Go to the "MANUFACTURERS NOTES" tab and then scroll down where the SHUTTER COUNT subtitle is on the left side, you will see the real shutter count on the next column

Well done PentaxBabe
And the capture is not bad at all. You are on the right patch now, there is no stopping you now

Mine definitely has a problem. I have stopped putting the hood on and off, dont want to damage it. If I persist I am certain its going to do some damage. The force required to put in and out seems over the normal limits.

Oh bubbles are here already , I just left you a comment on the other thread.
Let's see, hmm you definitely got the colours out. That is the initial colour patterns and spectrum that the bubble forms, so you just caught it at the initial stage of formation.

Let me know exactly what difficulties you are encountering and we will tackle it step by step.

OOHH macro lens?
I sense some bubbles coming up .
You are going to have a blast with the macro lens I am sure

Thanks Mike, just doulbe checked, its the correct one.

I might have wrongly mentioned it as screwing on the threads but what I meant was the bayonet fitting, sorry for the misleading terms. This is where I show my still green colours huh? lol.

John
Yes the right hood. I just confirmed it, its the only one with 49mm filter lens I have.

I had left it since yesterday with the hood on as I was afraid of taking it out, but now tried to remove it, it was quite a struggle, definitely more than double the force that I would usually use to remove the hood from my other lenses. You know that feeling you get that you are pushing the limits and something might just crack and you hope that it comes off before the crack happens? That's the feeling. But finally managed to take it off, gave it a good wipe on the hood slots and cleaned the lens slots also.
I ran the finger through the hood alignments and it definitely is not as smooth as it should be. I had a try with my 16-45 and that is smooth as silk, fitting in and removing it also. All my other lenses, including the DA*300 which is actually a bit of fiddly with the plasticky hood, and the DA*60-250 also, all have a nice feel putting the hood in and out.
But this Macro definitely is weird.
I cleaned the hood slots properly and decided to run with an extremely tiny feel of olive oil from my finger on the hood, not even enough to leave a reflectin, just to absorb any dust on the alignments and try to smoothen the initial hooking edges, and then wiped clean again with a cloth, and tried to fit the hood. Seemed to make a big difference, a really huge difference compared to the way it was before, removed and fitted back a few times, its better now but still different feel compared to the other hoods.

I might want to drop at SRS and try a new hood to see if it will make a difference. It seems to me running the finger through the border of the hood that its not as smooth as it should be. Definitely doesn't have that smooth feel that would slide easily when slotted into the bayonet slots of the lens. But good thing is the bayonet fittings of the lens are still immaculate and doesn't have that roughness that the hood has.

I think I will leave this to the side and not use it until I sort it out properly, dont want to ruin the lens with forcing it putting the hood in and out.

Thanks for all your help John

Hi John thanks for the advice. I did try that. The tricky part is not the latching bit, it seems like the spacing between the female part of the thread (on the lens body) where the male thread of the hood should sit is either not smooth or the gap is too tight, something along those lines.

I will check this again, I have tried pushing the hood properly while screwing it but still it has the same problem.
I am wondering if I should try getting a new hood. Not sure if I have a same filter size lens so I could check the hood on it.
I hope its the hood problem rather than the lens so I can at least get another hood. As it is I have even started leaving the hood attached, but then it becomes tricky to use the cover on and off

I wonder if anyone else is experiencing this but my hood is so tricky to screw into the lens and taking it out too. It has always been like this although it has becom worse now. So much so when I try to screw it in place (the screwing portion of the action) it is so tight that I constantly wonder if its properly aligned and keep on checking it often.
Even though it is properly aligned but that last movement is so hard to achieve that I often fear damaging anything while doing it. It requires more than just a firm action. I would even call it a really forced movement while screwing it to finally it latching in place. Same when removing it.
This doesn't happen with my other lens hoods.

Anyone has an idea why this happens or why it got worse over time. It had always been a bit tricky this one, but now its come to a stage that I constantly fear fitting the hood or removing it.
Checked the notche and threads, all it shows is just the plasticky bit a bit wornout on the initial edges, that's all.

Any help would be really great.
Thanks

Amin

My oh my PentaxBabe, you burn the midnight oil don't you? Or you just wake up this early on bank holidays?
Please dont tell me its dedication to your accountancy work for your clients that makes you get up so early or sleep so late , because if that is the case then you might be looking at an extra client. Now where did I keep that phone number for my accountant so I can call him and ask if he does the same for my stuff lol.

Yup, photos, I print some actually. In different type of papers, lately I have been trying the canvas type papers. I have some which are the imitation canvas type which are cheaper but then I bought some which are the real ones, but havent tried on the real ones yet.
Need to get a good decent printer. My brother MFC-660CN which is supposed to be pretty good just gets the papers stuck in there whenever I try to print any glossy or photo paper. Soooo annoying