Mirror won't drop on Pentax Spotmatic
ry...@jimryan.com
sitting idle. I took a coupe of quick photos and then all went black.
Upon taking the lens off could see the mirror would not drop. It was,
in fact, hung up on a little metal ridge that slides back to front. In
the back position it holds the mirror up, in the front, it releases
it. I can't find anyway short of manually sticking something in there
to get it to move forward and release the mirror.
Also, for the life of me I can't seem to find a shutter speed
adjustment on it. Was there one? I can't believe there isn't. Any
ideas will be appreciated.
--
Jim
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Before you buy.
Noah Spam
>sitting idle. I took a coupe of quick photos and then all went black.
>Upon taking the lens off could see the mirror would not drop. It was,
>in fact, hung up on a little metal ridge that slides back to front. In
>the back position it holds the mirror up, in the front, it releases
>it. I can't find anyway short of manually sticking something in there
>to get it to move forward and release the mirror.
>
>Also, for the life of me I can't seem to find a shutter speed
>adjustment on it. Was there one? I can't believe there isn't. Any
>ideas will be appreciated.
I don't know what model of Pentax you have, but it doesn't sound like a
Spotmatic. The shutter speed adjustment on a Spotmatic is an ordinary dial
on the top of the camera, next to the shutter release button and film
advance lever. It's got numbers from 1 to 1000 plus B, and there are little
cutout windows in it for setting the film speed (lift up and turn the
dial.) It's kind of hard to overlook this dial, so that's why I think you
might have something other than a Spotmatic. The ME and ME Super, for
example, adjust shutter speeds via two little black pushbuttons located
where the dial normally would be.
The thing you describe as holding up the mirror doesn't sound like a
Spotmatic, either. The Spotmatic didn't have a mirror lock mechanism, and
the only thing the mirror hits at the top of its travel is a strip of foam
across the front of the focusing screen. (Sometimes this foam deteriorates
with age and gets sticky, and then when the mirror flies up it sticks to
the foam and won't come back down. You can fix it by gently prying it loose
from the foam so it returns, then replace the foam with a new strip, which
you can get from Fargo Enterprise.)
I'm really having to guess here, but what you may have is a later model
Pentax that has interchangeable focusing screens, and what the mirror is
hitting is the latch for the focusing screen frame. Pentaxes with screen
interchange (except for the LX, which has a removable prism) retain the
screen in a hinged frame that latches via a little clip at the front. Pull
the clip forward and the frame drops down onto the mirror so you can remove
the screen with tweezers and put in a different one; then you push the
frame back up until it latches. It sounds as if *maybe* your screen frame
is either unlatched or possibly bent, so that it's interfering with the
mirror action. You might be able to fix it by GENTLY lifting it forward
until it lets go of the mirror, then studying it to see whether it's bent
or otherwise misaligned and (if so) GENTLY straightening it. You have to be
careful with it because if you mangle it, you'll disturb the alignment of
the focusing screen, which will make it focus inaccurately.
As I said, it's only a guess, though!!
ry...@jimryan.com
Sorry, don't know how I missed that. So much for the shutter speed.
Any thoughts on the mirror sticking? It also says "Spotmatic" on the
front.
Jim
In article <B604D60...@24.3.242.51>,
--
ERNReed
>>I recently resurrected my Pentax Spotmatic after more than 10 years of
>>sitting idle.
>>Also, for the life of me I can't seem to find a shutter speed
>>adjustment on it. Was there one? I can't believe there isn't.
Noah Spam's reply (also abridged):
>I don't know what model of Pentax you have, but it doesn't sound like a
>Spotmatic. The shutter speed adjustment on a Spotmatic is an ordinary dial
>on the top of the camera, next to the shutter release button and film
>advance lever. It's got numbers from 1 to 1000 plus B, and there are little
>cutout windows in it for setting the film speed (lift up and turn the
>dial.) It's kind of hard to overlook this dial, so that's why I think you
>might have something other than a Spotmatic. The ME and ME Super, for
>example, adjust shutter speeds via two little black pushbuttons located
>where the dial normally would be.
The ME Super, the Super Program and the Program Plus do this. The ME does not
have a control to set shutter speeds at all. Same for the MG and MV.
Noah continued:
>I'm really having to guess here, but what you may have is a later model
>Pentax that has interchangeable focusing screens, and what the mirror is
>hitting is the latch for the focusing screen frame.
This is a fine theory that runs into the complication that, of
later-than-Spotmatic bodies, only the MX and the LX have interchangeable
screens (okay, also the PZ-1(p) but those have not been around as long as 10
years) and both the MX and the LX have really obvious shutter speed dials on
top.
Anyway, if it's labelled Spotmatic, of course, it's a Spotmatic and takes
screw-mount lenses and has a shutter-speed dial on top as described by Noah
Spam. If it isn't labelled Spotmatic and has a bayonet mount, it isn't a
Spotmatic. (Either way, I don't know why the mirror is hanging up -- but if it
turns out to be a different model and we can establish which model, maybe
someone will be able to think of something.)
----------------------------------------------------------------
E.R.
http://members.aol.com/ernreed
If you aren't spamming, avoid the junktrap
ry...@jimryan.com
Yeah, it definetly has Spotmatic on it, and it has a screw type
mounting for the lens, Shutter speed on top (missed that).
I would estimate I got it in the late 70's
Jim
In article <20001007174050...@ng-co1.aol.com>,
--
Ted Smith
"John Halliwell" <jo...@photopia.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:GcgRPPAf...@photopia.demon.co.uk...
> In article <8ro5l7$qhi$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, ry...@jimryan.com writes
> >Duhhhhhh!...
> >
> >Sorry, don't know how I missed that. So much for the shutter speed.
> >Any thoughts on the mirror sticking? It also says "Spotmatic" on the
> >front.
>
> Spotmatic, but I think some SLRs lock the mirror up if the battery
> fails. The LX supposedly does this if your using one of the electronic
> Auto speeds when the battery fails.
>
> --
> John
Could it be a Spotmatic-ES ? This was the first electronic-shutter model
Pentax sold ... looked just like a standard Spotmatic except the top has a 2
plus/ 1 and a half minus ... exposure compensation dial on the left of the
prism. The shutter speed dial looks like the standard dial except it's a
little taller and wider ... and it has an automatic setting. The lens were
all thread mount. If the battery is dead I believe the mirror may stick
open. I think (been a long time since I sold them) that the battery is on
the front of the body to the left of the lens under a large threaded cap.
If not .. then it takes four button batteries side by each along the bottom
of the camera.
Hope this helps.
Ted
> Preston, Lancs, UK.
> Photos at http://www.photopia.demon.co.uk
John Halliwell
>Pentaxes with screen
>interchange (except for the LX, which has a removable prism) retain the
>screen in a hinged frame that latches via a little clip at the front.
Even though the LX has a removable prism, screens are changed through
the lens throat, using the normal hinged frame.
--
John
John Halliwell
>Duhhhhhh!...
>
>Sorry, don't know how I missed that. So much for the shutter speed.
>Any thoughts on the mirror sticking? It also says "Spotmatic" on the
>front.
Any chance it's a battery power problem? I'm not familiar with the
Spotmatic, but I think some SLRs lock the mirror up if the battery
fails. The LX supposedly does this if your using one of the electronic
Auto speeds when the battery fails.
--
jmt
the center-needle exposure meter. One probable reason for mirror sticking
would be the mirror-dampener foam --a foam strip that catches the mirror on
the up trip and keeps it from slapping on metal-- having deteriorated and
turning to sticky goo.
jmt