The Pentax K1 36 MP Camera and Lens Adaptations

[Andrea B.]

Nikon flange focal distance is 46.50mm.
Pentax flange focal distance is 45.50mm.
So you can only adapt Nikon lenses to Pentax bodies and maintain infinity focus by using an adaptor with an element.
In my opinion that extra element degrades the performance of the adapted lens. YMMV, of course. "-)

But if you are thinking about this K-1 body, do consider the approximately one-million-and-two M42 manual lenses out there made by Pentax and scads of other manufacturers. Pentax itself makes a nice K-mount to M42-mount adapter which fits perfectly inside the K-mount body.

The most "corrected" Pentax lens I know about is the rare Ultra-Achromatic-Takumar 85/4.5. It is corrected between UV, Visible and IR wavelengths. I'm assuming (perhaps erroneously?), that such correction would work well in the Visible-only wavelengths.
 

[Erik Lund]

Michael, I already linked an image of how the lens should look like inside i.e. identical to a APO Lanthar.

Don't remove aperture rings or anything, a small steel ball will drop out if you do,,,

[stenrasmussen]

Dunno if there is anything worthwhile in this thread but here it is:
http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/10-pentax-slr-lens-discussion/140761-fitting-nikon-lenses-pentax-body.html

[Erik Lund]

Michael, if your run into problems with the conversion of the APO Lanthar, vi can set up a Skype meeting, then I can guide you trough the process.

Only thing you need is a Good quality screwdriver that fits the four screws on the mount.

This set is really nice since it has the slim shaft, smallest one tat can be used on Nikkor lenses for the light baffle and CPU contacts etc.
http://www.micro-tools.com/1eea0417b0f18bd600e4fa23f5e4d915/product.htm?pid=132775

[Michael Erlewine]

Michael, I already linked an image of how the lens should look like inside i.e. identical to a APO Lanthar.

Don't remove aperture rings or anything, a small steel ball will drop out if you do,,,

I can't find that link. Perhaps you could include it again. I have some screwdrivers, so that is good.

Thanks Andrea! I don't care about the "infinity" aspect, since I only do close-up, so the Fotodiox Pro Lens Mount Adapter -- Nikon F to Pentax K should work. It has a removable glass insert that works like this (see attachment).:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003EAUBDE?keywords=Nikon%20F%20Lens%20to%20Pentax%20K%20(PK)%20Mount%20Camera%20System%20(such%20as%20K-5IIs%2C%20K-500%2C%20K-50%2C%20K-3%2C%20K-S1%20and%20more)&qid=1456387638&ref_=sr_1_fkmr3_2&sr=8-2-fkmr3

If this adapter is solid, I should be able to experiment.

[Hugh_3170]

Looking on Ebay, I can see some M42 compatible Ultrons, but no K-mount versions at this time.

If the lack of aperture coupling is not an issue for you, another option may be to drop a line to David Llado from Leitax (www.leitax.com) and see if he could provide you with a changeover bayonet mount.

Pentax K is one of the mounts that he makes to convert Leica R and Contax SLR lenses to the likes of Nikon and Pentax K bodies. 

Alternatively get a junk Pentax K lens and remove its bayonet mount and get a spacer made up if infinity focus is important to you - as per Sten's link.

[Michael Erlewine]

Looking on Ebay, I can see some M42 compatible Ultrons, but no K-mount versions at this time.

If the lack of aperture coupling is not an issue for you, another option may be to drop a line to David Llado from Leitax (www.leitax.com) and see if he could provide you with a changeover bayonet mount.

Pentax K is one of the mounts that he makes to convert Leica R and Contax SLR lenses to the likes of Nikon and Pentax K bodies. 

Alternatively get a junk Pentax K lens and remove its bayonet mount and get a spacer made up if infinity focus is important to you - as per Sten's link.

The  FotoDiox adapter, minus the "infinity" glass, should work, if it works. But all of these ideas are worth looking into. Thanks.

[Erik Lund]

...
Alternatively get a junk Pentax K lens and remove its bayonet mount and get a spacer made up if infinity focus is important to you - as per Sten's link.

A negative spacer 

[Hugh_3170]

Sorry - I did not make myself clear - my apologies. 

The idea was to replace the mount of the F-mount Nikon lens with a K-mount. 

As Nikon bodies are 1mm "fatter" than the Pentax K bodies in terms of their longer register distance (46.5mm vs 45.5mm),  a spacer will be needed to make up the 1mm register difference if infinity focus is to be obtained when the modified Nikon lens with its new K-mount is mounted on the Pentax K-Mount body.

A negative spacer 

[Michael Erlewine]

The so-called SuperResolution mode, using a pixel-shift process in the new Pentax K1 (and in the previous K3), automatically takes 4 images by moving the entire image sensor one pixel in four directions and then synthesizes all four into a single resulting image. This 4-way pixel shift does use the EFC (Electronic Front Curtain), but it looks like the EFC is not available for regular shooting, which is a shame.

