My Cameras
Like a lot of the older Pentax users I started my Pentax days using the film cameras.Starting with the Pentax P30 which seemed quite expensive and quite advanced to what I'd been used to till then. Since then cameras have moved on quite a lot and the P30 is now one of the cheaper Pentax's but I do still have mine and is still working as good as ever.
Since then I started to get others and have ended up with quite a collection of Pentax cameras.
Most are film cameras but I also have 2 that are digital. The Pentax K-5 and a Pentax K-x as my backup camera.
After I changed cameras to the Pentax 30n it wasnt long before I started collecting Pentax cameras and lenses, buying them from Ebay and keeping the better examples and selling on the ones I didnt want to keep. Some I let go very reluctantly, as even though I didnt use them I still liked them and half wanted to keep them.
Like a Pentax Z-10 I bought in great condition. I liked the bulkyness of it and its weight. Even though it was plastic on the outside it still felt more robust than a Pentax MZ-50 that I bought around the same time. But the MZ-50 had more program settings so I let the Z-10 go and kept the MZ-50 even though I rarely used that too. The MZ50 was good for letting my kids take it away on holiday with them when they wanted to take a film camera with them that was simple to use. It was once taken to Tunisia with some photos being taken where they filmed some of one of the Star Wars movies. I then bought a K1000. Even though it is one of my oldest Pentax it was in as new condition and soon became the first camera I picked up when went out for the day, or just for a few hours. About the same time I also bought a ME Super and a Pentax P50. The P50 is rather like the P30 but to me it is a great improvement and very reliable. I often took the 3 of them with me to save me changing film, depending where I went. But if I didn't want to carry too much then its just the K1000 along with 1 of my Medium Format camera, usually a Franka Solida 1 that I bought just after the Pentax's.
I do buy two other medium formats, an Adox Golf and a Lubitel 166B but I dont often use these since getting the Franka. The latest of my collection is a Pentax Program A which I have yet to try out.
I did also , like most have, bought into the digital cameras too, but kept to Pentax by buying a Pentax K110D DSLR which suprisingly gave good results for a camera with just 6.1 mp when used at 200ISO. Not nearly as good when used at 3200ISO of course, but I never use it that high anyway.
Since then I have added other cameras and lenses to my growing collection:
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| Pentax K1000 and Pentax ME Super |
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| Pentax P50 and Pentax Program A |
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| Pentax MZ-50 |
As you can probably see, they are in really good nick, even though they all came from Ebay. I am trying to get hold of a Pentax Spotmatic that has a Super Takumar 50mm 1.4 lens though , but from another source but I havent got him to agree the price yet. He says he paid about £500 when new but he's obviously exagerating to try get me to offer more. I've offered him £50 which I think is reasonable considering the priced the Spotmatic goes for on Ebay, but its really the lens I am mainly after, and if he knew that it might be harder to get him to come down in price. Even though it is a M42 mount it would be worth buying an adapter to use it on my other Pentax's with it being such an excellent fast prime lens. You never know, I might even get to like the Spotmatic, seeing as I'm used to using a meter with my medium format cameras anyway.
Theres now another addition to my camera with another Medium Format folder being added. I've just bought an Agfa Isolette. Well it hasn't arrived yet but I'm hoping its in as good condition as my other cameras.
Ok! Thats my cameras but only a fraction of my photographic collection really. Like I said previously, I also got into collecting lenses too.
Its probably easiest to just make a list of them, so here goes.
Vivitar PK-A 70-210mm 1:4.5-5.6 MC Macro Zoom
Pentax-M 28mm 2.8 Prime ens.
SMC Pentax-A 50mm 1.7 Prime lens.
SMC Pentax DA 18-55mm AL 3.5-5.6
SMC Pentax FA 28-80mm 3.5-5.6.
Tamron SP 35-210mm 3.5-4.2 BBAR MC Macro Zoom (26A)
Tamron SP 35-80mm 2.8-3.5 BBAR MC CF Macro Zoom (01A)
Centon 18-28mm 4.0-4.5 MC Wide angled Zoom.
Sigma PK-A 70-210mm 4.0-5.6 MC AF Zoom.
Vivitar 135mm 2.8 MC Telephoto Prime lens.
2x KAX Teleplus MC7.
The Vivitar zoom is quite small and light and gives better results than I expected. Most Vivitar zoomz I've found reviews on have been a larger version.
