Warning on Bower M42 adapter

2007-12-14
Pentacon 50mm f/1.8 converted to K mount
Bower adapter with clip removed

M42 converted to K mount

I don't need any mounting and dismounting for my M42 lens anymore as I turn them into a K mounted lens. And the RED dot in the adapter will work just like any K mounted lens.

I think I can no longer recommend the Bower adapter anymore as an alternative choice to the genuine Pentax adapter as the clipping mechanism gets worn out easily that may get you a stuck adapter permanently onto your K100/10D bodies.

Though the Bower adapter shares the same mechanics as the genuine adapter, it has a very fragile clipping plate with a small screw that are worn very easily and I got my adapter stuck on the K mount socket in K100D body yesterday night. Ouuuch, but luckily I found a way to free the dislocated clip in the stuck adapter along with the tiny screw that you are likely to lose when it gets warn out. If the screw gets dropped onto the floor, you may never found it again as it is quite small for the naked eyes to find it on carpet.

And I make the change yesterday night to remove the clip in my bower adapter, and use my 2 bower adapters to mount onto my M42 lens turning my M42 lens into a K mounted lens. Cool, you may think! And yes, I heard about other people doing that. I did that last night without choice after the clip fell off from the adapter and got stuck in the K100D body for 20 minutes.

Here are the new use of my bower adapters, after the clip is removed, and it changes any of my M42 lens to a K mount

Pentacon 50mm f/1.8 converted to K mount
Bower adapter with clip removed
M42 converted to K mount
Warning: one has to be careful in the setup as any abrupt turn on focusing and aperture ring can unmount the lens unintentionally as there is no longer a locking pin mechanism in locking the K lens in place. A small hole can be drilled on the M42 lens simulating the receiving hole for the locking pin. I have not done the final step involving drilling on the M42 lens' base and I will report back on the success or failure if I manage to find time for experiment.


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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is true. I had a Bower adapter and I got it stucked on my DL body. Removing it was a real pain.

Anonymous said...

I have one of these adaptors, but I'm not sure whether it is genuine Pentax or not. The wording is "M42.PENTAX K/M JAPAN. I bought it on ebay and there is no removal tool. The first time I used it (on a new K10D body!) it got stuck in the body. Very scary, but I managed to remove it-(ingenuity+brute force+luck)- I think without damage to the camera mount. The problem seems to be that it is incredibly stiff when you turn it clockwise to mount the lens, then you remove the lens which uscews itself due to the adaptor's friction leaving the adaptor stuck on the camera. Does anyone know where I can get one of these removal keys?

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