[aurele]

In 1993 I paid 3500 swedish crowns for this copy 2nd hand. That's about 400 US$. Autofocus had come and a lot of people were selling of all their manual focus lenses....

And considering the inflation, it would be around 560€ nowadays, which is a steal

[nickthetasmaniac]

My Grandfather's old Minolta kit.

SRT 101b
MC Rokkor-PF 50/f1.7
MC W-Rokkor 28/f3.5

Not really sure what to do with it to be honest, it's nice enough but I much prefer my Pentax and Leica 35mm stuff...

[RHN12]

My Grandfather's old Minolta kit.

SRT 101b
MC Rokkor-PF 50/f1.7
MC W-Rokkor 28/f3.5

Not really sure what to do with it to be honest, it's nice enough but I much prefer my Pentax and Leica 35mm stuff...

The SRT 101/101b is a great camera, Nick, as are Rokkor lenses great. I'm tempted to take it off your hands but I have two already :-)
Peter/RHN12
Phillip Island

[BigMackCam]

My Grandfather's old Minolta kit.

SRT 101b
MC Rokkor-PF 50/f1.7
MC W-Rokkor 28/f3.5

Not really sure what to do with it to be honest, it's nice enough but I much prefer my Pentax and Leica 35mm stuff...

That's a beautiful kit. Crying out to be used, that's for sure

[Douglas_of_Sweden]

In retrospect, purchases made back them seem more like investments. I bought my 200mm SMCA macro for $750 a few years earlier than when you got the 135mm. It's a bit careworn, but I daresay there's a Pentaxian out there who would jump at a $2000 offering now - but not a chance I'd part with it. BTW: The only copies of the 200 I've seen for sale were going for $3000, but mine shows more signs of wear than that one.

I did some good "investments" back then. Got my 1st salary as Ph.D. candidate in -93 and saved what I could and sold some photos, but it wasn't a professor salary...and film etc also costed money. But nowadays I regret I didn't buy more...if I had only realised that the good manual glass would go up that much in price! The generall concensus by the pro's and most amateurs was to get rid of your manual glass to finance auto focus glass...so prices dropped low from about 1990 and stayed there for many years. I know what I would do if I had a time machine! Like that red phone boot Dr. Who has. Get hold of enough old crown-bills (or whatever I could pay with)...set the control instruments and "fly"back to Stockholm anno 1992 and raid all the camera shops that had a good 2nd hand sortiment (and there were many of them back then) for any good glass I could find. I just have to avoid meeting myself...since I often window-shopped there: Sergel-foto, Kameradoktorn, Schrönners foto...

The A*200mm macro is one I still haven't got, but would very much like to have. But as you say, now they want from 2000 euro and upwards. For this year I have emptied the budget on some other manual glass that's been on my shopping list for a long time, so the 200mm macro will have to wait some more. With the rare glass it doesn't even always help if you have the money...so few copies were made that a lot of patience is needed.

through the viewfinder: My Lenses

[WPRESTO]

The A*200mm macro is one I still haven't got, but would very much like to have. But as you say, now they want from 2000 euro and upwards. For this year I have emptied the budget on some other manual glass that's been on my shopping list for a long time, so the 200mm macro will have to wait some more. With the rare glass it doesn't even always help if you have the money...so few copies were made that a lot of patience is needed.

When it was introduced and for several years after I was tempted by the AF version of the 200 macro, but couldn't justify the expenditure considering I had a manual version. In retrospect I should have put out the money as I have never seen a used AF 200 macro on the market. There are two SMCA 200mm macros listed on EBAY at the moment, both from Japan, one for $2888, the other for $3300. Ouch!

[unixrevolution]

My Grandfather's old Minolta kit.

SRT 101b
MC Rokkor-PF 50/f1.7
MC W-Rokkor 28/f3.5

Not really sure what to do with it to be honest, it's nice enough but I much prefer my Pentax and Leica 35mm stuff...

That's what I thought about my completely and utterly redundant Minolta kit as well, Nick.

But the more I use my XG-M and Rokkor lenses, both together or with the lenses adapted to a mirrorless body, the more I like them.

I also find that I have enough Pentax stuff, that figuring out what to take and getting it all packed in a bag can be a hassle. With my 4-lens minolta kit, I just grab that one bag and out the door.

Load it up, get a battery, and try it. You simply do not know what you're missing till you do.

[g026r]

(And yes, there's a corresponding shot of the taking camera; but it's not going to be ready until next week at the earliest.)

Follow-up.



Pentax K2.
smc Pentax-A 50mm f1.4.
Kodak Tri-X 400.

[Jonathan Mac]

My Grandfather's old Minolta kit.

SRT 101b
MC Rokkor-PF 50/f1.7
MC W-Rokkor 28/f3.5

Not really sure what to do with it to be honest, it's nice enough but I much prefer my Pentax and Leica 35mm stuff...

There are a few people on the forum that also shoot Minolta and they are lovely cameras and lenses. I'm referring to the old SRT cameras, the newer Minoltas aren't nearly as nice and are very prone to electronic failures. My SRT-101 is one of m favourite 35mm SLRs - it feels better in use than almost any of my Pentax cameras - solid, smooth mechanical movements and a delicious shutter sound.

