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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
04-15-2024, 01:08 AM
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As I've said to others - digital is not like film - in one important way if no other. You've made the big investment, now you can enjoy your kit at virtually no expense - presuming you've already got a computer and card reader. In the olden days we spent a packet on the hardware and then another each week on processing and printing! Beware of the creeping feeling that "I must have that body/lens/other shiny thing. Practice makes perfect and every mistake is a lesson: I've been taking photographs since about 1960 and the lessons keep on coming . . .
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
03-25-2024, 03:22 AM
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Welcome to the world of "I MUST have that lens/body/accessory"! You have made the big investment, so running costs are minimal. Practice and more practice is the keynote, reading everything available adds to your knowledge and every failed shot is a lesson learned. Above all, enjoy yourself!
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Forum: General Talk
03-18-2024, 03:40 AM
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I've noticed a fair few strange prices on UK fleabay. There's one in particular which has a couple of dozen assorted cameras overpriced and with a single obviously catalogue-sourced photograph of each as a header. Money laundering, anyone? Or do I watch too many cop shows?
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
02-23-2024, 11:32 AM
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Too late for some, but after getting a quote for £17 from Farnells for the original MS414GE, I searched for an equivalent and saw that the MS621 was suitable. Critically, it's the same thickness as the original, just slightly bigger in diameter - 6.8mm instead of 4mm. I fitted it to my K-r and Robert's your mother's brother. It will obviously fit other models, you'll just have to check the space around the existing MS414.
MS621 Surface Mount (MS621FE) Rechargeable Backup Battery. |
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-16-2024, 10:22 AM
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35mmfilmfan: The Neewer base clamp and plate arrived this morning. It's an excellent piece of kit, strong, well made and finished and unlikely to ever let go without being told to. Thank you again for the recommendation.
For those who like to keep up, this is what we're discussing.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-14-2024, 04:11 AM
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Thank you again, Photogem. The K-r and "lenses" are being sold on behalf of a hospice so I'd expect them to hang out for as much money as possible but I've bookmarked it anyway.
Those parts prices are very good and add to my indecision. I bought the K-r faulty as part of a package and sold off the parts I didn't want. As a result, taking into account the £5 CMOS battery I fitted, the K-r body cost me less than £30! What to do?
My preference for the K-r over the K30 is purely down to handling: the results from either are very good. The K-r fits my hands nicely and if I have photographs to take, that's what I pick up. Even when I had K-r and K30 side by side the K30 felt "lumpy" - it just never felt right. I have a Lumix GX80 kit but using it always feels as if I have to give more attention to the camera than the shot.
I'm forcing myself to take things slowly. I'm not without cameras so I can wait for a replacement to arrive at the right price!
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Forum: Maintenance and Repair Articles
01-18-2024, 01:53 PM
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It's on the back: according to the data sheets they're the same depth, 1.4mm, but different diameters. ML414 - 4.8mm dia., ML614 - 6.8mm dia.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-12-2024, 03:39 PM
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Thank you, 35mmfilmfan, I'll certainly be binning the existing instant disaster items. I'll look at Neewer and Arcaswiss kit.
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
02-09-2024, 06:33 AM
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I would like to nominate this photo
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-12-2024, 01:09 PM
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Thank you Bob and Mlag. At these prices I'll wait for a donor body. Here's the damage: I'm not a happy bunny!
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-12-2024, 10:22 AM
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Thanks, Mike. Thankfully the Rubinar only suffered a scuff and a scratch on its hood: it looks as though the combination landed on the edge under the LCD after doing a full forward somersault when the QR let go! I have had a K30 but sold it on because it didn't fit my hands as well as the K-R. Luckily I've got another K-R so I'll just have to keep trawling fleabay for a donor - at present all on there are decent ones. It's typical that I bought the damaged one cheap needing a cmos battery, fitted one and now it's a proper casualty!
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
02-12-2024, 02:05 AM
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Yes, that's a proper Escort. I did many miles of stages in one in the early 70s. I also spent many hours repairing it afterwards!
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Forum: Maintenance and Repair Articles
01-15-2024, 04:39 AM
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The "handling" charge is apparently contributing to their yacht fund!
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Forum: Maintenance and Repair Articles
01-06-2024, 03:36 AM
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Photogem: thank you again. I had checked fleabay and searched and found Farnell. Unfortunately any link I found seemed to want to sell me hundreds of them! Once the K-r arrives and I've tried all your recommendations I'll be able to put the link you gave to good use.
bfn
David
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Forum: General Photography
11-06-2023, 03:54 AM
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Thank you for sharing; happy memories and I love the black and whites of the volcano. Can I also thank you for the unintentional giggle: you wrote Pompey instead of Pompeii. I immediately imagined your cruise ship docking in the Royal Navy dockyard at Portsmouth: "Pompey" is its nickname!
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Forum: Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands
08-27-2023, 01:58 AM
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Thank you for sharing the fun! I'm like Lesmore49, knocking on a bit and looking for ways to lighten the load but have decided that anything I could afford wouldn't make enough difference to justify the expense! I dabbled in M4/3 but didn't like the electronic viewfinders: anything pocketable wouldn't produce the results my Pentaxes (Pentaces?) do, so I'll soldier on and concentrate on technique!
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
07-15-2023, 03:34 AM
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Now that we've decided not to bother with sticky stuff on the solenoid retaining screw, here's my method! I use Loctite simply because it's something I always have handy.
I put a drop of Loctite onto the glass top of my desk then put the screw onto the tip of my magnetised JIS screwdriver. I then dip the tip of the screw into the drop of Loctite and - importantly - dab the tip onto a tissue. This leaves enough on the threads to do the job but not enough to migrate elsewhere. I usually notice the remains of the drop of Loctite on the desk later, when I drop something into it . . .
