Things to Watch Out For - Pentax

[John]

Starting with Pentax as it's relevant to purchases made last night at the Auction Night, I thought it would be useful to look at all marques in turn and highlight any handling precautions that might arise.

In the case of Pentax there are actually very few compatibility issues. All AF lenses will fit and are fully usable on all DSLR bodies. Obviously lenses designed for APS-C crop sensor (DA lenses) will vignette when used on the full frame K-1 but lenses marked FA or D-FA are full frame.

Manual focus lenses from the A series (with an "A" setting on the aperture ring) will be fully functional when set to "A". M series of K series lenses have no electronic contacts so need the "Using Aperture Ring" custom function to be set to "Permitted" after which they can be used manually.

M42 screw thread lenses can be used with Pentax Adapter K. This means lenses going back to the early 1960s can all be used.

Ricoh KR mount lenses have an extra pin contact on the mount. This can lock into the Pentax K mount and prevent these lenses from being removed. This can instill a sense of panic and/or fury in users and is best avoided.....although with judicious use of very thin metal shims the lenses can be removed, it's not a great situation.