Pentax Stereo Adapter

[erker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Greg Erker)]

>> It's still available?  Are the new ones as good as the old?  What is

  I have experience with two versions of the Pentax Stereo Adapter
(hereafter called the PSA).

  My first on was the PSA II. It has a male filter thread of 49 or
52 mm that screws into the front of your lens. The threaded part
has about 90 degrees of play so that you can level the unit relative
to your camera once you have tightened it up.

  The problem with this design is that any little bump and the PSA
is no longer horizontal. Bad misalignment you will notice through
the viewfinder. Minor misalignment you may not notice until you
have trouble fusing the resulting stereo slide.

  My PSA II was stolen (along with a bunch of other stuff). I
bought a used replacement from Marty Hewes and it turned out
to be a PSA (not II so presumably a 1). This one has a collar
that tightens over the outside of a 49 or 52 mm filter. Assuming
your filter is on tight this is better than the II since it
will stay horizontal.

  I haven't used my "new" PSA I much but it seems like a better
system. So you may want to buy an old one for this reason.
Don't know if the viewer changed between I and II since my
viewer wasn't stolen I still have my original version II
viewer.

  I am not sure if the new OEM PSA is the same as my PSA II
or if they have changed it again.

>
>Uh... the obscene price was "something around $350"!  I assume that to
>be the current "list" price.

  Smile and B&H both sell these. The viewer alone goes for about
$100 and the set (viewer and PSA) sells for about $300 US.  Worth
looking into a used one at those prices.

Greg



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