just bought a samsung GX1S need help for lenses.

naughty.smurf · 03-14-2009, 01:19 AM

Hi all i have just bought a samsung GX1S for a starter camera and am looking at some lenses to go with it, what is the difference between PK lenses and KA lenses and can i use the PK ones on this camera? many thanks.

Erik · 03-14-2009, 04:17 AM

Congratulations! Good camera for sure. The "PK" and "KA" designations are used for third party K-mount lenses mostly.

"PK" means "Pentax K" and is usually in reference to older lenses that do not have an "A" aperture setting, meaning you can use these on your digital camera but only in M exposure mode and "stop down metering". "KA" or "PKA" means lenses that DO have an "A" setting on the aperture ring. These can be used fully on any digital or analog Pentax SLR -- "A" lenses can use Program, Av and Tv modes, in addition to M. They do not, however, have autofocus. If you find a lens marked "KAF" it will be like a "KA" lens but with autofocus.

You can use any lens that says "PK", "K", "KA", "PKA", "KAF", etc. Just beware of ones that say "KR" or similar -- these are Ricoh K-mount and while they will appear to fit, they can get STUCK on Pentax autofocus cameras because of an extra pin on the mount. This pin can be removed to get the lens working perfectly with your Pentax AF camera if you find a "KR" lens you like.

There are exceptions to these rules -- my Sigma lens, for example, says "KPR" which I assume stands for "K Pentax/Ricoh" but it doesn't have the Ricoh pin, and it is autofocus despite not having "AF" in the designation. YMMV.

RioRico · 03-14-2009, 07:31 AM

Erik: I'm veering from the topic slightly, but maybe you (or other helpful Pentaxians) can clear-up some confusion.

Besides the various K-types, I use many M42 and M39 lenses. Some of these, A-types I suppose, have the aperture stop-down pin. Some of these A-types have an A-M switch, to allow selection of either Auto-stop-down or Manual-preset aperture operation. Some A-types do NOT have that switch, and operate only with Auto-stopdown. And non-A-types (like those M39s) have only Manual-preset aperture operation.

All those A-types, with A-M switch set to A, work via adaptors on my K20D in M-mode, and nicely with the Green button, just like a plain-vanilla PK-mount lens. The non-A-types, and A-types with the A-M switch set to M, operate only on presets; these work about equivalently in M-mode or Av-mode.

My question is: are there standard designations for these various types of screwmount aperture interfaces, similar to the PK-KA-KAR-KAF labels? Are they manual, hypermanual, duomanual, paleomanual, what? Having shorthand labels would simplify keeping track of such older lenses. Thanks.

naughty.smurf · 03-15-2009, 01:05 AM

thankyou Erik for your help, I still cant get the pk lens to work, changed over to manual but just keeps flashing up with an f--- inside and everything is shut down. I maybe have a camera that doesnt accept these manual only lenses. This i was told is a possibility. thankyou for your help and advice it is very much appreciated to a newcomer. I always used fuji s5600 and s6500 cameras before so this is a complete change but the pictures are so different, best wishes, Russ.

Damn Brit · 03-15-2009, 01:26 AM

Originally posted by naughty.smurf

thankyou Erik for your help, I still cant get the pk lens to work, changed over to manual but just keeps flashing up with an f--- inside and everything is shut down. I maybe have a camera that doesnt accept these manual only lenses. This i was told is a possibility. thankyou for your help and advice it is very much appreciated to a newcomer. I always used fuji s5600 and s6500 cameras before so this is a complete change but the pictures are so different, best wishes, Russ.

If this is an autofocus (AF) lens, then you may have moved the AF setting on the lens when you mounted it. Look where the lens meets up with the front of the camera.
If it is a manual focus (MF) lens, you have to go into the camera menu and enable Aperture Ring.
You did get a manual with the camera didn't you?

Marc Sabatella · 03-15-2009, 11:20 AM

Originally posted by naughty.smurf

I still cant get the pk lens to work, changed over to manual but just keeps flashing up with an f--- inside and everything is shut down

I'm guessing you did not set the custom option to allow use of the aperture ring. You have to do that first (and then you can leave it set that way - no need to switch back to use modern lenses).

For a complete description of the process for using manual lenses, Google "pictorial guide manual lenses Pentax" and check out the thread Sean Nelson posted to dpreview. It's all there in illustrated detail.

