "cutting" the aperture control pin on the lenses would be a better idea...

... Since the pk bayonet system always opens the diaphragm at the smallest allowed, if i cut the pin, the diaphragm will be full manual only

[stevebrot]

... Since the pk bayonet system always opens the diaphragm at the smallest allowed, if i cut the pin, the diaphragm will be full manual only

That actuator is your friend and part of why you paid a premium price for the Helios 44K-4. Leave the mutilation to the FF Canon shooters, at least they have a good excuse (mirror interference with adapted K-mount lenses).


Steve

(...some of us are a little reactive when it comes to taking a Dremel to perfectly good lenses...)

[Dartmoor Dave]

I vote for the variability in quality. Out of curiosity, what year of manufacture is your Zen? I got mine new in 2008 through a convenient new friend in Krasnogorsk who was willing to gift me a lens in exchange for a small monetary gift. (Gifts cross borders duty-free. Import duties for optics from Russia were and probably still are quite steep.) The bullet points on mine are:

• Made-for-export MC version in Pentax-K (made in 2007)
• The rear filter for my lens is coated, though I don't know if is the same process as for the lens itself
• I have found mine to be surprising flare resistant
• It came from the factory unable to attain focus on any subject further than about 7 meters. Fortunately, the adjustment is easy.
• Surprisingly, mine performs a well on the K-3 as it did on the K10D

Steve

Thanks Steve. That's helpful info, and I agree that it's probably manufacturing differences. My serial number is covered by black tape that I've used to attach a little hood for APS-C shooting, so I can't tell you what it is. But my lens is an M42 version bought new in 2014, so probably a later build than yours. The rear filter on mine was uncoated as far as I can remember, but I can't find it to check.

The lens claims to be multicoated with a coating that changes from brownish to greenish depending on the angle that the light hits it, and it tends towards a bright, warm rendering. My highest resolution digital sensor is the 20MP AA filterless in the K-S1, and the Zenitar is just as sharp on that as on anything else I've tried.

Here's a random sample shot, but it's only APS-C. I don't own a digital full frame, and I've never had a need to use the Zenitar on film. Can be seen in high res by clicking through to Flickr.

[BigMackCam]

Since the pk bayonet system always opens the diaphragm at the smallest allowed, if i cut the pin, the diaphragm will be full manual only

That actuator is your friend and part of why you paid a premium price for the Helios 44K-4. Leave the mutilation to the FF Canon shooters, at least they have a good excuse (mirror interference with adapted K-mount lenses).

As a collector of Soviet lenses, I have to agree with Steve. I cringe when I see lenses being permanently modified

You're clearly entitled to do whatever you wish to anything you own, but I appeal to the conservationist in you and hope that you won't irreparably modify a perfectly good vintage lens. Some of the lenses I own have survived for well over sixty years and no doubt gave numerous people a great deal of pleasure before they passed into my hands. I'd like to think that when I'm dead and buried, all of my vintage glass will be enjoyed by other enthusiasts in the way the manufacturer intended.

[RedTurian]

As a collector of Soviet lenses, I have to agree with Steve. I cringe when I see lenses being permanently modified

You're clearly entitled to do whatever you wish to anything you own, but I appeal to the conservationist in you and hope that you won't irreparably modify a perfectly good vintage lens. Some of the lenses I own have survived for well over sixty years and no doubt gave numerous people a great deal of pleasure before they passed into my hands. I'd like to think that when I'm dead and buried, all of my vintage glass will be enjoyed by other enthusiasts in the way the manufacturer intended.

Oh yeah, okay you persuaded me... but since I won't modify the lens and I can't use them on my camera, it means that I need to break the camera... I was about tu buy a K70 anyway, and I only use vintage lenses without AF so it could be a better idea... anyway, if I don't break the lens, I break the camera.

But, BIG problem, I just recieved my Helios 44K-4 (which was incredibly dirty for some reason, so I cleaned and now it's nice & shiny, even if the focusing helicoid absolutely needs some grease), I mounted it mon my camera to test, it was kinda hard to place but now it's locked in place ! I can't take it off my camera !!!

[RedTurian]

Oh yeah, okay you persuaded me... but since I won't modify the lens and I can't use them on my camera, it means that I need to break the camera... I was about tu buy a K70 anyway, and I only use vintage lenses without AF so it could be a better idea... anyway, if I don't break the lens, I break the camera.

But, BIG problem, I just recieved my Helios 44K-4 (which was incredibly dirty for some reason, so I cleaned and now it's nice & shiny, even if the focusing helicoid absolutely needs some grease), I mounted it mon my camera to test, it was kinda hard to place but now it's locked in place ! I can't take it off my camera !!!

Impossible to unstuck the lens... I think I'm just gonna hammer it 'till it breaks .. . I tested it an that's a shame since the swirl looks really great...

[BigMackCam]

Impossible to unstuck the lens... I think I'm just gonna hammer it 'till it breaks .. . I tested it an that's a shame since the swirl looks really great...

Switch the camera to manual focus, set it down with the lens pointing upwards, and then try to remove the lens. Wiggle it back and forth while the lens release button is depressed and see if you can ease it free...

In my opinion, if you really can't get the lens off, you'd be better off leaving it in place and enjoying the whole package as a rather nice "fixed lens" camera. Taking a hammer to it is likely to kill both the lens and camera, and you'll end up with nothing rather than something

[RedTurian]

Switch the camera to manual focus, set it down with the lens pointing upwards, and then try to remove the lens. Wiggle it back and forth while the lens release button is depressed and see if you can ease it free...

