K-30 Aperture lever - Convert to IR, fix it , flog it, or bin it?

**Ian.morgan** · 04-13-2016, 05:42 PM

My K-30 appears to have the renowned aperture lever problem.
It seems to know what aperture it wants to use, but doesn't seem to set it as per its own recommendation.

I have bought a k3ii (pixel shift was too tempting) so the k-30 is now surplus to requirements, so I was considering either :

1. Sell it as spares or repair
2. Get it fixed and sell it
3. Get it fixed and converted to IR for Astrophotography .
4. Leave it broken but get it converted to IR for Astro. (I mostly use manual mode with old manual primes anyway)

I was hoping an amateur might take on option 4 as an experiment to practice IR conversion on a low value body (I would try but I have fat fingers ).
The minimum cost for a professional to do 3 or 4 would be £250 currently, and for 1 and 2 sounds like £200 each, so not really worth it to do professionally on a broken body.

Does anyone have any advice on what they would do, and why?

Does anyone fancy taking on option 4 as a challenge ?

Cheers,

Ian.

Last edited by Ian.morgan; 04-13-2016 at 05:51 PM.

**UncleVanya** · 04-13-2016, 08:53 PM

Originally posted by Ian.morgan

My K-30 appears to have the renowned aperture lever problem.
It seems to know what aperture it wants to use, but doesn't seem to set it as per its own recommendation.

I have bought a k3ii (pixel shift was too tempting) so the k-30 is now surplus to requirements, so I was considering either :

1. Sell it as spares or repair
2. Get it fixed and sell it
3. Get it fixed and converted to IR for Astrophotography .
4. Leave it broken but get it converted to IR for Astro. (I mostly use manual mode with old manual primes anyway)

I was hoping an amateur might take on option 4 as an experiment to practice IR conversion on a low value body (I would try but I have fat fingers ).
The minimum cost for a professional to do 3 or 4 would be £250 currently, and for 1 and 2 sounds like £200 each, so not really worth it to do professionally on a broken body.

Does anyone have any advice on what they would do, and why?

Does anyone fancy taking on option 4 as a challenge ?

Cheers,

Ian.

Use it for an M42 body.

bertwert · 04-13-2016, 09:03 PM

Sell it (cheaply) to an M42 lens fan.

**Ian.morgan** · 04-14-2016, 12:13 AM

Is there much demand for an M42 body ?
I haven't really dipped my toe outside the PK world myself.
Does M42 not have an aperture lever in the mount ?

**UncleVanya** · 04-14-2016, 04:40 AM

Originally posted by Ian.morgan

Is there much demand for an M42 body ?
I haven't really dipped my toe outside the PK world myself.
Does M42 not have an aperture lever in the mount ?

The lever is incompatible with k mount aperture levers so the lens is used in AV mode with the aperture in manual mode when metering. Many lenses have a auto/manual lever so you focus wide open, flip the switch and meter and shoot.

**lmd91343** · 04-14-2016, 07:35 AM

Don't convert it to IR.

I converted my K10 to IR. It was my older backup camera. Converting a camera to IR is something you will do rarely. I may never convert another. You will go thru several "normal" bodies before replacing the IR camera.. I wish I had purchased a top of the line camera for a conversion. I miss the extra features and resolution. If I were to do this today, I would get a used K3 or K3II body to convert, rather than a camera that is behind the curve in features and resolution.

**Ian.morgan** · 04-14-2016, 05:15 PM

Did you do the conversion yourself , or pay for it to be done professionally ?

I can see the benefit of using a k-3 (flucard and tethering to take pictures from the warm, mirror lock up, pixel shift) but having just blown £500 on a K3ii I'm not quite sure I'm ready to put my baby through surgery

I do have one mate who's quite an electrical whizz, so I'm hoping he might fancy his chances of converting the K-30 for cheap !

Anyone ever done it themselves ?

