[scribble]

Is it just me, or do my Nikons actually work on my Pentax cameras? Granted, the are mounted upside down, and only in stop down metering, but still, its kinda cool to be able to instantly double my lens selection.

One last part though, you can't be rough on the gear when they are mounted, the bayonets are completely alike, and therefore the connection between body and lens is weak at best. So if you jostle your gear, it will fall right off the front of the body!

Alright, I know its lame, but it does give us some more options.

[Photo Tramp]

Ask Carpenters about using Nikon lenses on your Pentax . He has done it and has some very good Pictures to prove it. But not all lenses work...

[cmv]

I've got the 35mm f2 and the 24mm f2.8 Nikkors and both do indeed mount and focus from close to infinity. I have found that the 24mm lens will vignet along the bottom of the frame if it is mounted in one orientation (so I have take it off and choose another coupling that does work without that issue). I read a post by Carpenters explaining he had converted some of his Nikkors so I am thinking about doing that. I'd prefer to have a Pentax mount on them as it is more solid and less fiddling. I caught some shots of his converted lens here:

The Nikons Photo Gallery by Sean Carpenter at pbase.com

I started converting one but the issue I have right now is how to handle the aperture. On the Nirrors, you can adjust a slide to set it so that it is stopped down by the camera or the aperture is connected to the ring directly (so setting the lens to f8 steps it down to f8 right away). If I remove the Nikkor back it takes out that little probe you can see in photos. That or something similar needs to be in there to hold the aperture to the ring side. I think a blob of glue might work but I would like to make sure that whatever I do is reversible.

Note this shot in particular:

Underside Of Converted Mount photo - Sean Carpenter photos at pbase.com

I am curious if that arm came from the Nikkor mount for the lens or if it was fabricated from something else. The other photo is this one:

Converted K Mount for Nikon F Lens photo - Sean Carpenter photos at pbase.com

Looks like nice work!

[FotoPete]

Is it just me, or do my Nikons actually work on my Pentax cameras? Granted, the are mounted upside down, and only in stop down metering, but still, its kinda cool to be able to instantly double my lens selection.

One last part though, you can't be rough on the gear when they are mounted, the bayonets are completely alike, and therefore the connection between body and lens is weak at best. So if you jostle your gear, it will fall right off the front of the body!

Alright, I know its lame, but it does give us some more options.

Yea it works. Only on the older film lenses though. I've mounted and shot with a Nikkor-S 50/1.4 before. (It belonged to a fellow photographer). It doesn't turn all the way though. I think the Pentax-M 50/1.4 has better bokeh. But the Nikkor would be a decent option if you run into the lack of pentax primes.

Most Nikon lenses have an aperture ring that has an elevated rim. that usually prevents you from mounting Nikkors onto the K-Mount. The older lens generations don't have that so look for the older ones if you are interested it trying it out. You can also mount DX/G lenses but your are limited to shooting f22 because of the lack of an aperture ring.

[FotoPete]

I've got the 35mm f2 and the 24mm f2.8 Nikkors and both do indeed mount and focus from close to infinity. I have found that the 24mm lens will vignet along the bottom of the frame if it is mounted in one orientation (so I have take it off and choose another coupling that does work without that issue). I read a post by Carpenters explaining he had converted some of his Nikkors so I am thinking about doing that. I'd prefer to have a Pentax mount on them as it is more solid and less fiddling. I caught some shots of his converted lens here:

The Nikons Photo Gallery by Sean Carpenter at pbase.com

I started converting one but the issue I have right now is how to handle the aperture. On the Nirrors, you can adjust a slide to set it so that it is stopped down by the camera or the aperture is connected to the ring directly (so setting the lens to f8 steps it down to f8 right away). If I remove the Nikkor back it takes out that little probe you can see in photos. That or something similar needs to be in there to hold the aperture to the ring side. I think a blob of glue might work but I would like to make sure that whatever I do is reversible.

Note this shot in particular:

Underside Of Converted Mount photo - Sean Carpenter photos at pbase.com

I am curious if that arm came from the Nikkor mount for the lens or if it was fabricated from something else. The other photo is this one:

Converted K Mount for Nikon F Lens photo - Sean Carpenter photos at pbase.com

Looks like nice work!

