Pentax Spotmatic SP was the original
M42 Pentax body and lots
of classic M42 lenses can still be
used on a new Pentax DSLR

The words “stop down metering” are often mentioned when usage of older manual focus glass (M42, Pentax-K, Pentax-M series of lenses) is discussed on camera forums. To stop down a lens means of course to change the used aperture, but you may wonder how it relates to light metering, at least if you’re not an old fart who grew up with film cameras (in other words, a person like me).

With modern SLR cameras, the lens is kept at a wide open aperture up until the shutter is pressed, at which point the lens is stopped down to the selected aperture, an exposure is taken and the aperture is again set wide open. In automatic exposure modes, for the camera to know the correct exposure time, it needs to know the f-stop to which the lens will be stopped down. The aperture can be selected either from the camera or the lens, but there needs to be a way (contacts and electronic circuits) to communicate the selected aperture between the lens and the camera body.

Older manual focus Pentax glass (M42 lenses with adapters, Pentax-M and Pentax-K series) lenses do not have the necessary contacts or electronics. This is why the lens needs to be stopped down to the desired aperture before the light measurement is made. This is called stop down metering. To make a stop down measurement on a K10D, you select the desired aperture from the aperture ring and press the Green button to set the shutter speed according to the metering. You can also use the lenses in Aperture Priority (Av) mode, but the metering will only be correct at the widest aperture.

Sigma has announced a release of the Sigma APO 120-400mm F4.5-5.6 DG HSM and the Sigma APO 150-500mm F5-6.3 DG HSM for the Pentax KAF2 mount. The scheduled release date is 14th December 2008. European retailers list the 150-500 at around the 700-800€ mark and the 120-400 at around 600€. 

Sigma 50-500/5-6.3

Update: a UK pentax distributor has stated the following release schedule for the 120-400 and 150-500:

120-400 & 150-500 - Due late November. These are SDM lenses but don’t have an image stabiliser built in.

At the beginning of this year, Sigma announced two new tele zooms, the Sigma APO 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM and the Sigma APO 120-400mm f/4.5-5.6 DG OS HSM, both of which were to be available for the Pentax mount.

Pentax users are used to having to wait longer than users of other mounts for third party lens support, a good case in point being the Sigma 70-200/2.8 and Tamron 70-200/2.8, both of which were a long time coming for the K-mount. Now an omission of any mention for Pentax support for these lenses in the Sigma lenses page of Sigma Corporation of America is having some Pentax users guessing, wether the lenses will be available for Pentax at all.
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A Pentax 645D prototype with 31Mp Kodak CCD sensor

A poster in a german photography form fanned the flames in the Pro Pentax rumour mill with a post that claims a Pentax salesperson in the Photokina 2008 Pentax booth had stated that the Pentax 645D would be released in the Spring of next year. Following the announcement of a Larger-Than-FF Leica S2 and rumours of Nikon MX, marketed as “Something BIG´´, this rumour has a fertile soil in Pentax users wanting to see Pentax make a move in the Pro market.

An article, translated from Japan also hints that the 645D is a larger priority for Pentax than 35mm digital format at the moment, and states that two new APS-C bodies can be expected from Pentax in the summer of next year. Pentax also aims to improve the quality of the APS-C images to match that of FF.

Pentax has demonstrated the new Pentax K-m camera on their Photokina 2008 booth that has been “blinged up´´ with Swarovski crystals. A pentax spokesperson declined to name a price for the camera and instead said photographers longing for the bling version should give them a call.

A similiar pink theme seems to be shown in the Pentax Japan home page.

Following various photography forums, it has become apparent that people have many widely held misunderstandings regarding the co-operation and ownership between Hoya, Tokina, Pentax and to some extent Tamron.

The reason that so many people get confused about the relations between these companies is simple: the companies have co-operated with each other on lens design and manufacturing. Here are a few misconceptions that seem to surface regularily:
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The Pentax K-m product brochure (in German) and an info leaflet have been made available at the Pentax Germany website. They also give out the official specifications of the camera. The dimensions of the camera are (as already stated) 122,5 x 91,5 x 67,5 mm, and the weight (without battery and lens) is 575g.
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Click for larger view

Perhaps the most interesting change in the roadmap is the new DA Super Telephoto marked at the 300mm mark, for which no other specification is yet given.

The new Pentax K-m body

Summary of Pentax Photokina 2008 releases:

• Pentax Km (499€ with 18-55, 599€ with 18-55 and 50-200)
• DA* 60-250/4 (1,299€)
• DA* 55mm/1.4 (549€)
• DA 15mm/4 Limited
• SDM 1,4x tele-converter
• AF160FC Macro Ring Flash (499€)

The Pentax Germany web page leaked the details of upcoming of the new products Pentax is going to announce at the Photokina 2008 in Cologne. The releases followed very closely the rumours that have been circling in the various Pentax online forums. 

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Pentax manufactured Full Frame DSLR is probably the most debated topic in online Pentax forums these days. Although Samsung has announced the development of a FF CMOS sensor, there haven’t been any announcements about the availablility of such a camera in the Pentax lineup.

Let’s not discuss, for the moment, whether such a camera is in the pipeline or even necessary. Instead, let us look at a statement that is often perpetuated in the discussions. This is the myth of there being no FF (Full Frame) lenses available for Pentax.

If we do not discuss the issue of glass being good enough for digital FF (let’s discuss that another time), we can easily come up with a list of in-production Pentax lenses that cover the full frame.
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