Hello - dSLR noobie here! I've just bought a Pentax K100D with kit lens and it's fantastic - I've just spent a week in Spain having fun with it and learning my way round it.
I came home to an eBay package containing an old Ricoh Riconar 55mm prime lens, f/2.2, original PK-mount. I unwrapped it with excitement and took a few shots with it. The focus ring is lovely and gooey and the view is bright and clear through the finder.
I'm a bit confused about how the lens works though. The camera doesn't seem to have any way of changing the aperture automatically. I thought I'd be able to use aperture priority mode, but the camera persistently displays "Av --" on-screen, and doesn't have a clue what setting the aperture ring is at.
After experimenting, the only way to get it to stop down AT ALL is to manually select the value with the ring and be in Manual or Bulb modes. The diaphragm then stops down to the ring value on shutter release, DOF preview or 'AE-L' button.
At least I can use a sort of half-baked aperture priority system by using Manual mode, setting the aperture ring and hitting 'AE-L' to get the camera to stop down, meter and set a Tv.
(The ring has no A setting as far as I can see, although there's a blob between f/4 and f/2.2 that it can be set to. What does that do?)
I was wondering if I was missing something, and there's an easier way to go about things.
My other, more serious, problem is that every picture from it looks like someone's huffed on the lens, or had an unfortunate accident with a tub of vaseline - there's this horrid glow around highlights. I'll demonstrate with a crop of the image (this part was perfectly in focus in the viewfinder and according to focus confirmation):
The lens is really clean inside and out. What on earth's going on? Aargh... help!
Thanks
Jonathan
I came home to an eBay package containing an old Ricoh Riconar 55mm prime lens, f/2.2, original PK-mount. I unwrapped it with excitement and took a few shots with it. The focus ring is lovely and gooey and the view is bright and clear through the finder.
I'm a bit confused about how the lens works though. The camera doesn't seem to have any way of changing the aperture automatically. I thought I'd be able to use aperture priority mode, but the camera persistently displays "Av --" on-screen, and doesn't have a clue what setting the aperture ring is at.
After experimenting, the only way to get it to stop down AT ALL is to manually select the value with the ring and be in Manual or Bulb modes. The diaphragm then stops down to the ring value on shutter release, DOF preview or 'AE-L' button.
At least I can use a sort of half-baked aperture priority system by using Manual mode, setting the aperture ring and hitting 'AE-L' to get the camera to stop down, meter and set a Tv.
(The ring has no A setting as far as I can see, although there's a blob between f/4 and f/2.2 that it can be set to. What does that do?)
I was wondering if I was missing something, and there's an easier way to go about things.
My other, more serious, problem is that every picture from it looks like someone's huffed on the lens, or had an unfortunate accident with a tub of vaseline - there's this horrid glow around highlights. I'll demonstrate with a crop of the image (this part was perfectly in focus in the viewfinder and according to focus confirmation):
The lens is really clean inside and out. What on earth's going on? Aargh... help!
Thanks
Jonathan
