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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
07-26-2023, 04:20 PM
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So I bit on this one, thinking it might be a good deal. It was listed as "Condition: Used - Good - Small cosmetic imperfection on front of the camera body. Item will come repackaged.".
It arrived today. Cosmetically it looked excellent. It came with caps, hood and lens pouch. I put it on my K-1. The camera asked me to enter the focal length. Auto focus didn't work. I took the lens off the camera, and no wonder, it has no electrical contacts on the mount. The mount and it's screws are pristine. Surgically removed it looks like. Makes me wonder how thoroughly Amazon check these before putting them up for sale.
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Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
02-23-2023, 02:03 PM
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Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
01-12-2023, 09:17 AM
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Thanks Michael. Yes, Trish is the one I'd been communicating with at Precision. It took 3 emails, perhaps because of the holidays, but I finally got notification from UPS last night that a second package from Precision was on its way to me. I'm assuming it's the viewfinder hood. I guess you're a better communicator than I. :D
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Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
01-05-2023, 02:17 PM
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No reply from Precision yet on the missing viewfinder hood. I've sent them another request to get that back. So, overall, not so pleased...
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Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
12-28-2022, 10:01 PM
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So, my K1-II arrived back yesterday (12/27/2022). The issue was that cable remotes didn't work on it, and I sent with it a remote, that works with all my other cameras, but didn't work with the K-II, so they could verify the issue. They said they replaced the 'Sy Board', cleaned, calibrated, etc. and verified everything worked. In the process they even reset the shutter count, which may have been a result of replacing the board. Though they did return the remote, and it now works with the camera, they forgot to include the viewfinder hood which was on the camera when I sent it in. I've sent them an email asking about that. Communication is slow with Precision, so I expect to hear back in a day or so.
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Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
12-19-2022, 09:30 PM
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Just got a notice from Precision stating the camera was being shipped today. So six weeks repair time is not unheard of, for those out there running out of patience, like I did.
Thanks for all the replies.
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Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
12-16-2022, 02:07 PM
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Their phone system appears to have no live people available to answer. I've left a voice message and sent an email. Awaiting a reply from either...
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Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
12-16-2022, 01:13 PM
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My K-1 MkII has been at Precision Camera, to repair a faulty remote socket under warranty, for six weeks now. Their "Real Time" status has indicated "In Repair Process" for over a month. Is this typical?
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
11-08-2022, 08:39 PM
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Got it. Thank you, should be an interesting, and inexpensive, astro camera.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
09-10-2022, 10:48 AM
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Thank you for sharing this. I picked up 3 of the originals about ten years ago. They work for FA Limiteds too, not just DAs. They were only 9" long, but 2 - 3 lenses would fit in them nicely. At the time I'd wished for longer ones, and didn't know these were available until your post. I was able to order two.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
01-09-2022, 09:34 AM
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I guess I was wrong, there are black and silver ones still available. Mine arrived yesterday. Looks like a brand new unit. If it it didn't have the 'Open Box' sticker on it, I wouldn't have known they sold it as such.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
01-01-2022, 05:01 PM
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
03-02-2020, 10:18 PM
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Welcome to the Pentax Fora. My 645Z only has 15K shutter count on it, but that's from being discriminating about what I use it for. Mostly landscapes. I'm more in-discriminating about hummingbirds. I use my K-50s for that, one of which now has a shutter count of 410,222 as of today. But who's counting? ;)
May your next body have less use/abuse.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
03-02-2020, 10:01 PM
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As I understand it, you got that 645Z from Down Under. Make sure your date/time/location settings are accurate for your current location. :)
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
02-27-2020, 09:50 PM
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Good idea to try it on a 'Pentax Adapter K For 645 Lens', so I pulled mine out to test it. At first, I put it on, it turned and was tight, but clicked into place. I removed the RAFCamera adapter and tried it again. The second time it was tight as well, but spun until it became loose and now it's stuck. It didn't 'click' the second time. Pressing the lens release button allows the RAFCamera adapter to turn slightly, but it will not turn enough counterclockwise to remove it from the Pentax adapter. Glad I didn't try it again on the camera. It seems to me now that the problem may be related to whether the lens release button is pressed when turning, or not. I usually hold down the release button until a lens locks into place, but that may not work for the RAFCamera adapter. If I am able to remove it, I'll try to test this further.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
02-25-2020, 01:18 PM
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I ordered a "M65x1 female thread to Pentax 645 camera mount adapter", found in the link above and a "T2 female to M65x1 male thread adapter" from RAFCamera via ebay. They arrived relatively quickly from Belarus to California. I also ordered a 2" T2 nosepiece to go from the T2 to M65x1 adapter to my Meade telescope, from a place called Agena AstroProducts.
When I first put the assembly of adapters on my 645Z the whole thing seemed to turn nicely in the bayonet mount of the camera, but never clicked into place like a lens would. It spun with a bit of friction, then spun free. It would turn about 45 degrees, back and forth, in the camera mount, without locking into place. When I pressed the lens release button to try to remove it, it wouldn't move past whatever was stopping it from turning counter clockwise. I removed the nosepiece and T2 to M65x1 adapter to see if I could see what was preventing the removal of the adapter, but couldn't see anything causing the problem. I applied a moderate amount of force to try to turn it but stopped for fear of damaging the camera.
