Is there life after aperture block failure?

Massao wrote:

peterpainter wrote:

Oiche wrote:

peterpainter wrote:

Oiche wrote:

peterpainter wrote:

PocketPixels wrote:

I'm very sorry to hear that your camera has developed the aperture block failure. However, I don't think that's a very expensive problem to fix—several sites have popped up doing just Pentax aperture fixes, and you can always send it to Pentax for repair if you don't trust the smaller shops.

To be clear, it's awful that you have to pay anything—these repairs should be covered under a recall or enforced by a class action—but the price you would pay to get your current DSLR fixed would be far less than what you'd pay for a new KP or K-70.

Thank-you - yes, getting it fixed is another option that is worth considering. I'll do a bit of research and see what I can find, after all, compared to buying something else it's probably cheaper. In the long-run I'll probably end up replacing the K50 but being one of people who will potentially have to move house (and country) as a result of the BREXIT fiasco I'm in 'counting my pennies mode' - no unnecessary expenditure because things could turn out very expensive.

Hopefully you will have nothing to worry about in the end, you're an expat living in France right? I agree it is a ridiculous fiasco, any chance you have any recent Irish ancestors to get a passport? All my cousins born and living in England have them.

I do have Irish ancestors - but not the required paperwork. To get the correct evidence (research on family stuff) requires an open-ended investigation by an 'expert' (and therefore a healthy bank balance) which I'm not prepared to get involved in. However, an Irish passport does not really solve the main problems, it merely helps with freedom of movement and the right to remain in the country. Freedom of movement doesn't worry me because I am not interested in roaming around Europe, and the right to stay here will probably granted because my income for the last 5 years is sufficient.

Being a pensioner, a lot of my (and my wife's) income depends on my UK state pension, the updating of which there is not guaranteed unless the UK either stays in the EU or leaves with a negotiated deal. The current Prime Minister seems hell-bent on leaving with no negotiated deal. This lack of deal, or not staying in the EU, also means that the reciprocal agreement on healthcare may collapse, and although there is some sort of 'backstop' things are not clear. Also, the value of my pensions is very much impacted by the health of the £Sterling, which is looking more and more feeble. The main issue, in reality, is what happens to my wife if I drop dead and pensions / healthcare become a serious issue.

Yes you and many expats are living in anxety, can you imagine the problems it will bring in Ireland and the real threat to the ongoing peace process. The fiasco has already caused real damage in cross community relations with a real observable rise in tensions and hatred, the same has happened in England and within families too so you can imagine the problems in Ireland where the stakes are much higher.

However I predict it will not happen in the end and stress is no good for you, get another camera, any camera and enjoy yourself instead. 😉

Oiche is absolutely correct: there's no point thinking about the things that are not your control anyways.

The referendum has stirred-up a lot of trouble - unfortunately the genie has been let out of the bottle, as they say, and getting it back in will take some time. There's a lot of healing to be done once it's over - which hopefully it will be eventually!

Thank-you for the good advice. At the moment I don't need to buy another camera to distract me because I'm looking forward to using my old M42 screw lenses - always meant to use them more often and now is the opportunity to do just that!

This is exactly what I'm doing these days. I've taken out all the old manual lenses that have not been in use for ages. Some had developed fungus, so threw them away. Some (quite a few actually) have stuck aperture blades, so going to discard them also after some comparisons Time to sort these lenses and keep only the good/best performers

You can disassemble, clean and reassemble them if you have the mechanical skills. Clean aperture blades with lighter fluid, infact clean all the grease and dirt out and use synthetic grease in the gears, heliocoids etc. Fungus infected lens elements can be cleaned with a quick dip in white vinegar and rinsed in distilled water.

I've repaired Helios, Zeiss Jena and some Pentax M lenses and never use them 😎 Good fun fixing them to full operation though.