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04-27-2022, 09:17 AM   #16
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Same thing happened to me yesterday with my KP and the 560mm and I was also shooting birds, It just stopped attempting to focus, I use the half press shutter button to focus and when I was doing this to try and focus it wasn't doing anything I could also hear a noise but it wasn't trying to focus anymore. This has happened to me one other time with this lens, my KP is up to date firmware wise. I just power cycled the camera and it was fine after same thing the other time it happened as well. Not the same camera or even lens as the OP but just wanted to add my experience of having a similar issue with a long lens.

04-27-2022, 11:58 AM - 1 Like   #17
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Today I was testing 3 tele lenses on my k3II: the pentax 150-450, an older type sigma 50-500 with camera motor screwdrive focus, and a 55@300 +TC again with screwdrive focus.
The last two worked without problems, the pentax (which I tested as last of the three) failed focussing. No errors, just no focus. Switching back to other lens, no problem.
After some panic - the pentax 150-450 is a new lens - I found out that the battery of my camera was running low and that this was the origin of the focus problem!

I have to note the battery was a jupio brand, and showed still 1 bar on the camera, hence low but not empty, and effective allowed working with screw drive lenses.
Charging the battery from 10% to 20% solved the lens focus problem for the pentax lens.
I can only conclude the pentax 150-450 lens suffers more from the low battery than the other screwdrive lenses...
Maybe it draws more current or is more sensitive to low voltage than the internal focus motor of the camera..

I have also original pentax batteries, they were unfortunately at 0 bars on camera, nothing worked. I will have to charge and check this behaviour with low battery of both jupio and pentax variants.
As I have 2 batteries of each brand, with varying age/duty cycle , it might take some time to be more conclusive on the failure with each battery type.
In the past I noted one difference : the pentax battery performs better when charged with the slow pentax charger, while the jupio battery allows fast charging with an ’universal’ charger. Conclusion: they differ in construction/behaviour. In general they performed equally well, with the oldest batteries performing less endurance (i write date of first use on battery, so that i know which are new and better).

It was first time I had a lens problem with ’almost’ empty batteries, all other lenses did work till camera stopped working. But it is the only pentax lens with internal focus motor that I own, my sigma's hsm or any screwdrive focus lens never showed this problem.
I have had in the past the impression green button metering on manual lenses deviates a bit in exposure on low battery, but not 100% sure, also never a real issue (less than a stop is easily corrected).

Long story, but you mentioned also power cycling, so maybe a link with battery behaviour.... Was it low, off-brand etc ? Maybe there is link?

Last edited by mlag; 04-27-2022 at 12:07 PM.
04-27-2022, 01:35 PM   #18
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Do you have another body you can try the lenses in question on?
04-27-2022, 03:44 PM   #19
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It happened again yesterday, with the DA* 300.
Re-engaging the lens with the body by a small rotation had zero effect.
Trying changes to AF switches , mode, etc made no difference, so switched off and back on again.
The camera took a few seconds to power up, maybe 3 or 4, again very similar to the delay in power up after a battery change.
I'm now suspecting it is a battery/power issue.
The battery was showing full and the exif from a shot shortly after the incident shows "Body Battery State : Close to Full". I use Pentax batteries.
I've had a close look at all the lens contacts and they are as they should be.
I'll try cleaning the contacts again.

Cheers,
Terry


Last edited by tduell; 04-27-2022 at 03:46 PM. Reason: correction, additional info
04-27-2022, 03:59 PM - 1 Like   #20
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Have you used these lenses on another body before this issue occured? I had an odd issue with a friend's 150-450 that I borrowed to use with my the K-3 III. Something between his K-1 II firmware and the K-3 III firmware caused the lens to no longer focus at 450 mm and caused the aperture to show as 4.5 at 450 mm. The lens would just hunt forever. We tried it in his K-1 II after, and it also showed incorrect F-stop values but would focus.
He sent the lens in to Sun Camera Service (official Canadian Pentax repair center) and they stated the lens had corrupted firmware. The lens was fine right up until I borrowed it. They sent it to Pentax who cleared and reinstalled the lens firmware and it's been fine ever since. So, if you have used the lens on another body, it's possible that the firmware is actually corrupted.
04-27-2022, 04:17 PM   #21
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QuoteOriginally posted by Kobie Quote
Have you used these lenses on another body before this issue occured?
I have used the lenses on the K-3 II and the K-1, but that was some time ago, and they have had extensive use on the K-3 Mark III since without any issues until very recently.