Yea but you should see the rest of his gear photos. I swear LBA never looked so good!

[carpents]

Yea but you should see the rest of his gear photos. I swear LBA never looked so good!

You'd probably fall on the floor crying if you knew how little I paid for some of those beauties!
Take, for example, when I was chomping at the bit for the Super-Multi-Coated Fish-Eye Takumar 17/4 - I decided that $350 was my top end for the lens.
I won the auction for $350. Then the guy sends me the 17/4 FE, PLUS Super-Multi-Coated Taks: 50/1.4, 135/2.5, *and* 35/2!! All with caps and hoods and barely used! Utterly amazing. I think there was even a camera body in there too.

Thanks for enjoying it, though. I like showing it off.

[carpents]

Most Nikon lenses have an aperture ring that has an elevated rim. that usually prevents you from mounting Nikkors onto the K-Mount. The older lens generations don't have that so look for the older ones if you are interested it trying it out. You can also mount DX/G lenses but your are limited to shooting f22 because of the lack of an aperture ring.

You are exactly correct. Even the oldest (non-AI) Nikkors have a lip that extends further than Pentax lenses. This didn't cause a problem on my DS but the same lenses will not mount on my K10!

I'm also hesitant to put the Nikkors on the K10 because they do rub against the inside of the camera box. Since the K10 has the power focus mounts there, I don't want to mess them up.


Also of note - I sold the AI Nikkors that I had for a good amount of $$. I advocate using/modifying the non-AI lenses because Nikon changed the mount and these non-AI lenses are only usable on the older film cameras. They did not keep the same level of support for their bayonet lenses as Pentax did.

[carpents]

I started converting one but the issue I have right now is how to handle the aperture. On the Nirrors, you can adjust a slide to set it so that it is stopped down by the camera or the aperture is connected to the ring directly (so setting the lens to f8 steps it down to f8 right away). If I remove the Nikkor back it takes out that little probe you can see in photos. That or something similar needs to be in there to hold the aperture to the ring side. I think a blob of glue might work but I would like to make sure that whatever I do is reversible.

Note this shot in particular:

Underside Of Converted Mount photo - Sean Carpenter photos at pbase.com

I am curious if that arm came from the Nikkor mount for the lens or if it was fabricated from something else. The other photo is this one:

The arm came out of the original lens. It is normally supported by ball bearings, but in this case I just have three very small screws holding it up.

The 50/1.4 was really no problem.

The 24/2.8 was very problematic. I ended up having to glue the aperture spring in place to get it to work, so my modifications to that lens are non-reversable. The tolerances on that lens were very different, and I ended up doing much more cutting, filing, and sanding to get it to work.


My last Nikkor is going to be easy - I'm putting the mount on to a Nikon extension tube so I can use the wonderful Micro-Nikkor 55/3.5 as a 1:1 macro.

Then it is on to Leica.

[cmv]

The arm came out of the original lens. It is normally supported by ball bearings, but in this case I just have three very small screws holding it up.

The 50/1.4 was really no problem.

The 24/2.8 was very problematic. I ended up having to glue the aperture spring in place to get it to work, so my modifications to that lens are non-reversable. The tolerances on that lens were very different, and I ended up doing much more cutting, filing, and sanding to get it to work.


My last Nikkor is going to be easy - I'm putting the mount on to a Nikon extension tube so I can use the wonderful Micro-Nikkor 55/3.5 as a 1:1 macro.

Then it is on to Leica.

Thanks for the details. I'm going to keep this on the back burner until summer (semester over) but I really want to either convert my 24/2.8 and 35/2 or sell them and get the Pentax equivalents. In my case, both lenses are not mint or near mint so it would not be the end of the world if the change couldn't be reversed.

edit:
This thread wouldn't be complete without this link:
Using Nikon F Lenses On Pentax K Bodies (LBA Post) [Page 1]: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

[Zubati Kit]

I am suprised that noone ever thought of making some sort of a converter ring

[Furtivito]

Wow! I'm glad I stumbled on this thread. I had no idea! I have from my film days, now gathering dust, a Nikkor 50mm 1.4, a Nikon E Series 35mm 2.5, and a Soligor 78-210mm macro/zoom 3.5. Any chance I can get them converted? That would be great, and would cool down any LBA tendencies (for awhile anyway.)