Hello everyone! I am new to this forum and mostly new to vintage lenses. I have recently bought a almost mint Pentax SMC-M 50mm 1.7 that came on a k1000 pentax camera for 20 dollars. I have also, with great luck, aquired an Auto Chinon 55mm MCM 1.7 MACRO, which is a rather rare m42 mount lens that i scored for 40 US dollars. The aperture blades work perfectly and it is in rather good shape, except it has some optical issues. Like I said, I am rather new to this fun part of photography and here is where I can hopefully find some help from some of you experts of people who have experienced similar issues.
I had no problems mounting the m42 adapter on the Auto Chinon 55mm, and at first, it was a little tight being put on the canon 70D front mount, but after a couple of lens swaps, I feel pretty comfortable with it. However, the next day I received my k-mount to eos adapter for my pentax SMC-M 50mm 1.7, and I had a quite different experience. I figured out how to put the adapter on the lens rather quickly, and I feel it fit just perfectly. There was no wiggle, but at the same time I was able to remove it when holding down the pin with ease.
However, when I tried to mount the lens on my 70D body, I could not get it to go in. I was having a hard time lining it up and putting it in there, and once I had it somewhat in there, I could not rotate it to the pin for the life of me. I did not want to try too hard as to not damage my Camera body mount. Thinking to myself that it could be the lens, since I read sometimes certain lenses need certain parts "filed off", I removed the adapter from the lens and tried to fit in the adapter by itself, but to no avail. Once again, it was too right, and the ridged of the adapter and my mount felt too sharp against each other. I went back on amazon, checked the reviews (which were good) and almost no one else had this problem except one person. Most people had problem with "too much wiggle" with their connection to the lens, not the camera body.
Sorry with the long preface, but here is where I need help. I decided to return the k-mount adapter and now I am not sure if it was just a matter of quality control and I should order another one, or try another brand? Does anyone have any experience using a certain adapter with canon 70D, as well as pentax smc-m 50mm 1.7 lenses? I realize all camera body mounts are supposed to be the same, but I just cant be sure at this point :) Also, even tho I do not believe it was a problem, is there usually any shaving or filing that needs to be done with that lens for the canon 70D? I really like the lens and want to use it, as the one picture I got to take with it barely mounted was really amazing.
Second thing I need help with is lens cleaning. Now I know the Auto Chinon isn't a Pentax lens, but I figured the cleaning and repair with most lenses would be very similar, so I hope it is okay. The lens focuses and works great, but is just has a certain haze to it, and it seems to diffract light quite a bit. I did the flashlight test, which was my first time, and I could see lots of little white dots as well as what looked like just foggyness on one part of the lens. Is there any certain way of being able to know if its fungus or something else? from what I could tell, it seemed to be mostly on the front lens element. I wasn't sure whether it was from the inside or outside, and so I carefully cleaned the outside of the front element with acetone, and it helped a little, but most of it was still left on there, so I assume its from the inside. I really like this lens, as it is not truly macro but has a short focusing distance, great bokeh, and very nice focus ring that is a joy to use for video.
I live in Lincoln, Nebraska, and there doesn't seem to be that much help around. I would really like to make this lens as nice as I can. Can anyone give me any input as in how to go about it, if this lens is easy to disassemble, how to go about cleaning it? If there was a service or person someone could recommend, I would be willing to spend a little extra money on this lens as I have only 40 dollars invested, without the camera it came with, and I think it really has potential. I know I'm throwing a lot out there and I am not very concise, but any help or input in either matter would be SO greatly appreciated! I look forward to getting more immersed into this wonderful world of vintage lenses. I will also be picking up a second 50mm 1.7, so if someone goes overboard in helping me, I might feel inclined to reward them with it :) Thank you all in advance.
