Just as an update - regrettably no luck. The technician at Harrow Technical that used to do MF repairs has retired and Asahi photo can't do them, either. And apparently spares for these models are really hard to come by. So - looks possibly like my 645 is destined to become a donor camera for later (if any are useable on the 645N). If anyone hears of a retired Pentax camera technician who still likes to work now and then though, please do let me know. Does make me a little sad that we are losing these skills though.

Anyhow, thanks a lot guys for responding to my post.

Kind regards,

Stella

Thanks Jonathan, I shall give them a try tomorrow. They might be able to put me in touch with someone else even if they aren't servicing mf film cameras anymore. Thanks for posting.

Kind regards,

Stella

Hi John,

Thanks a lot for such a prompt response!

Hadn't thought about something 'sensing' the film and that does make a lot of sense. It's definitely worth the phone call. Thanks a lot that is a great help!

Kind regards,

Stella

Hello everyone,

Good to find so many MF Pentax folk here!

Just wondering if anyone has experienced this problem or who knows of a good Pentax repair person here in the UK. The problem is that as soon as I load film into the camera it immediately advances the film and keeps going, right to the end of the film. A mucky battery contact was the first thought but that's been looked at and discounted. Shutter button hasn't jammed either. Wondering if this might mean a circuit board fault? Just wondered if anyone had come across this before.

I bought it (at a cheap price) knowing it had the problem, and to be fair it didn't cost much more than the price of the film holders it came with so I'm hardly out of pocket but also thought it was probably a simple fix (Which shows how much I really know ;D)

Has anyone come across this? Will very much appreciate if anyone can offer any ideas.

Thanks a lot.