I am a beginner and recently purchased a Ricoh KR-5 Super II on eBay. It is fully manual (exactly what I wanted) and came with a Takumar 28mm 2.8 lens. I also purchased a Rikenon 50mm 1.7 lens to go with it. The lenses have some dust inside. The local camera repair shop said that it was acceptable and should not affect the photo quality. Is some dust to be expected on used lenses??? So far (6 rolls later) I have not noticed any problems with my 4x6 prints. Are there occasions that the dust might pose a problem...such as with slide film??? I also would like to get 135mm & 200mm lenses. Can you purchase new K-mount manual focus prime lenses??? Is it worthwhile to consider mount adapters to convert from my K-mount body to something else??? If so, which mount would be best??? Should/Could I consider a 2x teleconverter on a manual camera with prime lenses??? My camera has an LED exposure indicator, and I have been reading that needles are better. Could someone explain??? I hope I have not asked too many questions at once. Thanks, Marc

-- Marc Lucas (big-guy@texas.net), May 14, 2002

Answers

"Are there occasions that the dust might pose a problem...such as with slide film???"

Slide film won't really show the dust any more than good prints. If there is a lot of dust there will be a general lowering of contrast. That would probably be the first thing noticed.

"Can you purchase new K-mount manual focus prime lenses???" - Yes

"Is it worthwhile to consider mount adapters to convert from my K- mount body to something else??? If so, which mount would be best???"

As far as i know, the only other lens mounts that will fit on a K mount camera are 42mm screw mount (sometimes called; M42 or Pentax screw mount) and T mount lenses. With either you will need an adapter and you will still loose open aperture metering in favor of stopped down metering.

"Should/Could I consider a 2x teleconverter on a manual camera with prime lenses???" - Yes

"My camera has an LED exposure indicator, and I have been reading that needles are better. Could someone explain???"

The LCD indicators usually only show full metering stops, while needle indicators can show intermediate settings. However, LEDs are usually more reliable.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), May 14, 2002.

the Pentax AF lens mount is based on the K bayonet, so your camera will be fully compatible with new Pentax-mount AF or manual focus lenses (of course you'll have to focus manually).

teleconverters are fun: if you get one and a 200mm lens, you'll have 50, 100, 200 and 400mm to play with... with this plus your 28mm takumar, you might not feel the need for much else for a while. optics aren't perfect, but probably good enough for most 4x6 applications, so just see if you're happy with your results as you go along... if not, get a longer prime lens for sharper results (keep the teleconverter though, it's even more fun on top of a 400!)

your exposure indicators are fine - sometimes i prefer needles, but it really doesn't matter. ricoh makes good meters.

dust in your lenses shouldn't be a problem. also, there's not a WHOLE lot to go wrong in a (non-zoom) lens, so you can save money with little risk by buying used... and the supply of USED K-mount lenses is almost infinite.

rick :)=

-- rick oleson (rick_oleson@yahoo.com), May 15, 2002.

I have a Ricoh K-mount AF camera that I like, but it doesn't use the Pentax K-mount AF lenses (except in MF mode). They came up with their own AF system. But I like being able to use any K-mount lens I come across... There's some really bizarre stuff out there for K-mount. :-)

-- Don Tuleja (don@calimages.com), June 07, 2002.