• Registered: 2007-07-17
  • Posts: 24

Topic: My new camera and lens.

I have been looking for a camera for the last few months (started looking at a Ricoh GRD first then found this forum and decided to get a a pentax and some manual focus lenses). So I finally got the camera two days ago (a k100d) for $350 USD. I bought the body only because I also purchased a planar 1.7/50 for $70 from the bay about a month back. The register difference between contax and pentax is about .05mm, so I took apart the mount of the lens(which was a pain) and adjusted the mount to sit about .05-1mm from the back of the lens (the bayonet itself is to close to even be able to fit behind the k mount so I had to raise it up and place a strip of insulated copper wire underneath it). Now the lens is able to fit into the camera (it fits snug and the bayonet itself does not lock but it is secure in the camera and does not catch itself on anything inside the the camera). Now I need to get a hole drilled so i can lock it into the mount and it should fit as good as a C/Y bayonet can fit into a k mount (which should be good enough).

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1196/1447285820_17acb5f926_b.jpg
a flower at the botanical gardens in Lund

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1237/1447337904_196ee3a693_o.jpg
100% crop of the above

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1430/1447285836_36e1099e2b_b.jpg
my backpack and bike


http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1415/1447285858_92ee4f8e96_b.jpg
fellow corridor mate

I'm a little short of infinity so I need to continue modifying the lens, but I am very pleased with the quality I am getting from this setup. Also IS and the focus confirmation in the camera work with the lens.

  • From: London/Tallinn
  • Registered: 2005-08-16
  • Posts: 3,626

Re: My new camera and lens.

Looks good, and interesting to hear about a new combination of glass and body (new to me at least).

Bodies: Rollei 6008 AF and 6008 Integral with Sinar eMotion 54LV digital back, Arca Swiss 6x9 view camera
Lenses: Rollei 40mm f3.5 PQ, 80mm f2 PQ, 80mm f2.8 PQS, 110mm f2 PQ, 150mm f4 PQS, 180 f2.8 PQ, 1.4x Longar, Schneider Symmar 135 mm f5.6
Lighting: Profoto Pro 6 FREEZE 1200 and 2400 generators, Past gear: Hasselblad, Canon, Contax, Leica

Graham's Website

  • From: NC, USA
  • Registered: 2007-07-27
  • Posts: 883

Re: My new camera and lens.

Nice. I love my 1.7 Planar.

  • From: Oklahoma, US
  • Registered: 2007-09-27
  • Posts: 42

Re: My new camera and lens.

Very interesting idea! I have several C/Y lenses but never thought of fitting them into my K10D. Could you please give us some sort of detailed instruction how to do it? Additional picutures would be highly appreciated. Thanks

  • From: Swindon UK
  • Registered: 2006-10-03
  • Posts: 3,282

Re: My new camera and lens.

Wow.. Sounds a great idea I would love to try it. Anybody let me have an old Contax lens very cheap !!!

http://s159.photobucket.com/home/Rob-Leslie/allalbums

Rob Leslie's Website

  • From: Las Vegas, NV.
  • Registered: 2005-09-05
  • Posts: 5,148

Re: My new camera and lens.

Congrats on your new camera and lens. It seems you are getting some really nice results. big_smile
-Bruce

I put that adapter in a safe place, never to be seen again.
  • From: NC, USA
  • Registered: 2007-07-27
  • Posts: 883

Re: My new camera and lens.

Rob Leslie wrote:

Wow.. Sounds a great idea I would love to try it. Anybody let me have an old Contax lens very cheap !!!

FWIW, you can probably pick up a Yashica ML 50/2 for under 5 pounds if you look. These share the Contax mount.

  • Wimpler
  • Focus: Way Over There
  • Offline
  • From: Antwerp (Belgium)
  • Registered: 2007-02-17
  • Posts: 185

Re: My new camera and lens.

One of the sharpest pics I ever took was with a yashica DSB 50mm f1.9.  Certainly a lot of great lenses available for the CY mount.  Anybody who likes them should also get a film body.  Some of the bodies are great! (My yashica fr-1 is my favourite camera body ever)

  • From: Oklahoma, US
  • Registered: 2007-09-27
  • Posts: 42

Re: My new camera and lens.

