[BillM]

Maybe if your close to a local shop you could have them take a peek Amber.
Theres a chap thats been mentioned here,located in Tennesee,think his outfit is
called pentaxis(maybe wrong,but close) maybe drop him a line,voice line might
available,short chat would put you at ease.Relate very well with you,grow attached
to these things after awhile.Not might a huge amount of $,but nobody throws any of
that stuff at us easily,hard to get it out of the hand headed in the other direction.
Hopefully,we'll see ya putting some cool looking pic's up before long.

[mtansley]

Maybe if your close to a local shop you could have them take a peek Amber.
Theres a chap thats been mentioned here,located in Tennesee,think his outfit is
called pentaxis(maybe wrong,but close) maybe drop him a line,voice line might
available,short chat would put you at ease.Relate very well with you,grow attached
to these things after awhile.Not might a huge amount of $,but nobody throws any of
that stuff at us easily,hard to get it out of the hand headed in the other direction.
Hopefully,we'll see ya putting some cool looking pic's up before long.

His website is pentaxs.com and his name is Eric. He is very well thought of around here.

[dmcc]

To BillM who posted in June 2011 -- thank you!

If viewfinder does not darken and no noise is heard,power down and remove lens.
looking inside,on left side of opening,about center verticle you'll see small square fitting
that sits on top of a verticle slot or track.When found,power up and
very gently bump square fitting with finger tip in both directions (up/dow

n).

Here's my story...

I got a Pentax ZX-M on eBay. It came with a near-dead battery. I was able to fire off some shots without film, I thought wow I got a great deal on a lightweight SLR. Then on the next shot the mirror locked in up position. I thought needs a new battery, but didn't have any CR2 batteries and so I ordered a 12-pack from Amazon. Meanwhile, thinking I could test it without proper batteries, I took the camera base off and poked around. I hooked up 4 AAs and then tried a spare 6VDC a/c adapter. None of that worked at all -- total waste of time, except for the "learning experience" !!

Batteries came today. I was not hopeful. But I popped two into the ZX-M and the camera came alive! Wow! Shutter fired, what a difference! BUT, then I loaded some 2002-expired film (which an eBay seller had included in another camera deal) and just like what happened to the OP saab_princess_21, it went to "1" and then rewinded the film! What the what?! I got the film leader out, cut the end and made a new leader. Loaded and it rewinded again!

That's when I found BillM's suggestions -- that little bit of info about the diaphragm actuator on the camera body was the key to solving the problem. I gently pushed that up and down (it had a fair amount of resistance) about 1/4 the track distance. I forget -- maybe it was at the top at first and I left it in the middle of the track. Anyway, put the lens back on and loaded the film and the camera worked perfectly. I fired off 10 shots and opened the camera -- yep, the film had advanced onto the take-up spool.

Now for some real film tests to see if it can actually take pictures... If so, then this is a real find -- one of the lightest SLRs ever made.

[old_manual_guy]

I may have bought Amber's camera on eBay. Same problem as she originally described. Any one know what the repair is for the spontaneous rewind?

[SteveJM]

I am trying to resurrect my Pentax ZX-M, but when I load a film, it rewinds right away. I did some of the steps that BillM suggested, but to no avail. I noticed the viewfinder does not light up at all. The camera does make a little whirring sound when I first turn it on, but then it stops. I did press the shutter button without film , but nothing moves. I haven't used the camera for quite some time, perhaps it has gotten all bound up from sitting so long. Any suggestions.

[Epielf]

First sorry for my English

I have the same problem, the film autorewind always, but i remove the bottom plate and i discovered a metal piece (cover all the bottom part of camera), i think than work like contact, and i clean it, and the camera work now

Actually sorry for my English