Pentax 110 lenses on NEX-3

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Yes, the sharpness is lower than I expected, all comments I read before called the 110 lenses sharp, typical Pentax quality, I found it quite difficult to focus these lenses because nowhere seemed really sharp using 14x focus assist.

To compare sharpness, here is a shot I took today using my Hexanon 3.5/28, wide open at 3.5, so much sharper than the Pentax 110 lenses, so much more contrast, colours way more saturated, this Hexanon is a superb lens, one of my very favourite optics to work with, feels so solid and well built too, I had a Cokin CPL filter with a Cokin Series A holder and square hood on the lens.

Spotmatic · Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 4045 Location: Netherlands

Yet the 110 lenses should be multicoated, so this kind of bad IQ is unknown to me. But I don't have experience with 110 lenses (yet! there are a few on the way to me now) so what do I know Smile

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

They look multicoated - have purple/blue colour to glass. I look forward to seeing what you can do with them, maybe I am not finding their true IQ for some reason, it happens, I had same problem with Yashica MLs.

walter g · Joined: 20 Feb 2010 Posts: 2463 Location: NC, USA

Different camera, but I thought this thread was interesting.
http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10483

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Yes, that thread is interesting. A bit hard to tell from the samples he posted but I see that his shots are more contrasty than mine, sharpness is hard to discern, probably slightly sharper than mine, bokeh and overall rendering is similar, as would be expected.

I'll paint my adapter matt black and try again with mine, I hope to improve my results but I doubt I will be able to produce anything that justifies the 'optically superb' reputation these lenses have.

William · Joined: 26 Nov 2009 Posts: 489 Location: London

This is good news Ian, if you can sort out the contrast and sharpness issues and find an easy way to control the aperture then you might have found a perfect pocketable prime kit.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Yes, the sharpness I think is the issue, contrast will be better now I've painted the adapter, when doing so I noticed a small light leak from one of the screw holes so I plugged that, that should fix the contrast. Aperture I reckon is doable, I was a fraction of a mm off infinity with my first adapter with aperture, so it can be done, with NEX register being shorter than M4/3 there is actually room for a proper aperture mechanism.

You spotted the whole reason for my interest in these lenses - it makes the NEX pocketable!

With a lens +adapter on the NEX, even an M39 adapter and Industar-50 lens it is not easy to pocket, the answer was C-mount lenses but few of those will cover the sensor and those that do are more for artsy work as they are only sharp in the centre with the edges being very swirly.

With the 110 lenses, you can fit the NEX and all the lenses in a pocket easily, ideal for those times when you can't carry more than what will go in your pockets.

hintheman · Joined: 12 Jan 2009 Posts: 51 Location: Fremont, CA

Few test shots with 5N with Pentax Auto 110 24mm f/2.8 in Rich B&W effect. All are shot jpg with 5N.

Product Shots

First a shot of the Pentax auto 24mm f/2.8 mounted on Sony NEX 5N

Test shots with Pentax Auto 110 24mm f/2.8 with Sony NEX 5N

#1

The 110 auto lens can do close up
Shot in Rich B&W effect in 5N straight Jpg

#2

#3

#4

Pentax Auto 110 24mm f/2.8 with NEX 5N

Snapshots in Rich b&w comes out quite happy for me especially in the center. The color ones will have some working to do on color but I need more time to work things out. I can't wait to try my tiniest lens in street shooting in b&w. It has an old time feel in the pictures with some noticeable soft and vignette corners but otherwise, they are screaming happy to work with the 5N as a miniature setup.

Cheers,
Hin

hintheman · Joined: 12 Jan 2009 Posts: 51 Location: Fremont, CA

Some night shots with Pentax Auto 110 Pan Focus 18mm f/2.8 with 5N

#1

#2

#3

#4

More in Flickr Set

Pentax Auto 110 Pan Focus 18mm f/2.8 with 5N

Cheers,
Hin

hintheman · Joined: 12 Jan 2009 Posts: 51 Location: Fremont, CA

All test shots in previous posts are done with both the Pentax auto 18mm and 24mm in wide open aperture in f/2.8. I am working with two other forum members on various methods in stopping down the lens in dpreview NEX forum but I don't have the thread available as dpreviiew is currently down on server again.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1042&message=39878551

And I found this thread in MFlenses and hence I try to share my excitement and experiment with you all.

I have ordered diaphragm that look like these from jinfinance ebay store

And I will report back how the experiment goes into stopping down the Auto 110 lenses from wide open shots. And I hope you share your setup with pictures when you manage to get the auto 110 lens stopped down.

Cheers,
Hin

Mark · Joined: 01 Dec 2012 Posts: 251 Location: Budapest, Hungary

gdemonta · Joined: 11 Apr 2014 Posts: 3 Location: Dublin, Ireland

try with a mft to nex adapter, and then ad the rjcamera pentax 110 to mft adapter with aperture control, it works I've done it!