I was really inspired by this idea and tried to figure it out on my own. My approach is slightly different. First, I just check the register distance of Pentax K and C/Y. They are very close to each other 45.46mm vs. 45.5mm. So why don't we just fit the K mount into C/Y lens? And see how they work. What I found out: It works great!!!

The way I did was: I just took the C/Y mount out of my Yashica 50mm 1.4 and 28mm 2.8 then replaced them by the P/K mount from Pentax-M 50mm 2.0. Amazingly, they fit exactly and everything aligns as the original lens. I shot some pictures to check for infinity focus and fine, no problem.

Let's try it guys and see it by yourself. Enjoy

  • cvig
  • Focus: Infinity
  • Offline
  • From: Wisconsin, USA
  • Registered: 2006-07-31
  • Posts: 981

Re: My new camera and lens.

That's good news. The other way to go is to modify the mount on the (Pentax) camera. Apparently, a little work and you can mount both types of lenses. There should be a few hits on the search here.

Last edited by cvig (2007-09-28 07:51:34)

cvig's Website

  • stuntti
  • Focus: Over There
  • Offline
  • From: Finland
  • Registered: 2006-11-23
  • Posts: 58

Re: My new camera and lens.

http://forum.contax-club.org/viewtopic.php?t=12815

Excellent discussion how to modify the mount on the camera to accept PK and C/Y lenses.

  • From: Romania
  • Registered: 2006-12-02
  • Posts: 732

Re: My new camera and lens.

Hello,

And here is this one too: http://forum.manualfocus.org/viewtopic. … 146#p40146 (see link), but you need to use an M42-K Pentax adapter . May be there are more faulty M42 lenses.

PS. Some Yashica lens data: http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~coreya/y … hlens.html (but on M42)

Last edited by montecarlo (2007-09-28 12:13:13)

Canonet QL17,Konica TC,Hexanon 50/1.7
Zenit E,Porst Reflex TL,Helios-44 58/2.0,Tair-11A 135/2.8,Jupiter-9 85/2.0,CZJ Flektogon 35/2.4,Pentacon 50/1.8,Porst 135/2.8, Cosinon 200/3.5
Chinon CE4,Petri 28/2,Chinon 28/2.8,Pentax-M 50/1.7,Ricoh 50/1.7,Soligor 135/2.8,Pentax-M 75-150/4
Pentax K100D, Pentax-DA 18-55, Pentax-FA 80-320

montecarlo's Website

  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • Registered: 2006-10-05
  • Posts: 1,379

Re: My new camera and lens.

xtriky wrote:

I was really inspired by this idea and tried to figure it out on my own. My approach is slightly different. First, I just check the register distance of Pentax K and C/Y. They are very close to each other 45.46mm vs. 45.5mm. So why don't we just fit the K mount into C/Y lens? And see how they work. What I found out: It works great!!!

The way I did was: I just took the C/Y mount out of my Yashica 50mm 1.4 and 28mm 2.8 then replaced them by the P/K mount from Pentax-M 50mm 2.0. Amazingly, they fit exactly and everything aligns as the original lens. I shot some pictures to check for infinity focus and fine, no problem.

Let's try it guys and see it by yourself. Enjoy

Wow!

Very cool!

cogitech's Website

  • Registered: 2007-07-17
  • Posts: 24

Re: My new camera and lens.

xtriky, could you post some pictures of the new mount? It sounds like your way could be a lot more useful for using the lens and adjusting it for infinity.

  • From: Oklahoma, US
  • Registered: 2007-09-27
  • Posts: 42

Re: My new camera and lens.

Thank you very much for the very helpful links from you guys. The approach of modifying camera mount to accept C/Y lens is very smart. However, it requires some sort of more mechanical skills than mine. In addition, there is no permanent modification in either camera or lens mount in my method. It is totally reversible because actually, I just swap the P/K and C/Y mounts.