Cheers,
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04-27-2022, 04:36 PM   #22
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QuoteOriginally posted by tduell Quote
I have used the lenses on the K-3 II and the K-1, but that was some time ago, and they have had extensive use on the K-3 Mark III since without any issues until very recently.

Cheers,
Terry
Try them on the other bodies and see if they work or if there's still odd issues. That'll narrow down if it's the lenses or the camera.

04-28-2022, 05:25 AM   #23
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QuoteOriginally posted by mlag Quote
Today I was testing 3 tele lenses on my k3II: the pentax 150-450, an older type sigma 50-500 with camera motor screwdrive focus, and a 55@300 +TC again with screwdrive focus.
The last two worked without problems, the pentax (which I tested as last of the three) failed focussing. No errors, just no focus. Switching back to other lens, no problem.
After some panic - the pentax 150-450 is a new lens - I found out that the battery of my camera was running low and that this was the origin of the focus problem!

I have to note the battery was a jupio brand, and showed still 1 bar on the camera, hence low but not empty, and effective allowed working with screw drive lenses.
Charging the battery from 10% to 20% solved the lens focus problem for the pentax lens.
I can only conclude the pentax 150-450 lens suffers more from the low battery than the other screwdrive lenses...
Maybe it draws more current or is more sensitive to low voltage than the internal focus motor of the camera..

I have also original pentax batteries, they were unfortunately at 0 bars on camera, nothing worked. I will have to charge and check this behaviour with low battery of both jupio and pentax variants.
As I have 2 batteries of each brand, with varying age/duty cycle , it might take some time to be more conclusive on the failure with each battery type.
In the past I noted one difference : the pentax battery performs better when charged with the slow pentax charger, while the jupio battery allows fast charging with an ’universal’ charger. Conclusion: they differ in construction/behaviour. In general they performed equally well, with the oldest batteries performing less endurance (i write date of first use on battery, so that i know which are new and better).

It was first time I had a lens problem with ’almost’ empty batteries, all other lenses did work till camera stopped working. But it is the only pentax lens with internal focus motor that I own, my sigma's hsm or any screwdrive focus lens never showed this problem.
I have had in the past the impression green button metering on manual lenses deviates a bit in exposure on low battery, but not 100% sure, also never a real issue (less than a stop is easily corrected).

Long story, but you mentioned also power cycling, so maybe a link with battery behaviour.... Was it low, off-brand etc ? Maybe there is link?
It was a Pentax battery marked 2020 I was using, it was 3/4 full and green still, also was a nice warm day wasn't cold out, I've seen the battery will fluctuate depending on how heavy the usage is, could be related to power draw. I also own a copy of the 150-450 and have never had it happen with that lens on my old k-50 or current KP. It's only happened to me twice with the 560mm and it was small birds both times they were far away so not really sure, just wanted to add my experience.
05-01-2022, 01:39 AM   #24
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QuoteOriginally posted by NeoSpudly Quote
Same thing happened to me yesterday with my KP and the 560mm and I was also shooting birds, It just stopped attempting to focus, I use the half press shutter button to focus and when I was doing this to try and focus it wasn't doing anything I could also hear a noise but it wasn't trying to focus anymore. This has happened to me one other time with this lens, my KP is up to date firmware wise. I just power cycled the camera and it was fine after same thing the other time it happened as well. Not the same camera or even lens as the OP but just wanted to add my experience of having a similar issue with a long lens.
My 560 started doing that it had to go for repair and had a new focusing motor fitted
05-03-2022, 09:44 PM   #25
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I had what sounds like a similar experience with my K-3 III this past weekend. I had my DA* 60-250mm mounted on my Pentax HD 1.4x Teleconveter. The focus LED in the view finder was flashing like it would not lock focus. The lighting had changed due to clouds and sun movement. I was shooting f13 and found if I lowered it f-stop to f8 it would start focusing again. Really not sure why because the lens should not be stopped down until you press the shutter. It doesn't make much sense, but it seemed to fix the issue. Just my observations.

I was shooting in TAv as I usually do.

Last edited by kkoether; 05-03-2022 at 09:54 PM.
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