The Pentax lenses are excellent quality even the DA zoom, with the exception of the 28-80mm which is the kit lens to the MZ-50. Very light and plasticy and just doesnt have the feel of a quality lens. But I have to say the 50mm 1.7 is the sharpest of them all, which I'm sure most already know Another of the lenses I really like is the Tamron 35-80mm. This is really light and fits in the palm of the hand, as well as being quite a fast lens for a zoom at 2.8-3.5 and again gives really sharp results. I sometimes pick this up for portraits instead of the 135mm Vivitar.
The Sigma was bought to use on the MZ-50 with it being Auto Focus but i havent used it with it, as I rarely use the MZ anyway. But I will be keeping it even after I sell the MZ-50 which should be going very shortly. I will be using the Sigma with the K110D with it being a PK-A Auto Focus lens and will work with it in all the program modes and AF. With digital you can muliply the focal length by 1.5 so this makes the Sigma the equivalent to 105-315mm which makes a good follow on to the 18-55 which gives the equivalent to 27-82mm. The Pentax-M 28mm is an excellent Prime wide angle lens and as with all the lenses will also work with the K110D which is why I stayed with Pentax even for the Digital DSLR. It just means that all but 2 of the lenses I'm keeping will have to be used in manual focus, which I prefer anyway. I don't think I will be using the Centon with it though, as I have the Pentax DA that covers the same focal lengths and even though the Centon is robust with it having an all metal casing and gives quite good results, it is nowhere near as goos as the Pentax 15-55 which is the kit lens for the K110D.
I much rather put the cameras into manual mode, which is why I like the K1000 so much. Theres very little to go wrong with it and its larger than the M or P series and just feels more rebust even if heavier. The extra weight to it has never been a problem, even on full days out taking photos.
I did find when I've developed the photos taken with my Adox Golf, there was light leakage to the very top and very bottom of the negatives. When I looked properly at the inside of the camera, I found the seals around where the back fits to the body were missing. It looked like it is meant to be a thin piping that fits into a groove where the edges of the back fit into. What I've done is get some black 1mm hemp twine and ive fitted this into the groove and just put a very little drop of adhesive to the very ends of the twine to keep it in place. Where the back seemed to fit loosely before and the catch slid into place with no effort at all. The back now has to be pressed firmly before the catch will slide and hole the back locked closed. I've yet to run a film through it since but I will be doing and I expect the problem to be fixed, as I know there is no light leak from the bellows or anywhere else on it. A very cheap way to fix a problem. The same hemp twine will act as a seal to any camera that takes the same type of seal. I will let you know ow it goes once I use a roll of film in it.
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| Agfa Isolette II with Watameter and Stitz light meter |
I've since added to my folding camera collection withan Agfa Isolette II that's in excellent usable condition. Having run a film through it It has no light leaks in either the bellows or the back.
I've had to do nothing with it at all as it came in really clean condition. The only problem being the slower speeds not working correctly, which is often the case with them not being used much. I'm going to try firing it at these speeds for a while to see if they pick up like they sometimes do after getting used more. If not then I don't usually use the lower speeds anyway and the speeds from 1/25th upwards and B all work perfectly.
These are the usual areas that leak light. The bellows being the main problem and the hardest to put right. If the bellows has just pinholes then you can use the rubber latex used as a body paint layer that you can usually find at adult kinky shops. (Not that I frequent this type of shop). Once a bellows starts to deteriorate though, its a sign that it will only get worse quite soon. The only way to repair more permanently is to have new bellows made and fitted. The other place for light leaks on a folder is the back, which is much easier to fix as I've already put further up. By putting a twine seal in the groove around the door and glue a thin strip of foam to the side edge of the door.
If you are lucky enough to get a good folding camera with a good lens, you then have a camera that will take good quality 6x6 photos. Better than any 35mm camera will take and finer grain
Another excellent purchase was my Pentax LX which I purchased for £110 which included a Pentax 50mm 1.7 lens. As I already had a good version of the lens I sold the one that came with the camera and got £50 for it and sent the camera to be serviced. It was as good as when new when I got it back and is still the best 35mm camera that Pentax ever made that gives professional quality photos with ease because of the excellent light meter system it uses, with or without flash. I'd highly recommend it to anyone that is able to get a good copy of the camera. It really is a pleasure to use.
I have added a lot more cameras to my collection and will be updating soon.
