|
Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
12-25-2014, 03:38 PM
|
| |
I can remember the K1000 still turning up in a camera magazine's mini reviews section when I bought mine (1996-ish). At the time I didn't know that there were multiple versions, or that mine was older than I am!
If I'd known the KX existed I'd have wanted one of those instead. Still have the K1000 but my KXs get a lot more use.
|
|
Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
12-22-2014, 07:04 AM
|
| |
Interesting, I'd always thought the K1000 arrived a year after the other three K-bodies (1976 vs 1975)?
I get the impression that they sold a lot of K bodies with M lenses. My Dad bought his K2 new in 1978 and it came with an M50/1.7, I have a K2 which came with an M50/2. Did they have lots of unsold stock when the ME/MX hit the market, so started selling them off at a discount? The K1000 was planned to remain in production so there'd have been no urge to clear them.
|
|
Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
12-02-2014, 02:35 PM
|
| |
It may still be worth buying the immaculate one as a source of body panels. If you see a functional one with a huge scratch in the prism housing later on then you'll have the parts to repair it.
|
|
Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
12-01-2014, 07:51 AM
|
| |
It depends on why the shutter is stuck. Mine was a simple case of it having jammed, luckily nobody had tried to force the winder lever so I was able to use my standard "lighter fluid and gently prodding with a screwdriver" technique to free it. It's not always successful, as the clean but very broken S1 on my desk will attest to!
If they were both the same variant (remember that there are early and late models, I'm not sure if they're identical aside from the notch in the shutter speed dial) then I'd be tempted to buy both and combine the good bits. You will struggle to find any spares though, other than by buying complete cameras from the bargain bin. I was incredibly lucky in that my H2 didn't need any new parts, just some cleaning and oiling.
Just swapping the focussing screen might be difficult, as I don't know what Pentax did to fine-tune the position of the screen. Obviously if this isn't perfect your focussing will be out, and it's not easy to repair it without specialist hardware (or alternatively the camera on a tripod, a piece of ground glass taped in place of the film, the shutter locked open, and a lot of patience until the viewfinder image is in focus at the same time as the image on the ground glass).
This is also why attempting to replace the screen on a Super A/Program A, ME F or MG with another one from the same camera is doomed to fail. They have three tiny grub screws which adjust the distance between the screen and the mirror, which will have been adjusted for that specific body. Transplanting one to a different body without adjusting these is likely to cause a lot of out of focus images.
|
|
Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
11-30-2014, 09:00 AM
|
| |
The S2/H2 is an interesting little thing.
I paid £5 for a tidy but jammed one on ebay UK a couple of years ago, got it firing with liberal application of lighter fluid, and then spent a bit longer cleaning and oiling until it stopped capping at 1/500. They're very simple to work on as you can take the front off with four screws which gets you full access to most of the mechanism. A test roll came back perfectly exposed. It's the early version without the notch in the shutter speed dial to index the clip-on light meter. A pretty camera and I'm keeping my eyes open for more Auto Takumar lenses, as I only have the 55mm f2.2 which would originally have been on an S1.
The only weakness is the mechanism for stopping the lens down. On the early S2 (and maybe the later one too) the paddle is directly connected to the shutter button and only stays up for as long as you press the shutter. WIth a Super Takumar or later lens it's therefore possible to have a situation where you don't press the button down fully, so the lens doesn't stop down fully. With longer exposures there's also the danger of the lens not being held stopped down for the whole exposure. I shot most of the test roll with a Super Takumar 35mm f3.5 (one of my favourite M42 lenses) and used it as a preset lens with the A/M switch, to avoid any potential problems.
With the Auto Takumars this body was designed for there's no problem, as just touching the trip pin will cause the lens to stop down and stay stopped down until you press the lever down to re-open it.
The SV and later bodies have a different mechanism which holds the paddle up for as long as the shutter is open.
|
|
Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
11-27-2014, 11:52 AM
|
| |
I cannot believe that ended up in a junk bin, it's very tidy apart from a few rubs and chips.
If lighter oil isn't enough then try using lighter fluid (as in Zippo fuel) followed by light oil. That should dissolve old solidified oil and help move it out of the mechanism, after which you can replace it with fresh.
You say that, but the chassis is all metal on the P30 series. The panels and grips are plastic and rubber, but everything underneath from lens mount to tripod screw is diecast, just like the earlier bodies.
If I see a cheap P30t I'll probably buy another one. I had one but gave it to my cousin who wanted to try film, so I've been keeping my eyes open for another. The P30n I've acquired since is almost identical but given how cheap they are I'll probably complete the set.
|
|
Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
11-27-2014, 04:41 AM
|
| |
The P30s make great cameras for situations where you wouldn't risk something you wanted to keep. They don't feel cheap or nasty but they go for pennies.
Which is why a P30 and A50 f2 live in my car glovebox. They're not heavy or bulky and if it expires from heat or cold I'll just swap the lens onto another one.
|
|
Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
11-11-2014, 05:01 AM
|
| |
Do the batteries still drain if you set the selector dial on the top to "L" when not using it?
I've noticed that the batteries in my Super A seem to last better if I do that.
|
|
Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
11-10-2014, 12:54 PM
|
| |
I have a pile of ME F spares (including an unbroken battery door, a good ERC and a complete set of clean black panels) but have yet to snag a working one. I even have what must have been one of the last M 50mm f1.7 lenses made, which came attached to a very clean but also very dead ME F.
Is it my imagination or are they more fragile than earlier M series bodies? Mine all either suffer from a non-latching shutter or a weird fault where winding on causes the lens to stop down and the shutter to fire!
|
|
Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
11-18-2009, 01:26 AM
|
| |
They do give an address in the UK, which wouldn't be too hard to check out. RH might be the initials of the seller.
|
|
Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
11-17-2009, 10:39 AM
|
| |
You'd have thought that they could at least paint the silver parts to match the rest of it... :lol:
Seriously, has anyone ever managed to match the black paint finish? I have an MV1 here which was missing the cosmetic top for the winder. I replaced it with a silver one from a seriously jammed MG, but obviously I'd like to give it a quick coat of paint so it'll match the rest of the camera.
After one failed attempt I now have a nearly perfect MG:
The previous example turned out to have an intermittent jamming problem which was beyond my abilities to fix, and professional servicing would cost more than a fully functional example. This second one has a tiny bit of scuffing around one strap lug and arrived with a cracked focussing screen, which I replaced with the good one from the jammed example. It still has the protective transparent sticker on the baseplate!
|
|
Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
11-10-2009, 07:49 AM
|
| |
A couple of mine:
Very near mint ME Super, and a slightly dog-eared MV1 that would look a lot better if I could find a replacement top for the winder. I must have a go at photographing the rest of the film collection.
|
