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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
06-05-2023, 08:41 AM
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Well it's been a few days now, still won't keep date settings even WITH a fully charged normal camera battery.
What are my options? If the only option is "send to Pentax for repair", is there a price estimate based on other's experience?
Thanks
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
06-03-2023, 07:43 PM
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I went for 6-8 months without using my K3 II. Clearly the battery was flat by the time I pulled it out a few days ago. I swapped in a newly charged battery, and now I'm seeing the time reset to a bogus date/time. If I have GPS signal it quickly resets, but if I don't, it stays bogus. It never used to do this.
I did some searching and saw conflicting info on whether there was an internal battery that had to be soldered after taking apart the camera, or if it was a capacitor that should "just work".
Thoughts?
-Tim
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
07-19-2017, 06:06 PM
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Thanks, that was it, sort of. Camera was in manual focus mode.
And what's a manual? lol
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
07-19-2017, 05:03 PM
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Hi all, did a google for this and came up empty.
On my K20D I used Dust Alert frequently. I'm pretty sure I've used it on my 'new' K3 II before too, but now when I go to use it it's disabled and I can't select it.
What am I missing?
Thanks,
-Tim
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
03-29-2017, 03:09 PM
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Don't hate me for waking up this thread... was just searching for Pentax-related eclipse photography info and here was this great thread. We're planning on watching from MO, my sister moved to Branson last fall and we need to get down and see her new place anyway. Branson is not in the totality but we'll make the trip further north for the actual event.
Today I ordered the supplies to make a solar filter. I also found a 2x teleconverter on Amazon for only $40. Hoping to pair that with my zoom (currently maxes out at 300mm) to get some good photos.
I'm primarily going to be there to witness it with my own eyes, but if I can also get some good photos, that is extra cool.
-Tim
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
12-26-2015, 07:51 AM
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Yeah I was afraid of that. Is Rokinon a Tumax brand? Looking at their page, it looks very similar.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
12-25-2015, 07:29 PM
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Merry Christmas all
I'm the proud owner of a new K3 II that my wife gave me as a Christmas present as an upgrade from my K20D. I also have a Rokinon D980AFZ-PK flash (which is sometimes also branded as Vivitar) that I've used successfully for years with the K20D. However, when I try taking a picture with it with the K3 II, the flash starts strobing like a haunted house lol - we're talking a very fast strobe which seems to continue until I shut off the flash. Incidentally I put the flash in Manual mode (non- P-TTL) and the same issue happened.
Any idea what's going on here? Are some P-TTL flashes incompatible with the K3II? This is obviously important since the camera itself doesn't have a pop-up flash.
Thanks much!
-Tim
P.S. As an aside, I had my K-20D with me as we were opening gifts, and switched to the K3 II after I opened it, and was blown away by the difference in image quality, at least with the low light situation we were in. I can't wait to take it around to some other shooting situations as I always thought the K20D was pretty darned good.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
12-11-2015, 09:57 AM
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Awesome, thanks for confirming. I spent about 30 minutes combing through reviews and photos and didn't see one peep about it, nor a pic showing it lol.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
12-11-2015, 09:44 AM
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Sorry for the stupid question, but does the K3 II support a wired shutter release? I didn't see it mentioned and I don't see it in any of the pics, although pics underneath the doors are harder to come by.
With my current K20-D I have a wireless trigger that has a receiver that plugs into the wired jack. It is RF and works MUCH more reliably than the built in IR sensor.
Thanks!
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-10-2015, 02:03 PM
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I've had my trusty K20D since 2010, and the camera is a couple years older than that. So I've recently been bitten by the 'upgrade' bug. The new K3ii seems like an awesome camera, but I'm surprised about the price point. For example Amazon has the K3 for about $650, while the ii is $925. I know the previous models go down in value, but is there really enough bang in the ii to justify nearly $300 more?
The other thing that surprises me is the seeming lack of a kit option with the K3ii. I can certainly keep my kit lens from the K20D, but I usually look at kits as a way to upgrade to a possibly better lens, or at least an additional one, for a good value.
Thoughts? Sorry if this is a FAQ... I was active here for a time when I first got my K20D but not so much recently.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
06-14-2011, 04:35 PM
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Thinner is petroleum (oil) based. You know what they say about mixing oil and water?
In short, it won't work ;)
I agree with the other poster that it's likely just dust, unless your camera was very close to the painted surface.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
05-20-2011, 11:37 AM
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I was using my identical lens this morning when it accidentally got bumped - not all that hard but evidently enough to jam the focus. I figured it was totalled (not worth enough to get it repaired) but thanks to google and this extremely informative post above, I was able to get it working perfectly.
I know this is an old thread but just wanted to say "thanks"!
-Tim
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
08-30-2010, 09:18 AM
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Don't feel too bad - live view on the K20D pretty much sucks. It doesn't not auto-focus like you think it should (have to use the AF button on the back of the camera, and wait 2-3 seconds of blackness while that happens). I only use it if I'm holding the camera in a position that isn't convenient to use the viewfinder...