According to Lloyd Chambers (in his public blog) “In theory the K1 Super Resolution offers the most potent advance in image quality in years: full “true color” RGB pixels.”

Chamber’s notes on this process are very worth reading. Here is the link:

http://diglloyd.com/blog/2016/20160218_1331-PentaxK1-SuperResolutionMode.html

I have been wanting more megapixels and more definition, which the Pentax K1 seems to offer. The problem, which we have been looking at here, is lenses. Since I seldom shoot at infinity, but rather close-up and near-macro, I don’t need infinity with the lenses I use. The Fotodiox Pro Lens Mount Adapter -- Nikon F to Pentax K should work with all my Nikon F-mounted lenses, provided I don’t care about shooting at infinity, which I don’t. I may have 1mm of extension, which will probably not interfere too much with the lenses.

Someday Nikon will offer more Megapixels, and I am not about to sell my Nikon D810. In fact, if Nikon comes out with an upgrade to the D810, but leaves out the ISO 64, I will buy a second copy of the D810, and (hopefully) use the Pentax K1 for my high-definition work, provided it has no serious caveats. I consider the native ISO 64 worth more (to me) than all the high ISO that seems to attract most people. I never go there.

I am aware that I am being forced into a kind of limited box by technology advances (that are the ones I need), and realize that I actually have technique that is more important than just advances in technology, but if I think about it, Nikon just hasn’t offered any that interest me for some time now. This Pentax may buy me some time… or not. It remains to be seen if it is as good as it sounds.

[BruceSD]

The so-called SuperResolution mode, using a pixel-shift process in the new Pentax K1 (and in the previous K3), automatically takes 4 images by moving the entire image sensor one pixel in four directions and then synthesizes all four into a single resulting image. This 4-way pixel shift does use the EFC (Electronic Front Curtain), but it looks like the EFC is not available for regular shooting, which is a shame.

According to Lloyd Chambers (in his public blog) “In theory the K1 Super Resolution offers the most potent advance in image quality in years: full “true color” RGB pixels.”

Chamber’s notes on this process are very worth reading. Here is the link:

http://diglloyd.com/blog/2016/20160218_1331-PentaxK1-SuperResolutionMode.html

I have been wanting more megapixels and more definition, which the Pentax K1 seems to offer. The problem, which we have been looking at here, is lenses. Since I seldom shoot at infinity, but rather close-up and near-macro, I don’t need infinity with the lenses I use. The Fotodiox Pro Lens Mount Adapter -- Nikon F to Pentax K should work with all my Nikon F-mounted lenses, provided I don’t care about shooting at infinity, which I don’t. I may have 1mm of extension, which will probably not interfere too much with the lenses.

Someday Nikon will offer more Megapixels, and I am not about to sell my Nikon D810. In fact, if Nikon comes out with an upgrade to the D810, but leaves out the ISO 64, I will buy a second copy of the D810, and (hopefully) use the Pentax K1 for my high-definition work, provided it has no serious caveats. I consider the native ISO 64 worth more (to me) than all the high ISO that seems to attract most people. I never go there.

I am aware that I am being forced into a kind of limited box by technology advances (that are the ones I need), and realize that I actually have technique that is more important than just advances in technology, but if I think about it, Nikon just hasn’t offered any that interest me for some time now. This Pentax may buy me some time… or not. It remains to be seen if it is as good as it sounds.

Michael, I've had the Pentax K3ii since May and have taken many high-res, pixel shift images with it.  Based upon my personal experience by doing direct comparisons, the same image in the pixel shift mode has noticeably less noise, better color, and higher resolution.

Of course, as always, better lenses produce better images all else being equal.

I have most of the Zeiss ZK lenses.  I also owned the Voigtlander 90mm lens in the Pentax K mount.  After extensive testing on my Pentax K3ii camera, I recently ended up selling the Voigtlander 90mm lens in favor of the Zeiss ZK 85mm f/1.4 lens.  So don't discount the Zeiss ZK lenses.  Of course my testing is not done on macro subjects, it's done at normal landscape distances.

I currently own the Zeiss ZK 25mm f/2.8 lens.  It is a macro lens with a "funky" reputation.  I believe that this lens is for sale on ebay for a decent price.  Might be fun to play with on your K1 when you receive it?

The Zeiss ZK 100mm macro does exist, but I can say with certainty that it has not appeared on ebay for sale during the last year.   

The Zeiss ZK 50mm f/2 macro also exists.  In the last year I've seen only one of these on ebay.  It was sold with a buy it now and I missed out on buying it.

[Michael Erlewine]

BRUCESD:

Not interested in the Zeiss. Had some of them (50mm, 100mm Makro Planar) and sold them. Not corrected well enough. I know the Voigtlander 90mm close-up, and it is a superior lens.


