My K10 Stopped Working

I was going to a job in Lochinver on the West Coast of Scotland, and I know a spot on the road where, if the conditions are right, there is some fantastic scenery. Well, I left Inverness about 06:30 and it was heavy rain, I got near to Ullapool and the clouds were beginning to part and I could see signs of sunlight. Passed through Ullapool and things were looking good. I got to the 'sweet-spot', the light was great, the water was calm, the hills were in sunshine, so I grabbed the K10 lifted it to my eye, all was very dark !!!

Checked all my settings, couldn't see anything wrong. It appeared that the FA50/1.4, although set on A, was actually fully stopped down, I tried another lens with the same result. Couldn't even get focus because everything was so dark.

Took the batteries out, reset to factory settings and still no joy, I could have cried.

I'm back home now and will see if I can figure what's wrong over the weekend.

Took this picture with the small point & shoot I carry for work, just to remind myself what I missed,

Lens cap?

I expect it was something else, and hope it's not too expensive to correct.

As for the pic' (which is gorgeous), I am not sure that you need the moon and its reflection. Personally I would crop it quite a bit, though I am sure it would pain you to do so!

G

Tried the lenses on my DS, and they work ok, so it appears to be K10 at fault.

Looking into the lens mount of both camera's there is a spring loaded leaver / linkage that I would assume holds the lens aperture wide open when on the A setting. As you move the on/off switch to preview, this linkage rises to stop down the lens.

Unfortunately, on the K10 it is in the up position all the time, stopping the lens right down, hence the dark viewfinder.

It seems there is a small leaver that operates this up/down movement and it has moved from the operating position. It looks as though I may be able to return it to position, but as I have had 1 or 3 Malt Whisky's, I may leave it until tomorrow to give it a go.

As for the picture, didn't really do much to it, other than crop some foreground tree branches, I'll be back up that way in three months time, hopefully the K10 will be working, although I doubt that the weather will be the same ?

Do you use a battery grip on your K10D? If so remove it.

The On/Off button on mine is very sticky and I sometimes push it too far, leaving the camera in stopped down mode. I usually leave mine in preview mode, so I don't have the exact same behavior, but that may be an issue.

I've had the other dials on the grip stop working, or it seems they interfere with operation of the main camera body dials. Removing and replacing the grip will usually free them up.
But you might try leaving the grip off and give it a go.

Fixed the K10 this morning. I'm as happy as a dog with 2 c**ks

It was indeed what I suspected, a lever moved from it's position on the aperture selection assembly.

( My description of parts - others may have their own terms ! )

Job was a wee bit of a fiddle, I used some dental probes and a dental mirror, and as is usual for this type of work, a third arm with a small hand on it, sticking out of my forehead would have been bloody useful.

I'll try and put a pic or 2 together and a description of the fix on to the Trouble Shooter thread, in case anybody else has the same problem.

Just glad I didn't have to send it off for repair . . .

Great news. I expected that a bit of Scottish engineering know-how would do the trick.

Now, can I send you the bits from my AF280T which I once rashly disassmbled, and now can't put back together?

G

Well I once created a DeLorean Time Machine from a Bultaco 350, so I don't see a the AF280T as a challenge.

But it might take a while . . . . . . . .

Hello,
I am not in UK,but registered on this site to fix the problem you mentioned. right now in US and using a pentax k100d. i was using the camera with a tamron 70-300 on it and the exact same thing happened(actually i was browsing for a solution and found this link, and looks like you had the same problem very recently). well, it's all dark now, i tried with my FA50mm 1.4 as well. the spring is at the top and i am not sure how to fix this. i took it to a camera shop nearby and he checked with a new k10d ,the lever was not on top. but he was not ready to repair my camera. and i will not have the camera for 6-8 weeks if i have to send it to pentax support. can you please help me with what exactly you did to fix this.
really appreciate your help!
Thanks
SK

Picture 'A', below shows the correct position of all the parts when the ON/OFF switch is pushed to the preview position.
I have coloured some of the parts to make it easier to see.

The assembly coloured yellow moves to the up position. Also seen here is the spring arm, coloured red , which pulls the yellow assembly back down when the ON/OFF switch is moved from the preview position.

My problem was that the red spring arm had moved below the yellow assembly, and so was not returning the yellow assembly to the lower position.






Picture 'B' is an example of the position of the spring arm, when the preview mode is entered.







If you remove the lens from the camera, and operate the preview function, you should see the small spring arm moving up, it is quite hard to spot. I managed to swing this spring arm over the 'yellow' assembly using some fine dental instruments, it took a few goes and a third hand would have been useful, as you need to keep the camera in preview mode, ( so that the 'red' spring is visible ), push down the 'yellow' assembly a little to allow you to flip the 'red' spring into the correct position.

It goes without saying, that you try this at your own risk, I suspect you could do a lot of damage if things go wrong.

I had the same problem a few months ago. I did the repair you outlined here, but after a couple of outings the camera failed with the same issue. I couldnt find the spring second time round so it went back to Pentax for repair.

I hope your repair is more succesful.

Makes me wonder if there is a cause for this problem ?

In my case, it became apparent, after fitting new, ( well, second-hand ) , extension tubes ???

I just read this post and while I do not have this (or any ) problem with my cam your last remark about fitting extension tubes (I planned to buy some to try it out) caught my attention.

I have noticed that my old Tamron tele can be used but you can tell it's not a perfact match. Putting it on and taking it off does not feel right. Maybe it's not smart to use some of that old stuff and cheap chinese ebay tubes etc?

Btw. Galoot, that's a lot of dust in there - hope you managed to get it all out.

The sensor is clean enough, and there will always be some dust, it's one of the things that is unavoidable.

I don't get too hung up about it.

Maybe I'll get the Dyson out tomorrow . . .