Lens fit for Ricoh XR-X body

[Asha]

OK guys need a little help to confirm the lens fit for a Ricoh XR-X camera body.

Is it Pentax K fitting ?

Presently fitted with a miranda 28-70mm lens, however I'm wanting to use some of my longer length M42 lenses on it but need to be sure of what adaptor to buy.

Are there any issues i need to be aware of using an adaptor??... will metering etc work as "normal" ??

 

[Jao]

Asha, it is a PK fit camera. Although if I remember correctly there are some functions such "programme" that wil not work with some lenses. To get all the functions you will need Ricoh XR lenses.

Others will I am sure have more information than me, haven't seen one for some years!

 

[Asha]

Asha, it is a PK fit camera. Although if I remember correctly there are some functions such "programme" that wil not work with some lenses. To get all the functions you will need Ricoh XR lenses.

Others will I am sure have more information than me, haven't seen one for some years!

Thanks Adrian....for the sake of a couple of quid adaptor I'll get more scope being able to use the other lenses.

I can live with limited functions!

It's been a while since it's had a film through it so......

 

[Jao]

Sounds sensible to get the adaptor and use your M42's. Looking forward to seeing some shots from the resurrected Ricoh!

 

[Asha]

Mmm just had a quick look on our favourite auction site and seems that some sellers state there will be loss of focusing at infinity....Looks like i'm going to have to watch out for that before buying ...presumably that is caused due to the adaptor "shunting" the rear element of the lens further away from the film.....won't all the adaptors do that though?

 

[Asha]

haven't seen one for some years!

Well here you go ....works on AA batteries too!

 

[TheBigYin]

Mmm just had a quick look on our favourite auction site and seems that some sellers state there will be loss of focusing at infinity....Looks like i'm going to have to watch out for that before buying ...presumably that is caused due to the adaptor "shunting" the rear element of the lens further away from the film.....won't all the adaptors do that though?

It's all down to lens registration distance - providing the bodies required register distance is less than the lenses registration distance, it'll focus to infinity if the lens's distance is less than the bodies requirement it won't - unless the hole in the front of the camera is wide enough that the adaptor can allow the lens to be "sunk" into the body sufficiently.

http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~westin/misc/mounts-by-register.html

from this, the m42 and PK mount are the same register distance (45.46mm) so it sort of depends on how thick the "front plate" of the adaptor is, if it'll push the lens too far forwards...

Some adaptors are pretty much "screw tight onto the m42" then use the lens as a pseudo PK lens, removing the lens and adaptor as a single unit. Others (for instance the contax/yashica adaptor i have for my EOS cameras), you can leave in the camera body, and just switch lenses into the adaptor, leaving the 1.5mm of lens adaptor stickign "proud" of the normal lens mount ring.

 

[Jao]

It was a "hi tech" looking camera for it's time. There are some passing design similarities to the Canon T series cameras I think.

Is that a Ricoh XR series 28-100 zoom?

 

[Asha]

It's all down to lens registration distance - providing the bodies required register distance is less than the lenses registration distance, it'll focus to infinity if the lens's distance is less than the bodies requirement it won't - .

Well I had never even heard of "lens registration distance "......learn something new everyday!!

Thanks for the link Mark......already got my curiosity to learn more about it!

 

[Asha]

Is that a Ricoh XR series 28-100 zoom?

Nope, unfortuanatly not, it came with a Miranda 28-70mm 1: 3.5 - 4.8 MC 'Macro' lens

 

[TheBigYin]

someone chucked the link at me when I asked why Canon FD lens to EOS camera adaptors were either ruinously expensive or "For Macro Only"

 

[AJQS]

there are 2 types of PK-M42 adapter - the proper genuine Pentax type which fit inside the bayonet and focus to infinity and the really cheap type in which there is a flange. These don't focus to infinity.

The Ricoh program mode works just the same as Pentax's, except that the pin that makes it work is in a different place. This is the infamous Ricoh pin that confounds digital Pentax users! Many aftermarket lenses have the pin in both locations, it being a sprung ball bearing so it cannot get stuck in the offending screw head.