I contacted RAFCamera and got a reply within an hour. This was the verbal exchange:
"me:
Upon first use of this adapter ring it has locked onto the camera and cannot be removed. Do you have any tips on how to remove it from my Pentax 645Z?
rafcamera:
Hi!
Tight a helicoid bit stronger and use it to turn adapter counterclockwise (don't forget to press a lens release button).
Thank you.
Raf.
me:
Thank you for the quick reply. It should require no more force to remove than a lens, yet it will not turn while pressing the lens release button.
rafcamera:
A lens has much more convenient grip, and lens mounts are made of steel usually (not more soft aluminium alloy like our adapter).
Moreover, we trying to make more strict tolerances, so tension is higher than with native lens usually.
I tested these adapters on my old Pentax 645. May be it is bit worn and allows bit more easy adapter turning.
But you should have no issues removing it anyway. Never had such reports so far. Just don't know what went wrong in your case, sorry.
Please try to apply bit more force.
me:
Again, thank you for the reply. I have been able to remove it, applying much more force than expected. Thank you. When it was on the camera, the adapter would turn approximately 45 degrees freely, as if it were loose. But when turning to remove it, and holding down the lens release button, it would stop and not move until extreme force was applied. I note some anodizing has been removed in the process.
rafcamera:
Our adapters have no stop pins. Looks like you overturned it during installation. Just be more careful next time, or you may damage camera mount. Thank you.
me:
That seems like some critical information not found in the instructions.
rafcamera:
People just turn adapter till a lock click usually, so no special instructions required. Thank you."
I need to use my 645Z next month, so I haven't attempted to put the adapter back on yet, and may never do so.
The point of my post: Use extreme caution putting any adapter like this on your camera. |
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-24-2020, 10:50 PM
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-23-2020, 08:53 PM
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Had not heard about this. Post a link and I'll give the K-50 a plug.
---------- Post added 01-23-20 at 07:57 PM ----------
Thanks. That would be the Sigma 18-300mm 1:3.5-6.3 DC.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-22-2020, 10:42 PM
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I don't suppose they have many hummingbirds down under. ;) I end up with mostly butts on some days. :) Thanks.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-22-2020, 10:15 PM
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My trusty K-50, bought new in July, 2015, just had another milestone. 400K shutter count on January 16, 2020. After 250K, in December, 2017, I sent it in to Precision for a CLA, but only to make sure it would last a bit longer. there were no problems with it. They said it needed the aperture block replaced, though there were no issues with exposure, I said go ahead. The actual 400,000 image had just a bird butt in it, so i tossed it. Here's the next worthwhile one, number 400256.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
08-22-2019, 10:55 AM
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Welcome to the forum. My experience has been that Slow Shutter Speed NR is applied to RAW or JPG, and when ON, the camera takes the image and then takes another with the shutter closed, to determine which pixels are stuck on, or hot, and then removes them from the original image. This would be useful, for example, when shooting star trails on a warm evening, when the sensor could get heated from long exposures. If you're taking 30 sec. shots with Slow Shutter Speed NR ON, it will take a second 30 sec. shot to remove the hot pixels from the image. In practice it seems that the camera takes forever to get a shot. That's why I try to do star trail photos only on cool evenings with Slow Shutter Speed NR Off.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
08-21-2019, 07:51 AM
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You're right. That was quick, there must not have been many.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
08-20-2019, 09:12 PM
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I hesitated on this one, but finally jumped. And I'm glad I did. It arrived today, and looks new, right down to the included packaging and documentation. It's smaller than I recall, but it's no Limited by any means. The web page indicates at least one more for another lucky soul. It took me 5 days to place the order, since their web site rejected my order once my credit card company balked at the order. Hopefully the next person has better luck. Get it while you can.
I think I'm going to enjoy this on my 645Z. :)
SMC PENTAX DA 645 25MM F4 AL IF SDM AW - Ricoh $2700 USD
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
02-19-2019, 01:34 PM
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Thanks for the bump on this. I haven't found a solution to this. It's probably just as well. Since I originally posted this back in 2014, I've retired from my 'day job' and have been shooting hummingbirds in my garden on pretty much a daily basis. I picked up a K-50 to do that job in 2015, it now has a shutter count of over 333,000. If the Z had catch-in-focus capabilities, I'm sure mine would have a significantly higher shutter count than the 14,200 it currently has. Not that I don't think the Z could handle that type of use (abuse?). ;)
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
12-22-2018, 11:20 PM
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The closest thing to what you suggest for diagnostics on ANY Pentax camera is a knowledgeable view of the EXIF data from an image. That will give you the shutter count among other variables pertaining to the camera at the time the image was shot. If you can interpret all the data, it MAY tell you if "everything is functioning normally".
I can tell you from experience, that the 645Z is a reliable camera if it hasn't been abused, and that my K-50, with a shutter count of over 322,000 in less than 3 years, is still shooting daily.
If the gear is in good shape, and used with care, it should last you a long time. My 15 year old *istD still works! Good luck on making your decision.
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