[mpodesta]

Hello everyone!

This past weekend I went on a trip and brought with me 2 of my manual lenses and the da 18-55 kit lense. I set the camera to be used with a aperture ring in a position other than A.

Trip went great, photos were great! But what I did not notice at the time was that even with the camera settings reset and with the kit lense on, I was stuck in av mode not matter where the dial was and displaying F--, even tho the Stop data was recorded correctly in the pictures using my kit lens...



any ideas?

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Last edited by mpodesta; 04-25-2010 at 07:08 AM.

[JeffJS]

Hello everyone!

This past weekend I went on a trip and brought with me 2 of my manual lenses and the da 18-55 kit lense. I set the camera to be used with a aperture ring in a position other than A.

Trip went great, photos were great! But what I did not notice at the time was that even with the camera settings reset and with the kit lense on, I was stuck in av mode not matter where the dial was and displaying F--, even tho the Stop data was recorded correctly in the pictures using my kit lens...




any ideas?

What kind of Manual lenses? A type lenses? If so did you have the Aperture ring set to A? This is happening with your Kit lens? First things to try are A: Make sure the lens is all the way on. B: Clean the contacts on both the lens mount of the camera And of the lens. Sounds like for some reason your camera is not recognizing the A type (auto aperture) lenses which for the sake of discussion, your Kit lens behaves like (with no aperture ring).

[mpodesta]

one lens was my 1.4 50mm M and a kiron 28-210.

Yes, with with my kit lens also.

lens on, contacts cleaned well.

" for some reason your camera is not recognizing the A type"

Exactly, I even went as far as re-flashing

[JeffJS]

One thing I think I missed is you said the camera remains in Av regardless of dial setting (?).. This sounds like something internal needs to be cleaned, maybe.. Read on.

When using a A type lens (with an aperture ring), the A setting extends a pin on the lens for one of the contacts (See the K mount photos sticky to see which one). As far as I know, that pin allows the camera to speak (for lack of a better term) to the lens aperture setting (how far to stop down at photo time). The only thing I can think of with respect to your kit lens, is that something has gone flaky with that pin. That would be the hopeful scenerio.

I note on my K7 with the 31mm Ltd mounted up (Because that's what is in front of me right now), All auto modes (Av, Tv, etc) are at Av when I have the lens taken off of the A position (turning it into an M lens). I can select Av and M. That's it. Makes sense to me because at that point, the camera has gone basically full manual. Aperture priority only in the sense that you can change the aperture with the ring. The camera is trying to out think us

[mpodesta]

I did look up the pin out on the lens and they all seem to be moving freely and making contact as far as one can tell.

I should clear the dial comment up a bit: The camera is stuck in Av mode when the dial is set to any other "auto" mode. The camera behaves as it should in Full manual, bulb and flash sync with the exception that I cant adjust the aperture setting in either mode.

I have that feeling that I missing some small silly detail......

[JeffJS]

I did look up the pin out on the lens and they all seem to be moving freely and making contact as far as one can tell.

I should clear the dial comment up a bit: The camera is stuck in Av mode when the dial is set to any other "auto" mode. The camera behaves as it should in Full manual, bulb and flash sync with the exception that I cant adjust the aperture setting in either mode.

I have that feeling that I missing some small silly detail......

Which is exactly what I see on my K7 if I take the lens (A type lens with Aperture ring) off of the A setting. Since the Kit lens doesn't Have an aperture ring and your others are M (No A setting) lenses, I can only blame the Kit lens at this point, or THAT specific contact on the camera. I tend to doubt it's the camera contact though, they are pretty heavily sprung. It sounds to me like your Mode dial on the camera is doing exactly what it should be doing. Is there a chance of trying a Different lens? Either a DA type of a lens that has the A setting on the aperture ring?

[JeffJS]

If I'm not mistaken, DA lenses have some sort of electronics in them that help tell the lens what to do with the aperture commands from the camera. Also for focal length.. Not certain how it all really works though. Someone with more expertise in the lens electronics will probably have to step in here..

[mpodesta]

I jumped the pin outs on the camera and got it to work properly, so it looks like my kit lens is fubar-

I'll pop it open later today and see what I can find

[JeffJS]

I jumped the pin outs on the camera and got it to work properly, so it looks like my kit lens is fubar-

I'll pop it open later today and see what I can find

That's kind of the way I was leaning.. At least it's the kit lens, those can be had (DA version 1) for $50 or less on the bay... May just be the excuse you need to upgrade?

Good luck with it.

[mpodesta]

All fixed, A solder connection in the lens for that pin out had been slightly damaged, cleaned it up, re applied and she's good.


Tho, I all ready have been looking at the DA 16-45mm F4.0 to replace her

[JeffJS]

That's great! Glad it worked for you and wasn't the camera...

Re the 16-45, unless you're getting a good price for one, I would go more like a 17-50 f2.8 (tamron) or even 17-70 (pentax or sigma).. The 16-45 is a nice lens but IMHO, isn't THAT much of an upgrade from the kit lens. Yes, it's wider, somewhat sharper, in some cases has better color, and constant aperture. However, 45mm never seemed to be enough when I had mine and the few times I actually wanted to go wide, 16mm didn't cover it. That was a special circumstance but it was still frustrating none the less. Others of course, will disagree.