andrewg_ny

Matt might be referring to Arsat 30/3.5 (not 35)? There's also a Kiev 30/3.5, and I think I'm seeing what might be the same lens called 'Zodiac'. Not certain whether or not these will give the full 180-degree diagonal on 645 film, but I imagine they'll be wider than a rectilinear 35mm lens. Perhaps Matt can speak to this. I believe these usually are in the Pentacon 6 mount, and that there are adapters for Pentacon 6 => Pentax 645. I think there are also relatively low-cost tilt/shift lenses with this mount as well. Looks like Mamiya and Bronica offered fisheyes as well, not sure how adaptable those are. though.

Your editing eye and mine may be aligned -- In particular I like the first three shots posted.

Hin, nice (if old) images. I can see why you liked the Kiron. Looks like it is focusing pretty close -- does it feature a close focus or were you using tubes or close-up lens?

This thread is way too long for me to read to find out if my criticisms are a repeat: 1. when I am viewing a site page (for example, a forum thread), and click to sign-in, I should be returned to THAT PAGE after authenticating. I do NOT want to see my profile, and then have to navigate the now-harder-to-use menus to find the forum I was in, then the post, then the page of that post. 2. The 'real name' aspect was one of the good things about this forum. I honestly think less anonymity promotes a closer-feeling community and better behavior. Ending this is a loss -- not only as a policy change, but changing all existing members' names away from their real names. 3. Too hard to find the individual forums, I used to be able to navigate to a specific forum from nearly any page on the site. Now I find myself being sent back to my profile (again, see #1, I do NOT need to see this) or the photo-heavy home pages. 4. Why IS it that I need to keep re-authenticating every time I visit the site from the same browser? P.S. I've been on this site for many years, but the new site is discouraging me from wanting to use it.

While the swappable handgrip sounds like a good idea, I'm a bit put off by some reviewer's complaining that none of them are good. I can imagine a smaller grip working OK if you're only shooting small lenses. I think the K-7/K-5 grips are very good, most people seemed to agree at the time -- the idea that grips on newer bodies would be worse is not appealing. Ergonomically, I think I would miss the dedicated top ISO button and separate dedicated buttons for AE-L vs. AF-L. Why does the loss of the top-mounted ISO button bother me? Because on K-10, K-20, K-7, K-5, etc. you have great direct control of ISO with the eye to the viewfinder. 1. change to Auto-ISO by holding ISO and hitting green button. Note that for this to work right, you need ISO and green buttons to NOT be on the same side of the camera -- one should be on the top, and one should be on the back. 2. change to manual ISO by holding ISO and spinning an e-dial. On pentax bodies where ISO is on the rear 4-directional-pad, changing ISO with camera to eye isn't as smooth. It really seems instead to be intended to change while viewing the rear screen, as the change to/from auto-ISO involves navigating up/down with the 4-directional-pad. P.S. The new photo.net makes me not want to use this site.

(Not liking photo.net's new design. Ate line breaks between paragraphs.)

While I'd expect most 50mm primes would probably better most zooms at that length, I would be a little wary about going for just any old manual-focus lenses with the expectation that they'll be significantly better performers than modern zooms at wide angle, especially when these lenses are stopped down. There may be some, but in addition to reduced convenience (not just the obvious AF and in-body aperture control, but also other features like C/A, distortion, and vignetting correction, both in-body or during post-processing where the EXIF will properly report the modern lens) and many may not actually be better in all respects. I'm not completely up to date on the current D-FA 15-30 vs. D-FA 24-70. I would expect the 15-30 to at least be better in some respects like distortion in the 24-30 range. No idea regarding flare handling or aberrations. Especially If you're shooting from a tripod using live-view manual-focusing, I would also give a good look at the relatively modern manual-focus Rokinon/Samyang primes, they have several available in Pentax K-mount (14/2.8, 20/1.8, 24/1.4, 24/3.5 tilt/shift, 35/1.4, 50/1.4, 85/1.4, 135/2) and reviews have generally been pretty positive. I'm probably missing a few in my list, I think they may have a macro lens and there are some fisheyes though not sure which are FF-compatible. My inclination would be to start with Pentax's current 28-105 (or even 24-70, though I wonder if it's much better than the 28-105 when both are stopped down) and wait to see whether Sigma's 24/1.4 Art becomes available for K-mount, or also to see how Pentax's lens roadmap progresses in the next 12-18 months -- there is a 'large aperture wide angle single focus lens', followed by a 'ultra-wide-angle single focus lens'. They're not being specific yet but my current interpretation would be something fast in the 28-35 range and something not as fast in the 15-24 range. As new designs I would kind of expect both to be good performers, though neither will probably be especially inexpensive. As for the 50, most are very good when stopped down. If not stopped down as much, the newer (and generally larger) releases are usually better. Even though Pentax doesn't explicitly list them as FF-compatible, it's my understanding that the DA*55/1.4 works well (I would confirm this elsewhere before buying) as does (probably) the inexpensive DA50/1.8. There is also an all-new Pentax D-FA*50/1.4 which should be available shortly--I'd expect this to be better and more expensive than the others I've already mentioned. Again, Sigma has a good 50/1.4 Art that may or may not become available for K-mount. I'd also consider a 50 macro as these can be quite good but I'd be careful as to whether the particular lens is better at your typical subject distances.

