Camera Review: Pentax P30T

The Pentax P30T, attached to a lens from a
Vivitar v4000 that suffered a sad fate.

I didn't know much about the Pentax P30T when I saw it pop up on a Craigslist ad for $30. Of course, I looked it up before sending out the email, but there wasn't much to say, it seemed. It was the pictures that drew me in. It just felt so... 1980's. All of the controls flush against the top panel. The pewter colored body. The big "P30" etched vertically into the hand grip rubber in that TV interlaced style that was so common back then.

This camera looked like something from Blade Runner.

Camera Review: Pentax K1000 (and Asahi SMC Pentax-M 50mm f/2)

The Pentax K1000 has a reputation for being a solid, no-frills SLR that will probably outlast your children. It's a pretty accurate reputation. I bought mine off of an ex-student that had taken a college photography class and (of course) moved right on to a digital camera. I paid $25 dollars for it and an Asahi SMC 50mm f/2.0 lens. I'm going to include the lens in this review because otherwise it would be quite short. Of course, if you're not interested in that lens you can ignore the appropriate parts.

Converting Old Lenses For Use On Digital SLRs

I first discovered this unique and often overlooked aspect to the hobby some time in 2006. I had gone fully digital a couple of years prior with the release of the first generation Digital Rebel (300D), and I had some old Olympus OM and Canon FD glass that was sitting unused. At the time there weren't too many adapters out there (now the market is overflowing with them), but I did find an OM-mount to EOS-mount adapter, and that's how it all started.

Hopefully, if you're interested in getting started with adaptation of older lenses to a newer format, something in this post will be useful to you.