 

[Asha]

there are 2 types of PK-M42 adapter - the proper genuine Pentax type which fit inside the bayonet and focus to infinity and the really cheap type in which there is a flange. These don't focus to infinity.

The Ricoh program mode works just the same as Pentax's, except that the pin that makes it work is in a different place. This is the infamous Ricoh pin that confounds digital Pentax users! Many aftermarket lenses have the pin in both locations, it being a sprung ball bearing so it cannot get stuck in the offending screw head.

Thank you for the info .....I've earmarked a couple of adaptors....the one that sit flush in the lens mount of the camera body is going to be my choice although more expensive simply to avoid any infinity focusing issues.

As always guys, many thanks for your help.

 

[ChrisR]

Asha, it is a PK fit camera. Although if I remember correctly there are some functions such "programme" that wil not work with some lenses.

Does this mean that using one of the better M42-PK adapters on a manual body (like my new old Pentax MX, for example), metering should work as per normal? Ie the body would "know" what the lens aperture is set at, without stopping down?

 

[s162216]

Does this mean that using one of the better M42-PK adapters on a manual body (like my new old Pentax MX, for example), metering should work as per normal? Ie the body would "know" what the lens aperture is set at, without stopping down?

No as theres no way for the M42 lens to indicate the aperture to the camera, no M42 lenses except for the SMC Takumar's and Adaptall lenses with an ES type adapter (both of which have an additional lug on the back to indicate the aperture) are capable of open aperture metering, and even then thats only on the Spotmatic F, Electro-Spotmatic, ES and ESII.

The K mount uses pretty much the same system as above, but its different enough to make it incompatible so in short you have to stop-down to meter with any M42 lenses on a K mount body.

Official Pentax adapters are the best simply because their the most reliable and well made, cheaper alternatives from China etc have been know to have a habit of getting stuck and then having to take the camera to bits to remove! Adapters by well known companies such as Kood are generally o.k though.

 

[ChrisR]

No as theres no way for the M42 lens to indicate the aperture to the camera, no M42 lenses except for the SMC Takumar's and Adaptall lenses with an ES type adapter (both of which have an additional lug on the back to indicate the aperture) are capable of open aperture metering, and even then thats only on the Spotmatic F, Electro-Spotmatic, ES and ESII.

The K mount uses pretty much the same system as above, but its different enough to make it incompatible so in short you have to stop-down to meter with any M42 lenses on a K mount body.

Thanks Samuel. Meanwhile I had also found this on DPreview (never normally look there but the search gods took me there): http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/post/40125306. In it, Miles Green writes:

M42 lens have no couplings at all! When you rotate the aperture ring on the lens, the blades close. This will result in dimmer viewfinder. It's like having depth-of-field preview permanently on. Unfortunately in use, this results in fiddling between focus and aperture rings to get everything right. Still these lens can be a joy to use. Use them in M and Av modes, no green button press necessary. The models with front apertures and 15-20 blades are famed for their bokeh. Most of these lens do not have coatings, so they will have low contrast when shot against the light. In this digital age, that's not that bad, you can just mess with the curves in post.

I had been confused about what "stop-down metering" meant, thinking there was maybe some button I had to press. Obviously I'm just over-thinking things! :bang: So between the two of you, I've now got a pretty good idea what I'll be getting into with M42 lenses! Thanks again.

 

[s162216]

M42 lenses do have a little pin on their back though that allows focusing with the aperture wide open and then stops down when you press the shutter. Whilst this works very well with M42 cameras, you have to make sure that any lenses you buy to mount on Pentax K mount cameras have an auto/manual switch on them to keep the lens stopped down permanently when set to M as theres no way for the camera to do that; a lot of later 3rd party M42 lenses didn't give any way to do this so their difficult to use on other mounts but some adapters also hold the pin in so it doesn't matter (although they have a habit of catching on the aperture lug of the SMC Takumar lenses so they don't work with them).

If you want some seriously good lenses, look at the Pentax Super Takumar's and Super Multi Coated (SMC) Takumars, both of these series (the SMC especially) are of extremely high quality and as put wrote in an edition of Amateur Photographer, still hold their own today.

 

[Mr Bean]

A bit late now but I think I still have a a Tamron Adaptall II mount that retains the program functions of the XRX & XRP cameras.