Comments on theatre of noise: Ricoh Lenses On Pentax Cameras -- The Ricoh Pin Fi...

Thanks for that specific information, which just m...

2012-01-31T01:57:37.126Z

Thanks for that specific information, which just might help another poor soul!

I made the near-fatal mistake of putting an old ma...

2012-01-31T01:19:34.139Z

I made the near-fatal mistake of putting an old manual focus Sears 28mm 2.8 lens on my Pentax K20D. It got stuck and I had the same scary experience many others have reported--the Ricoh pin issue. The repair shop tried but couldn't get the lens off, so after reading around on the Net and being encouraged by this blog, I enlisted a friend to help. We put the camera on its back on a folded towel on the counter. I held down the lens release button on the camera with one hand and toggled between AF/MF with the other. He used a .0025 feeler gauge, inserted at about 4:00 when viewing the mounted lens. He slid the gauge back and forth and in less than one minute the lens was off. It worked! I hope this might give others, who may be hesitant, the courage to go for it. I've learned my lesson. No more Ricoh pin lenses for me! Thanks for posting this article, Robin.

Hi, I put my experience, based on this post, many ...

2011-04-18T01:07:04.650+01:00

Hi, I put my experience, based on this post, many thanks!
http://pqphein.blogspot.com/2011/04/lente-travada-no-corpo-da-camera.html

I found a suggestion that a piece of 35mm film is ...

2010-07-11T05:17:41.720+01:00

I found a suggestion that a piece of 35mm film is thin enough and sturdy enough to do the job. All true! Thank goodness! I will be sleeping better tonight and removing pins tomorrow.

I had this problem with a Craig Optics 28-70 zoom ...

2010-06-19T16:49:57.114+01:00

I had this problem with a Craig Optics 28-70 zoom lens on my first digital (*istD). The lens had the collar that needed to be modified in order to fit (easily removed and altered by dremel). The Ricoh contact pin would prevent the lens from turning when the aperture was set to "A". It must have made just the wrong signal contact, since the camera would allow the shutter to trip until I pulled the pin today.

It seems some lenses with the Ricoh pin are not li...

2010-02-25T05:01:13.371Z

It seems some lenses with the Ricoh pin are not likely to get "stuck". See:

http://www.techtheman.com/2009/12/ricoh-pin-and-pentax-kr-mount.html#comment-form

It would be interesting to see how the pin differs on the Albinar macro lens in the post you referenced, and determine why some lenses get stuck more easily than others.

Stephen: Some lenses are fine on some cameras. It&...

2010-02-21T13:07:22.819Z

Stephen: Some lenses are fine on some cameras. It's impossible to judge absolutely about any given combination. To be safe one can remove the pin, since it's not so difficult.

Stephen said..... I have a Tokina AT-X 28-85mm M...

2010-02-19T02:41:11.924Z

Stephen said.....

I have a Tokina AT-X 28-85mm Macro. On the back of the lens it does say P/K. I have looked at the pics on line and it seems to me that it does have the dreaded pin. I have used is mant times on my K2000 with no issues. Do you think I should still do surgery and remove it or is the P/K ok? Stephen

I have done something similar Scot. I have also mo...

2010-02-06T14:34:04.933Z

I have done something similar Scot. I have also moved the diopter adjustment by mistake, and thought I had gone seriously blind overnight. :-)

Kudos, great descriptions and photos helped me rem...

2010-02-06T06:20:09.867Z

Kudos, great descriptions and photos helped me remove my ricoh mount lens's pin. I wonder if unknowingly mounting a ricoh mount lens and getting it stuck should be acknowledged as a sort of rite of passage for Pentax DSLR users!

Since I'm nearsighted, and over 40, I took my glasses off to be able to see the tiny screws. Without realizing it I picked up my camera with a genuine pentax lens mounted to test and make sure the ricoh mount lens removal hadn't damaged my auto-focus screw. Of course I looked through the viewfinder, and it wouldn't focus! It was a few panicked moments before I realized that the reason my camera didn't seem to be focusing was because I'd forgotten to put my glasses back on! Ho-ho.

