I agree with you about the tactile feel of the smc tak lenses. They were the pinnacle of pentax lenses build quality. Nothing with a K mount quite matches them, and some are quite worse indeed.
-- J.C. O'Connell (mailto:[email protected]) Join the CD PLAYER & DISC Discussions : http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cdplayers/ http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/cdsound/ -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Darren Addy Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2011 1:02 PM To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List Subject: A few words about the love of Good Equipment... If you will indulge me... With all of the emphasis these days on digital and "Image Quality", it seems that many have forgotten (if they ever even lived at a time when they could KNOW it) what a satisfyingly tactile experience photography was. We have been robbed of much of that tactile experience by our automatic and autofocus digital cameras today. We don't get the satisfying "pop" of the back when we would load or unload film. We've lost the satisfying tactile experience of advancing the film lever and cocking the shutter, or the act of rewinding the 35mm film into it's canister. Now few of us want to "chuck" our plastic-bodied, autofocus lenses and digital cameras and go back to film - at least on a regular basis. But we can recapture some of that feeling by putting some vintage glass on our Pentax DSLRs. In my opinion, a m42 to K-mount adapter (that allows infinity focus) is one of the truly "must have" accessories. My personal preference is for the genuine Pentax brands that require no tools to remove. As most of us know, this opens up the world of m42 Takumar glass to you and your Pentax DSLR. I'm especially thinking of this recently, as I obtained a beautiful black Spotmatic and had it CLA'd by Eric. It feels so great in my hands. I just received an equally gorgeous S-M-C Takumar 135mm f2.5 for it, with caps hood and case. What a beautiful piece of kit that is! Along with it I got a very nice chrome Spotmatic F (my first F) with SMC Takumar 50mm f1.4 and S-M-C 35mm f3.5 - all looking as if they were rarely used. There is a feeling I get when handling this equipment that is missing when I pick up my plastic-bodied Pentax-F autofocus lenses and that I have the feeling would be missing even if I owned the new Pentax Limited lenses. The heft of the lens. The buttery smoothness of the focusing action. The all-metal screw-in lens hood with white lettering imprinted around the end. Certainly that tactile experience has very little to do with producing excellent images - but that feeling is an aspect of photography that I originally fell in love with and that I feel again as I handle them now. The closest I can come to that feeling is shooting my DSLR with those superb Takumar lenses on it, and in keeping a film body along for those occasions when I want to recapture that feeling in total. The ability to use this quality glass (easily) is one of the main reasons that I originally went with Pentax for my first DSLR (even though I owned no Pentax glass at the time). Darren Addy Kearney, Nebraska -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
