thank you!
i'll be at the far end of the ferry - Vardo, then Vadso.

eeeek! in a moment of, possible, madness, i went for a 2nd hand K-5ii.

There were various reasons - one being that i had fancied a K-5ii when they came out, but another being that, as lovely as the K70 is, there is a possibility of the aperture block returning (ok, i'll have a 2 year guarantee) and there is a new model on the horizon.

Part of me just wants one of the big guys of the camera scene and after a K30 and the KS2 i feel the quality has been a bit lacking in the lower models.

if the worst comes to the worst, i still have an ME Super as backup!

cheers for all the info and advice, Very much appreciated.

i've been looking at getting 2nd hand K-5ii as my current camare has contracted aperture block... what is so special about these, i remember when they came out everyone wanted one? do they still cut it? have they aged well? is it worth risking a 2nd hand one?

L

Cheers Martin.

i guess my camera has had a good innings, but i do get fed up of the limited lifespan of modern cameras - then again, i guess they need to sell new models!

At the moment the problem isn't great, but getting worse and i don't want to be in a wonderful place with a broken camera, so i'll have to bite the bullet and look at a replacement.

L

[/quote]It is essentially a defunct solenoid which shouldn’t take a huge amount of effort to replace, but doesn’t resolve the issue permanently unless you’re fortunate enough to get an old ‘white’ solenoid as found in some of the early DSLR’s.

The K5ii doesn’t have the same aperture solenoid so doesn’t suffer with the infamous ‘aperture block’ issue.[/quote]i did not know this was a thing!

is it similar to the ME/Super winding issue, in that everyone knows, but you only find out when it happens to your camera? although the winding issue does produce some interesting photos!

wow, nice one! I''ve only been to the Arctic, which has civilisation reasonably close to hand.

i did attend a talk by Nico Wills about his ant/arctic trips and i remember him aying he would wrap everything in plastic bags to stop them getting too soggy and try to store them away from too much heat/cold - so not near the fire/heating.

he also mentioned a battery device that was located on his body, the wires ran down his arms to a connector at the glove and then a lead into the camera. he said that was the best device as the batteries just died in the real cold, but being near his body, the power packs were fine. it also meant that the camera was stored without power, so not so prone to issues with heat and cold changes.

i seem to recall he had backup storage for the images at the 'base camp' and would copy everything as soon as he could each day, even uploading them to a laptop, so that any subsequent failure souldn't be too damaging.

personally, i'd also advise taking a film camera as the light in the polar regions is incredible and both my trips to the Arctic have seen the film shots capture it better than digital (medium format film was very good). alas, changing film in extreme conditions can be rather tricky.

good luck

cheers all

Odd how you ignore the obvious sometimes! I assume it to be a sensor issue, but it may be a lens issue... i will now check. Chances are, it is the camera as it has had a rather batttered life.

the K-70 has passed me by, somewhat. i shall investigate further, but it looks beyond my range at present.

i see SRS have some 2nd hand K5iis on their site. i did buy a 2nd hand job off them yonks ago and it lasted well beyond the warrenty period (it was still working when it was unceremoniously shunted into a box - it was a K-100 i think!)

L

i have so many cameras with broken counters i just shoot until it won't wind on. if the rest of the camera is fine, why worry?

i recently bought a medium format camera on ebay (Zeiss Ikon 6x9). inside was a roll of Ilford, similar to this. research put it at at least 50 years old, probably 5-10 years more.

I stuck it in the tank with Rodinol and was very surprised when 2 images emerged. They had the backing tape markings on (not an issue with 35mm). That 'Selo' film seems to be indestructable. no wonder Ilford are still in business.

great shots with the expired film - better than a lot of mine with new!

Welcome, Kevin. i also wield an ME Super from time to time (when i can work out which ME/ME Super is working) in the London area