[ricreis]

I have the same problem with the front wheel in my K-7. I turn it (especially to the left) and the exposure value skips around, going up and down more of less randomly.

Just to be clear (and before I mess something up), do you spray the contact cleaner directly in the wheel and then turn it? Or is some disassembly required?

[GibbyTheMole]

spray into the wheel area and work the wheel.

I wouldn't overdo it, though. You don't want the stuff running down into your camera & landing on the sensor or the mirror box. Spray with low pressure, and only a quick spritz.

And yep - you spray directly into the wheel. I'd drizzle it lightly rather than all-out spray, though. And work the control gently right after you spray, while it's still wet. With the camera off, of course. Also - don't power it up again right away. Wait about a half hour for the carrier to evaporate.

Don't turn the control too fast after you spray, either. That stuff comes out cold and if you crank on the control with too much gusto while it's still cold, you can crack something inside & ruin the control.

Personally, I would remove the top cover of the camera and hold it so the excess would run out of the camera, rather than down into it. A tripod might be handy for that purpose.

Good luck,
Bobbo :-)

[ricreis]

Slight problem...

I applied a small drop of contact cleaner on the whell, with the camera upside down and without battery. Turned it a few times, waited about half an hour, then turned it on.

The result was that now, regardless of turning the wheel left or right, it will only change things in one direction. For example, if I use it to browse the menus, it will only shift left to right, never right to left, regardless of turning the wheel left or right.

It also means that I have the exposure locked in 1/8000, without any means to increase it.

Any ideas?

[GibbyTheMole]

Hi ricreis.

I'd let it sit 'til tomorrow & try it again just to be sure the carrier is fully evaporated. I can't think of a logical reason that would happen, unless the switch was on the verge of croaking completely and the mechanical action of moving the dial more sealed the deal. As long as you give the contact cleaner ample time to evaporate, it shouldn't do anything but improve the situation, because the carrier evaporates completely. What kind of contact cleaner did you use? Personally, I use Caig De-Oxit. It's gentle on plastic & carbon parts, and also lubricates the control.

If it comes right down to it, I wouldn't think it should be horribly expensive or difficult to replace the control, but I could be wrong. It might be worth exploring that option.

Good luck!
Bobbo :-)

[ricreis]

One day later, and still the same problem.

I agree with you GibbyTheMole. There is no reason for the contact cleaner to make the problem worse, but it might have been the amont of wheel turning. I'm guessing the sensor is actually shot, so it can't be fixed just by applying contact cleaner.

I've contacted the vendor to discuss options. I hope it can be fixed soon, because I really liked the camera. It's a few light years ahead of my old K100d.

Thank you all for your replies.

[GibbyTheMole]

I'm guessing the sensor is actually shot,

You mean just the switch, right? Your camera's image sensor is ok, isn't it?

Sorry the cleaner didn't work for you. The K-7 is a very nice camera & it's worth fixing, IMO. Hope it's a cheap & easy fix.

Good luck,
Bobbo :-)

[ricreis]

You mean just the switch, right? Your camera's image sensor is ok, isn't it?

Yes, that's what I meant.

If I use it in a mode that doesn't demand exposure control (like P or green mode), it shoots wondeful images. Video also works fine.

But I didn't buy a K-7 to use it as point and shoot

Since I didn't underestand why it would work perfectly in one direction and not at all in the other, I talked to an friend who is an electrical engineer. He tells me it might be problem with a micro switch, that switches perfectly left to right, but it might not be making enough contact with the wheel to switch right to left.

The switch might have been bent (and it would skip a few times), but with all the wheel turning it might have broken, so a contact cleaner would not do anything to solve it.

With the previous success cases, a small dust speck might have been blocking the switch, so the contact cleaner would remove it and solve the problem.

Nevertheless, it's odd... the K-7 is supposed to be weather sealed, so no dust or moisture should penetrate the inside of the camera.

[grantn]

I had this problem with my ist which was a quite old. Then had is problem with my newish K-R. Both fixed with switch cleaning spray. Clearly not a good design.

[anthers]

Also had this problem with both my DS and my K7. The K7 was fixed under warranty and has been going strong since then. Never got the DS fixed, it still has problems, despite lots and lots of contact cleaner.

