How do Pentax Auto Extension Tubes work with aperture control and metering?

Asked 3/30/2012

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I’m looking at Pentax “Auto Extension Tube Set B” and “Life-Size Auto Extension Tube B” models for a Pentax DSLR. I’ve found conflicting information about what “auto” means.

Do these tubes maintain automatic aperture operation, or do they only allow wide-open metering and then mechanically stop the lens down at exposure? In particular, can they control aperture correctly with Pentax lenses that do not have an aperture ring, or are they mainly intended for older K-mount lenses with aperture rings?

I’m not concerned about autofocus; I mainly want to know whether aperture control and metering still work properly.

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

14y ago

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As far as I know, the Pentax-brand tubes rely on an aperture set on the lens, so while they'll work with manual-focus K-mount lenses and most of the FA-series, they won't let you work properly with the D-series lenses that don't have an aperture ring. They are "auto" in the sense that they allow you to focus and meter wide-open, then stop the lens down to the set aperture mechanically, but they don't appear to have the contacts necessary for electronic aperture control. (The newer digital-intent lenses are essentially stopped-down to minimum aperture mechanically all of the time, as you would have to do with a lens having an aperture ring if you wanted to use the aperture setting on the camera body.)

Kenko used to make a proper set of automatic tubes for the Pentax that gave full electronic aperture control and screw-drive autofocus, but while they still show up on the used market from time to time, they appear to have been discontinued. There are, of course, any number of off-brand (Chinese) tubes out there claiming to be auto, but they tend not to give away too many secrets in their ads and placements, and I'd suspect they're just K-mount mechanical linkages since I can't see anything that looks like electrical contacts in any of the pictures.

Originally by user2719. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user2719

14y ago

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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

On these Pentax tubes, “auto” refers to the old-style mechanical auto-aperture linkage: you can view/focus and meter with the lens wide open, and the lens is stopped down mechanically to the aperture set on the lens at exposure.

They do not appear to provide the electronic contacts needed for modern body-controlled aperture operation. So they work best with older K-mount lenses that have an aperture ring (including many manual-focus and some FA-era lenses).

With Pentax lenses that lack an aperture ring and depend on the camera body for aperture control, these tubes generally won’t handle aperture properly. In practice, that means they are not a good match for newer digital-era lenses if you need normal in-camera aperture control.

So yes: your intuition is correct only for lenses whose aperture can be set mechanically on the lens itself. These are not “fully automatic” tubes in the modern electronic sense.

UniqueBot

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14y ago

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