K.30 can you help?

A friend who I hope will join Pentax User in due course has just bought her first camera Pentax K30 on my recommendation. She has set the camera up OK, formatted the memory card, but has "a status screen with a flashing letter F and also when pressing the LV button the F in red flashes at the bottom of the viewing screen. What do I have to do before allowing me to take pictures"

As I didn't have any difficulty like this, perhaps someone can help please? John

It looks like she is using a lens with an aperture ring that is not set to "A".

If the lens has no "A" stting then "enable use of aperture ring" needs to be set in the custom menus.

If it's a curent lens with no aperture ring, then clean the contacts with a dry cloth and try again. The lens may not be mounted and/or connecting correctly.

Hope that solves it!

just tried this on k-5 and the same thing happens with F-- in the live view.. even though i can take a photo

Not on ours it doesn't. It works just as we'd expect it to, showing the f number in the display.

What lenses are you trying to use?

Pentax A 1:2 50mm at F11...

A Pentax-A lens should be OK, when set to "A" on the aperture ring. I'll try and double check if for some obscure reason that doesn't work with LV, although i don't see why it wouldn't.

No john i set it to F11instead of A to try the above to see if that was the problem for the K30 above... that was all..

Thanks for the suggestions. As Elaine is in Scotland and I am in the Midlands there is a delay in communicating by e-mail, but I will let you know the results as soon as possible. I believe she has the kit 18-55 lens. John

If you set f11 on the lense aperture ring (thats what you are saying has been set?) then the F--- should be flashing - this is exactly right. That is because with this older lens the camera cannot tell what aperture has been set on the lens.

As John said above, with the aperture ring turned fully and locked into 'A' position, then you will be able to set the aperture on the camera (rear e-dial) in Av or P mode, and the lens will stop down when you fire the shutter to the setting as on the camera. (this is what is called 'auto' operation)

If you want to operate the lens fully 'manually', that is to set the aperture on the lens ring, then as said above you must activate the menu function to allow this or else the camera just locks up, which is what you are experiencing it sounds like.

Once again thanks for all your assistance. I too put a lens on my K30 with an A setting, and turned it to f11 and it reproduced the flashing F signal that Elaine had mentioned. I have now heard that she has checked the way her lens is on the camera (still don't know which lens she has) and she now says "its all go now" so I presume the problem is solved up there in Scotland. She said she wanted to take up photography and I recommended Pentax which I have always used, so she is a complete beginner and I have offered any help she might need, but she seems genuinely interested in producing some great shots, so I look forward to seeing them - she's off to Thailand shortly and hopes to specialize in Orchids! Many thanks. John