**lmd91343** · 04-15-2016, 09:42 PM

I sent it out to a repair shop in San Diego. It cost about $250. It is beyond my abilities to do this kind of work. The camera also has a large capacitor for the flash that can deliver a large jolt.

excanonfd · 04-16-2016, 12:21 AM

Originally posted by lmd91343

Don't convert it to IR.

I converted my K10 to IR. It was my older backup camera. Converting a camera to IR is something you will do rarely. I may never convert another. You will go thru several "normal" bodies before replacing the IR camera.. I wish I had purchased a top of the line camera for a conversion. I miss the extra features and resolution. If I were to do this today, I would get a used K3 or K3II body to convert, rather than a camera that is behind the curve in features and resolution.

What is wrong with converting a K10D to IR? I had mine converted and I have no regrets. You are not going to be shooting in low light situations with high ISO or heart-stopping action shots with an IR camera. Shooting at low ISO in good light of mostly static subjects, I'd say the K10D fits the bill perfectly. IR photography is quite deliberate, sort of like shooting with film these days...

**lmd91343** · 04-16-2016, 09:06 AM

For the most part, I am happy with my converted K10. I take mostly static, well lit landscape images. High ISO range is also not an important issue for me.

However, like I said, I am unlikely to convert cameras relatively frequently. I've gone thru four "normal" DSLRs while I've had only one IR converted. The conversion process was expensive and time consuming. There is the conversion cost and TWO (first as a normal camera, second after conversion) sets of checking the of all the features and usability.

Like I said, I miss the higher resolution. The ability to crop images where I shoot a bit too wide is limited compared to my K3. I wish I had live view to help when I don't use the camera at a comfortable position or when on a tripod. I wish I could attach the GPS unit like I always do on my K3 or K5. I wish I had the better SR that the newer cameras bring. I don't have the backup SD card like on my K3. The AF seems to be accurate more often on my newer cameras. I do not have the ability to store multiple fine AF adjustments on the K10, like on my other cameras. Therefore I must permanently keep the K10 in debug mode and re-enter the AF fine adjustment whenever I change lenses.

As I recall, my K10 was two generations old when I converted it. I did not fully think thru the ramifications of not getting a better camera before the conversion.

excanonfd · 04-16-2016, 04:44 PM

Originally posted by lmd91343

For the most part, I am happy with my converted K10. I take mostly static, well lit landscape images. High ISO range is also not an important issue for me.

However, like I said, I am unlikely to convert cameras relatively frequently. I've gone thru four "normal" DSLRs while I've had only one IR converted. The conversion process was expensive and time consuming. There is the conversion cost and TWO (first as a normal camera, second after conversion) sets of checking the of all the features and usability.

Like I said, I miss the higher resolution. The ability to crop images where I shoot a bit too wide is limited compared to my K3. I wish I had live view to help when I don't use the camera at a comfortable position or when on a tripod. I wish I could attach the GPS unit like I always do on my K3 or K5. I wish I had the better SR that the newer cameras bring. I don't have the backup SD card like on my K3. The AF seems to be accurate more often on my newer cameras. I do not have the ability to store multiple fine AF adjustments on the K10, like on my other cameras. Therefore I must permanently keep the K10 in debug mode and re-enter the AF fine adjustment whenever I change lenses.

As I recall, my K10 was two generations old when I converted it. I did not fully think thru the ramifications of not getting a better camera before the conversion.

I hear you, I've also had the thought of converting 1 of 2 identical newer camera just so that I don't need to fumble with the differences in either camera. The only AF lens I use with my camera is the Tamron 17-50/2.8 and most of the time the focus is dead on but sometimes it misses so badly that I can't figure out what went on. All the rest, I am shooting with various MF lenses.

**lmd91343** · 04-16-2016, 10:19 PM

My Tamron 17-50/2.8 has a hot spot in the center with IR. It is subtle, but there. That is why I got the 20-40 DA.

