Two of my prized compact primes include the Pentax HD Pentax DA 21mm f/3.2 AL Limited and the Pentax HD Pentax DA 70mm f/2.4 Limited. Both are magnificent, and each costs about $450.

Pentax HD 21mm mounted on a Fujifilm X-E4 using a Gobe adapter with aperture control.

But since I have fewer photo assignments these days because of COVID, I'm not using my Pentax DSLRs as much. And it seemed a shame to let these great optics languish in the storage cabinet.

So I decided to explore using them on the new FUJIFILM X-E4 Mirrorless Digital Camera. If they worked as I hoped, they would be a wonderful complement to the Fuji 27mm that comes with the camera.

The Pentax 21mm would equal to 31.5mm on the cropped-frame Fuji, and the Pentax 70mm works out to 105mm. With the Fujifilm 27mm providing a 40mm field of view, that's an excellent trio. I would have to manually focus the two Pentax lenses. But that's not a problem for me. You can read about that in my article titled, The Joy of Manual Focus Lenses on Mirrorless Cameras.

The trick was finding the right adapter. The Pentax lenses don't have an aperture ring, and their default state is stopped down. A standard Pentax-K adapter wouldn't work. I needed something specifically for DA lenses.

Fortunately, I found the wonderful Gobe Lens Adapter that not only allows me to adapt the Pentax optics to the Fujifilm camera, but it provides aperture control as well. And it's a beauty, both in design and function.

After testing the adapter, I broadened my lens kit to include the Pentax HD Pentax DA 40mm f/2.8 Limited as well. I have now quadrupled my optics kit for the X-E4 for only the price of the Gobe adapter ($26.50). And the resulting images are wonderful.

"Backyard Relaxing" - Fujifilm X-E4 with Pentax HD 40mm lens using the Gobe Adapter. ISO 320, 1/140th, f/4.0. Raw file processed in Capture One Pro 21. Photo by Derrick Story.

It's a joy to use adapted lenses on the X-E4 because its outstanding EVF also supports 4 different styles of manual focusing aids. The camera also supports creating lens profiles for the non-Fuji optics. So my metadata correctly reads Pentax 40mm for the optic. The only thing I don't get is the f/stop data. But I'm usually shooting wide open or at f/4 anyway.

I'm really having a blast with the Pentax trio and the X-E4. Mirrorless cameras in general, and the Fujifilm models in particular, allow for so much flexibility. And it really helps to keep the gear costs in check.

Product Links and Comments

There are product links in this article that contain affiliate tags. In some cases, depending on the product, The Digital Story may receive compensation if you purchase a product via one of those links. There is no additional cost to you.

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.