This is the outline of my experiment:

1. Unscrew the P/K mount from a Pentax-M 50mm 2.0 or other P/K lenses
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1216/1455614059_a6f0da84e5.jpg?v=0

2. Take out the black plastic inner ring and keep only the outer shiny metal ring
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1023/1456480840_afefee5a32.jpg?v=0

3. Strip off the C/Y mount of the Yashica lens

The Yashica ML 28mm 2.8 lens
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1168/1455614291_3eef711cb2.jpg?v=0

With C/Y mount:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1315/1455614393_64d787d79a.jpg?v=0

Without C/Y mount:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1012/1455614497_0a5af234c3.jpg?v=0

4. Screw the P/K mount flange into the C/Y lens. Note: only one (1) screw (that is opposite to the red dot on the P/K mount) can be screwed in. However, I think it is enough to "super-glue" the P/K mount and the C/Y lens together (as good as 4-5 screws)

Hybrid model: P/K mount on C/Y lens
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1122/1456481344_7b9a52a4fd.jpg?v=0

Everything aligns: The red dot on the P/K lens match the exact location of the red aperture indication mark on the C/Y lens. Thus, the C/Y lens will be mounted at the correct 12 o'clock position and locked in place just like any other P/K lenses.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1253/1455614723_a535019f88.jpg?v=0

Infinity focust test:
I did not make any adjustment to obtain infinity focus, it is just natural. I think the reason is the very small difference between register distance of the two lens mount systems.

This is my test shot for infinity focus (maybe @2.8)

Full frame:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1106/1456481748_678992889e.jpg?v=0

100% crop at center:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1185/1456481560_d5aeca0e9a.jpg?v=0

10% crop at corner:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1047/1455615097_0c2ebdaa0e.jpg?v=0

If you want to be safe, just try out my instruction. I hope it will help. Thanks

  • cvig
  • Focus: Infinity
  • Offline
  • From: Wisconsin, USA
  • Registered: 2006-07-31
  • Posts: 981

Re: My new camera and lens.

xtriky,

That is excellent -- I even have a spare A 50mm f2 lens sitting around if ever happen upon some nice C/Y lenses to give this a shot.

magicmud,

I forgot to say in my first post that I think the results you're getting are great. I like the colors in the flower and the crispness of the bike handle. The K100D is quite a bargain right now.

cvig's Website

  • From: Stockholm
  • Registered: 2006-10-28
  • Posts: 232

Re: My new camera and lens.

This is interesting indeed. Thanks for posting your images magicmud and xtriky.


magicmud.

Great shots! Did you just loosen the three small screws holding the bayonet and then shimmed the whole bayonet to the right "height" to fit the K mount?




strixy.

I see you used a Yashica ML lens. I have three nice C/Y Zeiss lenses, but the Zeiss brand lenses looks a bit different as the flange doesn

Last edited by matsoberg (2007-10-05 16:23:43)

Pentax Spotmatic F,  Pentax MX,  Pentax K10D,  Pentax K-7,  Contax AX,  SMC-A 15/3.5,  SMC-A 20/2.8,  SMC- FA* 24/2, SMC-FA 31/1.8,  SMC -M 40/2.8,  SMC 50/1.2,  Leitax mount Planar T* 50/1.7, Planar T* 50/1.7 AE,  Planar T* 50/1.4 AE,  Super Takumar 55/1.8,  SMC- FA* 85/1.4,  Leitax mount Elmarit 180/2.8,  SMC-A* 300/4

matsoberg's Website

  • Registered: 2007-07-17
  • Posts: 24

Re: My new camera and lens.

Matsoberg, I just shimmed the whole bayonet like you said. I have also tried what xtriky did on a planar 1.7, but it requires a lot more work to get all the mechanisms to work right. I haven't put in the time to do this modification all the way (requires drilling holes in the donor K mount and pulling apart the C/Y mount and transferring all the mechanisms to the new mount). I think that this would be worth it since Contax lenses are worth the work. Ill be sure to post when I finish the modification.

  • From: Stockholm
  • Registered: 2006-10-28
  • Posts: 232

Re: My new camera and lens.

Magic.