I still need AF fine adjust for MF lenses, to get the confirmation light to work properly for IR. One adjustment works for all my MF lenses.

**kernos** · 04-19-2016, 02:26 PM

Don't fix it. You can buy a good used one on Ebay for less money than the fix would cost.
You will not get much money for it with a failed ACB.
If you want an astro setup, don't fix it - Precision Camera will charge over $200. Use m42 lenses

Which brings me to this. I am the proud owner of 2 Pentax cameras that have had ACB failures, one (K50) fixed under warranty and a K30 that is getting a surprising amount of use right now. I have a kipon m42 to pk adapter that I will not remove and seems to work with even extremely narrow waisted m42 lenses (WeltBlick 135mm completely exposes the lens contacts on the body) and depresses the auto aperture pin to allow stop down metering. Uncoated or barely coated old lenses have unique rendition and often are dirt cheap. It is a lot of fun to shoot with these lenses and see what they will do. Favorite so far is the Pentacon 29mm I picked up for $52 bucks. Some links to flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/13383244@N00/26522644995/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/13383244@N00/26430322132/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/13383244@N00/25891127973/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/

**Ian.morgan** · 04-30-2016, 10:29 AM

Out of interest, on the M42 idea:

As I now have a K3ii , I presume I could use that with M42 lenses just as I could do with the K-30, so is this essentially a vote for 'flog it '?

**UncleVanya** · 05-01-2016, 06:51 AM

Originally posted by Ian.morgan

Out of interest, on the M42 idea:

As I now have a K3ii , I presume I could use that with M42 lenses just as I could do with the K-30, so is this essentially a vote for 'flog it '?

No... A dedicated m42 screw mount camera wouldn't have to remove the k mount adapter.

04-13-2016, 05:42 PM	#1
Ian.morgan Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 152	K-30 Aperture lever - Convert to IR, fix it , flog it, or bin it? My K-30 appears to have the renowned aperture lever problem. It seems to know what aperture it wants to use, but doesn't seem to set it as per its own recommendation. I have bought a k3ii (pixel shift was too tempting) so the k-30 is now surplus to requirements, so I was considering either : 1. Sell it as spares or repair 2. Get it fixed and sell it 3. Get it fixed and converted to IR for Astrophotography . 4. Leave it broken but get it converted to IR for Astro. (I mostly use manual mode with old manual primes anyway) I was hoping an amateur might take on option 4 as an experiment to practice IR conversion on a low value body (I would try but I have fat fingers ). The minimum cost for a professional to do 3 or 4 would be £250 currently, and for 1 and 2 sounds like £200 each, so not really worth it to do professionally on a broken body. Does anyone have any advice on what they would do, and why? Does anyone fancy taking on option 4 as a challenge ? Cheers, Ian. Last edited by Ian.morgan; 04-13-2016 at 05:51 PM.

04-19-2016, 02:26 PM	#13
kernos Site Supporter Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 456	Don't fix it. You can buy a good used one on Ebay for less money than the fix would cost. You will not get much money for it with a failed ACB. If you want an astro setup, don't fix it - Precision Camera will charge over $200. Use m42 lenses Which brings me to this. I am the proud owner of 2 Pentax cameras that have had ACB failures, one (K50) fixed under warranty and a K30 that is getting a surprising amount of use right now. I have a kipon m42 to pk adapter that I will not remove and seems to work with even extremely narrow waisted m42 lenses (WeltBlick 135mm completely exposes the lens contacts on the body) and depresses the auto aperture pin to allow stop down metering. Uncoated or barely coated old lenses have unique rendition and often are dirt cheap. It is a lot of fun to shoot with these lenses and see what they will do. Favorite so far is the Pentacon 29mm I picked up for $52 bucks. Some links to flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/13383244@N00/26522644995/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/13383244@N00/26430322132/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/13383244@N00/25891127973/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/ Last edited by kernos; 04-19-2016 at 02:28 PM. Reason: hanging word at the end I should have cleared.

