First moon with an old PK lens

I have some old PK lenses from my film camera days. I thought I would place one against the Canon camera and take a photo of the moon. The main problem is that in order to get the lens resting against the camera, the camera has to look straight up, otherwise it will drop off. I also noticed it was clear rather late at night and towards the south, so I had to take it with the window in the way.

Note that the photo was taken with me being sleepy, I am holding the lens against the camera, which is on the tripod and through the skylight. The 300mm mirror lens is a PK lens by Hanimex and is f/5.6 and 67mm diameter. The photo was taken last night and is iso 800 and 1/640.

I managed to cut the metal bit off the 2 x tele-converter, so I hope to be able to attach it to the Canon. How many seconds could I use it for before I get star trails?

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I have a Takumar SMC 300mm f/4 which is considered a very good lens for film . I have a M42 to Canon ring mount cause the lens is a M42 mount not a PK mount . Anyway short story , it will not come to infinity focus when attached to the camera so perfect focus is out of question . Second if i were you unless you have the proper adapter for that lens to a Canon mount i would not try that . I did with an old 300D i had and i almost never got the lens off and i'm lucky it didn't hurt the camera mount for the regular canon lens . You image shows alot of grain and slight off focus . Good try but i don't think your going to have much luck with that lens . 1-sec guarantees trailing with that size lens . Sorry .

Could the fact that it was 800 ISO have anything to do with the graininess? Unfortunately it's cloudy at the moment, so I cannot have another go at the moment with 100ISO. I also had tried to sharpen the image. The following file is the original cropped from the RAW file and just saved. The png file won't go below 200kb, so I am having to do with the jpg.

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If your Canon camera is digital then ISO 800 should not have a factor for the graininess . More likely it's from the lens itself . I've got a 50mm Pentax SMC f/2.0 and i've had similiar grainess and also i never really got that perfect focus also . Those type lens (which i have several sizes in Pentax) are fun and work great on film cameras but they are not really made for digital work . I used a 300D in the past and now have an XSi . Now put that lens on a film camera and focus to infinity and your liable to blow your socks off . I miss film and still have all my cameras and lens , just never could let go of them . But i used Fuji Superia ExTra 800ISO and that was the best film i used that gave me sharp images with minimum grain to no grain . Even better than 400 or 200 ISO . But Fuji doesn't make the same 800ISO Superia ExTra . The one they make now is different and does promote grain . I've used it , i know .

Thanks for the information. I guess I will only use it with the film body. Also, I somehow or other managed to get the kit lens stuck to my camera. It won't come off. I guess my status will have to change to 350D with kit lens permanently stuck on. I don't have any other EOS lenses anyway.

naddieuk wrote in post #11143221
Thanks for the information. I guess I will only use it with the film body. Also, I somehow or other managed to get the kit lens stuck to my camera. It won't come off. I guess my status will have to change to 350D with kit lens permanently stuck on. I don't have any other EOS lenses anyway.

If you can find a diagram on the web somewhere that shows how to take the camera apart you can remove it from inside but be very careful !

I think I won't attempt to open it at all. If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong! I think I will keep the 350D as an 18-55mm camera. It's decent enough for general photos. I have learnt my lesson, don't try to be a cheapskate!