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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
01-27-2024, 01:23 PM
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Without (I'm a Mac user, and so far as I know PK Tether is not available for the OSX platform). I posted my step-by-step method in the "How to ..." thread on screwdrive conversion back in 2016, here:
How To: Convert SDM to ScrewDrive + Video - PentaxForums.com
I have used this same procedure to convert my DA* 16-50, 50-135, 200, and 300, all using a K5 IIs body. As many others have reported, it did not work with my 60-250, where the slowly deteriorating SDM finally gave in completely last week!
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
01-24-2024, 07:36 PM
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From personal experience I can confirm that the K5IIs also works.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
02-05-2023, 07:48 PM
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It’s a pleasure, Yinzer15236, I’m glad it worked for you too. Subsequent to my original post regarding the DA*16-50, I’ve used the same process to convert my DA*200, and DA*300, and it also worked perfectly with those lenses.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
02-07-2022, 08:12 PM
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Thank you, just grabbed one. Great deal!
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
10-27-2021, 10:43 AM
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In case it happens to anyone else, when I downloaded the update file to my iMac from the Ricoh site, it came in with the filename fwdc233b-2.bin, and was not recognized by my K3-III when I tried to initiate the update procedure. I then noticed that previous update filenames were fwdc233b.bin (without the "-2" at the end). So I renamed the file by deleting the "-2", and the update ran perfectly after that. That hasn't happened before in the countless updates I have done on Pentax bodies previously. Everything seems fine after the update, with no particular differences or improvements noted yet.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
08-21-2021, 07:00 PM
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B&H is selling it right now for $496.95.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
11-18-2019, 07:48 PM
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The K1 is my first experience of a flippy screen, and I love it. Recently was on a safari holiday in Kenya where my go to stabilization was a bean bag on the vehicle window frame or open roof. The adjustable screen made it so much easier to keep focused on game/bird targets while waiting for a shot, as one lands up holding and pointing the camera at various odd angles in that situation. It was also perfect for tripod based eclipse shots. Now I find myself wishing all my bodies had one (still using my K5iis and K3). Despite prevailing doubts, I’m really hoping that the K-new has one too when final design is revealed.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
01-20-2019, 10:15 AM
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I use the Really Right Stuff BK1-L set. It's not cheap ($120 from B&H) but it's a quality product and works perfectly. It leaves the battery door clear when mounted - you can see various views of the mounted product in the pics on the B&H site:
Really Right Stuff BK1-L Set L-Plate for Pentax K-1 BK1 L-SET |
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
11-24-2018, 02:57 PM
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Oh boy, here goes - I'm in too.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
07-12-2018, 06:17 PM
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
09-09-2017, 02:28 PM
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Thank you, Jim - I really appreciate your detailed description, and the link to Jerry L's site, which has a lot of useful info. I'm also a complete neophyte at this, but I got some reasonable individual pics during the eclipse, and now I'm on a quest to put them together in a way that does at least some justice to the splendor of the moment. If I can get even close to what you achieved, I'll be very happy!
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
09-07-2017, 06:55 PM
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Love your composite, ill repUTE! How did you put it together?
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
08-31-2017, 06:13 AM
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Here's my contribution, individual images taken with K-1, 150-450 at 400, Seymour Solar filter for partial phases, PP in Lightroom. Location was Townville, SC:
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
12-04-2016, 07:01 PM
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Worked it out - bought a set of JIS precision screwdrivers, and it was the #000 that did the trick perfectly, so it's a JIS screw head, and not Philips. So I've joined the baffleless club, whole procedure was quick and easy, no more than 5 minutes - many thanks for the guidance to the predecessors on this thread. The lens is working fine on both my K-3 and K-1, and vignetting on the latter is much reduced. Interestingly, my removed baffle tube also has the circumferential scratch as can be seen in the pics posted by Jatrax in this thread. There must be something in the assembly process that causes that scratching.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
12-04-2016, 07:45 AM
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Can anyone tell me what size Philips screwdriver should be used. I've just got a K-1, and am keen to do the modification this weekend.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
11-29-2016, 06:06 PM
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Thanks to all for your responses - I think I'm going to play it safe and return. Time spent with lens, though, convinced me it is a winner. I'll be replacing through tried and trusted B&H, despite the additional cost.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
11-28-2016, 07:30 PM
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Not sure where best to post this - happy to repost somewhere else if advised. I've just received a D FA 150-450 bought as new from Amazon (Amazon direct) on their Black Friday deal ($2,204.57). It arrived today - the lens looks new, and seems to work fine, but I'm concerned that there was no documentation of any sort in the box. No instruction sheet, guarantee card, or lens serial number record card- all of which I'm used to finding with a new Pentax lens. This comes after I returned a K-1 that was part of the same order from Amazon, as it was back focusing and had a first shot shutter count of 491 - obviously a resale of a previously returned product. I find this disappointing from Amazon, where I've always had good experiences in the past. Now wondering whether I should keep the lens, or return it. I haven't had time to try it out properly, but I love the feel of the lens so far, and initial focusing tests are spot on. I wonder, though, what circumstances brought it to me without any of the usual enclosed documentation. Any advice would be welcome.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
11-26-2016, 08:02 PM
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The purchase was direct from Amazon, with the K-1 advertised and sold as new - it was not a warehouse deal. To Amazon's credit, the return and full refund was processed and actioned immediately, so they have fully honored their robust return policy. I will be looking towards B&H or Adorama for a replacement next week - the hour I spent with the K-1 convinced me it is an incredible camera, despite the issues that particular one may have had.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
11-26-2016, 02:41 PM
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After waiting in vain for a decent Black Friday deal from B&H or Adorama, I went with Amazon on a supposedly new K-1 for $1849.95 (supplied by Amazon directly). It arrived this morning - internal item packaging had clearly been opened previously, a number of menu settings were not at default (time/date was already correctly set), and a first shot shutter count check showed 491 (manufacture date 2016:08:16). I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt and try it out, but then found it was back focusing with a number of my lenses - first time that has happened to me with a Pentax body. I've returned it, and will now stick to my longstanding and always reliable outlets, B&H or Adorama, even if I have to pay a bit extra. I accept that suppliers should be able to sell on returned camera's, but this experience leaves me wondering what a reasonable shutter count is for a previously returned camera to be advertised and sold as "new"?
