[stevebrot]

Steve one thing you forgot is although Pentax came late to the bayonet mount it was a great design. The Canikons had to abandon theirs a couple of times. Pentax's was an adaptable mount and still can use all those old great lenses up to the functionality of said lens. Also in the film era you had the 35mm Mamiya's. I have one with theie version of a bayonet and 2 with the M42. They were pretty innivative designs for the time. They are still great cameras and I love shooting with them. As I do with my old Pentaxes. Only one that sees little to no use is my Minolta...

You are so right about the K-mount. It is one of the classics of the camera world.

People keep saying that Pentax was late with the bayonet mount. What is not well appreciated is that it was not that clear in, say 1969, that bayonet was a preferable solution. I was 14 at the time and remember asking shop people and photographer friends about mount choices. Conventional wisdom went something like this:

• Bayonet is faster when changing lenses
• There is a concern that a bayonet mount may wear poorly with potential to loosen over time (perhaps they should try plastic?)
• Breech-lock is a good compromise, but heavy
• Screw mount is slower when changing lenses
• Focus registration with screw mount is assured as is tight tolerance
• There is a slight risk of cross-threading a screw mount lens
• Some of the best lenses in the world are made in M42 screw mount
• Stop-down TTL metering ala Spotmatic is the gold standard for meter accuracy
• Bayonet is proprietary with more limited resale market for used lenses...M42 is universal

Mind you, that was the conventional wisdom at the time. The number of camera brands using M42 was pretty extensive through most of the 1970s and the mount was still being used in production cameras through 2007 (Bessaflex TM).


Steve

P.S. I too am a Mamiya fan. I have a mint 1000 DTL in full working condition that I shoot with on occasion. They had innovative, well-made 35mm cameras (Auto XTL anybody?). Pity that Mamiya was forced to abandon that market back in the early 1980s to focus on the medium format stuff.

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Last edited by stevebrot; 07-18-2010 at 10:20 PM.

[sharkbait88]

So Sharkbait you like those GM products?

well not exactly gm, just the known reliability of saabs, and the fact that i test drove one and fell in love with the design details and how it felt like to drive.

haven't gotten a hold of a in store demo pentax to actually see it and feel it in my hands yet, but i'm hoping that when i do it'll be as good as i read it to be in various reviews and forum discussions.

[Blue]

well not exactly gm, just the known reliability of saabs, and the fact that i test drove one and fell in love with the design details and how it felt like to drive.

haven't gotten a hold of a in store demo pentax to actually see it and feel it in my hands yet, but i'm hoping that when i do it'll be as good as i read it to be in various reviews and forum discussions.

I can't believe I'm reading Saab and 'reliability' in the same sentence.

Edit: Steve, where does Alpa fit into the car analogy?

[er1kksen]

Edit: Steve, where does Alpa fit into the car analogy?

Probably depends on the back attached.

Probably looking at some sort of stripped-down supercar, particularly if you want to call it a P65+.

[pingflood]

I can't believe I'm reading Saab and 'reliability' in the same sentence. :Hysterical:

Yeah, I am a Saab owner and had to chuckle at that one.

Just about any modern Saab will sooner or later die on you due to what I refer to as "broken DIC" -- direct ignition cassette, that Saab so thoughtfully slammed on position where it gets a lot of heat, without being capable of dealing with it in the long run. Or the crankshaft sensor, that's another one that croaks from heat.

For smaller nuisances, check out the info display on just about ANY Saab built in the past decade and see how many rows of pixels end up missing soon after the warranty is up. What, it wasn't a good idea to glue the ribbon cable on rather than solder?

My old boss has a 2001 9-5 and it's been towed six times so far with around 90k miles on it.

They are fun cars and a great value used, but I wouldn't call them particularly reliable. I got mine since I work pretty close to home and we have a Volvo as our primary car. '99 9-3 2.0t LPT that I am about to throw a Nordic chip and boost solenoid in to bring it to around 220hp and 245 lbs-ft.

[Blue]

Yeah, I am a Saab owner and had to chuckle at that one.

. . .

We have had 2 in the past. The one had a nitrous kit which was interesting and the other was turbo. Both had weird issues with the fuse box under the hood. They were fun to drive. Those were both back in the 80s. I guess the electrical/electronic stuff is a tradition.

[sharkbait88]

I can't believe I'm reading Saab and 'reliability' in the same sentence. :Hysterical:

Edit: Steve, where does Alpa fit into the car analogy?

well i'm not sure about saabs now, but i know several people who've owned saabs for years, and they've been solid cars.
i hope that doesn't affect the reliability metaphor for the pentax

[Blue]

well i'm not sure about saabs now, but i know several people who've owned saabs for years, and they've been solid cars.
i hope that doesn't affect the reliability metaphor for the pentax

Solid and reliable are 2 different words though. Pentax has historically been solid & reliable.

[stevebrot]

...Steve, where does Alpa fit into the car analogy?

Probably depends on the back attached.

Probably looking at some sort of stripped-down supercar, particularly if you want to call it a P65+.

What he said...


Steve


(Assuming you mean current generation Alpa...)

[deadwolfbones]

Saab is the company that offers you a new car if you get yours to run a million miles, right?

[sharkbait88]

Solid and reliable are 2 different words though. Pentax has historically been solid & reliable.

ha well sorry for my saab mistake, never owned one but always wanted one, and i'm glad that pentax is both!

Saab is the company that offers you a new car if you get yours to run a million miles, right?

yup, i remember reading about it a few years back when a man "redeemed" his old saab.