Pentax 67II error

[poutnik]

Hello folks,

 

recently I bought (through ebay) used Pentax 67II camera. When the

camera came to me in the packaging, it was turned on and showed "E-30"

on its display (no film was in, no lens was attached, only the

non-metered prism). After opening the backdoor and then closing it,

the error message disappeared. Since then everything went quite OK. In

the camera manual, I read, that in case of all errors starting with

3x, the camera should be sent for servicing.

 

Because I was eager to shoot I did so (meaning shot, I did not send it

to a service), and everything went OK. I had some 10 (120format) films

through it.

 

But for yesterday, the camera started repeatedly displaying the "E-30"

message, which could only be rid by opening the back door. At first I

thought, that the film wasn't inserted right, because it started with

a new roll of film, after the 1st shot. So I opened the door, checked

the position of spools sacrificing the shot (and some 2-3 more), but

that was not the problem. [btw. the camera thought it had a new roll

in, so It started counting from 1 in the mid of the roll]. After

taking 2 shots it again displayed this message. I took out the roll,

put in a fresh one and succesfully shot 7 or 8 frames.

 

Now the question: does anyone know what kind of error is it?

(mechanical, electronic,...) Is the only help sending the camera for

service? Did I do anything wrong when I did not send the camera for

service at once?

 

Thanks in advance...

 

Jiri

[db1]

First, Did you contact the seller to ask about this problem?

 

Second, don't waste any more film. Send it to Pentax in Colorado.

[poutnik]

Some more facts:

 

I'm located in the central Europe, in the Czech Republic, so sending to US is out of question...

 

Yes, it would be nice to contact the seller - Adorama btw., which I did, they offered a $100 remboursement, which so far didn't get to my credit card (2months since I bought it). (In the auction, the camera was declared as mint condition)

 

And yes, i'd probably contact a pentax service, but right now it's eating on my mind. As a technical person I won't to know what I did wrong...

 

Jiri

[pavelp]

I do not think you did anything wrong. I've had couple cases when "mint-" camera from an established dealer had a fatal problem. In each case, I've got ALL my money back (including shipping both ways) so I am little surprised that Adorama is playing games.

 

Anyway, doesn't Pentax have offices in Prague?

[larry_menzin]

You are going to have to get the camera serviced. I bought a used P67 II on Ebay and several months after the purchase, the frame counter would reset to 0 randomly. I could usually find a way to temporarily work around the problem, but 2 weeks ago it became impossible to overcome. I sent the camera back to Pentax and it was fixed for $110.00.

 

The P67 II camera is prone to various strange electronic issues. I believe that Adorama has a 100-day warranty on used equipment. In an ideal world, since the camera arrived DOA, I would have sent it back for a full refund. If you are within the 100-day warranty, try to return it to Adorama for warranty service (they'll send it to Pentax in Golden, CO). If not, look for a Pentax service center in Europe. These problems just don't go away.

[alan_gale1]

This is text from my Pentax 67II owner's manual:

 

"If the first figure after the [E] is "1" or "3" this indicates camera breakdown, irrespective of the second figure. You should take the camera to your local Pentax service center." It later mentions "In rare cases, the camera may not operate correctly due to static electricity. This can be remedied by taking the batteries out and putting them back in again." Good luck.

 

Al

[fernando_mcsoto]

From my expierence the best is to send Adorama the bill of teh repair or service and ask them to pay in full. I bought my Pentax 67 from them on eBay a year and half ago and that is what I did. The repair in the UK costed more than 100 dollars they were offering. The dollar is too low to accept such offers.