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Krasnogorsk-3 (K-3) lenses m42


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Hi guys! I´m looking for some new lenses for my K-3 (m42 mount). I´m a new owner of the camera (modded to S-16) and the only lens I have now is the Meteor 17-69mm zoom. I´m on the hunt to buy some more lenses which I know they are affordable and good quality but I´m in a bit of a confusion as for which ones will work on this camera. I know it has an M42 mount, but what about the flange distance? The guy who sold the camera to me told me the only lenses that will work on the k-3 are the ones with a flange distance of 45.5. Now, I understand flange distance is the space between the mount and the camera sensor so I´m not sure how to look for it in a lens? I need help!

Also if any of you have tried any other lenses on the K-3, I would appreciate if you can share your experience. I was looking at the SMC Takumar 135mm, and one other wide angle but didn´t know what focal lenght, since the one I have makes vignette effect wide open at 17mm, since the camera is modified to S-16.

Any help will be appreciated. 

Thanks!

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You can use most M42 Praktica/Pentax type screw mount 35mm SLR lenses on the K-3.  The exceptions would be a few ultra wide angle lenses that are of older design and intrude into the lens chamber risking hitting the rotating mirror-shutter......and some very old designs with have deep flanges.....from the days long before automatic apertures....just the old preset lenses.  Just keep in mind that the effective focal length is longer.   A 24mm ultra wide angle lens from a 35mm SLR on a 16mm motion picture camera would only yield a 'normal' focal length.  So you can also make use of various extension tubes and bellows attachments, as well as slide duplicators etc, and cross make lens adapters that will work, as long as they provide infinity focus.  Many newer such adapters coming out of China have a negative correction lens in them to provide infinity focus.  However, using most of the M42 lenses is not a problem:  all the ones I have used work fine. 

Good luck!

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You can use pretty much any M42 lens on the K3 without problems. I don't know where that guy got that info, specially when it's almost impossible to get factory details or service manuals for the K3s. The focal flange distance of the M42 mount is 45.46 mm VS the 45.50 that you are talking about that's a .04mm or 4 hundredths of a millimeter. Technicians consider +-.02 the tolerance for a correctly calibrated mount, so as you can see it doesn't make much sense. Now when technicians set the FFD of a camera mount, meaning the body not the lens they subtract .02 or .03 to the original FFD so the image falls right in the middle of the film.

You can use M42 lenses, Ks never have the right FFD on the mount anyways since they were not designed as professional cameras and they were not manufactured to high or strict specifications. A technician can do it for you, but unless that was the case just mount the lens and it will work

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38 minutes ago, Ruben Arce said:

You can use pretty much any M42 lens on the K3 without problems. I don't know where that guy got that info, specially when it's almost impossible to get factory details or service manuals for the K3s. The focal flange distance of the M42 mount is 45.46 mm VS the 45.50 that you are talking about that's a .04mm or 4 hundredths of a millimeter. Technicians consider +-.02 the tolerance for a correctly calibrated mount, so as you can see it doesn't make much sense. Now when technicians set the FFD of a camera mount, meaning the body not the lens they subtract .02 or .03 to the original FFD so the image falls right in the middle of the film.

You can use M42 lenses, Ks never have the right FFD on the mount anyways since they were not designed as professional cameras and they were not manufactured to high or strict specifications. A technician can do it for you, but unless that was the case just mount the lens and it will work

Thanks. Yeah that was one of my enquiried. I was afraid if I got a m42 lens like the popular Takumars, etc i wasn’t gonna be able to focus properly. Did you have any experience, could you recommend any lenses to go with the k-3?

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There are heaps of threads in the archives here on K3 lens choices:

https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Acinematography.com+lenses+for+K3&rlz=1C1GCEA_enAU849AU849&oq=site%3Acinematography.com+lenses+for+K3&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.25884j1j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Peleng 8mm and Super Takumars are very popular.

By the way, if you recently bought a S16 modified K3 camera from Russia, but haven't film tested it yet, be aware that it may scratch badly in the expanded S16 area. A local transfer house here in Melbourne has encountered a number of scratching issues with S16 K3s recently bought from a certain seller (sometimes he advertises "Ultra Super 16" which just means he hand-files the gates even further across to the edge).

You can do a quick scratch test yourself with a few feet of fresh film to check before shooting anything valuable. If it is scratching, chances are the hand-filing needs to have the burrs polished out.

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No problem. In my experience all M42 lenses have worked great, but I definitely recommend using prime lenses. Zoom lenses from that time period were not what they are today, they are soft, but yes I used several lenses with my K3 and I have never had any issues.

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