Pentax ES II - Repair Tip for common malady

Quick trip to a local open air market, and I found this unit. Probably long forgotten as it was not functioning properly. Mirror flipped up and lens exposed to whatever with tiny specs on front element. Some research on Pentax Forums yielded the fix and wanted to share with you here as it is super simple:

 

- Open base plate with four Philips screws (The ones around tripod socket are smaller)

- Remove circuit board (3 Philips screws) and remove it from slot, as you would remove a memory module from a computer.

- With exposed mechanics you can see the pin to the left of the tripod socket which is stuck.

- I freed it and mirror came down, cleaned goo from the mirror bumper cushion

- Used electronic cleaner to clean old grease in the channel where mirror arm moves and one drop of watch oil to lubricate

- Good as new now.

 

See photos for the issue part. Hope this helps anyone having trouble with this.

 

And the bottom part with issue circled.

 

Thanks for sharing the info. Sticking mirrors are pretty common with the Spotmatic series.

 

Broken meter switches are another issue with this model, also accessible under the bottom cover (left side of photo above) and easy enough to fix. Many of these cameras are found non-working for this reason.

Edited January 25, 2022 by m42dave

Excellent, thank you Ralf. I have a couple of old Spotmatics with stuck mirrors that I've been intending to investigate for about five years, and your information gives some impetus to my intentions!

Thanks for sharing the info. Sticking mirrors are pretty common with the Spotmatic series.

 

Broken meter switches are another issue with this model, also accessible under the bottom cover (left side of photo above) and easy enough to fix. Many of these cameras are found non-working for this reason.

Agree - I just checked the electronics and they seem to be working within reason - albeit the lens mounted on this is one of the two lenses in referenced in the manual that won't work properly.

It works fine in Stop down mode and meter is responsive including correct shutter value based on set aperture.

Excellent, thank you Ralf. I have a couple of old Spotmatics with stuck mirrors that I've been intending to investigate for about five years, and your information gives some impetus to my intentions!

Hi Rick - Hope you are doing well, and very glad to see you. Have been away from forum for some time but do check on things from time to time. Miss seeing some of your work and hikes in towns or rural areas.

 

Hope above helps, as it seems common with this line of cameras.

Agree - I just checked the electronics and they seem to be working within reason - albeit the lens mounted on this is one of the two lenses in referenced in the manual that won't work properly.

It works fine in Stop down mode and meter is responsive including correct shutter value based on set aperture.

 

Sounds good. I've had two of these where the base of the meter switch, which is plastic (see blue circle) cracks and keeps it from closing (red circle). It can be re-glued with epoxy or special glue for plastics.

 

Edited January 26, 2022 by m42dave

ralf_j said:

Hi Rick - Hope you are doing well, and very glad to see you.

 

Thanks, Ralf, all goes well and I hope we see you regularly on the forum this year.

m42dave, on the Jan 26 thread you referenced an image with circles around the meter switch areas. The image seems to be gone. Could you post it again please?

Thanks

Kevin