[ricreis]

I've just got word from the vendor that it was tested and apparently it was actually defective. I'll be getting a replacement in a few days.

[hramat]

Replacement was offered after warranty period and without costs? How long do you have the K-7?

[ricreis]

It was a refurbished item, but it was bought from a store, which had a 7 day return policy (which I used).

[siva.ss.kumar]

Slightly OT. The e-dial is not working on my K-x also. It happened once before and after some time, it got fixed by itself. But this time, the e-dial is not working anymore. So, no zooming in playback or importantly, can't change many of the settings.
I am in India and there are no authorized service centers. I tried my luck with general camera repair shop and they opened and cleaned but still no go and they wouldn't touch the electronics. I have to send it to Singapore to get it fixed, I think.
In the meanwhile, is there any way that the function of the e-dial can be assigned to any other key, for example the left and right arrow buttons? We can get into Debug mode and do something there? Thanks

[tadywankenobi]

Hi folks,

I've had the exact same problem for a while on my *ist DS. It's be a great little servant over the years and I'm not in a position to splash out on a new body just yet, so I said I'd give it a go at trying to fix this. I could wheel left (which meant zooming out on previews or lowering values) now problem, but wheeling right became gradually harder and harder and when I took up astrophotography, I could no longer zoom in on my preview to see if stars and the like were in focus. So I decided to finally do something about it.

The advice above put me on the right path. I bought some good quality electric contact cleaner (Servisol Aero Klene 50) on Amazon. I think it was about €15.



I already had a set of small screwdrivers. I highly recommend this set I got from Amazon. At the time it cost me €10, but I've just ordered an updated set which include pentalobe bits for iPhone repair which was €10 including shipping. Highly recommend them.




All I needed after that was some cottom buds (I think you Americans call them cotton sticks). The ones I had are the ones with hollow plastic sticks. The cheaper the better (more on this in a sec).

I followed this guy's guide to open the top of my camera: How to fix Pentax ist* D DS DL Camera: Pentax ist* DS disassembling, part 1 of 2

While his English isn't the best, the guide is pretty good. Don't do what I did and forget the screw on the left of the body (as you're looking at the back of it), under the strap. I nearly broke the top (thankfully noticed at the last second. Do heed his warning to remove it gently as the wires are very light and fragile. All you want to do is lift the top and push it slightly to the side.



While the top was off, I followed his advice and sprayed some contact cleaner on a cotton bud and cleaned the shutter contacts. It had a little dirt and dust on it so no harm.

Now, where he talks about lifting the screen and pulling the wheel out and ditching the ball bearing: IGNORE ALL OF THAT. That's just general bad advice!!!

What I did do was, with the top off, I had a little more leverage on the e-dial wheel. I was looking at the cotton buds and wondered "Can I use the stalk of this as a guide to direct the cleaning solution under the dial?" I cut a stalk and found it fit (with a little pushing) onto the end of the nozzle of the cleaning solution (this is why you want cheap cotton buds. High quality ones have a much stronger and thicker stalk, that won't fit!).







This greatly extended the nozzle. I then cut the other end of the stalk at a slight (roughly 45° angle) and flattened it with a pliers. This meant it was thin and had a hole I could direct either up or down. Flatten it so that the end looks like an oval pointing up or down, not like an angle side. I was then able to easily push this end a little way in under the e-dial with a small bit of leverage. I did a spritz with the opening facing down, 30s or so of dialing left and right, and then a spritz with the opening facing up, and another 30s of dialing left and right. I let the whole thing dry for a bit and then re-assembled the top.





When the cleaner had dried, I found the dial is working good as new. To say I'm delighted is an understatement. I had tried this before with just spritzing it onto the dial and trying to get it inside, but opening the camera up really allowed me access and seems to have done the trick amazingly.

It's a really easy solution and gives the camera a whole new lease of life. I really hope this helps you with your camera.

[dmazimoto]

Good afternoon everyone, I hate to create a new post for this so I will reply here.

I have tried the cleaning methods described here, but nothing seems to work. eDial on my K5 IIS started failing intermittently at first then stop working all together.

Two things: does anyone know how expensive of a repair it is to get the edial replaced? is this something I can do myself?

Thanks in advance.