pentax meter won't work with certain lens

[neil_b]

I finally purchased a pentax kx and am very happy with it. Although

i'm a finance major, it makes me wish i was a photography major

instead. My problem is that the meter works well with all my other

lenses...135mm, 50mm, and 75-201mm but won't work with my vivtar

28-210mm which i just purchased. when I attach the lens, and turn on

the meter it immediately drops to B. sometimes it starts to work, but

then when i turn the aperture ring i hear what sounds like an

unwinding sound and my meter pointer drops to B. the aperture ring

seems to work fine....from what i can see using the DOF, its just that

the meter won't function with this lens. Is there anything I can do?

I'm a college student on a budget....HELP!!!

[greg_erker]

It's possible that the aperture lever on the lens is bent a little.

Then the camera wouldn't hold the lens open so it would think

the light was very dim. You should be able to see this (darkness)

through the viewfinder, and it would change as you move the aperture

ring. And see the aperture blades by looking into the front of the

lens when mounted on the camera.

 

Another possiblility is that the stop-down indicator in the lens

is defective (this is the little lever on the back that doesn't

stick out past the mount). Then it is telling the camera that the

lens is at f22 or some small aperture so the camera picks a very

long shutter speed.

[neil_b]

Well I tried it with my Pentax ME, and the vivitar 28-210 works great, infact even the metering works. I was wondering if perhaps the problem could be with my KX. When i compared it with my ME the lever inside the lens mount on my KX that apparently interfaces witht the aperture lever on the lens... seems to have a bit of more of a gap...i'm wondering if maybe its too thin...or something....should i try to bend it or something?

[william mcfadden]

I had to make a very minor tweek to the aperture ring feedback lever of my KX body to allow my Vivitar Series I 70-210 zoom work on this body. Just a slight bend of the lever was all that was needed.

 

Eric