[Harry Moto]

So I'm shooting this morning off of the front porch with my new 15-30mm f2.8 Pentax lens on my 2? year old K1, nice snow coming down. When I step out onto the front porch, I think 'Cool, super wide angle, I can get the Christmas lights top and bottom and the snow as well!'. I run the zoom from 30mm to 15 fairly quickly, and the shutter clicks. Hmmm? Zoom back out to 30, then quickly to 15 and k-clunk, another exposure. I do it again, and yes, there is the auto-preview, and another image is saved to the card. Zooming slowly doesn't produce a volunteer image, but if I zoom fairly quickly it takes a picture without my finger on the shutter release.

This isn't the worst thing that's ever happened to me, and I'm not flipping out. If many forum members find the same functionality on their K1/15-30 I'll quit worrying about it, it's something I can easily live with. My concern is that something is loose or out of place in the lens and something bad will happen down the road; like the zoom seizing of the diaphragm or something like that which puts my wide zoom out of commission.

Has anyone else experienced this? Should I return the lens and get another? Or should I just calm down and put the lens to work?

[Mikesul]

This is a long shot but check if you have it set up for catch-in-focus. Look in menu C24. This is unlikely but worth checking.

[Harry Moto]

" like the zoom seizing of the diaphragm or something like that which puts my wide zoom out of commission."
Or, not of; should have been " like the zoom seizing OR the diaphragm or something like that which puts my wide zoom out of commission. "
I'm a <5 post guy, don't see an edit function on my post, and can't EVER get a post on a forum without goofing up the spelling of something or another...

But that's a 'by the way' thing; what I'm posting about is the 15-30 on the K1. I posted (above), the snow picked up quite a bit, I grabbed my camera with the 15-30 still on it and took a couple of pix. Since I was on the camera anyway, I zoomed in and out. Faster. As fast as I will on a good lens (which isn't super fast!) and nothing happened. An hour ago if I zoomed quickly the camera spontaneously took a picture. Now it doesn't.

Now I'm REALLY stumped. 8^/
Comments/suggestions welcome. Heck, at this point I'll be happy to get some opinions!! ;-)

[Harry Moto]

This is a long shot but check if you have it set up for catch-in-focus. Look in menu C24. This is unlikely but worth checking.

Excellent input!! I just checked... nope. Darn it. Good call, though! Thanks!!

[Paul the Sunman]

This is a long shot but check if you have it set up for catch-in-focus. Look in menu C24. This is unlikely but worth checking.

CIF will only work with a manual lens, or a lens with an auto/manual switch.

I cannot reproduce this behaviour with my K1+15-30.

[Mikesul]

As I said: unlikely.

[sergysergy]

Has anyone else experienced this? Should I return the lens and get another? Or should I just calm down and put the lens to work?

That is really strange. Can you use it in other bodies to see if it has a similar behavior?

[DeadJohn]

This is just a guess. Maybe your shutter button is extra sensitive and air pressure from a quick zoom is activating the button.

[Harry Moto]

CIF will only work with a manual lens, or a lens with an auto/manual switch.

I cannot reproduce this behaviour with my K1+15-30.

That should be "CIF SHOULD only work with a manual lens...". When you have a malfunction, you have to be very careful with your assumptions. If it was working like it should, we wouldn't be talking about it!

I cannot reproduce this behavior either, at this point. Creepy, freaky issue to have in my expensive and ultra cool retirement final camera set-up. Intermittent problems are always the worst.

---------- Post added 12-28-19 at 08:37 AM ----------

That is really strange. Can you use it in other bodies to see if it has a similar behavior?

Two of the kids have Pentax cameras, so that is a possibility. Good call, could pin the issue to the just the body or just the lens!

I'll put that on my to-do list, although the priority dropped dramatically when the system quit doing it.

That being said, it is always a concern when you have a problem and it goes away but you didn't FIX anything... It may come back at any point in the future. I'm not real happy unless a root cause is discovered and a solution found. Life has a way of bending that around, though; sometimes it's just not going to happen. Then we say "It was an anomaly" and try to look smart, as if that explains anything...

---------- Post added 12-28-19 at 09:20 AM ----------

This is just a guess. Maybe your shutter button is extra sensitive and air pressure from a quick zoom is activating the button.

Ah, this is why I love good forums! (and I'm starting to think this is a really good forum!!)

My first thought was 'good idea, but the lens doesn't get longer/shorter when you zoom like my 28-105 and 150-450 do'. So I got the 15-30, took it off the camera, and had a look-see. It doesn't get longer/shorter, but the internal element cluster DOES move for and aft when you zoom. Putting my fingers over the opening in the lens and zooming it, there is definitely air moving when you zoom. The camera and lens are both weather-proof, so air can't freely escape the system... This theory is standing up so far.

So, given that, why doesn't it do it now? When I was having the issue, it was literally the first 5 or 10 times I zoomed the lens since received. It's a brand new lens, so extremely few cycles on the zoom system. Could it have loosened up, reducing the air pressure difference when I zoom it? I don't have a model for that, but it seems at least plausible. If so, the problem is gone, never to return. But how can we prove it?

If you are reading this and have, or are getting, the 15-30 Pentax lens; please check it out. When you first attach the lens to the camera, turn the camera on and zoom in and out a few times. See if your camera body takes an image without you touching the shutter release, and if it stops doing it later. Then please, PLEASE come back to this forum and tell us what you've found! That could be very telling. Thanks in advance!

And finally, thanks to each contributor! Pre-internet I would have shrugged my shoulders and carried on, trying not to worry about the lens/camera. With the internet I've enjoyed some excellent input and hope to get even more if someone follows up with a report on Their new 15-30 behaviour. Awesome!!

[sergysergy]

If you are going to worry about it and you have the chance of exchanging it I would but based on your descriptions it looks like anecdotic problem.

[Harry Moto]

Thanks, Sergysergy. Yeah, I'm in the 'wait and see' mode. Will see about checking it on the kids cameras, will goof with the air pressure theory, but mostly will take it out shooting some snow pictures today! 8^)

Got it at B&H, and I think I have a couple of weeks left where I could exchange it, but we'll see...

[Harry Moto]

So, today I'm looking at my K1 with the 15-30 on it, and for some reason just kind of going over the thing... and I noticed that the battery grip is 'ON'. This doesn't turn the camera on, it's subject to the normal power on switch on the camera. It does, however, enable the shutter release on the battery grip. I'm not normally on the battery grip shutter release, but my right pinky finger is in the vicinity. When I was having the weird issue it was just after sunrise and I stepped out on my porch to play with my new toy; it was around 20 degrees F {about -8 C?) and I was wearing pajamas and slippers. Makes you try to get small to avoid the cold, could have affected my grip on the camera. I've never been able to duplicate the error since that one first issue. Most likely, I was inadvertently triggering the shutter release with my freezing little finger.

Conclusion: Operator error. D'oh!