Thanks for the heads up guys, I have snapped them up, they will be a project for me when we get back to the UK in November. The primes should be really simple to clean, I've done a fair few over the years. Not really interested in cleaning the zooms, these will go back up for sale 'as is'.

Cheers
David

What a great set of images, very well shot.

For me, it depends on where I am! We spend March to the end of October in Corfu and the Winter in England. I travel to Corfu with my lightest lenses, which for the K-1 means a Tamron SP 17-35, D-FA 28-105 and Tamron 70-300 Di LD Macro. This set up is my 'go to' for general walk-around and for landscape work. I also keep my DA*300, 100mm Macro WR, DA 70 Limited and DA*50-135 out in Corfu, but these are used for more specialist subjects and I usually don't take them out with me. I also have a K-3ii out here, but it rarely gets used unless I'm doing macro or wildlife stuff.

In England during the Winter, I favour my Tamron SP 70-200 f2.8 instead of the 70-300, as it gives better IQ, but it's too heavy to take abroad.

My K-1 also has the same shutter issue, but it is very intermittent and seems to be geting better, not worse. When I bought it 6 months ago it only had 4,000 shutter actuations and would not fire the shutter on the first shot after turning it on, but every subsequent shot worked. The issue has been getting less frequent the more I use it and I haven't had any sensor damage. Also worked out that it could be freed up by swithching to Live View and then turning the camera off and back on again. I suspect it had sat for a long period of time without being used, as it was made in 2016. I bought it damaged (rear screen cracked), so didn't pay much for it and it has been great (I've repaired the rear screen with windscreen repair resin, so it's now secure and working fine).

Hi HarisF1

Thanks for the link, I did read that PentaxForums thread already, but it didn't make any sense to me. I can't see how re-fitting the helicoid on a different 'tooth' would make any difference to infinity focus. You shouldn't have to remove the helicoid at all. I think I'll just take it apart and see for myself how it adjusts.

Kind Regards
David

Hi Gareth

Hope you are well, my thoughts are that you should look for a good Sigma 17-70 f2.8-4 lens. These can be bought at good prices and they are a versatile and reliable tool. However, if you do this, make sure it's one of the later lenses from the 'contemporary' series, these have two advantages over the older lenses. 1) they are much lighter and 2) they are far sharper at all focal lengths. The older ones can be a little soft, I know this as I've had two of the older ones and currently own the contemporary version, which beats the older lenses into a cocked hat.

Hope this helps.

Kind Regards
David

Hi All

This is a long shot, I've already asked the question on the Pentaxians facebook group to no avail, but I'm hoping someone on here has the knowledge.

I have a HD DA 70mm f2.4 Limited lens which takes beautiful images, but the infinity focus setting on it is incorrect and so it will not focus to infinity on my K-1 nor on my K-3ii. I am experienced in adjusting infinity focus on older Pentax primes from the K and M series, this is an easy job once you've taken the name ring off the lens. However, I don't know whether the infinity adjustment on the DA 70 Limited is made via screws accessed from the front of the lens, or by removing the rear mount. I would rather know this before I start taking it apart and wondered whether anyone on here knows the answer. Once the adjustment screws are accessed it should be an easy task to make the adjustment.

I'm hoping it's accessible from the front, as the removal of this is very easy!

Kind Regards
David

Hi Paul

Well done on fixing your camera, it's the right thing to do rather than junking it or selling it as not working. It might interest those who wish to repair their solenoids on a K70, K50, K30 etc. that the white solenoids don't have to be bought on ebay as a single item, you can buy old camera bodies and remove them. The Pentax digital bodies up to and including the K-x all have them, as do the older film bodies such as the MZ-M, MZ-S and other cameras in the same series. You can pick up these old film bodies in a non-working condition on ebay for between £5 and £15.

Once you have the solenoid, if you're OK at soldering it's a pretty simple job to do the fix.

Kind Regards
David

Buy a K-1 mk1, you can't go wrong, it's a superb piece of kit.

Kind Regards
David

I had to buy one of these last year and could only source it on ebay from Japan. From memory it cost around £30.

Kind Regards
David