Originally posted by Not a Number No focus lock, no shutter release. What lenses were used for testing?
A link might help.
That's as much detail as there was!
Originally posted by photoptimist That said, old cameras on eBay are always a risk especially if the seller isn't skilled enough to properly configure and test the camera.
Yeah, I kinda suspect user error. There are a couple of pictures of the back and top screens, and they are lit up and seem to be displaying properly (although the back screen has a big crack in it!).
Originally posted by photoptimist P.S. Is this project for some monochrome astro work or other subject matter?
I made a spectroscope. When I take a picture of a gas discharge spectrum (neon bulb, CFL bulb) I get nice line spectra, and don't care too much about the color response of my K-1. But, when I shoot a continuous spectrum, such as a light bulb (the original impetus for this project - I wanted to get a feel for how "good" my lights were for product shooting - i.e. something like the CRI rating), you can see large variations across the visible spectrum from the effects of the color filters in the camera!!!!!!!!!! Nobody seems to make a real black and white camera (at least affordably - if I'm willing to spend a few grand (or a lot more) I could get a Sony/Leica/Sigma/..), so I guess I'll make my own.
For a few hundred bucks, you can get a little digital spectrometer. So far, my out of pocket expenses are $1 for a replica diffraction grating.
Stay tuned - at some point I hope to be able to show the behavior across the visible spectrum of various light bulbs (LED versus CFL versus Incandescent).
---------- Post added 06-09-20 at 09:29 AM ----------
Originally posted by Lowell Goudge If it is a true *istD remember it is a compact flash not SD card
Also it has some very useful functions that k series DSLRs don’t have
Support for P-TTL and true TTL flash so you can use the older TTL flashes with KA lenses and also get flash support for non KA lenses
Use of the body flash as the master for high speed sync with off camera flashes.
But no shake reduction
From memory, if you don’t have the use aperture ring function set, the shutter won’t trip, and detection of a lens is done by the pins shorted on the mount
Also note that the shutter will trip with black body teleconverter, T mounts and extension tubes, unlike k series cameras that need the paint stripped of the mounts to work
Aha, a CF card! Thanks for pointing that out. I think I have a couple that I got from my Dad. I got rid of mine when I went from the early Canon XT/XTi to Pentax.
It has some other useful features, too - a simple plug for external power (I can easily kludge up a 6V power supply) and appears to output TIFFs directly if you want. (Probably lose the EXIF though)
I just convinced myself and clicked "Buy it now"!
Thanks to all for your comments.