stefantveye

<p>Bart,<br>

I learned how to shoot in tiny, tiny dive clubs. I learned with a 28-70mm zoom lens. But got SO much better at shooting when I could afford to buy a 50mm f/1.7 and a 28mm f/2. I got very proficient very quickly at swaping lenses at the front of the stage. It's easier than you think! If you can minimize your gear for the tight quaters, stick with what you have and be unafraid to swap lenses at the front of the stage. I keep my camera bag straped around me diagonally so my bag rides in front of my body and I can get lenses in and out quickly, with no damage.<br>

/Stefan</p>

Hello Rizwan,

 

I started down the camera repair road about 1 year ago. I bought the basic Ed Romeny book and it is helpful for very basic and beginner information. I must agree with the others that have said to buy some cheap junk cameras to practice with. That is what I have done. I'm not a repair man yet, it takes a lot of time to learn. I am currently searching for a technician that can teach me more. Start reading some books but also find a technician to help you.

 

I started with repairing an Argus C3 because they are VERY easy to work with. If you can find one it could be good for you to start with also.

I used to develop in my kitchen as well, in one of my small apartments. It's easy, just get some plastic to lay across the counter tops to cover things up (to be on the safe side). I used to use garbage bags for this. As mentioned scrub down afterwards with warm soapy water.

If you haven't already tried changing the battery, do that first. Often a dying battery is the first thing that causes these little problems. If that doesn't make a difference then dirty contacts would be the next thing to check out. If it's been more than a few years since you've had the body serviced, in my experience, spending the $50-$75 to have it cleaned and serviced would be worth it (especially if you love your K1000 as much as I love mine).

For repair check out the website http://www.pentaxs.com/

this might be the same Eric that was refered to earlier. This guy specializes in Pentax cameras.

I have now had some time to familiaze myself with the guide section on the curtain tension

and such. Unfortunately I won't be near my tools or work space for another month. However I

did shoot a roll of film over last weekend with the lower speeds (i.e. - 1/60 of a second) and

had no trouble with exposure. I'm leaning towards adjusting the high speed curtain

adjustment or the curtain tension, I'm not so sure it's dirt. If it was dirty I would think the

problem would show up at lower speeds as well.

 

I've got a few more weeks to re-read and ponder this. I may find a repairman that I can pay to

show me how to do this.

I'll give the spindles a try. I don't have any lighter fluid but I've got nail polish remover which I

think acts approximately same. Do you happen to know if nail polish remover (acetate) is

worse than lighter fluid?

I have yet to remove the front standard of the camera but I know those screws your talking

about, I think I know where to look. I hope you're right about the dirt, then I could just clean

it up.

Warren, I tend to be pessimistic too but with cameras I'm not letting it get the better of

me. Haven't found any obstructions and I'm not 100% sure if it's the curtain tension or the

shutter speed adjustment itself. I'm not sure how little parts are supposed to be greased

but I don't see gobs of grease when I remove the bottom plate. I shot some test rolls of

film and speeds slower than 1/125 are still OK. Thanks for the link, reminds me I still need

to get a shutter speed tester.

 

Richard, so far I've been doing what you suggest - I haven't touched any adjustments until

I'm sure I know what the problem is! Obviously fiddling with the adjustments will just

make everything worse. I hadn't thought of dirty bearings I'll have to look a little further

for dirty or over-greased parts.

Master faster, thanks for the link. That K1000 manual is the one that I've been referencing.

The other manuals may prove to be useful.

 

Warren, I got this K1000 new in 1989. I believe that falls in the metal skin catagory. Both

curtains look fairly smooth. I haven't seen any bumps or buckles or abnomailities in either

curtain. Last time I had it in for CLA service was about 9 months ago, and I was NOT happy

with the place that did it. That's one reason I've been reading up on repair and service. I want

to be able to do the cleaning and repairs myself, as much as possible.

I've been reading up on K1000 repair in 2 different books/manuals. I have a K1000 that has a real bad

time with the opening curtain moving too slow at the higher shutter speeds (1/125 - 1/1000). So the

closing curtain is catching up to the opening curtain and blacking out half (or sometimes more) of the

frame. In know where to adjust the curtain tension and where to adjust the curtain speed on my camera I

just don't know HOW to adjust it properly to fix the issue.

 

The books I've been referencing are the actual Pentax repair manual and an Ed Romney book. Anybody

ever done this adjustment?

Thanks for the link! I'll give that a try and see if he can help me.

I have been searching the internet high and low to find some kind of starting point for developing some

old EFKE in TMAX. I don't suppose anyone has had any luck experimenting with this?

 

From all the other info that I've seen on EFKE films I can only estimate that with TMAX (1+4) at about 68 F/

20 C degrees it would be around 6 minutes. But I thought I'd check with you all just in case someone has

found a preferable time.

 

Thanks in advance.

Thanks, both of you for responding. I fogot to mention that, yes, these are rolls. 35mm film

to be exact. The ISO is pretty low on these, I think one of them is 40. Dan, I should have

thought of the bracketing myself...I overlooked bracketing and then doing a clip test on

those exposures.

