Camera Expert Knowledge Required

Al I can't attach currently - I'll try when I get home but google " porters info centre digital cameras and imaging" . A PDF contains brand specific comments - old lenses and digital bodies. May help a bit.

 

Porters. Com is the website.

 

I cant tell you, (all my gear Canon) K mount comes to mind not sure though) although it would be easy to find out, but almost certainly you will be able to buy adapters.

Question is how good are all your lenses, do you have loads, Big? are they worth building a system around them? digital bodies can bring out the worse in the lower quality lenses.

Good Luck

 

I assume K mount AF auto Focus? K mount is quite common, and I think still used, heh might be completely wrong though


Remember most lower end Digital bodies are 1.6 canon or 1.5 nikon, think Pentax is 1.5 Crop so you may be short on the Wide angle side of the lens range you have, 27-90 becomes 40.5-135mm

using old pentax film SLR lenses with a DSLR camera body: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review I see a discussion that may help you

 

Your Pentax has the KAF lens mount. This is the Pentax K mount introduced in 1975 but updated to take autofocus lenses by adding six gold plated contacts. However, both your cameras will accept manual focus K mount lenses.

In fact ALL Pentax DSLR's will accept your lenses but you will lose some functions. Try this website for further information.

Pentax K-Mount Lenses Explained: The differences between various Pentax lens series

Personally, I still use film cameras (Leica & Nikon) as digital, whilst it can compete on convenience) lacks the sheer beauty of film.

 

I know sod all about Pentax Al ............Sorry

All I was wanting to say is I have just been getting back into still photography after a big hiatus. Be aware that older lenses might not have the quality. I had an old Tamron (which back in the day was considered good glass) 35-210, on a film camera

On the Fuji's I've got (cropped sensor or mirrorless is what they are called) the 50mm sizes go up by a factor of 1.5 so my Tamron became a 53-315, 50mm equivalent on the Fuji (I see @MaDProFF has already explained). I bought adapters but the lens is fully manual. It works quite well but the images from the Fuji lenses just blow it away in terms of clarity and color rendition.

Just saying depending on how old the lenses are you might be disappointed with image quality. Don't want you to spend a shed load then find that you might have been better just starting afresh.

If you can get to camera shop with a model in mind, take your lenses and take some test shots just to be sure.

From what I've being seeing on the Fuji forum you can convert almost anything to anything these days, the only hassle is you may lose autofocus, or some exposure modes depending on what you mate to what.

Depending on the size of the image you want, you can decide DSLR or Mirrorless. I like the mirrorless as they are about the size of a film SLR, but on the downside you do lose clarity. However Megapixels are not everything and a slightly smaller image is better than no image because DSLRs are such bloody great bricks if I had one I'd hardly take it anywhere

Just my take on it

 

Yes, K mount lenses can be used on Pentax digital SLRs but will almost certainly not 'talk' to the camera in the way a current lens would. You may well have to manually focus and set aperture. This sounds ok except that the camera won't be designed for manual focus and will not have an appropriate viewfinder with the focussing aids a manual focus camera has.

it is almost certainly not worth the hassle. Decent digital cameras are cheap as chips these days and virtually fool-proof.

 

I tried using an old film-era lens on my Nikon D300s and the quality was dire...
Hope you have better luck!

 

I used some of my Canon L Lenses on my old Film camera, and I was blown away by the quality of the Negs I got back,

I have a few Manual focus lenses too, although not great for fast accurate focusing on the DSLR, but if you have time to manual focus, again great, I would have changed the VF screen, but never use manual focus to warrant it

 

The main problem is that the 1.5x crop factor amplifies any deficiencies in the lens. The lens is casting a much bigger image at the sensor than the sensor uses - it just takes a chunk out of the middle, which is why you get an effective 1.5 times magnification over the same lens with a full-frame camera.
My missus was using my superzoom APS-C lens and I wanted to photograph America's Cup cats in Plymouth, so I thought I'd just use a film superzoom instead. Was I disappointed - the results were truly awful. The lens was not a Nikon lens but it was always perfectly adequate with film. I suspect though, that you will not have the same problems with shorter lenses, I hope not.
I have a Lumix TZ60 as a pocketable family holiday camera and the results from that are way, way better than from the D300s with the superzoom film lens.
I suggest you take some shots with the Pentax DSLR with both your lenses and dedicated APS-C lenses and try to compare them on an ipad or laptop before you buy.

 

Al to give you some idea of what I got with the Tamron vs Fuji here are 2 shots. Great pictures they are not just a comparison, the Fuji has been taken up +1 stop post as it was too dark but apart from that they are untouched. Fuji was 50mm equ 210mm Tamron 315mm. They are still underexposed but its just a comparison.

Tamron



Fuji



Look at the University windows and the buildings in the foreground, it becomes worse when the image is larger

Oh and some shots post process to show what can be achieved & more I'm not that good.





You can still see (probably more so) the difference in image quality

The shots are here in Photobucket feel free to mooch around if you like

Glasgow Photos by Old_Jock | Photobucket

 

It's much easier to see the differences on Photobucket than on here. The Tamron shot is a lot muddier.

Your talk of 50mm equivalents is rather confusing though.

On a 35mm (film-size) film camera, a standard lens which neither enlarges or reduces the image and gives normal perspective has a focal length of 50mm. Anything less is wide-angle and anything more is telephoto. This is why we talk about 50mm.
Digital SLR direct equivalents to 35mm film cameras are known as full-frame cameras and also use a 50mmm focal length for their standard lenses.
APS-C cameras have a smaller sensor and were all DSLRs until recently, when manufacturers started putting this size sensor in compact-style bodies. These bodies have no pentaprism and mirror to view the image with, they use a straight optical viewfinder or digital viewfinder instead. Hence the term 'mirrorless' They do have the relatively large APS-C sensor though and give great quality as a result. Some only have fixed zoom lenses like a compact but others are system cameras with a range of interchangeable lenses available.
All APS-C cameras have a standard-lens focal-length of 35mm, so if you put a 50mmm lens on one of these, it is then a moderate telephoto, with a magnification factor of 1.5 times. This factor remains true throughout the range of focal lengths, so if you put a 200mm focal length lens on an APS-C camera, it will give the same magnification as a 300mm lens would on a full-frame digital camera or 35mm film camera. Again, the 35mm here refers to the size of the film.

Hope this helps...

 

Yes you are quite correct I should have been saying 35mm equivalent or 135 to use the parlance, thanks for spelling it out

 

Nice job...