Thanks again!

Fantastic! Thankyou. After getting a Sirius 28mm ...

2010-01-28T10:53:21.659Z

Fantastic! Thankyou.

After getting a Sirius 28mm lense stuck on my K-x I'm pleased there is an answer.
For mine the gap was too small to get even a feeler gauge in. I eventually got the lense off with lots of fiddling with Auto focus switch and angling the lense as I turn it.

I want to comment on jjbuzard's comment on usi...

2009-12-31T05:42:56.579Z

I want to comment on jjbuzard's comment on using a Ricoh pin lens on the Pentax K10D or Samsung GX10, which I use. As he/she correctly notes, the only place the Ricoh pin could hook up on is the auto focus drive lug. The Pin would have to stick out quite far to get stuck into the drive lug hole (it has to push the autofocus drive lug back as the lug is spring loaded). Switching the camera into manual focus mode though retracts the lug, as jjbuzard mentions, but then the pin would go deeper into the lug hole so I don't see that this would be a solution.

The fit of my Tamron lens to body is so tight that I'm amazed that one can slide a piece of thin steel between the lens mount and the body of the camera. Perhaps some lenses fit more loosely than others.
James

Thanks a lot. I got a Vivitar 70 - 210 mm lens stu...

2009-10-17T02:30:20.642+01:00

Thanks a lot. I got a Vivitar 70 - 210 mm lens stuck on my Pentax K20D, 30 mins. after I bought it. It took me 2 days searching the internet before I stumbled on this site. I tried the suggestion using the metal measuring tape. I cut off a 7" piece of the tape, so I could get good leverage. After struggling for 15 mins., I got it just right and the lens just popped off. No damage to the camera or lens. Thanks again.

After giving the whole thing some thought I decide...

2009-08-26T23:11:05.715+01:00

After giving the whole thing some thought I decided to investigate. I have used my "KR" Sears 35-135 lense for some time, yes it has the dreaded pin, BUT there is no depresion in my K10D body mount flange for the pin to go into. The only place for it to hang up on is the auto focus drive lug and if the camera is in Manual focus the lug is retracted, so for now I will leave the dreaded pin in place.

[Robin said] "Though there are perhaps lenses as g...

2009-05-25T21:59:08.501+01:00

[Robin said] "Though there are perhaps lenses as good as the Vivi Series 1, I would say I have not seen any photos from a noticeably better macro lens."

I would agree with that (referring to the VS1 105/2.5, which I used to have, by the way).

In the "100-ish" range, I prefer the Vivitar Series 1 90/2.5 Macro (with 1:1 "Macro Adapter"), the optically identical Tokina AT-X 90/2.5 (with 1:1 "Macro Extender"), the Pentax A 100/2.8 Macro, and the Vivitar Series 1 90-180/4.5 Flat Field Zoom.

The two 90/2.5's are lovely lenses (but they do have the "annoyance" of having to use the 1:1 adapter/extender to get all the way to 1:1).

The 90-180/4.5 FF Zoom is, of course, not as fast as the primes, but it is very flexible to use.

The sweet Pentax A 100/2.8 is probably the closest to your VS1 105/2.5 in actual use.

Of course, all of the Vivitars do focus the "wrong way' (i.e., opposite to Pentax lenses). However, the Tokina (along with, of course, the Pentax A 100/2.8 - {g}) will focus the "right way".

Despite all of the above, though, I do have to say that I myself have never used any 100-ish macro lens that was not at least a very strong performer, and there are some people that rave (rightly so) about some excellent Tamrons, for example. And, although I have not used all the AF Pentax 100 macros, they are ~all~ excellent, from what I have heard.

