What happened was, I got an adapter and slapped a Pentax 100mm
Telephoto-Macro on my Fujifilm
X-T1, and had a ridiculous amount of
fun. Herewith pictures of an iris, a dancer, and a muscle car; and of course
the baroque camera/lens combo. But there are things to watch out for.
[Update: The lens adapter did not break, I was just using it wrong.]
I have lots of Pentax lenses, but picked the D-FA 100mm f2.8 because what’s not to like about a prime mid-telephoto with MACRO written in big letters on the side?
Pix by the combo · Macro, you say?
Jeepers, this combo could focus in on individual molecules if you had the patience.
So, instead of the things normal people would do with a tele/macro like shoot flowers and portraits, I headed off to the Kino Café, our local Flamenco and Tapas bar, to shoot the dancers. Here’s one.
· · ·
Yes, in Vancouver, sometimes the Flamenco dancers are Asian.
It’s really dark and really red in there. I tried shooting a couple on RAW which only goes up to 6400, then gave it up and used the “H1” setting, which cranks it to 12800 and makes the JPEGs for you. Yes, I desaturated the color a bit.
Then I came out into after-the-rain air and light and the first thing I saw was a car with “Night Runner” and “Freedom found in darkness” among its decorations.
Pix of the combo · Got steampunk if you want it.
· · ·
The pictures make the combo look much bigger than it is. But yes, you will got double-takes and other flavors of funny look when you carry this around.
What to buy · So, I walked into a reputable camera store and asked for an X-to-K adapter and they sold me a Fotodiox PK-FX for $70, which it turns out I could have got for $29 on Amazon. Note, the reviews there say it’s prone to jamming and I thought mine had too. Not so! To use the release knob you pull it back not push it down; but I had to go back to the camera store to find that out.
As for lenses, there are an astonishing number of excellent K-mount lenses in every imaginable length and width on the market. If you stick them on your Fuji you’re going to have to select the aperture by hand and then focus manually, but the X-cam will pick a good shutter/ISO combo for you and has amazingly good focus-assist.
Fujifilm’s excellent lens lineup currently doesn’t include any primes longer than 56mm; so this particular Pentax 100mm was a good match. If you go to any old-school camera shop or downtown pawnshop, you’ll find some interesting cheap used-lens options. One thing to watch out for is that some of the more modern lenses are all automated and don’t have an aperture dial. For example, the 100mm I’m talking about has been replaced in the current Pentax line-up by the excellent smc PENTAX D FA MACRO 100mm F2.8 WR, but that won’t work, no aperture dial. You might be able to get a good deal on one like I used, without the “WR” in its name.
They keep saying “golden age of photography”, and they’re right.
Comment feed for ongoing:
From: Paul (Jun 06 2014, at 18:52)
Having the shopkeeper explain how to use the lens adaptor is probably worth the cost difference with amazon
[link]