Q I have been pretty happy with my Olympus E-10. The price was right and my old Pentax cameras were starting to really show their age (my favorite one is well over 40 years old). Now it seems that my Olympus is developing problems and Olympus says they can no longer repair it. I have read that Pentax digital SLRs would work with any Pentax lens, and I have about eight different screw-mount lenses that I would love to be able to use again. I'm tempted by the newer models for the speed, as my E-10 is just not up to action shots.
Would you recommend I buy a Pentax K10D and a screw-mount lens adapter? Or would I be better off just buying a kit with two new lenses and giving my old equipment to a museum?
JEFF PORT, State College, Pa.
A Nikon digital SLRs and Pentax digital SLRs work with older manual-focus lenses, so this advice applies to both Nikon and Pentax lens owners. Don't give those old lenses to a museum! I doubt that you would find a museum interested in them, and they are of limited monetary value on the resale market.
Where they have immense value is as photographic tools; your old lenses are probably fixed focal length lenses, as zooms were very uncommon back then. Fixed focal lengths, even older ones, tend to provide noticeably sharper images than zoom lenses and have better low-light capability, as well. The old lenses were built like tanks with rugged, metal barrels and brass focusing helicoils. As long as you don't run into any problems with fungus growing on the lens elements (it can happen), those lenses should be working fine another 40 years from now.
The old lenses, however, do not have the electronic circuitry to interface with modern cameras. You won't be able to use many of the camera's automatic features and will have to take a slow, deliberate approach when using your old lenses. For this reason I recommend you get the kit with two lenses as well as some screw-mount adapters. You can use your kit zoom lenses (and the Pentax kit lenses, particularly the 50-200mm telephoto, are very good) for convenience and fast shooting situations where you need the automation, and pull out the screw-mount lenses for slower, more deliberate work. You will be happy to know that the Pentax Shake Reduction (image stabilization) will work with your old lenses, and I am sure you will enjoy working with your "old friends" again in a modern digital world.
Act fast if you want a K10D. Pentax is replacing it with the K20D, which has a 14.6-megapixel CMOS sensor with live view and improved image processing for better image quality, especially in shadow and highlight reproduction. List price of the K20D body is $1,299, about twice the current street price of a K10D body. It's worth it to get the K20D if you are looking for the best. It is an extremely impressive machine, and with the new sensor and Pentax's fantastic color reproduction, picture quality is likely to be at the very top of its class.
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