The 50mm f/1.7 is a superb lens, very similar in sharpness and rendering to the Pentax M 50/1.7. The f/3.5 28mm lenses don't have a good reputation, though I haven't used one myself.

I'd strongly urge you to give the camera a go, you might well find you like it.

[nickthetasmaniac]

I'd strongly urge you to give the camera a go, you might well find you like it.

Load it up, get a battery, and try it. You simply do not know what you're missing till you do.

Should have clarified in the OP - this is a set-up I've had for a couple of years, since it was passed on to me through family. I have run film through it, and we just don't bond. As it happens I also have a Spotmatic SPII/Super Tak 50/f1.4 that was passed on through family (Mum bought it new for her 21st) - that one I'll never let go!

My thoughts on the Minolta is that it's a great kit, and I don't want it to sit on a shelf getting dusty because I'm too sentimental to pass it on. I've no interest in making money from it (I don't imagine it would be worth much anyway), but I'm tempted to see if I could pass it on to someone who would use and enjoy it

[aurele]

My thoughts on the Minolta is that it's a great kit, and I don't want it to sit on a shelf getting dusty because I'm too sentimental to pass it on. I've no interest in making money from it (I don't imagine it would be worth much anyway), but I'm tempted to see if I could pass it on to someone who would use and enjoy it

This a a great idea : if you have around you a youngster that like pictures, hand him the camera, explain him the basics, put a roll of film in it, and offer him the processing.
You can be very surprised of what come out of it

[stevebrot]

As my both Adaptall-2 lenses has an aperture of f2.5 (01B & 02BB), this actually makes my life easier as I don't have to do a mount mod like on the official KA adapters, or do green button on the official KM adapters.

You lost me here. I have the KA adapter and have no need for a mod with my Tamron 28/2.5 (02B). As for using the brand-X adaptall, the lack of aperture coupling is the deal breaker for me. I am a firm believer in auto aperture actuation if at all available. KM mounts are cheap and readily available and allow the same easy operation as I get with my Pentax KX.


Steve

[stevebrot]

Did they copy the Rikoh S2 I wonder?

Bottom winder systems were available for both Ricoh and Canon in the mid-1950s, though I believe the Canon implementation was earlier. (The S2 was not the first Ricoh model with the feature.)


Steve

[butangmucat]

You lost me here. I have the KA adapter and have no need for a mod with my Tamron 28/2.5 (02B). As for using the brand-X adaptall, the lack of aperture coupling is the deal breaker for me. I am a firm believer in auto aperture actuation if at all available. KM mounts are cheap and readily available and allow the same easy operation as I get with my Pentax KX.


Steve

I read that the F2.5 lenses will report to the body as F2.4, and may screw up metering. This can be fixed with a mod, but I am a bit lazy.

I would prefer the non-coupled Chinese adapters over the official M ones as these Chinese adapters enable Av and removes the need for sticking to green button.

[stevebrot]

I read that the F2.5 lenses will report to the body as F2.4, and may screw up metering. This can be fixed with a mod, but I am a bit lazy.

I believe you read a mildly inaccurate account that does not apply to your Program Plus. Here are the pertinent points:

• The KA mount specification supports f/2.5, but not f/2.4 (see link below to the contact mapping scheme on Dimitrov's K-mount site).
  Features and Operation of the Ka Mount
  
• P and A-series Pentax bodies correctly use f/2.5 as the maximum aperture in both P and Tv modes when used with f/2.5 maximum lenses. I don't have experience with the autofocus bodies.
• For some unknown reason, current Pentax dSLRs treat f/2.5 lenses as if f/2.4 were available. This is true for all f/2.5 lenses, not just the PKA Adaptall-2. On those bodies, f/2.5 is available in both Av and M mode if exposure stops are set to 1/3 increments (the default). Unfortunately, so is f/2.4...go figure. For 1/2 stop increments, f/2.4 alone is available.
• F/2.5 is 1/3 stop wider than f/2.8 (part of 1/3 stop sequence)
• F/2.4 is 1/2 stop wider than f/2.8 (part of 1/2 stop sequence)
• F/2.4 is 1/6 stop wider than f/2.5
• If the camera attempts to set f/2.4 on a f/2.5 lens, the resulting exposure will be 1/6 stop less than the stipulated EV. This is only true if the body attempts f/2.4 as maximum aperture on an f/2.5 lenses.
• Since f/2.4 it is not supported by the mount, it is not possible to "hack" or modify a mount to report f/2.4 maximum aperture. It is possible to make the lens report as f/2.8 maximum by masking the lens contacts to the f/2.8 pattern. With an Adaptall-2 lens this may be accomplished by changing the position of the aperture index tab on the lens aperture ring.

In regards to metering and general usage with the brand-X vs. the genuine Tamron adapters, the bottom line may be expressed in a few points:

• If you want full exposure and aperture automation and accurate metering on all Pentax K-mount bodies, get the PKA adapter
• If you want aperture automation, full support for standard K-mount cameras, and are willing to accept the short falls of metering with the crippled mount bodies*, get the PK adapter
• If you are happy with stop-down metering and willing to accept poor metering with modern crippled mount bodies and are happy with fully manual aperture, get the brand-X

Given that PK adapters are cheap and readily available, I see no reason to go with the brand-X with a camera such as your Program Plus, but to each his own.


Steve

* Meter variance of up to 2 stops over/under from the expected, depending on aperture and lens.