[Badger Logic]

I have run into a problem that has me stumped. I have had my K-1ii for over a month now and have been enjoying the hell out of it. I have had three Pentax DSLR's, a Kx, a K30 and a K-3. I still use them all and I have a rather large collection of vintage lenses. I do a lot of landscape and wildlife photography here on the Palmer Divide at the foot of the Rocky Mountains here in Colorado. My lenses of choice as I get to know my K-1 have been the HD Pentax D FA 1: 3.5-5.6 / 28 - 105 mm; my SMC Pentax - FA 1:4.5-5.6 80 / 320 mm; and SMC Pentax- M 1: 1.7 50mm Prime. I just finished a photo book that was a local history piece on old barns on the High Plain here in Colorado so I just have been going out daily and shooting these great old barns. But today, I took my trio of lenses and headed out with the K-1ii. The weather and wildlife were cooperating and at a point I decided to switch from my HD Pentax D FA 1: 3.5-5.6 / 28 - 105 mm to the longer SMC Pentax - FA 1:4.5-5.6 80 / 320 mm to shoot some deer. I have made this switch countless times over the last month, but this time, the bigger lens would not focus or fire. I checked my settings and nothing gave me a clue why it was not working. I pulled up the K-30, slapped on the SMC Pentax - FA 1:4.5-5.6 80 / 320 mm on it and it did everything that I asked of it. Put it on the K-3, everything worked. K-1ii? Nothing. I put the HD Pentax D FA 1: 3.5-5.6 / 28 - 105 mm back on the K-1ii and it worked flawlessly. Then I tried the manual prime on the K-1ii and it would not fire. I put it on the other two bodies and it was shooting perfectly.


Now I am sure this is a simple mistake on my part. I can be a fool on a holiday when I get out with my cameras, but this has me stumped. Can anyone give some suggestions? I really love those old lenses and I want to use them on the K-1ii. If they work on the others, I just have to believe I am missing something very obvious.

Robert

[twilhelm]

Two possible things to check. A dirty mount or stuck contact (ball bearing pushed in) on the lens.

Also, do you have the camera set to use aperture? I figured you had if you used the M lens on it beforehand. While I don’t use the green Auto setting on the dial, I know it has reduced user features.

[SSGGeezer]

There are setting you need to have changed from default when using manual lenses with step down metering, Using aperture ring must be set to allowed and the default is off. there may be something else like conductivity at the place where the lens and body meet. Clean the contact areas on the body and the lens after going to what is probably the last page in the menu and setting manual aperture, then try again.

I only own a KP but I have seen this complaint before and it is usually a simple fix. Good luck and please post any results. Check mode used also as tony pointed out. Tv should work.

[ramseybuckeye]

I agree that there is probably a little dirt on the mount somewhere. There can still be enough variation in the mount specs for this to happen. Just use a drop of alcohol on a microfibre cloth and clean the mount, you'll see the dirt on the cloth after cleaning, it doesn't take much sometimes.

[UncleVanya]

My initial thought was that your 80-320 had finally died. Mine did years ago, the pcb is fragile in that lens... But it works on the other bodies! Also the m50 not working also makes it confusing!!!

[Paul the Sunman]

Which mode were you shooting in? Do you have menu item 26 on the C4 menu set to enabled or disabled? Were the aperture rings set to A. Read page 109 (K1; probably nearby for K1ii) of the manual "Using the Aperture Ring".

Does the correct aperture show on the rear screen?

If the camera has got itself into some weird state (I haven't heard of this with the K1), try powering off and removing the battery for a few seconds.

Assuming it isn't dirty contacts: If all else fails, do a camera reset (on the spanner 4 menu on the K1).

Good luck.

[clickclick]

If all the other thoughts don't work, make sure you're not set for "catch in focus". I ran into something similar, and that was messing me up.

[Badger Logic]

I want to thank everyone who took the time to respond to my thread here on the K-1ii. I was about to pull my hair out over this one. I was so frustrated shooting the Blood Moon last night, I finally just put the camera away and pulled out my K-3. I came back and poured over all of the fine tips and was able to get the clue I needed from Paul the Sunman. I for the life of me do not know how the changes were made on the C-4 menu #26, but that solved the problem. More than that, all of you were so helpful and in the process of checking out all of the suggestions, I learned a great deal more about my K-1ii. The message for me is never assume that the similarities between the Pentax cameras you might own should give you a false sense of awareness about the newer model you just purchased. Read the manual. Read the manual. Read the doggone manual. Thanks all! Happy shooting.

[Paul the Sunman]

Great! All's well that ends well.