Saturday, July 26, 2014

The User's Review: Kalimar MC AF Macro 60–300 mm 2.8 (32) φ67 Zoom lens for Minolta A Mount, Made in Japan












The goodness of this zoom lens is the focal range, wider than Minolta's equivalents. It's also not common to find one. Besides these two points, I have no any other reasons to own it. 

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

The User's Review: 2 Auto Sears 50mm F2 Prime Lenses, Made by Ricoh in Japan

I have these lenses with PK mount in hands, and find that they are the same in all aspects except the barrel length. Their glass formula, aperture ring and blade (6 pieces) are the same. Besides with a narrower focus ring, the smaller lens was achieved by cutting the length of parts beyond the front element.

These two lenses should be made by Ricoh for Sears.










Sunday, July 13, 2014

The User's Review: Phoenix, Promaster and Vivitar 100mm F3.5 Macro Lenses

The coating on the Vivitar front glass is more blue,
the other two has a similar coler, more pink.








With the screw-on adapter, 1:1 ratio can be achieved. Without the adapter, the lens can be uses as a 100mm prime. 

Besides the brand names on the front plates, another difference I notice is the coating colors on the front and rear glasses. However, I am not sure if the color variation is among the brand names or individual copies,




The User's Review: Two Versions of Brown-skin Pentax K1000 SE, Engraved SE and Sticker SE

There are two editions of Pentax K1000: Pentax K1000 and Pentax K1000 SE.

There are two colors of Pentax K1000 SE: Black and Brown.

There are two versions of Brown Pentax K1000 SE: Engraved and Sticker (originally, golden with SE in black).





Why are there Brown Pentax K1000 SEs with the sticker? My answer is, in the later production of Brown SE, the engraved-SE top plates were run out. The top plates of regular Pentax K1000 were used instead, and the SE stickers were also put on to mark the edition. My copy with the SE sticker (although it's faded) has the highest SN (7880384 engraved on the bottom plate) among the four Brown SEs I have.

There are reported regular K1000s with brown skin and split focus screen. There were 'produced' by removing/losing the SE stickers on brown Pentax K1000 SE.

A body with a clear SE sticker

Friday, July 4, 2014

The User's Review: Lester A. Dine 105mm f/2.8 Macro 1:1 MC Lens with a 52mm filter thread and a P/K-A Mount

Originally, this Macro lens was purchased by Dr. SEC D.D.S in Salt Lake City, Utah, around later 1990s. The sticker on its barrel shows how to use it at various aperture sizes paired with a dedicated Dine Auto Macro Light. This info on the sticker is still useful at today's digital era.

This lens was well-built, produces high-quality images, and communicates with Pentax DSLR bodies (via the contacts on PKA lens mount, you may set the aperture via your DSLR cameras). Although the dedicated Dine macro flash is not of P-TTL, manual settings and a few test shoots will help you get wonderful macro images and wouldn't cost you much.

The User's Review: Foto K-1000 35mm Film Camera ??? A Pentax K1000 SE Plus or A KM Minus?









I got this camera and more questions. I need your help to answer my questions.

This Foto camera caught my eyes because of its similarity with Pentax K1000, K1000 SE and KM. However, there are obvious differences between the Foto and Pentaxs:  1. The Foto has a self-timer; 2. The Foto needes two cell batteries to power its light meter, and there are three screws around its battery cover on the Foto bottom plate, 3. The Foto has no light-meter needle on its right side of viewfinder. I guess the Foto uses light-up signs to show metering (I will test it after finding two cell batteries. I find only one in my house at this time). 4. The Foto has a horizontally-split focus screen like that in Pentax SE; 5. No Depth of Field Preview on the Foto (On Pentax KM, DFP is located about the self-timer); 6. There is no brand or manufacture name on the 50mm 1.7 lens on the Foto, this lens is similar to SMC Pentax-M 50mm 1.7; 7. The build quality of this Foto is not bad, and is not as good as those Pentaxs although they may share many parts.

Here are my questions:
First of all, who made this Foto?
Second, Is the Foto a re-brand or mimic of the Pentaxs?
Third, when and where was the Foto sold?
...

I googled 'Foto camera', but got little feedback. Thanks in advance for your help with my questions on this Foto. 

P. S.
This Foto carries two stickers of its original owner's contacts, on its bottom and in side the bottom case. Wondering if this original owner know something about this Foto and my questions.

---
The light meter test in Foto K-1000

Yes, as what I guessed, Foto K-1000 uses three light signs (o in green, + and - in Red) on the right side of viewfinder to indicate the right, over and under exposures. That is the same as what in Yashica FX-3. Therefore, I guess again, Foto K-1000 was produced in 1980s, later than Pentax K1000 SE.