my fix of the K-30 aperture problem without disassembly

Hi there

A few days ago I got a problem with my K-30. Until now I didn't knew, that this seems to be a common problem with the K-30 / K-50 series.
Pictures I have taken were totally underexposed. So obviously there must have been an error with the aperture control. Also in live view an underexposed preview was shown.

I just did the following and since then, this error never ever occurred again:

1.) Go to the camera menu to button customization and define the raw/FX button to "optical preview".
2.) Use Manual or AV mode and dial in an aperture other than open wide.
3.) Press the raw/FX button 10 to 20 times ( I did so). Every press you should hear the aperture lever working.
4.) Take some shots. At this point my K-30 did correct exposures with some exceptions. So I repeated the procedure until no wrong exposure occurred. I had to repeat step 3.) 3 times. Since then my camera works without any errors.

Maybe I was just lucky that this trick brought my copy back to working condition. Maybe if you have the same problem give it a try and your camera comes back to life again.

Cheers

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MV

Very clever. I don't have one so have not had this problem but I assumed that the solenoids were wearing out from various descriptions. Your account seems to indicate that the solenoid is getting clogged up and needs to be exercised to free it's mechanism?

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Both the *istDS and the K5 are incurably addicted to old glass

My page on Photocrowd - link

I suspect that this fix will be a temporary solution until the solenoid fails completely. It reminds me of the "exercising" or warming up of soon-to-fail SDM motors.

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Pentax hybrid user - Digital K3 & K200D, film 645 and 35mm SLR and Pentax (&other) lenses adapted to Fuji X digital
Fan of DA limited and old manual lenses

When the K70 started with the sticking solenoid I could free it by a burst of continuous shooting when I switched the camera on. This worked ok for a few months but the problem did get worse until around every other shot was dark and you just couldn't rely on getting the shot you wanted. I do have a replacement 'white' solenoid to fit but haven't got around to fitting it as I am enjoying the K3iii I bought as a reliable replacement camera.

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Paul

K1000, Espio 140, ist, istD, K70, K3iii and numerous lenses, just don't tell my wife.

I ended up using a K30 as a manual only camera for M42/Takumar lenses and it works well for this. It was just not reliable enough for normal AF/auto lens use.