I posted some while ago that when my K1 had been sitting around unused it would make an unusual 'click' and refuse to do anything else. The recorded 'exposure' is simply black. It is often necessary to remove the battery and replace it to regain control, when it makes a loud clatter and will work faultlessly for the rest of the day.

One or two others have had the same trouble but nobody could finger the cause. Today, instead of trying to get it to resume business I removed the lens and looked inside. I found myself looking at the shutter curtains (closed) and discovered that the mirror was stuck in the 'up' position. (shades of LX here). Removing the battery and replacing it, then switching it back on resulted in the same loud clatter as the mirror returned to its rest position.

So, now we know what is going on, does anyone have any suggestions to fix it?

Mrs Wozhere lets me get away with a lot of things but I would have trouble hiding this one!

You can't complain about those!

"Old glass rulz !"

The meyer is a lot easier to focus than the Pentax but that shouldn't be a problem with what you will be doing. You can play with the aperture using the Meyer and see in real time what is happening. You need to use the on off switch to check depth of field with a Pentax. Being intended for macro, the Pentax is a bit clinically perfect whereas the Meyer has character. The Meyer has about 15 blades that produce a perfect circle vs the Pentax's 6 and they open to f2.8 vs f4. I note you do a lot of car chasing and suchlike that might entail fast changes of aperture - the Meyer doesn't like its iris being whipped from one end to the other and you stand a high risk of damaging it. Those blades are delicate by comparison to the steel plates in a Pentax. You have to treat all Meyers with care.

I love my Meyer lenses and admit to being completely biassed! You could also try the Takumar and/or Soligor 105mm too.

As many of the reviews say, it's a heavy brute and I certainly wouldn't use it for walkabouts but it sits nicely on a sturdy tripod and this copy is an excellent performer.
All of these were taken using an IR remote with a 3 second delay. It is surprising how long it can take for the micro vibrations to cease after you let go of everything when there is such a weight of metal and glass bouncing around! They are either wide open (f4) or stopped down just sufficiently to have all the main elements in focus.

1. The wild plum tree is in full flower at the moment and it was perfect for what I wanted. This one hasn't had much processing and you can see the lack of contrast that characterizes many shots, together with the soft, unobtrusive bokeh. Contrast can be easily restored in PP.



2. I doubt there was a lot of colour photography in 1958 so I'm guessing it was optimised for black and white?



3. That said, its colour rendition is bright and very pleasing, This is an 80% crop, which gives an idea of how sharp it is around f5.6.



4. It certainly has its own character.



5. Finally, there was just enough unobstructed space to capture these lovely snowdrops right at the back of the hedge



I don't think I shall be selling this one on any time soon.

If it looks like MY images from the 70s and 80s then I can certainly do without it!

Received this morning, thank you John -- well cocooned in a big box.

This particular item appears to be a prototype with a very early 00xxxx serial number, a combination 1/4" - 3/8" tripod foot that such an early one shouldn't have and was originally an M39 mount which has been factory sleeved to make it up to M42. The argument against that is that it bears the Brussels Grand Prix 1958 badging. It is possible that some of them sat around in the factory prior to the exhibition and only gained the badge afterwards. (The tube that bears it is a removable part).

The flare seen in the photo at the top of this posting reproduced itself quite strongly and is caused by the very narrow collar around the M39/42 mount which is not wide enough to cover the slots in the M42 > K adapter. It would never have mattered in a native mount on a film camera because it would have fitted snugly. Simple fix - run a thin strip of black card all round the mount collar to make it a bit wider (secured by double sided tape). Add a 72mm hood and the results are now considerably more than excellent. Fingers crossed the blades continue to behave themselves.

These are first class - especially those with the wet sand (4 and 5).

No.1 seems to have caught the attention! It's a super shot.