Changing lens fittings?

[jackthegreenrat]

I just read on Steve's Digicams that you can maybe have the lens fittings on old screwmount lens changed...
Maybe it is a big ask, but do you think it would be possible to have my oldoldold Pentax Spotmatic screw lenses adapted to fit a Nikon D70?
'Cos that would be, like, TOTALLY AWESOME
Grandad was very into close-ups, would allow the use of a bellows lens, macros, extenders....

[drg]

Yes and no! There are adapters that you would thread onto the old lenses and then mount to the D70.

If you have some extraordinary piece of glass (like some off the wall Zeiss M42 mount or one of the special Pentax lenses) it might be worth it. Otherwise you could experience any of these frustrations:

1. The lens won't meter
2. The lens definitly won't AF
3. The D70 may not even turn on (no lens may be detected so the camera could just shut down)
4. The lens may have fungus (cloudy or splotchy photos)
5. If the coating on the lens has degraded you won't be able to make color images that are very good or close to desired result. The new Nikon lenses have coatings to correct several optic anomalies unique to digital photography that didn't exist in "olden times".
6. The lens will weigh 2 to 3 times what that camera body does and you may seriously damage the body and the mount just from the weight of the lens (like a 200mm or such).
7. But wait, there's more bad news . . . (I won't continue at this time)

Should the issue be using the older equipment, find a modern or newer M42 mount body. The only one I know of recently was from either a Russian manufacturer or from Cosina/Voightlander. They had TTL metering, and some automation Shutter/Apeture priority, but minimal.

If you really want to do Macro photography, I'd even suggest getting an AF Nikkor (60mm for example) for Macro use.

An M42 lens on a D70 is sort of like putting the Model A's wheel on a Viper. Not really a good idea.

Good luck !

- C