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05-18-2022, 01:50 AM - 1 Like   #1
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On the K7

I was and still am perfectly happy with my K200D, in my opinion it was and is one of the best cameras Pentax ever produced, so there was I happily soldiering along and Pentax ruined the whole thing by bringing out their 1.4x teleconverter which I rather wanted and which would not work on the K200D.

On a whim I bought a second hand K7, without of course reading any of the reviews, but it was the cheapest camera that you could fit the 1.4x converter to, of course for one reason or another I never bought the converter.

I was not of course happy with this camera but after a couple of years I got the hang of it and could produce quite respectable images, especially if you didn't go above ISO 800, well I thought so anyway, of course I could have read the manual but who reads manuals, I decided to "improve" it and bought a genuine Chinese battery grip off e-bay for €19 which, though not water resistant, works quite well for vertical shots and for keeping the spare battery.

Still not happy and using the K200D rather more than the K7 I eventually splashed out and bought the K70, a really, really nice camera with images in my eyes about as good as those from the K200D, I don't pixel peep, I'm convinced, rightly or wrongly that its the CCD sensor in the K200D which is responsible for those great images, so there am I with the K7 all alone sitting in a gadget bag and going nowhere. I could trade it in of course but you never know it might come in handy some day and the second hand prices for cameras are low.

By now of course I have a couple of Takumar lenses and faced with the dilemma of permanently fitting an M42 adapter to the lenses which I know would ruin them or taking the adapter on and off whichever camera I was using which I don't like doing as I'm sure at some point it will jamb when I need to get it off. Also looking at the prices Takumar's are going for on e-bay these days you wouldn't want to do anything to them to lower their value.

I have welded a couple of cheap adapters with Loctite thread locker to some other M42 lenses I have, for instance a Helios M44-2 where somehow or other I got two copies (one for €3) and it does work, I took the spring catch off the adapter before doing so and nothing has fallen off the camera yet.

Well if there is the possibility of the adapter going to jamb on, in my mind anyway, and taking it on and off is something I don't like, I thought I may as well leave it permanently on so the K7 is now entering a new phase in its career and the Takumar's are coming out more often.

Well it makes sense to me anyway and herself says my brane isn't bigger than a fly's.

05-18-2022, 03:28 AM - 3 Likes   #2
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Something which is often misunderstood is the correct use of the Pentax M42/K adaptor. It was always intended to convert the K mount camera body to the M42 mount, not to convert M42 lenses to K mount. The intention is to leave the adaptor in the camera body and simply screw in your Takumars as required. When you want to remove the adaptor from the body you take the lens off first then release the lock tab to remove the adaptor. The problem comes when people think they can remove the lens and adaptor together - unless you have removed the lock tab it won't work and people think their M42 lens is now stuck. It isn't of course, you simply unscrew it like you would on a Spotmatic.
05-18-2022, 03:55 AM - 1 Like   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by steephill Quote
Something which is often misunderstood is the correct use of the Pentax M42/K adaptor. It was always intended to convert the K mount camera body to the M42 mount, not to convert M42 lenses to K mount. The intention is to leave the adaptor in the camera body and simply screw in your Takumars as required. When you want to remove the adaptor from the body you take the lens off first then release the lock tab to remove the adaptor. The problem comes when people think they can remove the lens and adaptor together - unless you have removed the lock tab it won't work and people think their M42 lens is now stuck. It isn't of course, you simply unscrew it like you would on a Spotmatic.
bingo

I have the OEM M42 adapter and it has never jammed on a camera body - it is not intended to stay on the lens, but on the camera....
05-18-2022, 05:28 AM   #4
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I’m confused. What is the issue with the HD DA 1.4x on the K200D?

05-18-2022, 05:56 AM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by UncleVanya Quote
I’m confused. What is the issue with the HD DA 1.4x on the K200D?
If you look at DA converters it says that the the K200D is not supported, possibly it may need a CMOS sensor to work ?
05-18-2022, 06:01 AM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by PenPusher Quote
If you look at DA converters it says that the the K200D is not supported, possibly it may need a CMOS sensor to work ?
I had never noticed that. How odd. It may be related to the light needed to focus. The 200D isn’t a low light monster.
05-18-2022, 06:33 AM   #7
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Seems like fit is not the problem. It's only a few lens that may damage the converter/lens - probably the rear element sticks out too much.

It appears body compatibility is a firmware issue and bodies older than the K-7/K-x/K-r don't recognize the TC and lose some of the auto-focus and exposure functions.

HD Pentax-DA 1.4x AW AF Rear Converter Reviews - DA Teleconverters - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database

05-18-2022, 09:02 AM - 1 Like   #8
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Exactly as steephill and pepperberry farm … I have an OEM adaptor fitted semi-permanently to one of my bodies (the *istDS at the moment) and if I want to play with my screw-fit lenses I simply grab that body and "go basic"
The OEM adaptor is very well made, it never jams on the camera and is designed to be released just using a fingernail … the slightly higher price is well worth the peace of mind!
Unfortunately I am one of that rare breed that does read the manual, thoroughly and extensively, so I rarely have problems
05-18-2022, 10:14 AM   #9
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I'll repeat one of my regular coments to these discussions: to have easy and secure "like a K-mount" use of M42 lenses, a flanged adapter is a way to go, specifically on longer focal length lenses (on eg 28mm's, you will indeed have a restricted focal range to only a few m...). Infinity focus: well ask yourself how often to you need/use focus at infinity? And some lenses, you can adjust infinity focus too.
Look for the plated brass ones rather than the black anodised ones - better quality and avoids connectivity issues with the contacts on the mount.
05-19-2022, 04:48 AM   #10
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I suppose if you think about it, when Pentax changed to the K mount back in 1976, they hardly expected those using Takumar's to rush out and equip themselves with a complete new range of K mount lenses all at once, so it would be logical for them to expect that the M42 lens adapter would stay on the new K mount body for quite some time, so turning a seldom used K7 etc., into a dedicated m42 mount camera is rather like going back to the future.

Thanks for your comments.
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