[jimrodman]

Hi Newbee

I recently when in to a large name camera shop looking at Pentax DSLR bodies.
I have some manual screw mount lenses and want to upgrade to digial.
I was tolk the the only body that will work with manual lenses is the K200D and up.
I was thinging more like the K10 / 20 / 100 they are more in the price range for me.
Does any one have any thought on what I was told??
jim form Ontario

[Wheatfield]

I believe any Pentax DSLR will work with any Pentax lens from the screw mounts onwards.
There are some minor compatablity caveats (metering).
We may see some compatability problems with AF coming down the pike, but that won't affect the answer to your question.

[stevebrot]

Hi Newbee

I recently when in to a large name camera shop looking at Pentax DSLR bodies.
I have some manual screw mount lenses and want to upgrade to digial.
I was tolk the the only body that will work with manual lenses is the K200D and up.
I was thinging more like the K10 / 20 / 100 they are more in the price range for me.
Does any one have any thought on what I was told??
jim form Ontario

With the appropriate adapter, your M-42 lenses should work on any Pentax digital slr in aperture priority exposure mode. There are metering issues, however, on certain recent body models (K10D, K200D, and K20D among them) where the camera will correctly meter at f/5.6 - f/8 and will over/under expose as you move to either extreme of the aperture range. This exact nature of this behavior is poorly understood, but appears to be dependent on the lens being used and is only present when the ring on the lens is used to set the aperture.

As to what causes the issue...who knows. The people at Pentax have not been very forthcoming, except to note in the user guide and promotional materials when compatibility issues exist. Check the Pentax SLR Web site for downloadable (pdf) versions of the user guides.

Steve

[regken]

Hi Newbee

I recently when in to a large name camera shop looking at Pentax DSLR bodies.
I have some manual screw mount lenses and want to upgrade to digial.
I was tolk the the only body that will work with manual lenses is the K200D and up.
I was thinging more like the K10 / 20 / 100 they are more in the price range for me.
Does any one have any thought on what I was told??
jim form Ontario

HOGWASH!!! Any of the bodies will work. get an adapter, shoot in manual mode and you will love it. My personal favorite models are the k10D and k100D because you get shake reduction. Dial in the length of your lens and you can pick up 1 to 1 1/2 stops with SR.

ken

[Tom S.]

I just hate it when salespeople don't know what they are talking about. It's one of the main reasons I turn down their offer of 'help' when I go shopping.

As previously stated, get the Pentax Model you want. Your lenses will work in manual mode with adapters. Just be forewarned: Penatx makes some great 'new' lenses too and buying them will lead to LBA (lens buying addiciton)!

[PentaxPZ]

yes your lense will work!
I use a Pentax ME manual film lense on my K100D Super!
K100D and Supers and also K110D are available at good prices refurbished online.
I looked into getting a K110D as a second body....

[monochrome]

The facts - here is the text description of the specifications for the K10D regarding lenses that work with the camera mount. The same applies to every Pentax DSLR made, before and after the K10D:

Type - PENTAX KAF2 mount compatible with PENTAX KAF2, KAF and KA mount lenses; Power zoom function - Available; K-mount lenses - Usable with restrictions; S-mount lenses - Usable with adapter and restrictions; 67/645 lenses - Usable with adapter and restrictions

Pentax Imaging -

[jeffkrol]

The facts - here is the text description of the specifications for the K10D regarding lenses that work with the camera mount. The same applies to every Pentax DSLR made, before and after the K10D:

Type - PENTAX KAF2 mount compatible with PENTAX KAF2, KAF and KA mount lenses; Power zoom function - Available; K-mount lenses - Usable with restrictions; S-mount lenses - Usable with adapter and restrictions; 67/645 lenses - Usable with adapter and restrictions

Pentax Imaging -

Power zoom functions do not work on any early bodies (pre SDM)... and if I remember not all of the functions on post SDM bodies. Small nit

[alexgn]

I checked Dimitrov's wonderful site with wealth of information on Pentax systems; he provides plenty of information on compatibility of various lenses of different mounts used on Pentax bodies... I skipped over it quickly. But it looks it ridiculous, really.

You may be able to manually focus old lenses but then you don't know if metering will work, at what aperture it will work and whether or not you have to buy a light meter or use sunny rule etc etc.

Forget it ...If you want a camera; get the K200D real cheap & a couple of new lenses listed on Pentax's site or from 3rd party vendors. The rest belongs to film bodies and museums.

Much easier with Nikon. They have not changed their F-mount since 1959. Before then they were using rangefinders .

[monochrome]

Green Button. Enough said.

I checked Dimitrov's wonderful site with wealth of information on Pentax systems; he provides plenty of information on compatibility of various lenses of different mounts used on Pentax bodies... I skipped over it quickly. But it looks it ridiculous, really.

You may be able to manually focus old lenses but then you don't know if metering will work, at what aperture it will work and whether or not you have to buy a light meter or use sunny rule etc etc. [My emphasis]

Forget it ...If you want a camera; get the K200D real cheap & a couple of new lenses listed on Pentax's site or from 3rd party vendors. The rest belongs to film bodies and museums.

