[newarts]

Now that you say that, I tried shorting each contact pin (without a lens on, obviously), and it stopped down regardless of which pin I was shorting.... seemingly as long as at least one was shorted, it thinks there's a lens... interesting

Good to know, thanks!

Dave

[Silverkarn]

ok, i did not realize that you were using extension tubes with an aperture lever on it, ignore everything i said in every post before this.

[MikeS]

ok, i did not realize...

, no worries. I didn't make that very clear

[Lowell Goudge]

Well, it seems like this answers the question at hand, as far as why it won't stop-down meter with the tubes.


I guess we'd have to ask Pentax for the answer as to why they designed it this way. But at least I know now what my issue is.

Interesting thoughts nonetheless. It isn't like there aren't ways around this, and I may play with some settings later, if I try the tubes again.
Thanks to everyone for all the input and discussion. Very enlightening

someone should report this to pentax and they might do a firmware update for it

[birdman59]

I have the same exact problem with my Kx and a set of manual teleconverters.

I have the 18-55 and 55-300 kit lenses as well as a 50mm Asahi m lens.

With no converter attached, I can get push button metering in manual mode with the 50mm lens. As soon as I put the converter on-nothing.

I'm going to try the foil tape thing to see what happens.

[i_trax]

yes the foil works all the time but why do we have to do it?
I did e-mail Pentax AU couple of times asking for firmware upgrade and/or add to menu stop-down metering and auto-focus on/off.
there is very similar problem with using Pentax-F 1.7x AF teleconverter with old K and M42 lenses, when you attache to it old K lens with silver base ( large enough to short all contacts and conductive) - all fine.
when you attache the lens with black anodised mount - need to use foil.
when you attache M42 lens with Pentax M42/K adaptor - need to use foil.
maybe this group should put some global pressure on Pentax to implement those necessary changes ASAP!
kind regards

[newarts]

yes the foil works all the time but why do we have to do it?
I did e-mail Pentax AU couple of times asking for firmware upgrade and/or add to menu stop-down metering and auto-focus on/off.
there is very similar problem with using Pentax-F 1.7x AF teleconverter with old K and M42 lenses, when you attache to it old K lens with silver base ( large enough to short all contacts and conductive) - all fine.
when you attache the lens with black anodised mount - need to use foil.
when you attache M42 lens with Pentax M42/K adaptor - need to use foil.
maybe this group should put some global pressure on Pentax to implement those necessary changes ASAP!
kind regards

There may be a reason(s) they don't want the camera to function with no lens attached; personally I agree with you and I'd like to be able to control it.

However 'til they change things, you'll find that using foil tape works well.

[Bill_R]

I have exactly the same problem.
I have a set of "King" Auto extension tubes from eons ago. They have 6 auto pins but from the research I did last night they apparently need 7 to operate and use the contacts to convey any information to the camera. I can't even get the lens to stop down in M mode as it is. It seems as if the camera just doesn't know a lens is attached.
The solution, apparently, is to remove some of the paint from around where the 7th pin should be on each macro tube to create contact.
I'm yet to try the fix but will and will check with a meter for conductivity through the lens body where I remove paint.