Educate me about M42/Screw/Pentax Mount Lenses

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chris-red

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Right I have a Fujica AZ-1 Camera, it belonged to my father but I have appropriated it.

It came with a few lenses and a teleconvertor. I bought a new lens for it at a flea market the other day a Mirage 135mm f2.8. However this new lens doesn't seem to but the same functionality re the aperture.

The lenses that came with it all work the same adjusting the aperture has no direct effect though the view finder. However there is a notch on the aperture ring with locates into a pin on the camera which adjusts the metering to take the aperture into account. Then there is a pin on the lens that gets pushed when the shutter is to set the aperture for the shot.

On this new lens, there is an extra ring with A and M on (I assume automatic and manual aperture) however there is nothing I can see that can tell the camera what aperture is set. Therefore when set to A it will only meter for wide open, no matter what is set, when set to M the aperture ring has direct effect on the aperture however this makes focusing at small apertures difficult, however metering is correct.

Can anyone tell me why these lenses are different, if there are any other different types and what I should be looking for to work properly with my AZ-1.

Cheers,

Chris
 
It's been a while since I used a selection of M42 lenses on Pentaxes but IIRC, there were 3 types. The most basic was completely manual and had what appeared to be 2 aperture rings. You set the required aperture using the one with detents (clicks) while leaving the other (which actually moved the aperture blades) at wide open to help focussing then turned it to match the detented one (where it would stop) to set the aperture. The next one involved setting the required aperture then pressing a lever down to open the lens back up to wide open. When the shutter was fired, the aperture would be stopped down "automatically". The 3rd type just involved setting the required aperture and the actual iris would operate when the shutter fired. On both the "automatic" types, the aperture was moved when the little pin on the lens was pushed by the corresponding little platform in the body.

Not sure I've explained them very well and it's well over 30 years since I used them. Hopefully someone will be along to explain better or maybe even meet up at some point and show you how they work.

Might be worth asking if this thread could be moved to the Film section - they're a helpful bunch there (if a little eccentric!!! ;) ) and very knowledgeable.
 
Eccentric? Pshaw! Roberts, who is this bounder?
 
You need to read my thread where I asked about Auto\Manual switches on these lenses as I have exactly the same camera.
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/metering-and-auto-lenses.529643/

Basically if you have one of the proper Fujinon lenses with the push pin and auto\man switch you should have it on auto and any other lens manual. But read the thread so you understand why because it took me a while to understand :)
 
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On my Practica you set the aperture on the lens and then meter with the stop down lever pushed in which manually stops the lens down. Thats with a Pentacon 50mm F1.8
 
Thank Simon, I'll try sticking to Fujinon lenses then, however I also have a Vivitar lens which has the little notch that links to the body and allows for Full aperture metering...
 
Tamron also made an Adaptall mount compatible with the AZ-1 so if you can get one of them then you'll have a great deal more lenses available as it allows you to use all of the adaptall lenses.
 
Is that what how my Vivitar lens works too? That seems to have something similar on it mount. Do you know what the vivitar system is called?
 
chris-red said:
Is that what how my Vivitar lens works too? That seems to have something similar on it mount. Do you know what the vivitar system is called?
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Vivitar made its lenses in many different mounts, they probably just made a version of some their lenses with the Fuji aperture detection system. Its should say somewhere on the lens barrel what mount its for so that should give a clue as to what Vivitar called that mount.
 
s162216 said:
Vivitar made its lenses in many different mounts, they probably just made a version of some their lenses with the Fuji aperture detection system. Its should say somewhere on the lens barrel what mount its for so that should give a clue as to what Vivitar called that mount.
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Cool cheers!

One last question.

Pentax seem to use a similar system do you know if they are compatible?
See the pictures on these ebay auctions of the mounts
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pentax-Ta...=UK_Lenses_Filters_Lenses&hash=item2c7cec83da

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Takumar-p...=UK_Lenses_Filters_Lenses&hash=item3cdc7d6b86
 
@chris-red They are very similar, but to my knowledge they are not compatible with one another (I own a Pentax Spotmatic F which supports open aperture metering with SMC Takumar's and Adaptall lenses with the correct mount).