No idea if the newer models improved on this or not.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
08-30-2010, 09:14 AM
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Not to hijack, but I totally fail to see the point of that mode. It's just so simple to take a normal shot and trash it if you don't want it, why muck with another mode to do the opposite?
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
08-30-2010, 09:08 AM
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Just one last follow-up: The camera has been swapped, and I have been unable to reproduce the problem with the new one.
Now I get to attempt to photoshop all the bad photos from our vacation! ;)
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
08-24-2010, 02:55 PM
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I just reproduced the problem with the camera's internal memory and no SD card (the internal memory is a joke - holds about 10 pictures at full resolution, but I guess it was good for something! :) ) The camera will go back ASAP.
Thanks for the tips!
-Tim
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
08-24-2010, 07:17 AM
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Card reader here - depending on the computer, it's either built-in, or one I got on eBay for ultra-cheap. Much more convenient than dragging the camera over to the computer and trying to hook it up with a special cable.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
08-23-2010, 10:58 PM
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The Bower appears to be (again) the same flash as the ones I mentioned above. They probably all come from the same factory with different labeling...
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
08-23-2010, 07:59 PM
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By the way, the SD card involved is a 4GB Kingston that I've used successfully with my K20D for months. I bought a new 8GB card for the Pentax and gave this one to my wife...
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
08-23-2010, 07:55 PM
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I've had the Rokinon Digital D980AFZ-PK since June, and am very pleased with it. I believe this is the exact same unit as several other flashes with different brand names (Vivitar, Digital Concepts, etc) and goes for about $120 on eBay.
It has motorized zoom, tilt/swivel, LCD display, and a relatively high guide number. At the time I bought it I found reviews of it on several forums and it seemed to be relatively well-regarded, for a lower-priced flash.
I'm quite happy with it, as I've already said :)
ETA: here's a link to the Digital Concepts version which appears to be identical to mine, other than branding:
http://cgi.ebay.com/DEDICATED-AUTO-PTTL-FLASH-K110-K100-PENTAX-CAMERAS-/2005...Camera_Flashes |
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
08-23-2010, 07:43 PM
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First, apologies that this isn't specifically a Pentax question. It's regarding my wife's new Nikon Coolpix S4000 that I bought her to use as an ultracompact to supplement our Pentax K20D that I normally use for shooting. I just know there are a lot of knowledgeable people here so I hope you can help me.
We just got back from Disney, and it's the first real use of this camera. Much to our disappointment, we found many of the photographs have severe artifacts in them. They seem to appear only in outdoor pictures, in particularly bright parts of the picture. Oddly, it doesn't *always* occur in these conditions. I've attached four pictures to demonstrate:
The first is quite obvious - the sky looks like it was taken through a fence or something.
The second is more subtle, but you can see the effect in the waves and the boy's skin.
The third and fourth have similar composition, yet one shows the problem and the other does not.
Is this likely a camera defect? Are we doing something wrong? Surely this isn't to be expected with this camera?
Thanks!
-Tim
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
05-17-2010, 09:11 AM
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Either I'm deaf, or some folks are amazingly perceptive, because I can turn my K20D in all directions (power on or off) and not hear anything except perhaps the faintest noise, which short of knowing about this "issue" I would ascribe to the camera strap wiggling or something.
But this uses the term "clunk" which I would expect to hear if there was a AA battery loose inside the camera or something...
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
04-05-2010, 11:43 AM
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I bought two cheap SD readers ($10 shipped for both, from Hong Kong) off eBay. One of them has trouble copying the pictures, the other works fine. I obviously got a bad unit, but paying $10 shipped for the other, good reader is still a great deal so I'm not unhappy.
Guess my point is that without trying another card reader, you won't know if its your card, the reader, or something screwy with your computer.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
03-25-2010, 05:18 PM
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I played with this a bit more tonight.
I thought maybe the internal switch that grounds out the 'A' pin when you have the lens in 'A' mode was being flakey, so I put a multimeter on it, and it appears to be just fine, off the camera. So something is screwy between the lens and the camera.
Since the AF linkage lines up properly, I'm not sure how the contacts would be getting out of line, unless the lens is manufactured improperly, or if there's more 'give' in the AF system than in the contacts.
One thing that is strange about this lens compared to my others: Most lenses I've seen have a shiny metal back plate. This one has a black (painted?) black plate, and a small copper contact on one of the bayonets that appears to be what grounds it (I used that contact for my tests with the multimeter). I can take a pic of it if people don't understand what I"m talking about. It's possible that this grounding contact isn't making good contact with the camera, but it wasn't very adjustable.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
03-25-2010, 02:58 PM
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Upon further examination, it's only one cap that's problamatic- it just happens to be on a lens I use frequently. It goes on with difficulty on the lens it came with, and not at all on the others.
I swapped the caps around so this one stays in the bag most of the time, and the problem should be essentially solved :)
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