I finally got round to buying a Vessel 9902 set: I should have done it years ago! The extra length means that my old paws can get a proper grip and not rely on increasingly wobbly fingertips.
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Forum: General Photography
08-09-2022, 08:00 AM
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I use a concoction of old and new. I had an Olympus 35mm scanner I couldn't use because it was SCSI, I don't use a desktop and no other software available.. Waste not, want not. I removed most things except the negative carrier which is nice and stable. I use 50mm Minolta E-Rokkor in a classic ( but shortened for coverage ) BPM bellows, the Olympus holder fixed to the end and my Kr or K5 doing the hard work. Like most DIYs, it would be expensive to set out from nothing but I already had the scrap scanner and the bellows: I'm nothing if not cheap!
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
05-24-2022, 03:55 AM
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I don't want Photogem saying "I told you so" but I've proved him right again! I wrote earlier that I had replaced the solenoid in my K30 with one from an MZ and it seemed to work OK. I found, after longer testing, that it worked 99%.but the 1% was just irritating: after being left unused for a day or two the first frame afterwards would be black then the following frames were exposed correctly. I then bought a failed DS which I hoped to revive but which proved to be unsaveable: so here were the solenoids I needed. I used the DS flash solenoid, reasoning that it had had the least use of the two and yes, did the job all over again. This time it's 100% so another "thank you" to Photogem for sharing the benefits of his experience!
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
02-19-2022, 01:06 PM
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First of all, a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread, especially “Photogem” for the descriptions, photographs and diagrams which made so many aspects of the job even clearer than they really were! I thought I should add my own experiences as a further guide – or warning - to those who haven’t done it yet.
My observations are as follows:
My green solenoid was jammed solid when I removed it, it was far worse than any of the descriptions I’d read.
By following Photogem’s writings and illustrations none of the case dismantling or reassembly is bothersome but I spent vastly longer on the wiring than I had expected. Because I’m a cheapskate I used the white solenoid from a sacrificial MZ-50. In the original camera it’s fed by a ribbon cable which I duly unsoldered. His left me with two VERY short pins to reattach the original cables to: are the pins on dSLR solenoids any longer? I tested the polarity: it was correct.
Having fat fingers, ageing eyesight and a slightly too-big soldering iron, I ended up taking the solenoid out again so I could solder the leads without accidentally melting anything else. If I was doing another I would unsolder the leads from the upper board when dismantling to allow them to be soldered to the solenoid on the bench (AKA dining room table) instead of in situ. Once the solenoid is finally in place the leads can then be soldered back to the board – you did note which went where, didn’t you – I did!
Unlike some as noted by Photogem, the MZ-50 mechanical alignment is perfectly straight so it sits and operates perfectly. So far, on short acquaintance, my K30 is sorted, exposures are fine and only time will tell whether the MZ-50 solenoid is a good or a bad idea.
Final hints – I printed and glued Photogem’s screw layouts onto 5mm foamboard to allow for the length of some screws.
Make sure you use JIS screwdrivers. They may look similar but they aren’t pozidriv or philips! Magnetise them: you’ll thank yourself.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
11-16-2021, 09:27 AM
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I haven't done it recently but did so some years ago. I was using an Epson printer - sorry, I can't remember the model number - with a near-straight paper path so weight was no problem. I used 250gsm paper. I didn't bother with all that technical stuff(!) but a few test prints worked ok and the thing I remember was the need to increase saturation about 10% and tell the machine it was feeding matt photo paper. Have fun!
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
12-05-2019, 03:27 PM
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I seem to remember that in the past someone was keeping tabs on Pentax dSLR camera life: I was gobsmacked when I checked over my latest fleabay bargain. I bought a K-m "spares and repairs", not powering up. producing fuzzy results and with a randomly working edial. After fitting good lithium batteries, realising that its 18-55 was riddled with fungus and cleaning the edial contacts I installed the latest firmware and all was well. I then got to the startling stage. I checked the shutter count in Photome, found it difficult to believe and so checked it again online. It's the highest number I've seen on any of the many cameras I've bought and sold since about 2005 - 90,240!!
There's some polishing where it's been held, the flash shoe has lost a bit of plating and some of the printing on the OK button has worn off. Otherwise, to look at it could be a 10 or 20k body. So I've got a usable body, an 18-55 which I might be able to clean and a good 50-200 in a Lowepro case for £32 delivered. I do love a bargain!
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Forum: Pentax K-r
12-23-2012, 06:10 AM
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I thought I'd add my five penn'orth as this seems to be a problem which won't go away. I read about the various fixes before buying a faulty K-x you-know-where. I swilled out the edial assembly with switch cleaner three times. Each time it worked fine for an hour then the fault returned. I charged and recharged the Li-ion battery and, yet again, after an hour or so ditto. I fitted AA lithiums in a Chinese holder (they cured a problematic ist DL2 for me about a year ago) - no improvement. Finally I swilled out the lens contacts on the body and both standard lenses. Result! It's now more than 24 hours later and counting. I switch on and fire a few off about once an hour and all seems to be well. It looks to me as though there's more than one fault floating around in there and the only way to be sure is to attack them all. If these aren't successful then I'm afraid it's off to Pentax because there's more to it than mucky contacts.
Here's wishing you all a flip-free Christmas and a photogenic new year.
BFN
David
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
07-08-2012, 04:11 AM
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Sitting this morning catching up with yesterday's Tour de France coverage, I saw something which will cheer many Pentax users. No, not a forest of K-5s. The camera panned to a crowd craning to photograph one of the star cyclists. As the crowd was so thick(!) some held their cameras over their heads and fired them blind. In the middle of the shot was a Canon EOS with the lens cap on!
My, how we laughed . . .
BFN
David
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