Croydon Photo Centre have an Adaptall FUS mount in stock however (which can be used with the Fujica AZ-1) for £20, which is an excellent price considering how much some Adaptall mounts go for, and you can get some really good Adaptall lenses for very little on ebay etc (I own an Adaptall 28-70mm F3.5-4.5 which is a lovely sharp lens, and very well built: I got it for about £15 on ebay about 3 years ago and use it with my Spotmatic F and the ES mount adapter to get open aperture metering).

http://www.croydonphotocentre.co.uk/ (look for "Tamron Adaptall mount (Fuji FUS/A2)" under the 'Other makes and Accessories' section.)

Sam
 
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Thanks Sam, I know I said last question but one more! Adaptall and Adaptall 2 are they each compatible with each other?
 
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chris-red said:
Thanks Sam, I know I said last question but one more! Adaptall and Adaptall 2 are they each compatible with each other?
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For the mount your using theres no difference as it was made for the Adaptall II series (but was backwards compatible with the original), but Adaptall and Adaptall II lenses are generally similar prices so I would go for II's if you can as they have better coatings etc.
 
chris-red said:
Many Thanks.
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Hi Chris,

I took another look around just to check that Adaptall and Adaptall II are compatible, it turns out that although Adaptall II mounts will fit on Adaptall I lenses the metering will not couple most of the time. Fortunately I discovered that the Pentax ES mount would completely work with both (which is unusual), and after a little searching actually found a picture of a Fujica mount on an ebay auction, where you can plainly see on the box that it says 'For Adaptall, Adaptall 2 and SP lenses' (SP lenses were Tamron's premium professional grade adaptall 2 lenses) which means that they'll work completely with your Fujica (as Tamron always wrote 'For Adaptall and SP Lenses Only' on the other mounts even though they would mount, just not meter).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tamron-Ad...w-Boxed-w-caps-and-instructions-/151079020325

The ebay auction is currently active with buy it now at £20 with free postage so you might want to go with that rather than the one I linked above.

Hope you find this useful,

Sam
 
@chris-red Tamron never actually described the mounts as 'Adaptall 2' specifically on the boxes usually just 'Adaptall' or 'Adaptall Custom Mount' and from the pictures they both look identical so it'll very likely be fine. They never made a Fujica M42 mount in the original adaptall I to my knowledge (looking at sales brochures online I could not find a mention of one until the 1979 era), likely because they released the Adaptall 2 series in ~1979 and the AZ-1 was only released shortly before in 1978.

What lens is it you've got your eye on? Most of them are quite good optically, and this website here gives details on all the Adaptall 1/2/SP type lenses every made, with test reports:

http://www.adaptall-2.org/
 
Good lens to get looking at reports on it. I've always personally been on the lookout for a 24mm Adaptall 2, but never been successful in getting one (always outbid at the last second and the price of them has gone up massively in the last few years).
 
s162216 said:
Good lens to get looking at reports on it. I've always personally been on the lookout for a 24mm Adaptall 2, but never been successful in getting one (always outbid at the last second and the price of them has gone up massively in the last few years).
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If you can't afford Canon, Nikon, Minolta etc 24mms then a very good second is Sigma24mm superwide and Ensinor 24mm...I have no idea if used for architecture how they compare for distortion but stopped down for landscape scenery I would doubt you could see the difference compared to expensive 24mms. Anyway I'm happy with my ones i.e. Sigma and Ensinor, also a Vivitar 24mm f2 which gives an oldie world glow when used wide open.
From the thread title, it's cheaper to get another camera body that can use an adapter for screw lenses, for more advanced metering, higher flash sync (esp ones with vertical shutter) etc and can use later more modern lenses e.g. bodies from Canon, Minolta, Yashica\Contax, Konica and many more

Vivitar 24mm f2 @ f2 .....crop to show glow on house.
 
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