oh dear ;( screwed my old AF lens


kneonx

New Member
Apr 11, 2010
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Singapore, Singapore, Singapor
Guys I recently found out my dad had a Pentax SR7 hiding somewhere at home! and that was the camera he used to take photos of me when i was a kid! (manufactured 1988, and i was born 1987) This camera is probably like my younger brother or something.

It came with a SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm f3.5-4.5 zoom ... but as it was stashed in some really dark and cold area, you could have guessed that fungus has appeared on the rear element of the lens and mould around the leather grip of the camera ...

Being over zealous, I totally unscrewed the bayonet to clean the rear element, all went well until PUTTING IT BACK !_! I blame my over enthusiasm and my lack of proper equipment, I think i dropped one of the electrical pins into the lens itself. and one of the pins has had its spring detached from the ball, and now ... i removed the whole electrical contacts and placed them in a box as im currently (lacking of 1 pin where it fell into the lens, and one spring which came out and as you can imagine it flew somewhere into my room) so yeah i can say its typically GG'ed.

As much as I wanna restore it due to it being of sentimental value I would like some advice on what I could do to fix this problem. Are pin replacements of such a lens available and economical? Anyone has a good lens repair contact where I can go to? I am new to this as I got my k-X about a month ago and I don't know any other shops which can do repairs or service ...

Thanks in advance guys! (The 35mm Film SLR looks pretty fine, I might want to get it restored and checked for problems any help on this would be great!)
 

Googled it but could only find a Minolta SR-7 ...

Are you sure its pentax ?:dunno:

and do you have experience in reparing lenses? I would not open up a lens that i can get cleaned for 30 bucks.

anyway hope you are able to get it fixed !:)
 

Haha sorry I dont know why I keep saying SR7 ... i meant SF7 ...

And I only have experience on Manual Lens, hence the problem with Pins when i put them back ... didnt know they were so ... Jumpy. They run all over the place :p Any generic repair shops u could recommend?
 

Haha sorry I dont know why I keep saying SR7 ... i meant SF7 ...

And I only have experience on Manual Lens, hence the problem with Pins when i put them back ... didnt know they were so ... Jumpy. They run all over the place :p Any generic repair shops u could recommend?

I only know of Camera Workshop in Peninsular

:think: so your father was a jedi and you trying to repair the lightsaber ... hmmm....
 

Guys I recently found out my dad had a Pentax SR7 hiding somewhere at home! and that was the camera he used to take photos of me when i was a kid! (manufactured 1988, and i was born 1987) This camera is probably like my younger brother or something.

It came with a SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm f3.5-4.5 zoom ... but as it was stashed in some really dark and cold area, you could have guessed that fungus has appeared on the rear element of the lens and mould around the leather grip of the camera ...

Being over zealous, I totally unscrewed the bayonet to clean the rear element, all went well until PUTTING IT BACK !_! I blame my over enthusiasm and my lack of proper equipment, I think i dropped one of the electrical pins into the lens itself. and one of the pins has had its spring detached from the ball, and now ... i removed the whole electrical contacts and placed them in a box as im currently (lacking of 1 pin where it fell into the lens, and one spring which came out and as you can imagine it flew somewhere into my room) so yeah i can say its typically GG'ed.

As much as I wanna restore it due to it being of sentimental value I would like some advice on what I could do to fix this problem. Are pin replacements of such a lens available and economical? Anyone has a good lens repair contact where I can go to? I am new to this as I got my k-X about a month ago and I don't know any other shops which can do repairs or service ...

Thanks in advance guys! (The 35mm Film SLR looks pretty fine, I might want to get it restored and checked for problems any help on this would be great!)

Sorry to hear of your misadventure.
I can recommend that you bring the lens to P&G at Peninsula shopping centre ground floor (facing the cafeteria) for repair. Look for Andrew.
 

