Originally posted by andyk17 Hi, my K30 developed this issue about 3 months ago, was able to rescue some of the initial dark shots on my laptop. A quick search revealed that this was a common and known issue, although I had my camera for about 4 years, there were reports of failure proceeding my purchase.
No luck with either Pentax/Ricoh or retailer. I was tempted to get it fixed, but decided that as the bulk of the photos I took were aperture priority, I could actually live with using manual and the green button. Tried it out with a couple of KA mount lenses but felt I wanted AF, so bought a couple of AF lenses cheaply on Ebay, a Sigma 28-70 (the one with the sticky plastic) and a Pentax 28-200. They work pretty well and will do until I decide if I will get it fixed or buy a better lens.
Only issues so far sometimes I get slight over exposure, (pity you cant use exposure compensation in manual mode , but usually get round this by metering and then adjusting shutter speed without metering again. Not having full Exif details is a pain, but I can live with that (I didn't have it with my Programme A or other film Pentax cameras).
I am annoyed that I can't use some of the K30s modes etc, but as I rarely used them I guess its not an issue.
I also started using my *istDL again (so I can use the digital lenses I have) and had forgotten how good it is, the pictures are quite decent and I have various automatic options if I need them.
Out of interest are there any digital lenses that have an aperture ring, as I sometimes find 28mm isn't quite wide enough, I haven't managed to track any down but wonder if they do exist.
Pity Pentax/Ricoh seem to have washed their hands of the issue (which they feel doesn't exist), reminds me of some of the German premium car manufacturers who won't acknowledge known issues.
Anyway I still enjoy the K30, but when I buy my next camera, I won't just rely on the reviews which tell me how wonderful it is.
Andy
Well, with a little bit of work you can use the white solenoid of your *ist DL and swap it with the green solenoid of your K30.
Usually this works and if not you have to manually open the pop-up flash of your *istDL or use an external flash, which will work for sure.
Yes, the old *istDL is can produce nice pics. It has that old CCD Sensor (just 6MP) and is lovely small and yet well built.
The comparison with German car-manufacturers is not up to it:
Those car manufacturers knew that they were cheating, Ricoh didn't cheat, it was their supplier who changed it without letting Ricoh know that they
now manufacture this item in China with cheaper material and different magnetic holding force.
Anyway, it was NOT just German car manufactures but as much US manufacturers such as
FORD, GM, Chrysler, Citroen, Peugeot, Renault and others . That it hit the German car manufacturers first is a matter of international politics and lobbyism.