[Cuthbert]

You'd be making a big jump from film to K-1 ... jumping ahead more than a decade. I understand you reluctance to purchase a "lesser" camera first, but frankly the best way for you to understand these answers is for you to handle a relatively current K-mount camera, such as a K-50.

My "most technogically advanced" camera is the Canon T90, that should do everything the new DSLR offer besides AF. Actually it does even too much and I don't use it very often to be honest.

[gaweidert]

Cuthbert

I went digital in 2012. My first DSLR was a Pentax K5 simply because I had used Pentax mount lenses for 40 years at that point. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. And my photos looked like one of George Carlin's seven words you can't say on the radio. I essentially had to relearn how to do a lot of stuff that was second nature to me on the older cameras. Even though the manual was extensive, it was actually pretty useless because it assumes that you know what all the modes do and merely shows you how to set them.

This forum was a godsend at the time. So much information available. My "AHA!" moment came when I put my old screw mount SMC Takumar 55mm f1.8 lens on my K5. First of all it felt familiar, Then I relearned how to use it on the new cameras. I can still do everything with it I can do on my Spotmatic II, but I had to get there through a different route. Luckily with a digital camera you have instant access to the results and the only thing it cost you is electricity to recharge the battery. Plus, I also discovered that this old lens still rocks! Then I went through all of my old lenses one lens at a time and relearned how to use them too.

With manual lenses I set the aperture, meter the scene with the green button and go form there. With new and A lenses I tend to use TAv mode as I can set shutter speed and aperture and the camera varies (within a preset range) the ISO to give the correct exposure This is especially important when I use my long lenses hand held. As for focus confirmation for my manual focus lenses, I learned the hard way that it is not good to have blind faith in it. I have three DLSR's and all I can say is that the K3 is better at this than the K5-IIs which is better than the K5.

On longer lenses, if I have the time, I still use manual focus a lot to insure that the area that I want to be focus is indeed in focus. Manual focus is not really as difficult and time consuming as some would believe. But it is a learned skill in sports and birds in flight photography.

[reh321]

I appear to have disturbed some here, and I apologize for that.

Please read my comments in the context of this discussion. My last two film cameras were a Pentax Super Program and then a Canon EOS Elan {kind of a followup to the T-90}; each was my sole primary camera for eleven years. If I had only those two cameras, I would understand very little of what was said in this discussion. My understanding of the subject here is solely because I have been using a K-30 for the past year; as nearly as I can tell, since they designed the K-30, Pentax has not made any significant changes in how things are done.

Cuthbert, when I suggested trying a K-50, I did not mean using it as your primary camera. I did not mean buying anything else at all. What I did mean was mounting your current lenses on it and seeing for yourself how the camera and lenses interact with each other as a system, seeing what happens when you switch to Av mode or to Tv mode for each setting on the lens. The view through the viewfinder is not important; the view in the viewfinder, and on the panel, is what matters. An hour of that kind of experience would be more valuable than a month of question-and-answer here ... but it is your money and your time, and you ultimately get to decide what to do with them.

[Cuthbert]

ad my comments in the context of this discussion. My last two film cameras were a Pentax Super Program and then a Canon EOS Elan {kind of a followup to the T-90}; each was my sole primary camera for eleven years. If I had only those two cameras, I would understand very little of what was said in this discussion. My understanding of the subject here is solely because I have been using a K-30 for the past year; as nearly as I can tell, since they designed the K-30, Pentax has not made any significant changes in how things are done.

Thank you guys, I'll try to find out a K-1 to try, pretty curious to see how it works.

Still not convinced about the K50 because of format problems, I would like a full frame to get what I would see on film.

[stevebrot]

Thank you guys, I'll try to find out a K-1 to try, pretty curious to see how it works.

Still not convinced about the K50 because of format problems, I would like a full frame to get what I would see on film.

Yes, best to try in person, if at all possible. Even better would be to spend some time with a K-1 owner for a photowalk.

As for how the metering works, even I got a little confused reading some of the comments on this thread. The rules are simple:

• All but M, X, and B modes require that the body be able to control the aperture setting
• If the lens has no contacts on the mount, the body cannot control the aperture setting
• With one exception (see below), open-aperture metering is not supported for any lens lacking contacts on the mount

Moving on, here are the rules (a little more complex) for when the body cannot control the aperture:

• All modes except M, X, and B default to Av mode
• Metering is limited to center-weighted averaging
• In Av mode the camera will adjust shutter speed to match the light coming from the lens (metering is technically stop-down)
• Because of the above point, Av mode works great for adapted lenses and K-mount lenses with fully manual or preset aperture mechanisms
• In Av mode, the body will NOT engage the aperture actuator lever on auto-aperture lenses unless the A contacts are detected. As a result, K and M series lenses will always shoot wide open in other than M, X, and B modes. This is the single exception for open-aperture metering with K and M series lenses, though metering is technically stop-down even in this case.
• In M mode, the body will always actuate the aperture on all K-mount lenses
• Stop-down metering in M mode is available via the green button and/or optical DOF preview feature. In practice, this works very well and is not particularly cumbersome.

One final note. Stop-down metering is not completely equivalent to open-aperture metering. The reasons are complex, but it is enough to say that "chimping" exposure is highly recommended.


Steve

[monochrome]

^^^ That is the best quick summary ever. Bookmarked the actual Post for future reference.