I

Pentax Spotmatic F,  Pentax MX,  Pentax K10D,  Pentax K-7,  Contax AX,  SMC-A 15/3.5,  SMC-A 20/2.8,  SMC- FA* 24/2, SMC-FA 31/1.8,  SMC -M 40/2.8,  SMC 50/1.2,  Leitax mount Planar T* 50/1.7, Planar T* 50/1.7 AE,  Planar T* 50/1.4 AE,  Super Takumar 55/1.8,  SMC- FA* 85/1.4,  Leitax mount Elmarit 180/2.8,  SMC-A* 300/4

matsoberg's Website

  • dwright
  • Focus: Over There
  • Offline
  • From: North Lincolnshire
  • Registered: 2007-06-01
  • Posts: 83

Re: My new camera and lens.

As I have several now little used Yashica lenses I thought I'd try this conversion to PK mount. My problem is that I find the screws on all the Yashica mounts I've tried extremely stiff and almost impossible to loosen - one out of four is no help at all!

This is particularly irritating as those on the lens giving up its PK mount slacken off quite easily.

  • Registered: 2007-07-17
  • Posts: 24

Re: My new camera and lens.

yeah, it took me a bit of work to get the screws of (they have lacquer on them) so you need to put a lot of directed force on them (i had to have a friend help with a pair of pliers to turn the screwdriver as i held the lens and pressed down on the screwdriver so it wouldn't slip and strip the head of the screw). Also give a the screws a bit of a tap with a hammer and screwdriver to crack some of the lacquer.
Mats, i don't think that its a Contax Zeiss lens in that conversion since like you mentioned it, the aperture ring isn't the same and I think the mechanism for how the aperture ring holds the correct position is different, with the planar 1.7 its a ball and spring that "clicks" into place along a metal ring underneath the mounting plate.

  • cvig
  • Focus: Infinity
  • Offline
  • From: Wisconsin, USA
  • Registered: 2006-07-31
  • Posts: 981

Re: My new camera and lens.

There are some solvents to destroy the bond of the lacquer/glue. I brought some ThreeBond brand when I brought the ThreeBrand glue. I realize there are different types of glues but if that doesn't work, I would expect a similar solvent exists for whatever has been used on the Yashica screws.

Here it is on the U.S. site:
http://www.micro-tools.com/store/item_d … TB28T001-F

Here on the European:
http://www.micro-tools.com/Merchant2/me … e_Code=MTE

Last edited by cvig (2007-10-10 07:57:28)

cvig's Website

  • stingOM
  • Focus: Past Infinity
  • Offline
  • From: Co. Clare, Ireland
  • Registered: 2006-12-31
  • Posts: 2,061

Re: My new camera and lens.

Hi,
I am interested in this C/Y to PK lens mount conversion. Will any Pentax K mount do or does it have to be the Pentax-M lens?

Thanks,
Simon

  • From: Oklahoma, US
  • Registered: 2007-09-27
  • Posts: 42

Re: My new camera and lens.

Hi StingOM,

I never tried the approach with other lens mount than the Pentax-M. But I believe other Pentax K can be used if they have the same lens mount flange thickness (for infinity focus). I have a quick look at my Pentax-A 50mm 1.7 and it is the same with the M.

For third party K mount, I don't think it is possible to swap the mount and still able to obtain infinity focus. However, if the lenses are made by the same third party manufacturer (Vivitar, Tokina ...) it should be ok to swap their lens mount. On the other thread, I mentioned that I was successfully swapping the mount of a P/K Vivatar 75-150 f3.8 for a Nikon Vivitar Series 1 70-210 f3.5. As a result, I have a beautiful Vivitar Series 1 in P/K mount but just focus slightly beyond infinity.

Hope this helps.

  • stingOM
  • Focus: Past Infinity
  • Offline
  • From: Co. Clare, Ireland
  • Registered: 2006-12-31
  • Posts: 2,061

Re: My new camera and lens.

Hi xtriky,

Yes that is helpful. I have a Yashica ML 50mm f1.4. Unfortunately, the previous owner had the lens mount modified by machining off the three lugs leaving just the circular lens mount to fit a Konica bellow. I then bought a Yashica ML 50mm f1.9 in the hope that I can simply swap the lens mount over. It was both a waste of time and money. So now I can rescue this lens by buying a Pentax-M lens thanks to you and magicmud.

I hope to use it with my Olympus E-300 with a PK adapter.

Regards,
Simon