03-14-2009, 01:19 AM	#1
naughty.smurf Inactive Account Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: torquay Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 6	just bought a samsung GX1S need help for lenses. Hi all i have just bought a samsung GX1S for a starter camera and am looking at some lenses to go with it, what is the difference between PK lenses and KA lenses and can i use the PK ones on this camera? many thanks.

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03-14-2009, 04:17 AM	#2
Erik Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Umeå, Sweden Posts: 755	Congratulations! Good camera for sure. The "PK" and "KA" designations are used for third party K-mount lenses mostly. "PK" means "Pentax K" and is usually in reference to older lenses that do not have an "A" aperture setting, meaning you can use these on your digital camera but only in M exposure mode and "stop down metering". "KA" or "PKA" means lenses that DO have an "A" setting on the aperture ring. These can be used fully on any digital or analog Pentax SLR -- "A" lenses can use Program, Av and Tv modes, in addition to M. They do not, however, have autofocus. If you find a lens marked "KAF" it will be like a "KA" lens but with autofocus. You can use any lens that says "PK", "K", "KA", "PKA", "KAF", etc. Just beware of ones that say "KR" or similar -- these are Ricoh K-mount and while they will appear to fit, they can get STUCK on Pentax autofocus cameras because of an extra pin on the mount. This pin can be removed to get the lens working perfectly with your Pentax AF camera if you find a "KR" lens you like. There are exceptions to these rules -- my Sigma lens, for example, says "KPR" which I assume stands for "K Pentax/Ricoh" but it doesn't have the Ricoh pin, and it is autofocus despite not having "AF" in the designation. YMMV.

03-14-2009, 07:31 AM	#3
RioRico Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Limbo, California Posts: 11,264	Erik: I'm veering from the topic slightly, but maybe you (or other helpful Pentaxians) can clear-up some confusion. Besides the various K-types, I use many M42 and M39 lenses. Some of these, A-types I suppose, have the aperture stop-down pin. Some of these A-types have an A-M switch, to allow selection of either Auto-stop-down or Manual-preset aperture operation. Some A-types do NOT have that switch, and operate only with Auto-stopdown. And non-A-types (like those M39s) have only Manual-preset aperture operation. All those A-types, with A-M switch set to A, work via adaptors on my K20D in M-mode, and nicely with the Green button, just like a plain-vanilla PK-mount lens. The non-A-types, and A-types with the A-M switch set to M, operate only on presets; these work about equivalently in M-mode or Av-mode. My question is: are there standard designations for these various types of screwmount aperture interfaces, similar to the PK-KA-KAR-KAF labels? Are they manual, hypermanual, duomanual, paleomanual, what? Having shorthand labels would simplify keeping track of such older lenses. Thanks.

03-15-2009, 01:05 AM	#4
naughty.smurf Inactive Account Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: torquay Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 6 Original Poster	thankyou Erik for your help, I still cant get the pk lens to work, changed over to manual but just keeps flashing up with an f--- inside and everything is shut down. I maybe have a camera that doesnt accept these manual only lenses. This i was told is a possibility. thankyou for your help and advice it is very much appreciated to a newcomer. I always used fuji s5600 and s6500 cameras before so this is a complete change but the pictures are so different, best wishes, Russ.

03-15-2009, 01:26 AM	#5
Damn Brit Guest	Originally posted by naughty.smurf thankyou Erik for your help, I still cant get the pk lens to work, changed over to manual but just keeps flashing up with an f--- inside and everything is shut down. I maybe have a camera that doesnt accept these manual only lenses. This i was told is a possibility. thankyou for your help and advice it is very much appreciated to a newcomer. I always used fuji s5600 and s6500 cameras before so this is a complete change but the pictures are so different, best wishes, Russ. If this is an autofocus (AF) lens, then you may have moved the AF setting on the lens when you mounted it. Look where the lens meets up with the front of the camera. If it is a manual focus (MF) lens, you have to go into the camera menu and enable Aperture Ring. You did get a manual with the camera didn't you?

03-15-2009, 11:20 AM	#6
Marc Sabatella Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Denver, CO Photos: Gallery Posts: 10,686	Originally posted by naughty.smurf I still cant get the pk lens to work, changed over to manual but just keeps flashing up with an f--- inside and everything is shut down I'm guessing you did not set the custom option to allow use of the aperture ring. You have to do that first (and then you can leave it set that way - no need to switch back to use modern lenses). For a complete description of the process for using manual lenses, Google "pictorial guide manual lenses Pentax" and check out the thread Sean Nelson posted to dpreview. It's all there in illustrated detail.

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