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edmund j. kowalski | profile | all galleries >> Galleries >> Test with Pentax K110 D and Focal Brand Manual Focus Lens tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Test with Pentax K110 D and Focal Brand Manual Focus Lens

I have something like 11 Pentax digital SLR bodies here, acquired over the last 10 years or so. All but one was purchased used at bargain price. All have some sort of flaws. Two are completely dead and useless, the others vary in their flaws.

The Pentax K110 D was a fairly early body from about ten years ago. It has a 6.1 megapixel sensor, and the camera is rather similar to the K100 D, but with the absence of anti-shake feature.
So I just purchased this K110 D off the Bay at a big enough price (early Christmas present for me) that I was hoping it would work perfectly.
It came in yesterday after a long postal trip (holiday traffic). And it had two main flaws. There was some dust on the sensor.
And the switch for MF / AF is stuck and will not toggle between Manual Focus and Auto Focus.
Taking care of the dust was a straightforward procedure for me. I opened the shutter on B, hoping it would stay open while I worked, and used a hand air squirt bulb to gently blow off the surface of the sensor. Not recommended unless you know what you are doing and take care. It did eliminate most of the dust, only 4 or so small motes still visible at very small aperure settings and uniform background.
The focus mode switch is another matter. The mechanism cannot be accessed without removing the lens mount, which involves delicate electrical contacts and couplings et cetera. I decided not to risk it.
The data in the finder says "MF" but the camera behaves like "AF."
Consequences depend on what sort of lens is mounted.
An autofocus lens will work in autofocus, but cannot be focused manually.
A manual Pentax K Mount lens with "A" setting, lacking the AF coupling, will focus manually, but the shutter will not work unless the camera body senses it is in focus and focus confirmation is displayed.
But a T Mount lens, with the T Mount adapter, will focus manually, focus confirmation will not function, and shutter will open whether lens is in focus or not.

Knowing these flaws, I wanted to see how the camera behaves in general and what the images look like.
I mounted a Focal branded Japanese made f:2.8 / 28mm manual focus lens with "A" setting that will work with Aperture Priority metering, and looked for subjects at home.

I was happy with the results, and I think I can live with this camera.

Pleases click on images to see enlarged.
All images are (c) 2017 E.J.Kowalski.
Thanks! Ed
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