Soligor 30DA Flashgun and K10D

[Tachikoma]

I might be taking some old Pentax kit off someone in work (if I can haggle the price) and the kit includes a very nice (appears new) Soligor 30DA flashgun. From some googling, it appears to have between 5.25V and 6.7V trigger voltage so appears safe to use on the K10D, but it's always best to ask in case someone has heard otherwise.

Also, has anyone heard of the Osawa 70-150mm f.3.8 lens?. Looks nice, very smooth motion and the glass is clean, but again, not a lot of Googling information around for old lenses that aren't the big name brands.

Thanks in advance.

[robar]

when ever you use a new flash don't trust anyone or thing you've read about trigger voltage. always test it yourself.

most lenses in that range are good. i don't think i'd give much more than $25 for both. you can also test the lens 1st and ck the voltage.

roy

[Tachikoma]

Rather foolishly perhaps I did trust them, found a few more sites that stated 5.25V so bought it, and it appears to work fine. Yes I know, taking such a chance with a £500 camera...

Got the flash and a 2x teleconverter for £20, he is going to take the rest of the camera stuff to Jessops, see what they will give him for them.

*edit*

Luckily the guy next to me had a multimeter in his drawer, and I confirmed 6.4V so it is definitely safe.

Next time, ask someone if they have a multimeter before plugging something in! :lol:

[Monza76]

Tachikoma wrote:

Also, has anyone heard of the Osawa 70-150mm f.3.8 lens?. Looks nice, very smooth motion and the glass is clean, but again, not a lot of Googling information around for old lenses that aren't the big name brands.

Thanks in advance.

I had an old Vivitar 70-150mm f3.8, it was a great lens, knowing how third party manufacturers work it could actually be the same lens. This is a great range with the 1.5X crop factor. Just make sure it doen't have a P setting on the aperture ring, if it does search here to see if it will give you trouble.

Ira

[Tachikoma]

It didn't have a P, I did check to see if it was a KA as he was using it on a PentaxMV so it was possibly new enough to at least be KA, but I think he said it came from his fathers K1000. I nearly bought it just because it felt like silk, nothing like my Sigma 70-210, this was all metal, and glided like it was butter.

[Monza76]

If the price is right get it, these old constant aperture zooms can be great lenses (although more prone to flare, ghosting and CA than digital era lenses, but don't let that scare you off). Usually they have nicer bokeh and work really well in overcast conditions or other low contrast scenes.

Ira

[Tachikoma]

This is the issue, he want's to get rid of it all in a bundle, the MV, that nice lens, and a few other bits and bobs (Pentax 50mm kit lens, carry case, filters, etc) he wanted £100 for all of it, so I am lucky I got the flash and TC for £20, I'm not sure I will be able to get him to split the lens from the rest of it, and I can't afford to buy it all just for the one thing. Especially as I can just buy a nicer lens on eBay for less.

[robar]

what kind of 2x TC ?? most of them are junk.

roy

[Tachikoma]

A Vivitar one, not expecting it to be great, but even an unknown Hk brand 1.4 sells for about £15 over here. If it does turn out to be useless, I can still use Dawg's instructions to make it into a macro extension tube, it's nice and sturdy!