Much easier with Nikon. They have not changed their F-mount since 1959. Before then they were using rangefinders .

I have 16 lenses, ranging from Super-Takumar and S-M-C Takumar screwmount, through K and M series full manual, A-series meter-coupled manual focus, Vivitar A-series manual focus, to Pentax F and FA series autofcus lenses, and one DA "new" lens. My oldest lens is about 40 years old.

I have used every museum piece lens I own on my K10D at least once in the last three months. Every single lens I have properly meters, focuses, zooms and captures light the way I expect it to as long as I am willing to turn the mode dial one or two clicks and touch the green button after I set the aperture on the manual lenses.

With all due respect, in my opinion Pentax has given their bodies the ability to SIMPLY and EASILY use almost EVERY lens of the 24,000,000 they have ever made, with the POSSIBLE exception of the older PZ power zoom lenses, on the new bodies. Bodies beginning with the K10D (using firmware upgrade 1.3) are enabled to use the newest DA HSM lenses as well. Older BODIES can not use newer HSM LENSES, but that is not the question here. Digital BODIES can use almost every old LENS (again, with the possible exception of the PZ power-zoom lenses)

As to Nikon, according to Ken Rockwell (text) here Nikon Lens Compatibility, and (table) here Nikon Lens Compatibility, matrix metering can be an issue when mounting AI, AI-s and other lenses to D80 and up bodies. Pre-AI lenses (manufactured 1959 - 1977) must be physically converted to AI by a machine shop to mount at all. Most manual lenses have limited functionality, just like older Pentax manual lenses. The same kind of table for Pentax bayonet-mount lenses is available here http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/technology/summary/index.html

While I appreciate the great strides all camera makers have made the last decade in digital photography, I often prefer to take my time and use the better-constructed older lenses that still have superior glass optics. Pentax allows me to do that.

[Mike Cash]

I have the K20D, use Takumars almost exclusively, and scratch my head in confusion every time I read about my camera having metering issues with screwmount lenses. Either I have a production line freak which doesn't have the problem or I am too obtuse to notice there is a problem.

[jbinpg]

I recently dicovered a 1970s vintage 50/1.7 Rikenon in M42 mount. Got the adapter and slapped it on my k20d. OMG!!! This lens has the creamiest bokeh I have ever seen. It is now my standard portrait lens and with a 2x doubler it is also a killer macro. There are some really nice old lenses out there to discover. Learn to shoot in manual mode and you will be happy.

[jeffkrol]

I have the K20D, use Takumars almost exclusively, and scratch my head in confusion every time I read about my camera having metering issues with screwmount lenses. Either I have a production line freak which doesn't have the problem or I am too obtuse to notice there is a problem.

I would love to believe this. One of the reasons I never bought a k10 was the green button metering issue. This is only one of a dozen or so tests that point out the problem. There's charts and graphs and a few dozen different manual lenses w/ data that point to an "issue".
Maybe it was corrected in the k20d, as this "issue" really hasn't popped up on dpreview or anywhere else to my knowledge. K100 and prior cameras were not so affected. K10 was and the standard cure was to use a DS focusing screen. Unfortunately that may throw off current lens metering..
Re: K20D Manual Lens Underexposure? [8 images]: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review
Actually this is a k20 thread, thought it was one of the usual k10 ones.

[Canada_Rockies]

I would love to believe this. One of the reasons I never bought a k10 was the green button metering issue. This is only one of a dozen or so tests that point out the problem. There's charts and graphs and a few dozen different manual lenses w/ data that point to an "issue".
Maybe it was corrected in the k20d, as this "issue" really hasn't popped up on dpreview or anywhere else to my knowledge. K100 and prior cameras were not so affected. K10 was and the standard cure was to use a DS focusing screen. Unfortunately that may throw off current lens metering..
Re: K20D Manual Lens Underexposure? [8 images]: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review
Actually this is a k20 thread, thought it was one of the usual k10 ones.

I do not use the green button system to expose with my two M lenses. I use the depth of field stop down lever and the over/under scale. My M 400/5.6 and M 100/5.6 macro work just fine, thank you.

Yes there are metering problems sometimes at extreme f/stops - but one seldom uses them, so I don't care much. I do care that I can mount and use two 30 year old lenses on my K10 D along with the more modern goodies I have. I could use a 50 year old Takumar 55/2.2 with an adapter for that matter.

I've even tried the 400 wide open in Av - and it exposes just fine. Unfortunately the CA red shows up worse wide open, so I prefer to use the lens at f/8 or f/11, where it works very well for me.

Just an old f**t's rambings.

PS - sunny 16 works perfectly.

[alexgn]

Green Button. Enough said.



I have 16 lenses

I know a professional photographer who only has 2-3 lenses on his MF camera; he makes a living from selling images captured on these lenses.

Why do you need to have 16 lenses? Are you collecting them?