Is there life after aperture block failure?

Historicity wrote:

peterpainter wrote:

So it happened. My K50 after nearly 4 years and 4,000 shots has succumbed. I don't think I'll be getting it fixed (or fixing it myself - too clumsy). The K50 was great, a weather-sealed body and lens, important in this climate, at an affordable price. I don't trust a K70 because of the same issue, so what next?

What have other people done?

Peter,

The last time I recall the aperture block problem being discussed, the K-70 was mentioned as a possible candidate for having it, but at that time no one knew of an actual account. Now on another thread Tosiva (sp?) mentions having a K-70 with the aperture block. I wonder if there are other accounts that anyone knows about. I don't have the K50 but I do have the K70 & so have some concern.

Lawrence

I hope you don't get the problem.  From what I've seen on Pentaxforums and here It does seem to be less likely on the K70, so fingers crossed!

Smitty1 wrote:

peterpainter wrote:

So it happened. My K50 after nearly 4 years and 4,000 shots has succumbed. I don't think I'll be getting it fixed (or fixing it myself - too clumsy). The K50 was great, a weather-sealed body and lens, important in this climate, at an affordable price. I don't trust a K70 because of the same issue, so what next?

What have other people done?

I don't know if anyone has suggested this and frankly I don't have the desire to go through the 60+ other posts to check.

Buy a K-3 or K-3 II and be done with it. The higher end bodies didn't suffer such a failure since they seem to use a different shutter and motor.

Plus you'll get a better handling body, improved autofocus, faster burst rate, deeper buffer, support for a battery grip, dual card slots, much improved metering, larger magnification viewfinder, mag alloy frame with possibly better sealing, and better KAF4 support for newer lenses. etc etc etc

Plus they're cheap on the second hand market if you shop around.

I did look into that for a while after the problem happened, then decided to try the battery insert approach.  It isn't perfect but a lot cheaper than buying another body.  Whether or not I'll continue to use Pentax is still in doubt.

rehess wrote:

peterpainter wrote:

So it happened. My K50 after nearly 4 years and 4,000 shots has succumbed. I don't think I'll be getting it fixed (or fixing it myself - too clumsy). The K50 was great, a weather-sealed body and lens, important in this climate, at an affordable price. I don't trust a K70 because of the same issue, so what next?

What have other people done?

I got a FA 28-105 and continue. "green button" metering isn't so bad.

A nice solution!  Thank-you.

peterpainter wrote:

Historicity wrote:

peterpainter wrote:

So it happened. My K50 after nearly 4 years and 4,000 shots has succumbed. I don't think I'll be getting it fixed (or fixing it myself - too clumsy). The K50 was great, a weather-sealed body and lens, important in this climate, at an affordable price. I don't trust a K70 because of the same issue, so what next?

What have other people done?

Peter,

The last time I recall the aperture block problem being discussed, the K-70 was mentioned as a possible candidate for having it, but at that time no one knew of an actual account. Now on another thread Tosiva (sp?) mentions having a K-70 with the aperture block. I wonder if there are other accounts that anyone knows about. I don't have the K50 but I do have the K70 & so have some concern.

Lawrence

I hope you don't get the problem. From what I've seen on Pentaxforums and here It does seem to be less likely on the K70, so fingers crossed!

Thanks.  I'll cross them. 

Lawrence

peterpainter wrote:

rehess wrote:

peterpainter wrote:

So it happened. My K50 after nearly 4 years and 4,000 shots has succumbed. I don't think I'll be getting it fixed (or fixing it myself - too clumsy). The K50 was great, a weather-sealed body and lens, important in this climate, at an affordable price. I don't trust a K70 because of the same issue, so what next?

What have other people done?

I got a FA 28-105 and continue. "green button" metering isn't so bad.

A nice solution! Thank-you.

Same opinion and agree with Rehess that the "green button" metering isn't so bad. Especially when not in 'fast action' situations. In the meanwhile I am still looking for a K-5II/s or K-3. Not easy because it has to be fron nearby so that I can see and try it. No hurry. The 'old' K-50 still produce a lot of fine images.

Regards,
Dirk.

rehess wrote:

peterpainter wrote:

So it happened. My K50 after nearly 4 years and 4,000 shots has succumbed. I don't think I'll be getting it fixed (or fixing it myself - too clumsy). The K50 was great, a weather-sealed body and lens, important in this climate, at an affordable price. I don't trust a K70 because of the same issue, so what next?

What have other people done?

I got a FA 28-105 and continue. "green button" metering isn't so bad.

Green button metering really isn't so bad......but accurate focusing gets more difficult as the focal length increases. Wide angle K/M/A lenses are in a way better than AF/D designs because they have really usable DOF and distance scales. At about 35 mm or so this gets increasingly cumbersome, and at 105mm tedious for landscape purposes.....if the assumption is that AF DOF is more accurate.  Maybe, maybe not so it's trust the AF or make the effort to verify.

.............Larry

DirkPentax wrote:

peterpainter wrote:

rehess wrote:

peterpainter wrote:

So it happened. My K50 after nearly 4 years and 4,000 shots has succumbed. I don't think I'll be getting it fixed (or fixing it myself - too clumsy). The K50 was great, a weather-sealed body and lens, important in this climate, at an affordable price. I don't trust a K70 because of the same issue, so what next?

What have other people done?

I got a FA 28-105 and continue. "green button" metering isn't so bad.

A nice solution! Thank-you.

Same opinion and agree with Rehess that the "green button" metering isn't so bad. Especially when not in 'fast action' situations. In the meanwhile I am still looking for a K-5II/s or K-3. Not easy because it has to be fron nearby so that I can see and try it. No hurry. The 'old' K-50 still produce a lot of fine images.

Regards,
Dirk.

You may want to try the alternative I suggested in earlier posts:

Use Av mode, and set EV compensation to achieve the correct exposure. So, for an f2 lens which is set to f4, use EV compensation of +2.

This shouldn't work in a healthy K-50, but for some reason, with an afflicted K-50, it does. It most certainly works (and works well) with my afflicted K-50. Do let us know if it works for you.

Advantages are the ability to take multiple shots quickly, and more accurate metering than green button metering.  Disadvantage would be if you wanted to keep changing aperture from shot to shot.

zmem wrote:

Does anyone have an update of using the 55 - 300 WR PLM lens as a solution. It operates on a different principal. If someone mentioned it i missed it.

The 55-300 PLM has electronic aperture and focus control (KAF4).

Does not use the solenoid in the camera.

Cameras with solenoid failure (K30/50/70) still work fine with the 55-300 PLM.

My K-70's solenoid failed after 1300 shots, 2.5 years old.

Repaired under the 5 year warranty that came with the camera.

Working fine again.