Pentax MX Users

I have given up on the 645, now on to a troublesome MX.
Anyone heard of a camera that can drain it's batteries in a a couple of weeks?
What's wrong with it?
And the camera repair guy says it is NOT the switchy thing in the base.
Any ideas. I'm crushed.

My father lent me his Program A which drained the batteries in 12 shots (2 days)... no idea what the problem is though...

Are you turning the meter off when you are finished using it? There is no auto-shut off.

When you have taken the film out you should fire the shutter; push the winder flush with the body and lock the shutter release.

It's either this, if not, I would think there is some sort of corrosion inside, if the camera has been kept somewhere slightly damp in the past I would have thought this might be a likely cause.

You could always get a light meter, I got this one a few days from ebay to help me along with my AP -

[IMG]http://i737.photobucket.com/albums/xx15/PENTAX-PLANET/BDQBGkKGrHgoOKjUEjlLmU7BKG0gnfWw_1.jpg[/IMG]

Its a photo-electric light meter, dated 1933 and it still works - I've been testing it with my Km and its still giving correct readings!

The MX has a well known and easily fixable battery drain problem. See here.

Well, sad to say my MX has the battery drain problem. A supposedly good shop in the Atlanta area worked at it and still the problem remained. I removed the bottom plate and made sure via a digital VOM that the little switch opened its contacts and it seems to. I guess its off to Eric Henderson... Let's see... the MX needs help, the ME Super is locked up, and the LX has the dreaded sticky mirror syndrome. Guess its time for a second mortgage!

Still, photography is cheaper than that American South passion, bass fishing.

If you were in the UK I would recommend Harrow technical, but I guess the postage would be a killer. He has done my LX (sticky mirror but not the usual fault, turned out to be something electronic), ME-F (corroded battery contacts), MX (battery drain problem) and ME Super (sticky shutter probably due to dirt from the dig). All the cameras have come back in lovely condition. I am about to send him my other two ME Supers which have just come back from the dig. You can actually hear the dust scrunching when you turn the expcomp dial!

Best wishes and good luck with the repairs.

Kris.

I've just run the first colour roll of film through my recent MX purchase. I got results I kind of expected, a mixed bag as I was trying out different settings, it was a cheap roll of film (fuji c200), and they were sent off to Truprint. Having said that the ones I like in the roll I really like. First roll was a 200.

Next roll is going to be an Ilford Delta 400 black and whie and will send it off to Ilford. I got the film and Ilford post paid envelope from 7dayshop. I found with a roll of 200 I could not achieve the results I wanted indoors and had to compromise on aperture and shutter speed to get the shot. So some pictures are not as good as I would have liked but they were handheld at 30 shutter speed.

One question. I found on the MX that in mixed light indoors (I'm using an M 1.7 50mm) I was not totally happy with the exposure on a few prints, it looked like it may have worked better if I had slightly overexposed. Outdoors seems to be spot on. I'm hoping with the 400 film I can avoid pushing the aperture too wide and the speed to low.

There's nothing to beat a hand-held meter if you are unhappy with exposure. Should be able to get a nice one quite cheaply on Ebay.

G

Hi Hefty1 and everyone else,

I finally took the plunge.

On Friday I came across two Asahi Pentax MXs, one black and one silver, in eight to eigth and an half (out of 10) condition.

As I have a preference for the silver models (of any camera), I went for the silver and spent some of the weekend attempting to use up a twenty-four exposure Fuji Superia Extra 400 ISO colour-print film. I didn't quite succeed, as we were in the 10th day of a continous high 30 to low 40 degree heatwave; the temperatures over the weekend hitting 42 degs C.

The one I took came with a 1.7/50 "M" lens (the other with a 2.0/50 lens).

I found the metering display rather unusual (LEDs in three colours , but I'll get used to it).

The manual (off the web) mentions that the meter uses a "GPD" cell. What the hell is that? Can someone enlighten me, please:

The camera came with a rather worn but useable "ready case". It is a pity it is made of a rather cheap, plasticised cardboard instead of the leather found in earlier models, such as the Spotties and the "K" series.

Also, it appears to me that the gauge of the body material is relatively flimsy, as compared to earlier models, as it is relatively rare to find the earlier models with the same dents and buckles (in top plates and prism housings) which seem to plague almost all of the MXs that I have come across in my search for a copy to buy (including this one, though relatively minor)

As I said, it does have some very small dents/buckles in the top plate and around the winder opening, but nowhere near as bad as some copies I have seen.

If someone could explain what a "GPD" metering cell is, I would appreciate it.

Thanks

GPD cells are Gallium Arsenide Phosphate (GAsP) and are a variant of silicon cells (SPD) that are less sensitive to exposure errors from IR light.

They are also more expensive and therefore have largely been dropped.

Dear John,

Thank you for your incredibly prompt response.

As always, you are a veritable gold-mine of information.

As the product of an earlier education system, I half-guessed that the "G" could stand for Gallium (as it is a close relative of Selenium and, therefore, possibly also photoelectrically active), but I couldn't decode the rest of it.

Thanks

I read a lot.....

Congratulations on your purchase! It's a lovely camera to actually use and (as you now know) very lightweight for a SLR. Unfortunately that's partly down to the thinner gauge metal used on the top and bottom plates which, as you've noticed, isn't up to the job of hammering nails in the same way the Spotmatic was.

My copy's only got one tiny dent in the top plate so I figure that's probably as close as I'll get to perfection - certainly not seen any better ones in the flesh!

John and Hefty1, thanks for responding.

Hefty1, thanks for the congrats.

Yes, Hefty1, I have read your very entertaining thread on how you managed to construct your camera out the bits and pieces of two or three copies. I'm in awe

Not being quite so handy, I just kept waiting for a suitable one to turn up, without too much needing to be done to it. This one appears to be working OK.

A further question for either of you:

The MX I now have apears to be fitted with an alkaline 3v battery the size of two 1.5v silver batteries. Is it better to have the two silver or will the larger akaline model do? (I do have some available for use)


I compared the MX'x built-in meter with a couple of meters I already have.

A comparison with a Lunasix-3 gave a 1 e.v. discrepancy (the MX meter suggesting 1 e.v. more exposure (light) than the Lunasix-3).

On the other hand, my Soligor Spot Sensor appeared to tally exactly with the MX's meter.

The Soligor has always given me very acceptable results, so I have used the MX's on-board metering for all of my last weekend's exposures.

So another question:

The manual does not state the acceptance angle of the MX's meter, it just says "center weighted". How large is "the centre"? Does anyone know?

BTW, there are many complimentary posts regarding the quality of the 1.7/50 M lens.