I think I read somewhere that soaking in vinegar can un-stick battery covers glued in place by leaked battery gunk.

Didn't you have a K1 for a short while before?

The only other thing I can think of is to make sure you have the latest firmware. Maybe refresh it even if you do. If that doesn't work then it sounds like a camera fault.

I don't think that Pentax have acknowledged the problem at all and used the same faulty part in multiple models over multiple years. I'm not sure if even now they're still using it. Is the K-70 affected? I don't think I've seen any reports of K-70s with this problem, it's mainly 30s and 50s.

Withdrawn from sale.

Withdrawn from sale.

Last weekend I attended (purely as a photographer) the first Segovia balloon festival in Spain. The event had planned flights Friday to Sunday mornings at 7.30am and afternoon flights at 18.30, though the afternoon ones were all cancelled due to winds being too high.

I enjoyed the festival very much and the sight of these colourful balloons floating over a beautiful city. Hopefully it'll go ahead next year too. The second morning was great, with around 30 balloons taking off, the third morning I was only at the take-off area briefly as I mainly wanted to be at a high vantage point on the other side of the city, which paid off as the wind took the balloons right over the city (on previous days they'd gone in another direction). Certainly worth getting up early for.

All of these shots were taken on my K3. I had quite a lot of gear with me - DA 15, 35 and 70 limiteds, DA 16-85mm, Sigma 70-200/2.8 and a couple of manual lenses too, plus some film gear though the films aren't developed or scanned yet. I mostly used the 16-85mm, it's first real outing and was quite impressed with it's results and found the wide focal length range very useful. There was plenty of light in the mornings so the f/3.5-5-6 wasn't a problem.

The first twp of these are panoramas stitched from various photos and several photos have been submitted to the photography contest accompanying the festival (fingers crossed).



Balloon panorama 1 by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr



Panorama 6a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr



IMG_7522a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr



IMG_7720a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr



IMG_7430b by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr



IMG_7411a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr



IMG_7478a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr



IMG_7510a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr



IMG_7918a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr



IMG_7422a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

I have an M series 50mm f/1.4 lens for sale as it came with a camera body I wanted and I already have a copy. It's in great shape mechanically, optically and cosmetically and aperture and focus rings move smoothly. It has very minor internal dust, no fungus, very minor wear on the barrel.

I will post images in the next day or two when I have time.

You will find many favourable reviews of this lens online (check over at the US PentaxForums) and it's one of my favourite manual lenses both on digital and film, just as good as the Takumar and K series lenses.

I will be over in the UK for a few days and therefore able to post on Friday the 3rd of August. Payment by bank transfer (preferred) or Paypal, must be received by mid-day on Thursday the 2nd at the latest because if the lens doesn't sell then I won't be taking it over with me. Price is £65 posted to the UK.

Please PM me any questions.

Thanks

I have an A series 50mm f/1.7 lens for sale. Unlike most of these lenses, it does not suffer from the "gritty" aperture ring that is common with this model. It's in great shape mechanically, optically and cosmetically with the only flaw being a dent in the filter ring. I have bent it back to allow an empty filter ring (glass removed) to be fitted so that a hood or filters can then be fitted to the empty filter ring without any problem.

The lens performs superbly and is sharper than all other 50/1.7s I've tried, including other copies of the same lens that I have owned. It has minimal internal dust, no fungus and focuses smoothly.

This is a sample image taken wide open at f/1.7 (on the K-3):



IMGP2763a A50_1.7 by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

And a 100% crop from that image:



IMGP2763a A50_1.7 100pc by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

I will post images in the next day or two when I have time.

Selling because I just have two many fast fifties.

I will be over in the UK for a few days and therefore able to post on Friday the 3rd of August. Payment by bank transfer (preferred) or Paypal, must be received by mid-day on Thursday the 2nd at the latest because if the lens doesn't sell then I won't be taking it with me. Price is £39 posted to the UK.

Please PM me any questions.

Thanks

I recently sold my Tamron because I got a good deal on the Sigma of the same specs and I have to say that all-in-all I prefer the Sigma for it's better build and quiet focusing. It's just as good as the Tamron optically and the constant f/2.8 makes it far more useful in many situations than an f/3.5-5.6 lens.