 

Wieslaw, most likely I won't get around to shooting this film until early April, if you can find

any information it would be much appreciated.

A friend of mine has some old film that he gave me, that I hope to just experiment with and see what I

get. Some rolls of Fomapan F17 from Czechoslovakia and Fotopan HL from Poland. Both expired in the

early 1990s. I've been searching the internet to see if any processing instructions exist for Kodak or Ilford

chemicals but haven't found any. Does anyone have their own time tables or know of some on the internet

that I wasn't able to find???

 

Thanks!

Nowe - many thanks! Kiitos kiitos, if you are Finnish. I'm not going to assume...

 

This is very helpful. I know where Fredrikinkatu is, my favorite bar in the whole world is at

#34 (Bar Loose). I should be able to find #51 easy. I thought about Stockman but I thought

maybe there would be somewhere better.

I've been searching around for an answer to this, but haven't found one here. I thought I would ask, does

anyone have a favorite camera shop in Helsinki, Finland that sells a decent selection of B&W films, both

35mm and Medium Format?

 

I don't foresee needing to buy film, but you never know! Thanks in advanced.

I used to use Foto1 in Ann Arbor, 4 years ago when I lived in MI. They were pretty good for

consumer and commercial printing when I started going there in the 1990s, but then they

really started to suck (at least on the consumer end) in the early 2000s, in my opinion.

They've moved and changed since I left the area, so maybe they've gotten better again.

I agree with Pico, military surplus makes for great stealthy camera bags. They aren't obvious

and people all over the world use them for a million different purposes. I have a dark green

canvas military bag that looks small and unassuming, I've taken it all over the world and not

had any problems. It's got one flap over the top, 2 straps to buckle it. Best camera bag I've

ever had.

 

If you're concerned about theives, wear the strap across your body not on your shoulder.

Make it appear hard to snatch, theives go for easy targets.

I found out about eric Hendrickson just recently, wish I had known about him while I was

living in the states! I most certainly would have sent my camera to him, becasue he

specializes in Pentax. I went to some photo stores in Stockholm, and if my swedish is a

good as I hope it is, I think they basically told me they can't/won't service my camera.

That's why I tried Pentax Sweden.

 

My flash started failing right in the middle of a concert I was shooting. I always carry a

small flash cord and that was the very first thing I tried, hoping it was just the hotshoe.

Sadly, it didn't make a difference. One of the things I love about the K1000 is, like you said

it's pretty straight forward. I'm hoping that learning repair on with this camera will be

pretty straight forward as well. I'll look for a corroded wire.

Thanks everyone for the answers. I have a better idea of how to approach this.

 

Berk - tack för svar! I'll look into the Switzerland address, sounds like a good idea. I tried to

find information about this on the Kodak website, but of course the website was of no help at

all.

I have a roll of Kodak Kodachrome that I got from a friend here in Sweden. He didn't want to bother with it,

as it expired in 1994. I shot the roll just for fun and practice. It has the processing mailer with it in the

box and I'm wondering if anyone knows if I can still take advantage of the processing 12 years later???

If not, does anyone know a good processing place in the Stockholm region?

 

I did a little searching on here but didn't find the answer I was looking for. If someone has already

answered this question in another forum topic, sorry for the repeat question. Thanks in advanced.

Seems like it's a toss up between Kodak and Ilford films. If you've got the time and resources

why not use multiple films and see what different effects you get? Maybe a little

experimentation and varied results will work to good effect for the project?

James, a thousand thanks for the manual link. I actually bought a copy of the K1000 manual

on CDR earlier this year, as I didn't know these were available like this. I've been reading

through it before I really dig in. The other manuals will be helpful as well!

 

I've been looking for a dirt cheap Spotmatic in any condition, so I can tear into it and not

worry about ruining it. I've read that the Spotmatic and K1000 aren't that different.

Just curious to know if anyone else here has attempted to learn Pentax camera repair on their own?

 

While I was living in MN the one really good camera service store that I could find closed down. I found out

from Pentax here in Sweden that they can't fix the flash sync on my K1000 (part is no longer available). I'm

getting the feeling that analog camera repair is quickly going to become a thing of the past. I've been

teaching myself/trying to learn how to fix my own gear. I'm not ready to give up on my K1000 yet, it still

gets plenty of use and does a great job, without a flash of course. I didn't find any DIY repair threads using

the search, so I thought I'd ask if anyone cares to discuss? Share some experiences? Tips? thoughts?

I don't know the laws in the UK, but in the USA if you are on PUBLIC property no one can

legally take away your camera. I've gotten used to NOT using a tripod when I do night

photos, I just improvise with whatever surface is available. And I've gotten good at looking

more like a casual hobbyist. Everyone is so freaked out about terrorism these days, that

just about anyone doing anything serious with a camera is automatically suspect of being

up to no good.

 

I used to work as a security gaurd for a sports team, we only had the right to refuse entry

to people with cameras. The arena we were housed in was private property, so the rules

are different. However security gaurds try to be menacing so you'll comply easily and won't

cause any trouble. In the US security gaurds are not police, they don't have the

same legal power. Maybe it's different in the UK?

 

Picking up and walking away was a fine solution!