And, there are also longer and shorter macro lenses, too. However, this was not supposed to be a macro lens thread - it was supposed to be about the dreaded Ricoh pin, so I digress... ;-)

More to the point (and this is why you mentioned the VS1 105/2.5 Macro), there are indeed many EXCELLENT 3rd-party lenses out there, some of which need either a pin removed or a flange trimmed or removed to make them eminently useful on moder Pentax DSLR's. (I am a huge fan of many older Vivitar Series 1, Tokina AT-X, and Tamron SP lenses, for example.)

Hi fwcetus: You caught me in a bit of hyperbole! T...

2009-05-25T21:30:06.122+01:00

Hi fwcetus: You caught me in a bit of hyperbole! Though there are perhaps lenses as good as the Vivi Series 1, I would say I have not seen any photos from a noticeably better macro lens.

1. A very good page on handling the dreaded Ricoh...

2009-05-25T21:11:25.493+01:00

1. A very good page on handling the dreaded Ricoh pin problem. Good job.

2. The VS1 105/2.5 is indeed a very good macro lens. However, ~I~ would say it is "merely" one of several very good macro lenses, and not the "best macro lens ever made".

3. The Pentax FA 100/3.5 Macro may be actually made by Cosina, and may be nearly identical to the Cosina you mentioned (except that it is supposed to be SMC-treated).

4. Simply removing and discarding the flange from some older lenses (especially many 1970's Vivitars) have is not always the best way to handle the excessive flange problem - it depends on the lens. Sometimes it is better to grind off or cut off the excessive flange material, leaving the rest of the "trimmed" flange in place (resembling the flange on Pentax K-mount lenses).

5. Thanks again for a well-done Ricoh pin page.

Thankyou so much! I was gonna sell my Sigma zoom l...

2009-05-04T11:15:00.000+01:00

Thankyou so much! I was gonna sell my Sigma zoom lense on ebay I have a sigma 100-300mm zoom lense it has a pin also! the screws are stuck in it my dad got out the metal plyers out and got rid of the pin it works amazing on my sigma sd14. loveeee it. thanks. so anyone with a sigma zoom 100-300 can do this also perfectly.

Excellent help this. I nearly didn't buy the K200D...

2009-03-20T11:46:00.000Z

Excellent help this. I nearly didn't buy the K200D when I thought I couldn't use my Rikenon 60-300 with it because of the 'pin-monster'! So now I will be getting my little scredrivers out. Thanks - great help. Anthony.

It shouldn't damage the mount, but then again I ha...

2009-03-14T10:17:00.000Z

It shouldn't damage the mount, but then again I have never had to perform the emergency procedure. It might be scratched a little from the metal abrasion. Some lenses simply mount smoother than others, so this might be all you are experiencing.

Thank you!!! thank you!!! thank you!!! You saved ...

2009-03-14T02:45:00.000Z

Thank you!!! thank you!!! thank you!!! You saved the day for me. The KR lens got stuck in my brand new K20D and I panicked. The metal tape worked beautifully.
BTW, do you know if the camera mount gets a bit damaged in this process of trying to extricate the lens? I dont know if it is my imagination but my mounting a pentax lens onto the camera did not seem to be smooth after this operation.
Thank you so much once again!

Thanks so much for the suggestion to use a metal t...

2009-02-16T20:56:00.000Z

Thanks so much for the suggestion to use a metal tape measure to remove a stuck lens! I was getting so frustrated trying to get the stupid, cheap lens off. And using a razor blade wasn't such a great idea. Anyway....a minute after getting out the tape measure, it popped off. I'm glad I found this site before I did something (more) stupid!
-Ann

This site helped me identify a CPC Auto Zoom 28-85...

2009-01-18T19:20:00.000Z

This site helped me identify a CPC Auto Zoom 28-85mm lens that has the dreaded pin. I am so glad you have these great pictures to identify this problem. Thank you so much for taking the time to help us!
Susan