04-30-2016, 10:29 AM	#14
Ian.morgan Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 152 Original Poster	K-30 Aperture lever - Convert to IR, fix it , flog it, or bin it? Out of interest, on the M42 idea: As I now have a K3ii , I presume I could use that with M42 lenses just as I could do with the K-30, so is this essentially a vote for 'flog it '?

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04-13-2016, 08:53 PM	#2
UncleVanya Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2014 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 28,381	Originally posted by Ian.morgan My K-30 appears to have the renowned aperture lever problem. It seems to know what aperture it wants to use, but doesn't seem to set it as per its own recommendation. I have bought a k3ii (pixel shift was too tempting) so the k-30 is now surplus to requirements, so I was considering either : 1. Sell it as spares or repair 2. Get it fixed and sell it 3. Get it fixed and converted to IR for Astrophotography . 4. Leave it broken but get it converted to IR for Astro. (I mostly use manual mode with old manual primes anyway) I was hoping an amateur might take on option 4 as an experiment to practice IR conversion on a low value body (I would try but I have fat fingers ). The minimum cost for a professional to do 3 or 4 would be £250 currently, and for 1 and 2 sounds like £200 each, so not really worth it to do professionally on a broken body. Does anyone have any advice on what they would do, and why? Does anyone fancy taking on option 4 as a challenge ? Cheers, Ian. Use it for an M42 body.

04-13-2016, 09:03 PM	#3
bertwert Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Golden, BC Posts: 15,173	Sell it (cheaply) to an M42 lens fan.

04-14-2016, 12:13 AM	#4
Ian.morgan Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 152 Original Poster	Is there much demand for an M42 body ? I haven't really dipped my toe outside the PK world myself. Does M42 not have an aperture lever in the mount ?

04-14-2016, 04:40 AM	#5
UncleVanya Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2014 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 28,381	Originally posted by Ian.morgan Is there much demand for an M42 body ? I haven't really dipped my toe outside the PK world myself. Does M42 not have an aperture lever in the mount ? The lever is incompatible with k mount aperture levers so the lens is used in AV mode with the aperture in manual mode when metering. Many lenses have a auto/manual lever so you focus wide open, flip the switch and meter and shoot.

04-14-2016, 07:35 AM	#6
lmd91343 Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Los Angeles, CA USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,027	Don't convert it to IR. I converted my K10 to IR. It was my older backup camera. Converting a camera to IR is something you will do rarely. I may never convert another. You will go thru several "normal" bodies before replacing the IR camera.. I wish I had purchased a top of the line camera for a conversion. I miss the extra features and resolution. If I were to do this today, I would get a used K3 or K3II body to convert, rather than a camera that is behind the curve in features and resolution.

04-14-2016, 05:15 PM	#7
Ian.morgan Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 152 Original Poster	Did you do the conversion yourself , or pay for it to be done professionally ? I can see the benefit of using a k-3 (flucard and tethering to take pictures from the warm, mirror lock up, pixel shift) but having just blown £500 on a K3ii I'm not quite sure I'm ready to put my baby through surgery I do have one mate who's quite an electrical whizz, so I'm hoping he might fancy his chances of converting the K-30 for cheap ! Anyone ever done it themselves ?

04-15-2016, 09:42 PM	#8
lmd91343 Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Los Angeles, CA USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,027	I sent it out to a repair shop in San Diego. It cost about $250. It is beyond my abilities to do this kind of work. The camera also has a large capacitor for the flash that can deliver a large jolt.

