Hin Man
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Senior Member
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Posts: 2,552
M42 adapter arrives, I am thrilled
Sep 3, 2007
My m42 adapter from BHPhoto arrived yesterday and I have been playing with my old Praktica M42 lens. My first test is on my Pentagon 50mm f/1.8. I do have problems in getting the exposure. Somehow, I need to add +2 on Ev in order to get picture properly exposed. I have no idea why that is happening. Here are few samples of indoor testing done earlier. I am new to both my K100D and all the gears with M42, so mistakes are all mine and my inexperience and impatience to get things right:
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Flickr Photoset
http://flickr.com/photos/hin_man/sets/72157601829328240/with/1309589795/
I find it quite sharp and the M42 adapter from bhphoto costing $14.99, though not the original pentax M42 adapter, works quite well and no focusing problems noted so far, I have not tried at infinity but a farther distance.

The manual focusing on M42 lens on my K100D is much easier than I thought. I previously bought a $37 Takumar Asahi 28-80 Macro and I thought the manual focusing is good but after using the M42 lens, there is no comparison as the M42 lens that I have with Pentagon has twice the focusing ring length than my Takumar. I am in awe with the M42 and with skills yet to be built up in M focusing, I am really IN LOVE with Pentax for the inexpensive choices that are quite extensive. Comments, critiques, corrections and thoughts are welcome.
Previous thoughts on my Takumar
http://techtheman.blogspot.com/2007/08/thoughs-on-takumar-asahi-28-80-macro.html
All pictures test with Takumar
http://techtheman.blogspot.com/search?q=takumar
and I will blog about my M42 when time allows. And after the Pentagon 50 f/1.8, I have a schneider lens at 135mm f/3.5 to try out -- that is like an antique to me and not-so-good condition Praktica 28-70 f/3.5. So far my m42 50mm f/1.8 looks solid. Life is more than exciting!!!! Thanks to Pentax for making things compatible and I never regret my choice in getting Pentax in my upgrade. I am like you all, a smart customer who wisely chooses Pentax.
Hin