Thanks for you notes. I will check out the K3II while I wait for the K1.

[Michael Erlewine]

OK. Thread is split. Here we are talking about adapters that can work with the Pentax K1.

Just to make my interest clear. I don’t need infinity, since I will use this camera for close-up and less-than-infinity work. So what I have done is order a FotoDiox adapter that adapts Nikon lenses to the Pentax K camera mount. This adapter has a piece of glass to adjust for infinity, but users point out the glass (in their opinion) ruins the lens. However if you can live without infinity, the glass simply can be removed.

We don’t know yet it the Pentax K1 will have all of what we need. We know at this point that it appears that this camera does NOT have EFC (Electronic Front Curtain) for normal shooting. However, it DOES have EFC when working in pixel-shift mode, which is the mode I will be using.

So, if we work in LiveView + Self-Timer, in SuperRes (pixel-shift) mode, we have EFC, which is what we need. Lloyd Chambers is blogging on this topic in detail. I pointed out to him my plan to use an adapter and forget about infinity, and he reminded me to be aware to check the adapter for anti-reflection measures (internal blackening), which is a good idea. His comments are very worth reading.

So, to sum up my approach. I will see how the FotoDiox adapter works out.

Fotodiox Pro Lens Mount Adapter, Nikon F Lens to Pentax K Cameras such as Pentax K-7, K-x, K-r, K-5, K-01 & K-30

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003EAUBDE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00
 
In addition, as per this thread, I am looking to adapt lenses to the Pentax mount. I don’t know the Pentax lenses, and with few exceptions, the lenses don’t look that interesting for my work. Others may find them great.

So, I am taking lenses I know, like the Voigtlander 90mm SL lens, which can be found in Pentax K mount. I have one on order. In addition, I am looking at the parts needed to put a Pentax mount on an extra Voigtlander 125mm APO-Lanthar. That should give me real lenses that I know well to experiment with.

And finally, I have talked with the Novoflex distributor in North America (branch manager) and ordered the parts I need to mount the Pentax K1 on my Rollei X Act-2 technical bellows, which takes all the parts for the Novoflex Balpro Bellows. Then I can use my bellows lenses like the El Nikkor 105mm APO, and others. I had to special order the Pentax K mount.

The parts needed are:

Novoflex APRO 35mm Camera to Balpro-1 Adapter Ring (APRO)

Novoflex Adapter from Universal Bellows to Pentax K-Mount Cameras (PENTA)

In addition, I have ordered the Pentax K-3II, an older version of the Pentax K1, which also has the pixel-shift.

I can return or sell off what I don’t need, without losing a lot.

The point of all this trouble is to gain a 42MP image, arrived at by pixel-shift that should be clearer, better colors, and larger than what I can now get with the Nikon D810. I am still hoping that Nikon will get on the stick, but at least the Pentax, if it works, is a step toward the future that I feel I want to work with.

Your thoughts?

[Hugh_3170]

Michael, in respect of your last point of your post above, have you had a look at Sigma's two new Merrill / Foveon cameras that were recently announced? 

I notice that you tend to work within the lower ISO ranges of your D810, a range that the Foveon sensor is best at, and the newer sensors are likely to now have the resolution and colour performance that you are after.

What is your take?


Link:  http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,2881.msg38814.html#msg38814

Link:  http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,2877.msg38716.html#msg38716

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The point of all this trouble is to gain a 42MP image, arrived at by pixel-shift that should be clearer, better colors, and larger than what I can now get with the Nikon D810. I am still hoping that Nikon will get on the stick, but at least the Pentax, if it works, is a step toward the future that I feel I want to work with.

Your thoughts?

[Michael Erlewine]

Michael, in respect of your last point of your post above, have you had a look at Sigma's two new Merrill / Foveon cameras that were recently announced? 

I had an earlier version of the Merrill and decided that it was too much trouble.

I have had many of the newer cameras A7r, A7s, Gh4, Sony FX-700, etc.

I realize...and am realizing that I am not a regular photographer. In fact, I am getting more and more specialized. I have found that the Nikons (and I have had most of their DSLRs) work well for me. Nikon is moving too slow for me these years.

I am interested in the new Pentax K1, but I don't think of it as my only camera, but more as an extension of the Nikon, the part of the Nikon that Nikon is not currently addressing.

Putting together a collection of lenses, some for standard close-up and other lenses, exotics, and special draws, etc. I am not about to abandon this group of lenses, nor do many of the newer lenses interest me much.

I am a fan of the Otus series, and other APOs. I want to use these and other fine lenses on a Nikon Body, etc.

I am not a camera/lens reviewer, but only a user of a certain kind or kinds of lenses. I need to finish my experiments and work with what I have... rather than switch to a camera that does not interest me. I am interested in the Pentax K1, so I am moving on, but I consider, as mentioned, it as an extension of what I have.