Originally posted by pentajazzz now I have vertical auto-focus and shutter.
3.5 mm audio connector inside grip, and self-made cable 3.5mm-to-2.5mm.
IMG_2932.JPG pentax k30 grip 10.JPG
tomorrow I have not access to milling machine, but Sunday-Monday i will make a power adapter (dummy-battery) and adapter for D-LI109 batteries, I have already 4 of them...
Hi Pentajazzz, that's a great DIY piece. Congratulations! :-)
There are two things I would like to know (actually three):
1) where does one get this little 3,5 mm jack with the flat black housing for the shutter connector on the grip? It's an excellent choice for this purpose, but it looks like a non standard plug... On the other hand I thought about running a wire from inside of the camera through the same hole you use for the power cables. This way a plug on the battery grip wouldn't be necessary at all.
2) how do you actually connect that shutter release cable to the cable remote jack and then put the rubber cap back into position? Did you cut away any rubber from the inside of the cap? Could you please provide a picture of that cap, when it's open and your 2,5 mm jack is plugged into the camera? I would like to understand better, how you solved this problem.
3) Considering that the K-30 battery provides 7,4 V (1050 mAh, 7,8 Wh), while 4 AA batteries provide only 4,8 V (~2100 mAh, 10 Wh), the Pentax batteries for the K-5 (7,2 V, 1860 mAh, 14 Wh) should work with the K-30 as well. So by using a grip, which is compatible with a K-5,, it should be possible to use the K-5 batteries with the K-30 right away, right? I could imagine that the camera wouldn't display the remaining battery power correctly, but maybe this is not a big issue. At least the capacity would be almost doubled! As a consequence one would need to get battery charger for the D-LI90 batteries. The grips are often sold with 2 such batteries. Not foam adapter would be required and instead of a bit more than 400 pictures you'd have like 800 per battery charge. Sounds very appealing to me.
Any other suggestions? I appreciate your explanation and more pictures as mentioned... ;-) Good job!