K7 with Ka lenses

Hi:

I am considering the purchase of a K7. While I understand what the manual says about using older lenses (specifically Ka mount), I wonder what user experiences are? I am old school, so automation such as auto focus and auto exposure are of little value to me. My lens collection is quite extensive (Pentax Ka and Nikon F mounts - OEM film lenses only) and I hate not using them. Can you please provide me with your experiences? Any advantages? Drawbacks?

Thank you.

Jon

KA series lens support full autoexposure functionality, as well as full flash automation. If you use them in manual exposure mode - which is what I normally do - you do want to set the aperture using the dial on the camera rather than using the aperture ring, because otherwise you don't get a meter reading (since the K-7 can't "read" the aperture ring the way some older film SLR's do - it's the so-called "crippled" mount).

Basically, the only thing KA lenses don't do is autofocus. OK, they also don't transmit the focal length to the camera, so you have to set the focal length for SR when you mount the lens (it asks for it the moment you turn the camera back on with an "A" lens mounted; no menu diving required).

In short, if you were happy using them on a film camera, you'll be happy using them on a DSLR too - assuming you are aware of the whole "crop factor" and how the field of view will change.

--
Marc Sabatella
http://www.marcsabatella.com/
Blog: http://marcsabatella.blogspot.com/
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And there is a good chance you will be able to use your Nikon F mount lenses too. There are a few threads in this forum on how this works, worth a search.
--
Steve

http://www.pbase.com/steephill

Marc Sabatella said:

In short, if you were happy using them on a film camera, you'll be happy using them on a DSLR too - assuming you are aware of the whole "crop factor" and how the field of view will change.

Click to expand...

Thank you for sharing your experience. Yes, I am aware of the changes to the field of view.

Jon

Thank you. I hadn't thought of that.

Jon

I regularly use four different manual focus KA fit lenses with my K-7, ranging from 28 to 180mm. Variety of manufacturers incl Pentax.

They work very well.

Exposure accuracy appears to be good using these lenses, and manual focus is no problem. In fact I find the marginally dimmer viewfinder of the K-7 compared to K10/20 helps with manual focus.

The joy of these lenses is that their build quality far exceeds the vast majority of what you can buy nowadays (or at least the perception of build quality because AF lenses by definition tend to have looser focus mechanisms). I get nice results from my humble SMC-A 28mm lens (colours are a bit different from more modern lenses, and to me do look a bit more like what I used to get with film), and my Tamron 180mm is one of the sharpest lenses I've ever used.

Some older lenses do sometimes suffer from more aberrations and purple fringing, but I've not generally found it to be a problem with the copies I've got.

If you like your lenses (Nikon and Pentax) and want to try them on a dSLR then I'd highly recommend it - and sizewise the K-7 is closer to 35mm SLR cameras than most of the higher end models you can buy nowadays.

--
http://jonschick.smugmug.com/

The K-7 works just fine with KA-lenses. (Pentax A-lenses).

They behaves like autofocus lenses, except that they don't have autofocus of course.
Full compatibility with multisegment metering and the program modes.

But, you have to use the lenses with the aperture ring set at 'A' and control aperture from the body, not the aperture ring on the lens.

--
Take care
R
http://www.flickr.com/photos/raphaelmabo