RIP Q 06 - What next?

Yesterday evening my much loved Q 06 lens died suddenly while doing what it liked most, taking photographs.

Death was sudden and accompanied by strange whirring and grinding noises. Ability to focus, both AF and MF, was lost. A second opinion from another Q body confirmed that recovery was impossible. The symptoms are similar to other sudden deaths since the early days of production and reported in another forum. A post mortem examination will therefore not be carried out unless an ever increasing 'to do' list is completed and I am totally bored. The cause of death is believed to be specific to the 06 and pose no risk to other related lenses.

I will really, really miss being able to carry an f2.8 tele-zoom in the pocket. So what next? Options seem to be:
1. Learn to live without the pleasures of a pocketable tele-zoom and continue to enjoy the Q's with the remaining lenses (01, 02, fish-eye and reversed 24mm for macro).
2. Scour the planet for a used 06, accepting that it might die in the same way before long.
3. Try to find someone who can repair it, but I've not been able to find anyone reporting that their dead 06 has been repaired.
4. Look at other systems, although 'pocketable', 'telephoto' and 'f2.8' don't seem to appear on the same page.

Your thoughts, comments and suggestions, please, ladies and gentlemen.

Steve

I'd contact the Pentax repairer, Pye, to see if they can give you a quote for repair.

If you don't like the quote, then eBay or Amazon for a replacement, but don't forget to check with Chris at SRS first in case he has something.

Thanks John, I hadn't thought of Pye. First thing is to check whether they are still working ...

Nothing on Amazon UK, nor on the SRS website (or other dealers in my bookmarked list). The only ones on e-Bay appear to be in Japan and I'm not exactly enthusiastic about international purchases at the moment.

I'm now wondering whether a Q - K mount adapter (if they are still around...) with F 1.7 prime would be OK. Right reach, definitely pocketable, but not zoom. Decisions, decisions...

Steve

Steve, I know nothing about the Q system but I was wondering whether it would be possible to use the plastic DA 35 or DA 50 with an adapter to give you two tele lengths with a small and light set of lenses.

Philip

The reason I mentioned the F 50 1.7 is because I've got it. DA35 - yes, I've also got that one and it's certainly light weight. As far as I understand, one of the issues with using K mount lenses on a Q is that the high density of pixels in the Q's tiny sensor is very demanding on the resolution of the lens. You can't tell whether it's good enough without trying it (unless someone else has tried it already, of course). Trying out my (small number of) smallish primes on a Q certainly appeals to the techy side of me!

Steve

It works well enough, but the huge crop factor means that very long lenses are impossible to control. I have used a 100mm macro as a 500mm-equivalent but that's about as far as is reasonable. The 150-450mm was impossible to aim, never mind control.

That's getting into NASA territory .

And I'm not sure it would fit into a pocket...

Steve

For ease of use and pocketability, I'd look out for a second hand one.
Maybe someone here has one to sell, but failing that, Ebay is probably your best option.
The big advantage of hte 06 over the adapter is obviously autofocus, something that might be worth considering.

Good things come to those who wait.

Thanks. Good point, it's definitely worth considering ... particularly when you're shooting single handed with the other holding a lead with a dog at the far end.

Steve

Hi,

Just had the same thing happen to my 06 this evening

It made a strange noise and refused to focus when I used it yesterday, but I just turned the camera off unmounted the lens then remounted and if worked fine.

Tried the same thing repeatedly tonight but would not work at all.

Maybe this is something happening when they reach a certain age?

Regards, Alfamelba.

Sorry to hear about that. The failure seems similar to the way a couple of (other brand) travel zooms have failed for family members. The manager of my local camera shop says it's a fairly common problem with travel zooms, little plastic bits fail in something that's built to a price. And although the 06 is good optically, its plastic body isn't as robust as the 01, 02 or even 03. That may indicate something about the internals .

Steve

Hi,

My 06 stopped focusing towards the end of a cycling holiday in Germany last year. I tried the old chestnut of cleaning the contacts. I used a cotton bud soaked in isopropyl alcohol. Despite them looking clean the bud picked up a lot of dark debris from each contact. I suspect the plastic insulating lands wear and result in deposits on the contact surfaces. Anyway to my surprise and delight focusing was restored and has worked fine since.

I decided to buy a new spare 06 from Japan whilst they were still available. The ability to pack a comprehensive outfit in to the small Q system bag that's easy to carry on the bike makes it far too useful to give up on easily.

Thanks, a helpful suggestion that hadn't crossed my mind (although it should have). Mine now has sparkling clean contacts, but alas still doesn't work.

So it's back to trying to make a decision...

Steve

Decisions, decisions...........made at last. Or perhaps avoiding a decision by covering all options.

SRS is finding out whether the Q 06 is repairable in principle, however the repairers don't seem to be working at the moment . Hopefully, the Q 06 will turn out to be repairable at a credible price. I'll let you all know the answer, so fellow sufferers can decide what to do.

In the meantime, I've bitten the bullet and now own a Q-K adapter, the Pentax one. Not cheap, but a nice bit of engineering. Now to master manual focus without perfect eyesight...

Steve

I think the adapter allows for the usual zoomed in view on the Q body, so manual focus shouldn't be too much of a problem.

The vibrations on a longer lens are quite annoyiny though.