As I have mentioned, my father-in-law passed away recently. Through his 80's he was an active photographer with a primary emphasis on supporting the local theater guild, etc. with portraits and production shots. Also CD covers for professional musicians, etc. He traded some of his good gear in on a Nikon D50 a couple of years ago. (At 95+, he never did figure out the whole digital thing. Couldn't understand a film-less camera. But as long as I loaded and unloaded his SD card, and assured him that there was film in the camera, he could still do his photo thing.) Of the remaining equipment, the Hassleblad + lenses etc. went to his son. Nobody seems to care about the Nikon F3 and older Nikkor lenses. My sister-in-law has one Leica body and lens purely for sentamental value - never intends to shot a roll of film. I spoke up for the Nikkor ED AF 180/2.8 and bought a simple adapter to use that on my K20. I also have one of the Leica lenses, just because it looked and felt like a nice lens.
So, what can I do with it? Elmarit-M 1:2.9/28mm. I've done some poking around and have found a consensus that Leica-M and K-mount cannot mix due to flange depth issues or some such technical issue. As I understand it, the Leica lenses like to get up close and personal with the imaging medium, while the Pentax K is a bit more standoffish. If I can't use the M-series on a K-body, then I can either shelve the Leica lens as a memorial, or I can buy a body (digital) which can use that lens. I seem to recall that Godfrey, maybe others, have a Lummix G1 (?) usable via adapters with Pentax K-series, Leica M-series, and a multitude of other lenses. Is it worth buying another camera body just to be able to use this lens? Alternatives to the G1? Leaving aside the M-9; the $7000 is a bit much for me right now. One factor that may come into play - in his equipment stash my father-in-law also had other Leica lenses including IIRC a 35/2.8, 50/2.0, and 135/4.0. stan -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