04-16-2016, 12:21 AM	#9
excanonfd Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 1,421	Originally posted by lmd91343 Don't convert it to IR. I converted my K10 to IR. It was my older backup camera. Converting a camera to IR is something you will do rarely. I may never convert another. You will go thru several "normal" bodies before replacing the IR camera.. I wish I had purchased a top of the line camera for a conversion. I miss the extra features and resolution. If I were to do this today, I would get a used K3 or K3II body to convert, rather than a camera that is behind the curve in features and resolution. What is wrong with converting a K10D to IR? I had mine converted and I have no regrets. You are not going to be shooting in low light situations with high ISO or heart-stopping action shots with an IR camera. Shooting at low ISO in good light of mostly static subjects, I'd say the K10D fits the bill perfectly. IR photography is quite deliberate, sort of like shooting with film these days...

04-16-2016, 09:06 AM	#10
lmd91343 Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Los Angeles, CA USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,027	For the most part, I am happy with my converted K10. I take mostly static, well lit landscape images. High ISO range is also not an important issue for me. However, like I said, I am unlikely to convert cameras relatively frequently. I've gone thru four "normal" DSLRs while I've had only one IR converted. The conversion process was expensive and time consuming. There is the conversion cost and TWO (first as a normal camera, second after conversion) sets of checking the of all the features and usability. Like I said, I miss the higher resolution. The ability to crop images where I shoot a bit too wide is limited compared to my K3. I wish I had live view to help when I don't use the camera at a comfortable position or when on a tripod. I wish I could attach the GPS unit like I always do on my K3 or K5. I wish I had the better SR that the newer cameras bring. I don't have the backup SD card like on my K3. The AF seems to be accurate more often on my newer cameras. I do not have the ability to store multiple fine AF adjustments on the K10, like on my other cameras. Therefore I must permanently keep the K10 in debug mode and re-enter the AF fine adjustment whenever I change lenses. As I recall, my K10 was two generations old when I converted it. I did not fully think thru the ramifications of not getting a better camera before the conversion.

04-16-2016, 04:44 PM	#11
excanonfd Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 1,421	Originally posted by lmd91343 For the most part, I am happy with my converted K10. I take mostly static, well lit landscape images. High ISO range is also not an important issue for me. However, like I said, I am unlikely to convert cameras relatively frequently. I've gone thru four "normal" DSLRs while I've had only one IR converted. The conversion process was expensive and time consuming. There is the conversion cost and TWO (first as a normal camera, second after conversion) sets of checking the of all the features and usability. Like I said, I miss the higher resolution. The ability to crop images where I shoot a bit too wide is limited compared to my K3. I wish I had live view to help when I don't use the camera at a comfortable position or when on a tripod. I wish I could attach the GPS unit like I always do on my K3 or K5. I wish I had the better SR that the newer cameras bring. I don't have the backup SD card like on my K3. The AF seems to be accurate more often on my newer cameras. I do not have the ability to store multiple fine AF adjustments on the K10, like on my other cameras. Therefore I must permanently keep the K10 in debug mode and re-enter the AF fine adjustment whenever I change lenses. As I recall, my K10 was two generations old when I converted it. I did not fully think thru the ramifications of not getting a better camera before the conversion. I hear you, I've also had the thought of converting 1 of 2 identical newer camera just so that I don't need to fumble with the differences in either camera. The only AF lens I use with my camera is the Tamron 17-50/2.8 and most of the time the focus is dead on but sometimes it misses so badly that I can't figure out what went on. All the rest, I am shooting with various MF lenses.

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04-16-2016, 10:19 PM	#12
lmd91343 Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Los Angeles, CA USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,027	My Tamron 17-50/2.8 has a hot spot in the center with IR. It is subtle, but there. That is why I got the 20-40 DA. I still need AF fine adjust for MF lenses, to get the confirmation light to work properly for IR. One adjustment works for all my MF lenses.

05-01-2016, 06:51 AM	#15
UncleVanya Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2014 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 28,381	Originally posted by Ian.morgan Out of interest, on the M42 idea: As I now have a K3ii , I presume I could use that with M42 lenses just as I could do with the K-30, so is this essentially a vote for 'flog it '? No... A dedicated m42 screw mount camera wouldn't have to remove the k mount adapter.