PENTAX K1000 APERTURE AND LIGHT METER PROB!

[jonathan_moss]

Hello!

 

I am fairly new to manual SLR cameras, so please forgive my lack of

knowledge! I have just bought my second Pentax K1000 camera, the old

one broke a couple of years ago, and was going to cost more than a

replacement to fix. The new one is in fantastic condition, but the

light meter only reacts to the shutter speed, and to the brightness

of the subject I am pointing at, and does not move at all when

changing the apeture setting on the lens. I have tried two lens, and

they both do this. Is this correct? Surely with a narrower aperture,

there would be less light entering the camera, thus giving a lower

light meter reading? I am faily sure my last one from two years ago

had a light meter which reacted to changes in aperture! Also, why do

some SLR's darken through the viewfinder when you move the aperture

ring, and some do not? Sorry about the basic questions but I have

combed the internet to find the answers to no success! Many thanks

[Jochen_S]

More modern cameras keep the aperture open until they take the picture, to enable you to focus more easiely. The K1000 is such a camera. The problem you describe sounds like the little lever which is coupled to the aperture ring and located at aprox 2 o clock to 4 o clock, when you look into the camera doesn't touch the lens or a spring returning it to 2 o clock is broken.

I don't know how to fix it and whom to ask for.

[stephen hazelton]

The meter needle should move when you change aperture, assuming you are using a standard K mount lens. Some SLR/ lens combinations don't have an automatic diaphram that shuts down just before the shutter fires- on these, when you adjust apeture, the viewfinder images also dims. I'm thinking the screw-mount lenses with a K adaptor do this.

 

When I first used a K mount camera, I didn't have the lens on all the way, and that lets the aperture visibly open and close (and might cause the metering problems you notice, too). Make sure the lens is rotated until it clicks. If you can remove the lens without pressing the release button, you don't have it rotated far enough.

 

If you are using a screwmount lens that is not coupled to the aperture, then the meter needle should still move when you change aperture, provided the aperture is working correctly (should be visibly opening and closing). If the aperture on the lens was stuck, that could be the problem.

 

I am also assuming you are not metering in extremely dim light, or outside the normal metering range for the K1000- funky things happen then. For example, with 25 ISO set, 1/1000 and 1/500 don't work. With 50-64 ISO set, 1/1000 doesn't work. And similarly with fast film and slow camera speeds (the speeds above work, they just don't work the meter).

[mark pav]

Mine did this intermittently for no obvious reason. The only way I found to fix it (temporarily) was to change the available light drastically and dial in a different shutter speed. Then the aperture ring had the normal effect on the needle.

[imaginator]

Just curious about the old one... what exactly is wrong with it? (I might be interested in using it for long exposures) Also, if the newer one is messed up (or the lens) I know of ways to make them function again with "stop down metering".

[gio_sarmiento]

this also happens to me [i'm fairly new and i just bought my K1000 a month ago.]

 

the image in the viewfinder doesn't dim at all even though the standard pentax k mount lens is locked into place. i tried taking the lens out slightly [not fully out, but loose on the camera body]

 

the aperture started doing its job, and i could dim the scene. but it was pretty loose and i had to hold the lens in place while i changed the aperture.

 

any ideas?