Pentax P30t

[daveh]

I've just acquired a Pentax P30t. It looks and sounds fine with the back closed, but:

with back open you can see, as it is wound on, that the first and second (vertical) shutter curtains are reset, only to have the first blade open again as the arm is released at the end of its travel, i.e. the shutter is permanently open until 'fired' which then closes the second curtain.

Before I delve further, does anyone know anything about the shutter on this camera?

(I think the consequence of this would be a worse light leak than Berndt has suffered with his neat little camera! ;D)

[Berndt]

Far too modern for me Dave. My knowledge about cameras ends probably somewhere in the 60s

I have a Pentax Z-20 though, which works perfectly ... but I am not even capable of using it properly. All those menues and options ... when I saw, that I need to download the user manual in three PDF files, I became already too lazy for getting deeper into it

Hope, somebody can help you with this !!!

[daveh]

I have actually found a repair manual for the P30. However, quite true to form, every fault seems to be mentioned except the one that needs to be sorted out. (Mind you I need that oscilloscope that I could have made from plans in Practical Wireless almost forty years ago.)

It feels and looks very nice. I'm not sure that I would use it even if it were working properly. Film costs money and if I want to take film I have cameras that will outperform it in either simplicity (and/) or ability. It does feel and look nice though.

[mickeyobe]

Apr 5, 2012 22:53:32 GMT -5 daveh said:

I've just acquired a Pentax P30t. It looks and sounds fine with the back closed, but:

with back open you can see, as it is wound on, that the first and second (vertical) shutter curtains are reset, only to have the first blade open again as the arm is released at the end of its travel, i.e. the shutter is permanently open until 'fired' which then closes the second curtain.

Before I delve further, does anyone know anything about the shutter on this camera?

(I think the consequence of this would be a worse light leak than Berndt has suffered with his neat little camera! ;D)

Dave,
How about that tried and true magic potion, lighter fluid.
And patience.

Mickey

[daveh]

Mickey,

Thanks. I've thought of that (lighter fluid), but haven't tried it yet. The blades are moving freely enough and look really clean. It's as if there is a catch not engaging to hold curtain 1 in its closed position, so when the wind-on lever is returned to its rest position the curtain follows it. As it stands I am uncertain if the catch is mechanical or magnetic. I need to study that manual properly.

Dave.

[daveh]

It's now working properly. The fault was in fact a wonky battery. I had put in new batteries, but one seems to have been faulty. When I went back to it I put in another set of batteries and hey presto all worked properly.

Mickey, I think the patience worked more than the lighter fluid on this one. Well, if patience is the right word. It was a case of putting it down, having a rethink and always trying another set of batteries.

(I do test them with a meter if I am in any doubt . Although both initial batteries seemed okay voltage-wise one obviously had "nothing left". Presumably there was enough in it to operate some functions, and so seem to be working okay, but not the function that needed most power i.e securing that shutter blind in position.)

[mickeyobe]

Dave,

Hurrah! - ;D

Another obstinate camera succumbs to a superior intellect.

Mickey

[daveh]

Mickey,

Definitely superior intellect.

Mind you, it wouldn't have been the first time an inanimate object had got the better of me.

Dave.