[ed.wenn]

Hi All, I'm sure this has been done to death here and elsewhere, but in my defence I've looked & looked & not found what I'm after, so I thought I'd ask the question here. A million apologies if it's been covered already (in which case a link to the topic would be greatly appreciated).

Anyway, here's the deal: I'm a very competent, but 100% analogue photographer and own a couple of Pentax SLRs with a variety of old standard K-mount primes. The world of DSLRs is completely beyond my experience. A friend of mine owns a K100D & is interested in trying out some of my lenses. We understand there are certain restrictions around using them with the K100D & are happy with that. What we can't seem to do is actually take a photo with her camera once we have attached a K-mount lens.

I see a lot of stuff online about how you have to set the camera to 'M' mode - which we've done - but that seems to be it. When we try that the camera simply doesn't fire. We've tried a couple of different lenses & had the same result.

I'm guessing there's some setting or other that needs to be set via the LCD screen on the back of the camera that we're missing. I read somewhere about having to manually set the aperture or something...is this the missing piece? It would be great if someone here could knock up a step-by-step on how to get old K-mounts working with a K100D.

OK, thanks in advance. All comments much appreciated.

[Mike Cash]

In the custom menu she should enable use of the aperture ring. And she should make sure to move the A.F./M.F. switch (next to the lens on the right as you face the front of the camera) to "M.F."

Select the desired aperture on the lens and press the AE-L button to meter the scene and set the shutter speed.

[RiceHigh]

I think the user manual should have told it, maybe you could find the relevant sections and read them if not yet.

Hi All, I'm sure this has been done to death here and elsewhere, but in my defence I've looked & looked & not found what I'm after, so I thought I'd ask the question here. A million apologies if it's been covered already (in which case a link to the topic would be greatly appreciated).

Anyway, here's the deal: I'm a very competent, but 100% analogue photographer and own a couple of Pentax SLRs with a variety of old standard K-mount primes. The world of DSLRs is completely beyond my experience. A friend of mine owns a K100D & is interested in trying out some of my lenses. We understand there are certain restrictions around using them with the K100D & are happy with that. What we can't seem to do is actually take a photo with her camera once we have attached a K-mount lens.

I see a lot of stuff online about how you have to set the camera to 'M' mode - which we've done - but that seems to be it. When we try that the camera simply doesn't fire. We've tried a couple of different lenses & had the same result.

I'm guessing there's some setting or other that needs to be set via the LCD screen on the back of the camera that we're missing. I read somewhere about having to manually set the aperture or something...is this the missing piece? It would be great if someone here could knock up a step-by-step on how to get old K-mounts working with a K100D.

OK, thanks in advance. All comments much appreciated.

[MrApollinax]

Try this link:

K100D (Super) Pictorial guide to using manual lenses [imgs] [Page 1]: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

[southy]

Also, if you have trap focus set up, the shutter button will not work unless you have the green hexagon focus confirmation.
Trap Focus:
AF switch with manual glass
To turn it off, toggle the switch to MF and you should be good to go.

[rparmar]

My article Using A Manual Lens On A Pentax Digital SLR covers just about everything.

[ed.wenn]

Thanks one and all...very much appreciated.

Ed

[Mike Cash]

I think the user manual should have told it, maybe you could find the relevant sections and read them if not yet.

This is a first.

RH recommended not only recommended someone read something other than his blog, he didn't send them there via a link to his blog either.

Have to find a pen and mark this down on the calendar....

[RoxnDox]

This is a first.

RH recommended not only recommended someone read something other than his blog, he didn't send them there via a link to his blog either.

Have to find a pen and mark this down on the calendar....

Unfortunately, he recommended a portion of the manual that is *not* written well enough to be much help to the person coming stright from k1000 to K100D... I had the same questions about using my old M lenses, had read the entire manual repeatedly, and still missed the info until someone here in the forum was kind enough to point it out in new-user terminology... Yay forum! Grrrrrrr manual!

Jim

A very informative post. Thanks to all for the info.