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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
07-27-2017, 07:09 AM
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I successfully put one of the brass gears on my MZ-3. The level of force fit is "just right", so I don't see any risk of damaging the motor. It's very fiddly doing it with tweezers, but can be done. Nice not having to unsolder many wires from flex print.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
08-13-2018, 06:02 AM
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The shim thickness matters because the screen is mounted against a condenser under the prism, and the holder below it is sprung. The shim is above the screen. But what matters is where the bottom of the focusing screen is, as that's the matte surface.
My understanding is that LX and MX focusing screens are too small, they fall through the frame. They are also much thinner.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
08-12-2018, 12:24 PM
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Many moons ago I ordered the Canon "S type" focusing screen from Focusing Screen. Finally installed it today.
The metal shim in my camera was 0.5mm. The screen came with two plastic shims of 0.2mm, and one shim of 0.3mm. What I found most accurate was one 0.2mm shim. The shims are exactly the correct shape, and clip into the camera properly with the clip to the right of the main latch. Kudos to them for the attention to detail.
I used live view to calibrate, with a Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2 lens focusing on a tilted ruler on my desk. Did many iterations of the test, as each attempt at manual focus comes out a little different. I might wind up a bit more accurate with a 0.25mm shim, but it sure seems close enough.
The process is pretty easy with good hand-eye coordination and mechanical intuition. The two latches (screen and shim) work very nicely, better than in the Pentax LX in my opinion.
The screen really is pleasant to use with the 50/1.2 lens.
As Canon warns, the S screen gets dramatically dark at f/4.0. The Pentax-A 28-70/4 kit zoom is pretty dark. But f/3.5 is OK in my opinion.
The only f/4.0 lenses I have are that kit zoom, and Pentax-FA 20-35/4.0. The latter will be a bit of a bummer, although I've never really warmed up to zoom lenses. My A and FA primes are all f/3.5 or faster, so I think I'll be OK with this screen.
Obviously, the other choice is one of the Nikon screens, which don't have that cliff. But with so many interesting fast manual-focus lenses in my stable, I think I'll be happiest with this screen. I had a pretty poor hit focus "hit rate" with the Samyang 135/2.0 when I used it for a concert with the stock screen, I expect it to be more usable now.
The O-ME53 magnifier is still going to stay on the camera...
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Forum: Film Processing, Scanning, and Darkroom
10-05-2021, 11:05 AM
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One warning on Ilford's "changes of water" washing method. It ONLY works safely with a non-hardening fixer. You will be badly under-washed if you use a hardening fixer (say Kodak Kodafix).
Finding a used Wat-Air film washer can save a lot of wash water.
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Forum: Sold Items
02-14-2021, 06:54 PM
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Forum: Sold Items
12-09-2019, 06:35 PM
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It's not your eyes, the focusing screen in a K-1 just isn't suitable for focusing such fast lenses as the 50/1.2. Even with the magnifier, although it helps. Live view is really the only option to focus it accurately. (Someday I'll be using mine on a mirrorless camera...)
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
09-20-2019, 10:01 AM
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The "Photoshop" cloning from removing the model number from the photograph of the front is obvious. The pattern of speckles repeats three times.
I can see a good argument for not having the articulated screen of the K-1 on this model. It's a lot of extra weight, and one of the pros of APS-C DLSRs is supposed to be light weight compared to full-frame. The weight of the K-1 is my primary grudge against it...
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Forum: Film Processing, Scanning, and Darkroom
10-01-2018, 07:09 AM
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Oh, it's the 250 exposure reel/tank, not 100 foot. The tank is about 10 inches in diameter. I suspect I could agitate by inversion with two hands. Need to keep one finger on the little fill cap.
Probably would want to lower the reel into a filled tank, rather than filling it through the fill spout. Would probably take a minute to fill the beast. Might be a good application of HC-110 "Dilution G" to make fill and drain time less critical.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
08-17-2018, 10:06 AM
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So I just retested with a more rigorous approach. Printed the Siemens Star from Wikipedia. Folded it in half and set it vertically. Put a sloped ruler next to it. Focused by eye on the star, and then checked the ruler with Live View. More or less dead on, or maybe focused 1mm behind the mark at 0.5 meters. I doubt I can do any better with shims in 0.1mm thickness increments.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
07-27-2017, 07:13 AM
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I successfully did the brass gear swap on my MZ-3 several years ago. It's rather fiddly if you avoid the major teardown required to remove the motor.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-20-2016, 03:13 PM
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My short-mount K 100/4 macro had separation. Eric took a chance at baking, cleaning, and re-gluing, and succeeded. But it's not a zero-risk operation.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
05-05-2016, 01:43 PM
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Mine arrived (Boston area) from B&H today at 3:19pm, shipped yesterday, ordered on February 17.
It's heavy.
The autofocus sure looks more sophisticated than my K-5, pretty smart about picking a bunch of focus points. Hmm, but not always that smart...
Focusing screen looks absolutely permanent, the bright thing that shows in the lens mount is not a clip holding it in place.
Took some shots with the FA* 77, which I'd said would be the first lens on it. Got a keeper of my wife.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
04-22-2016, 06:00 AM
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I upgraded a lot of my Pentax-M lenses to the Pentax-A equivalents when I realized that the "full frame" wasn't going to have an aperture sensor lever. Still hoping that I can put in a focusing screen that will make manual focus work well, as there are a lot of interesting Pentax-A lenses that don't have Pentax-FA equivalents.
I'm like monochrome at this point, close to 50 K-mount lenses, but lots of redundancy.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
01-01-2016, 03:04 PM
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I started with a Topcon system in the early 1970's. Used Super D with a 58/1.8 from Olden Camera. Now have all the RE. Auto-Topcor and R. Topcor lenses. Pretty much in retirement now.
Then a Leica IIIa that I bought at our church's rummage sale. Have gotten to having period lenses from 28mm to 135mm. Still my favorite travel camera, small and light.
Then a Canon IIF that spawned into a IV-SB2 and 7s, with a nice set of Canon RF lenses.
Got a Pentax *ist DS2 to get into digital, it spawned an MX, MZ-3, *ist, and LX, and a nice set of Pentax-A and Pentax-FA prime lenses. Now waiting to buy the full-frame K-1, as color film processing prices are going insane.
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Forum: Pentax Full Frame
03-19-2015, 06:50 PM
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I hope that the focusing screen holder and position in the digital FF are compatible with the MX and LX so that we can use all those delicious focusing screens. Also, they can start making things like the SC-69 focusing screen again.
Really don't want to have to rely on converted Canon screens to have good manual focusing abilities.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
07-28-2009, 09:59 AM
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I just bought a used one recently, and was very impressed by the finder. Big bright, 0.97x magnification really makes a difference.
One thing I don't like is the difficulty of manipulating the shutter speed dial . The detents are tight, and the large end on the wind lever and the raised shutter button collar both get in the way of my fingers. By comparison, the K1000 shutter speed dial is a cinch to spin.
The LEDs can be dim in bright light.
Looks very well built on the inside. There's a lot of light seals inside that need replacing as well!
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