<p>Nice, Rick! That Praktica <em>is</em> a handsome little box.</p>

<p>Not sure what 'sensor' you're referring to since this is a film camera. At any rate, it probably does not affect the pictures the camera will take, as it is not in the optical path for taking pictures. The mirror, focusing screen, and prism are only for composing and focusing -- when you trip the shutter, the mirror moves out of the way, the shutter opens, and the film is exposed directly from the lens.</p> <p>I expect it is probably not on the mirror, but if it is, that should be relatively easily visible with the lens detached, and probably removed easily with a puff from an air blower bulb (e.g. Rocket Blower). You should take care with handling the mirror and screen as they can be relatively easily scratched.</p> <p>More likely the dust is trapped up inside the focusing screen between the screen and the prism. I can see how this piece of dust would be annoying, it's up to you how badly you want it gone (again, shouldn't affect the pictures). With some cameras that were designed to interchange focusing screens the screen can be removed through the lensmount but with other cameras you might need to remove the top of the camera to access the prism and screen.</p> <p>Worth returning? Hard to say, if everything else is good. If you're not comfortable cleaning it yourself, a professional cleaning for a camera will cost well over $30, and you probably would not get that $ back when selling...but it could make sense for a camera that you like and want to keep and use for a while.</p>

<p>I'm not sure exactly what you consider a reasonable price. There are also plenty of old cameras on shopgoodwill.com for low prices but it's even more of a gamble whether or not the camera works.</p> <p>I love the KX. K1000 tends to be overpriced because of its name recognition. KX adds self timer and depth-of-field preview, plus shows shutter speed and aperture in the viewfinder, and actually has an on-off switch. KM is somewhere in between...I believe it adds the self-timer and dof-preview. Slightly older spotmatics will be similar but will accept screw-mount rather than k-mount lenses.</p> <p>The older Minolta SRT series are similar but don't use the more commonly available SR44 batteries so need adapters or zinc-air cells, etc. Same story with Konica Autoreflex T2, T3, etc.</p> <p>I also like the Pentax P3/P3n/P30/P30t, etc. Obviously battery-dependendent and a little less of that classic charm but common and straightforward.</p> <p> </p>

<p>Jake, thanks for sharing!</p>

<p>If you're buying film cameras, you'll probably find that the real investment is the lenses (except for the very cheapest common lenses) -- the bodies are relatively cheap. Many very old lenses can still be used on modern digital bodies.<br> As someone suggested above, decide whether you want old-school manual-focus body & glass, or more electronic, autofocus equipment. The best experience is generally from matching the body to the lenses that were designed for it. Better to avoid needing to use adapters, and while newer autofocus glass might have slightly better optics, the controls on the lens (manual focus feel & action, and possibly aperture ring) are probably nicer for use with a manual focus body than the newer, plastic AF lenses.<br> I would pick the sorts of lenses you want to use, then find the right body to mount them on rather than the other way around.</p>

<p>A thread discussing this issue <a href="http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/8-pentax-film-slr-discussion/39450-mz5n-mirror-blocked-service-manual.html">here</a>. IMO one might get some satisfaction out of fixing this if you're interested, but factoring in the time spent it probably makes more $ sense to find another working body since they're inexpensive. I have a -5n that I've been meaning to try and fix (maybe this winter) but ultimately it's worthless now, and if I can't fix it, I probably won't replace it because I already have numerous other bodies.</p>

<p>Pretty sure it has both live view focus peaking and magnification.</p>

<p>I think the silver K-3II is a limited edition, announced back in February 2016. No idea the actual availability as the <a href="http://news.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/rim_info2/2016/20160223_010468.html">original announcement</a> stated only 500 bodies would be sold worldwide.</p> <p>It does look like this model may not be around too much longer, as I'm not seeing any kits for sale at B&H. Just body only, with free BG-5 grip.</p> <p>The 'new tech' that isn't in the older K-3II is most notably Wi-Fi and articulating rear LCD, and I believe the K-70 also offers phase-detect autofocus for live view when using DC or PLM lenses. If I'm missing something important, maybe someone else can remind me.</p>