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Deborrah
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, September 01, 2005 - 03:15 pm: | 
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I have a Pentax ME F that I've had since high school. My daughter now wants to take a photography class so I dug it out for her. Put in new batteries only to find that the LED exposure indicators aren't working anymore. I am not a camera repair person but I'm pretty handy, so with clear instructions I should be able to get this thing working.
Is this a common problem that is reasonably easy to fix? Can someone provide me with instructions on how to get it going or direct me to a website that might be able to help? |
rick
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, September 01, 2005 - 07:12 pm: |
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I'm not very hopeful, but I'm much more a mechanical than an electronics person. Is it just the LEDs that don't work, or is the camera dead? |
Deborrah
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, September 03, 2005 - 08:31 am: |
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The camera's levers and buttons all work. I noticed after posting the note above that the shutter button doesn't release the shutter. oh no, it may be dead!  |
Don
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, September 03, 2005 - 12:03 pm: |
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Are the batteries inserted correctly? IIRC, camera has a - ground so + side should be facing up. Also check the battery contact & cap for corrosion. A drop of vinegar on a Q tip will ckean it up if needed.
Don |
Arthur
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, September 03, 2005 - 03:09 pm: |
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Could be a power failure - bad wire connection from the battery box, or a break in the circuit board. |
rick
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, September 03, 2005 - 07:15 pm: |
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actually, the whole camera being dead may be more hopeful than having just the LEDs out.... it opens the possibility of things like bad or incorrectly installed batteries, or a corroded or broken wire at the battery terminal, which is actually fairly common. something like that would be more repairable than a bad circuit board inside. |
Henry
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 04, 2005 - 02:18 pm: |
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Is the top of the prism dented? The main power trace is right at the prism crown and can get severed by a strong ding. I've fixed this on several M-series by jumpering a wire around the break.
Henry |
Joy Witzsche
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 05, 2005 - 09:46 pm: |
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Hi, I'm in a similar boat (pulling the family's old Pentax out of mothballs inorder to take a photography class). . . I have a Pentax ME F which may or may not be "dead". I think my parents were told by a camera repair store several years ago that the camera wasn't worth repairing. . . But I would like to give it a try. Would the repair manual for the ME, or the ME super work OK for repairing the ME F?
The camera seems to be jammed. The winder will not wind all the way, the shutter button doesn't release the shutter, when you remove the lens all you see is a black box (isn't there supposed to be a mirror in there?), when you open the film compartment you see something which looks a little confusing (nothing like the inside of the Pentax Spotmatic that I also have)there are multiple layers of a stiff plasitcy material - and one of the layers look bunched up (the piece that moves up and down, and has the two 'arms' attached, is near the top of exposure area and there are two layers (which look a little like triangles which angle down from the middle of the left side of the exposure area down to the bottom right corner), these look like they are supposed to be on the lens side of things but are kind of bunched up and preventing the other layer from sliding back down)
I don't see anything through the view finder.
I would like to get this camera running because I like the lens which will not fit on my other Pentax camera which does work but has a very basic lens.
The lens is a Kiron 28 - 70 mm f3.5-4.5 Macro 1:4
Help! |
Henry
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 06, 2005 - 07:24 am: |
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Kiron glass makes my mouth water. :-) And that is one of Kino Optics nicest.
But your shutter curtain problem sounds serious. In fact, it sounds like the classic thumb through the shutter blades syndrome. If the blades are kinked...bented not just bowed...you may need to completely disassemble and replace the shutter assembly.
I have had success repositioning bowed blades. It has to be attacked both from the front and back simultaneously. Hold the bowed blade between the index fingers of both hands and very gently try to feed it back into the slot.
But if the blades are kinked, you have some serious disassembly in store...and you'll need a donor camera for a new shutter assembly.
Henry |
Joy
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 06, 2005 - 01:08 pm: |
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Thank you for the comments and advice (this is rather exciting getting this old camera up and running again)!
I was able to reposition the blades as you suggested - not an easy task. One of the blades was completely out of the shutter assembly! Regretably there is a very small kink at the bottom of the shutter curtain as seen from inside the mirror box. I've gone through a couple of pretend rolls of film just winding, and winding, and the curtains did hang up a few times but were easily released with gentle persuation. I will keep my eye out for a suitable donor camera (can I use the shutter assembly from an ME or an ME super?)
There seems to be another problem(s). I had removed the bottom cover (I initially thought that inorder to reposition the curtain blades, I would have to remove the window box - didn't get that far) and a small black rectangular piece of plastic fell out! It is very small ~4mm tall by 7 or 8 mm wide, one edge looks like it had brocken off something. When I reassembled the camera (I had taken detailed notes when taking it apart) to test the shutter I found that there is no need to actually press the shutter button! You wind the film and when you release the winder arm the shutter trips! I was thinking that the winding lock (?) might be bent? What in the world could that little piece of black plastic be from?
And Thank you again for your reply to my first posting!
-Joy |
Henry
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 06, 2005 - 06:39 pm: |
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Think the ME F and ME Super share the same shutter assembly. And I think the blade sub-assembly is the same in all M's except the MX.
Henry |
Joy
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, September 08, 2005 - 08:58 pm: |
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It turns out that the small piece of black plastic, which fell out of my camera when I had the bottom cover off, was one of the tabs on the battery cover! |
Nick
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, October 28, 2005 - 10:22 pm: |
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Hi
I have recently unearthed a Pentax MG, which isn't in great shape. When i put in batteries all i get is a red light on the LED. When i look through the view-finder all i see is black - and no the lens cap isn't on. the shutter is down, same as Joy that when i take off the lens all is see is the shutter. The Rapid wind lever doesn't pull back the full way and as such the shutter release button doesn't fire....is this the same issue as what Joy had? And if so how fixable is it
cheers
Nick |
