PENTAX lenses mount ??!!

[Ibrahim]

I have a problem here, I have a SLR film camera PENTAX ASAHI ME - which is technical details are below - and I'm looking for an upgrading and I'm actually thinking about DSLR PENTAX K-x. The problem is that I have 4 lenses for my old pentax and I don't know if there mount will bw suitable for the PENTAX K-x or not, I mean the question is : IF I GET DSLR PENTAX K-x, WOULD IT POSSIBLE TO USE MY OLD LENSES ??!! ( The technical details of the lenses are below )
The other problem is if the mount is not suitable so what do you suggest for me in a budget of 700 $ : Nikon D5000, Nikon D3000, Nikon D60, Nikon D40, Pentax K-x ( which is most reasonable for me and Nikon D5000 !! ) ???
Please find the technical details of the camera and lenses below .


SLR Film camera PENTAX ASAHI ME - Camera Name Pentax ME
- Manufacturer Asahi Optical
- Place of Japan
Manufacture
- Date of 1977~1981
Manufacture
- Focusing System Single-lens reflex with pentaprism eye-level
viewfinder 0.97x magnification; 92% coverage
- Lens mount K-mount (bayonet)
- Shutter Focal plane shutter 8 sec ~ 1/1000 sec X-sync @ 1/100 B +
self-timer
- Metering System Through-the-lens (TTL) CdS cell - centerweighted Aperture
priority metering with ±2 exposure compensation
- Flash Standard hot-shoe and PC sync connector
- Film type / speeds 135 type (35mm standard film)
- Battery type 2 x LR44/S44 (standard watch batteries)

LENSES - MC SOLIGOR zoom macro 85-205 mm c/d f:3.8 D62 (No. 3810349)
- VIVITAR MC tele converter 2x-22
- SMC PENTAX 1:2.8 24mm (No. 6888060) ASAHI OPT. Co., JAPAN
- SMC PENTAX 1:1.2 50mm (No. 1454700) ASAHI OPT. Co., JAPAN
- SMC PENTAX-M 1:3.5 135mm (No. 6717988) ASAHI OPT. Co., JAPAN

[mattdm]

Absolutely. It's a K-mount camera, and so are the modern dSLR bodies.

There's one catch, though. The newer bodies don't have the mechanical coupling that older, non-electronic lenses use to read the setting of the aperture dial. This means that lenses without an "A" setting use something called "stop-down metering" -- instead of the meter being constantly active, you press a button on the camera which stops down the aperture to your selected setting and takes a reading. This is annoying but one gets used to it.

Is it really the f/1.2 lens? That's pretty awesome.

[Ibrahim]

thanks for reply .... so about the restrictions they always mentions in reviews ... they always say ( K lenses mount with restriction or with adapter ) ... are these restrictions all about auto focus and metering ?? things that u mentioned ?? and could plz tell me more about the problem of metering ?? thanks alot !!

and about the 50mm f/1.2 ... awsome actually is a smaal word to express .... I can't live without this lense it's perfect in sharpenees, blury back ground, depth of view , quality, night shots, .... actually I adore this lense

[mattdm]

Originally Posted by Ibrahim

thanks for reply .... so about the restrictions they always mentions in reviews ... they always say ( K lenses mount with restriction or with adapter ) ... are these restrictions all about auto focus and metering ?? things that u mentioned ?? and could plz tell me more about the problem of metering ?? thanks alot !!

Just metering. The old lenses, of course, don't autofocus anyway.

The issue is that old cameras had a physical pin that stuck out of the camera mount to determine what the aperture dial was set to on the lens. Without that pin, the camera has no way of reading the aperture setting. So, instead, you push a button (the green button on the K-7, user-defined on the K-x), which makes the camera stop down to your set aperture and take a reading.

If you have the "A" version of a lens (like A 50/1.2), this is no issue — you just set the lens to A and control the aperture from the camera (in Av mode or whatever). But if you have the older "K" version (K 50/1.2) you do have this inconvenience.

Originally Posted by Ibrahim

and about the 50mm f/1.2 ... awsome actually is a smaal word to express .... I can't live without this lense it's perfect in sharpenees, blury back ground, depth of view , quality, night shots, .... actually I adore this lense

Cool. If you would switch systems, you could get Nikon's f/1.2 new for $700, or Canon's (which is a modern design with auto-focus) for $1500. I don't know how they compare in rendering, though. Pentax doesn't currently make one, sadly.