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-26-2016, 10:09 AM
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-23-2016, 12:19 PM
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With much appreciation to the OP (Blacknight659), DavidDwight for the PK Tether workaround, and also posts on the other forum, I have been able to successfully complete the SDM to screw drive conversion without using PK Tether. This is great for Mac users like me (PK Tether is not available for Mac), but it should also work for PC users. I have just used this process to convert my DA* 16-50, using a K5IIs, firmware 1.07. I don't know if it will work with other camera models. For others who may like to try this, I have laid out the process I followed below. This is basically a combination of the processes described in this thread by the OP, David immediately above, and Ron (Brandrx) in the other forum, but I thought it may be useful to lay it out in one place, with some additional notes from my experience:
As noted by the original posters, continue at your own risk - I am not responsible for any damage that may occur to your equipment.
1. Download the two required files from Dropbox, depending on the camera you are using: Dropbox - enable Debug Menu
Note: When I did this on my Mac, for some reason the extension .txt was added to the file names during the download process. You need to remove this added extension, so the file names appear as 00077681.541 and DEVELOP.MOD. This is for the K5IIs - for other models, the numbers in the first file name will be different. The content of the first file is a single line: [OPEN_DEBUG_MENU]. The second file is empty.
2. Copy these two files to the root directory of your SD card. I did this using a card reader - you can also do it with the SD card in the camera, using a USB cord between camera and computer.
3. Put the SD card in your camera, and power on while leaving the memory card door open. The Development Menu will immediately appear. This is the step that gets you into the Development Menu without using PK Tether.
4. Scroll down to Development Menu 4, and select line "LENS ROM DAT CAMERA=>SD", press OK. This copies the LENSEEP.LNS file to your SD card.
5. If you are using a card reader, power off, remove SD card and place in card reader. This is how I did it, but you could also continue working with these files connecting to the SD card in your camera with a USB cord. Make a backup of the LENSEEP.LNS file, and save it to your computer for possible future use.
6. Open the original LENSEEP.LNS file on the SD card using the Textedit app (this is for Mac users, PC users would use Notepad or another text editor). Use the edit, find menu to highlight all occurrences of "C0". These were in the first column on the left, and in the column headed "03". Ignore the first column leaving it as it is, and change all of the "C0" occurrences in column 03 to "80" (in my case there were 16 of them in column 03 needing changing). Save the file changes, making sure that the only copy of the LENSEEP.LNS file left on the SD card is the modified file (the first two files from Steps 1 and 2 should still be there). Using the Textedit app on my mac, I did not have any issues with having to change RTF/ASCII save settings as reported by DavidDwight - I just used the standard file, save, and it worked fine.
7. Return the SD card to the camera, and power on, again leaving the memory card door open so the Development menu appears.
8. Scroll down to Development Menu 4, and select line "LENS ROM DAT SD=>CAMERA", press OK. This copies the edited file back to the lens. You will see "wait..." on the screen, and then some lines of text flashing past for a few seconds. This completes the process. Power off, and power on again normally with the memory card door closed - the lens should now be in screw drive mode. As reported by others, you may need to repeat this step. In my case it did not work the first time, but did after the second.
You will now find a backup file on your SD card created by your camera, called BACKUP.LNS. This seems to be the same as the backup of LENSEEP.LNS created in step 5. I have kept both of these on my computer in case of future need. As you don't need the files on your SD card any more, you can delete them, or preferably reformat the card.
The key to this method which does not use PK Tether is getting in to the Development Menu by having the two necessary files from step 1 in the root directory of your SD card, and powering the camera on with the card door open. I learned this from DavidDwight's post above - it works with both my K5IIs, and my K3. I don't know if it works with other Pentax models. I completed the lens conversion process with my K5IIs. Although I have seen that I can get in to the Development Menu the same way on my K3, I don't know if the whole lens conversion process would work the same as it did with the K5IIs.
I now have a fully functional DA* 16-50 again. As expected the screw drive focus is a bit noisier than the SDM was, but that is a small price to pay for having a working lens, and the confidence that it is not going to fail on me as it has three times previously.
Many thanks also to posters on the other forum for sharing their solutions (especially Ron - BrandrX, RIP).
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
06-12-2015, 12:34 PM
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Very nice! I especially like number 3.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
06-01-2014, 06:43 AM
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
05-30-2014, 05:05 AM
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In case any of you have missed it, Frederic has an "interesting" link in his signature (see above), which links to a stunning collection of images. You are an artist and an inspiration, Frederic!
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
04-26-2014, 07:39 PM
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That's a brown headed cowbird.
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