In my opinion, if you really can't get the lens off, you'd be better off leaving it in place and enjoying the whole package as a rather nice "fixed lens" camera. Taking a hammer to it is likely to kill both the lens and camera, and you'll end up with nothing rather than something

It doesn't work... Maybe a metal saw would be a better option... That is really no luck ! On the internet, nobody seems to have had this problem...

[BigMackCam]

It doesn't work... Maybe a metal saw would be a better option... That is really no luck ! On the internet, nobody seems to have had this problem...

Seriously, you'll likely do more harm than good by using hammers, saws and any other hand or power tools. It's your camera and lens, of course, but at least you have a nice working combo right now. You'll kill one or the other, or possibly both, by going at them with heavy tools. Since you were considering upgrading to a K-70 any way, why not just leave it as is? At least for the time being - as we may yet find a solution...

[RedTurian]

Seriously, you'll likely do more harm than good by using hammers, saws and any other hand or power tools. It's your camera and lens, of course, but at least you have a nice working combo right now. You'll kill one or the other, or possibly both, by going at them with heavy tools. Since you were considering upgrading to a K-70 any way, why not just leave it as is? At least for the time being - as we may yet find a solution...

Yeeeeah.... pentax K70 is 600€ and I don't have this money right now... and I can't even control the diaphragm of the lens... okay, I got this, never more pentax K mount vintage russian lenses, never !

[BigMackCam]

Yeeeeah.... pentax K70 is 600€ and I don't have this money right now... and I can't even control the diaphragm of the lens... okay, I got this, never more pentax K mount vintage russian lenses, never !

Soviet K-mount lenses work absolutely fine on Pentax cameras - both the diaphragm control and fitting / removal. I have over a hundred Soviet lenses, several of which are K-mount (or K-mount compatible) models including the 44K-4, and they all work perfectly with various Pentax cameras that I own. There is something wrong with your particular camera, camera mount or lens mount that has caused the jam. We just need to figure out what that is.

It's possible that one of the screws in the lens mount is loose, and that it's fouling the communication pins or screw drive. Try holding the camera with the lens facing down, depress the lens release button and try wiggling the lens back and forth. If you meet some resistance, given that you're stuck anyway, you can choose to use a bit of extra force, but don't go crazy with it. Also, try pulling the lens away from the camera body as you rotate it. That might help.

[RedTurian]

Soviet K-mount lenses work absolutely fine on Pentax cameras - both the diaphragm control and fitting / removal. I have over a hundred Soviet lenses, several of which are K-mount (or K-mount compatible) models including the 44K-4, and they all work perfectly with various Pentax cameras that I own. There is something wrong with your particular camera, camera mount or lens mount that has caused the jam. We just need to figure out what that is.

It's possible that one of the screws in the lens mount is loose, and that it's fouling the communication pins or screw drive. Try holding the camera with the lens facing down, depress the lens release button and try wiggling the lens back and forth. If you meet some resistance, given that you're stuck anyway, you can choose to use a bit of extra force, but don't go crazy with it. Also, try pulling the lens away from the camera body as you rotate it. That might help.

Yeah, it's stuck-stuck... I blame quality control.

---------- Post added 06-29-18 at 09:29 AM ----------

Yeah, it's stuck-stuck... I blame quality control.

OH I GOT IT OFF, I just needed to use "extra force", but not a little bit, I've forced as trong as I was able to... but hell yeah.... pfweh.... thanks for the advices, you saved me 500$, mate.

[BigMackCam]

OH I GOT IT OFF, I just needed to use "extra force", but not a little bit, I've forced as trong as I was able to... but hell yeah.... pfweh.... thanks for the advices, you saved me 500$, mate.

And not a hammer or metal saw in sight... Well done!

[stevebrot]

Thanks Steve. That's helpful info, and I agree that it's probably manufacturing differences. My serial number is covered by black tape that I've used to attach a little hood for APS-C shooting, so I can't tell you what it is. But my lens is an M42 version bought new in 2014, so probably a later build than yours. The rear filter on mine was uncoated as far as I can remember, but I can't find it to check.

The lens claims to be multicoated with a coating that changes from brownish to greenish depending on the angle that the light hits it, and it tends towards a bright, warm rendering. My highest resolution digital sensor is the 20MP AA filterless in the K-S1, and the Zenitar is just as sharp on that as on anything else I've tried.

Here's a random sample shot, but it's only APS-C. I don't own a digital full frame, and I've never had a need to use the Zenitar on film. Can be seen in high res by clicking through to Flickr.

One can't argue with results! Mine renders warm in some light, but overall, not so much. Here is one for comparison from the K-3 (click through for more-bigger):



...and a fairly low resolution scan (1100 dpi) from one of the last Kodachrome frames ever shot/processed, by anyone...



(I love it when people start sharing images... )


Steve

[RedTurian]

One can't argue with results! Mine renders warm in some light, but overall, not so much. Here is one for comparison from the K-3 (click through for more-bigger):



...and a fairly low resolution scan (1100 dpi) from one of the last Kodachrome frames ever shot/processed, by anyone...



(I love it when people start sharing images... )


Steve

nice pics you got there comrade ! And I love it too !