Haha thanks for the contact :))

Anyway Im not THAT upset about the lens, its great and it has Macro function :p I just learnt the hard way the I shouldnt go ripping out my lenses even with the right intentions!

Yup will check out peninsular ;)

Haha yes he was a Jedi and his Lightsaber Crystal was wasnt that clear anymore so I went to prod around and now its a Light Stick.
 

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Haha thanks for the contact :))

Anyway Im not THAT upset about the lens, its great and it has Macro function :p I just learnt the hard way the I shouldnt go ripping out my lenses even with the right intentions!

Yup will check out peninsular ;)

Haha yes he was a Jedi and his Lightsaber Crystal was wasnt that clear anymore so I went to prod around and now its a Light Stick.

Forgot to tell you that base repair cost is about $60. Frankly, I won't bother repairing the lens. (Now if it was a 50mm and had 1.2 engraved on the front! Aha! that would be different! :) )
Just keep it as a display. I do that too for my decommissioned cameras and lenses. They do double duty as my daughters toy as well :eek:
 

Forgot to tell you that base repair cost is about $60. Frankly, I won't bother repairing the lens. (Now if it was a 50mm and had 1.2 engraved on the front! Aha! that would be different! :) )
Just keep it as a display. I do that too for my decommissioned cameras and lenses. They do double duty as my daughters toy as well :eek:

A bit of a shame, but I agree that it's not really worth repairing. If you can get the camera to work fine, you could put on a different lens on it, such as a fast 50mm prime (probably for the same price as the repair fee), since the 35-70 isn't a great lens anyway. If you don't foresee yourself shooting film, just clean the camera and lens exterior up nicely and dsiplay it somewhere nice and eventually you will forget that the lens has a few pins missing.
 

got some spare spring and pin..just pm me if interested.
 

Yea I do agree that fixing it would probably incur a wasted cost :) Its just that It was kinda cool to have a old AF lens ... well now its a nostalgic AF-less Macro lens until my Reverse Ring arrives :D

Well I do have 50mm primes on my K-x which I can use on the SLR so no problems with that, infact on the same day I crashed my 35-70mm I removed the leaf spring on my m42 adapter attached to the 50mm f1.4 so that its k-mountable-friendly (I almost permanently converted it but decided locking it in place wasnt that much of a problem as I dont do somersaults with my k-x) ... and I still have a f2 A version in the dry cab :)) So I consider it a break even day

Just wondering though can i use my DAL and DA lens on the SLR film camera? or will it fail ... I dont want to try due to obvious reasons with Experimentation.

Maybe when im financially more able in future i'd pay the repair for its sentimental value :)

Thanks OPERA58 though for the offer! I was really tempted, but the thought of anything self-repaired from this point is bleak haha! Even if i brought my own pins, I doubt it would change the repair charge much right? Might as well get new pins if I do the whole thing.

How about Mould/Fungus, how can u check if u have remnant icky stuff stuck in ur SLR haha like in the "blind" spots, is there a method to "Bake" ur camera til its all gone or restoring it is beyond amateur DIY?
 

How about Mould/Fungus, how can u check if u have remnant icky stuff stuck in ur SLR haha like in the "blind" spots, is there a method to "Bake" ur camera til its all gone or restoring it is beyond amateur DIY?

Just toast it in fire, all fungus will be gone in 10min :bsmilie:



Seriously, don't need to worry too much about fungus in those blind spots. Fungus is everywhere, we can't avoid. What we need to do is to prevent or slowdown its grow.
 

Just wondering though can i use my DAL and DA lens on the SLR film camera? or will it fail ... I dont want to try due to obvious reasons with Experimentation.

Some DA lenses can. See this link. I've personally used a DA12-24 on film from about 18mm onwards, giving me the same angle of view as 12mm on APS-C :thumbsup:
 

Ahh thats nice :)) DA and DAL only difference would be the Lightweight right? So I could just pop my 18-55 on the film body as well? :D Sorry I'm very very new to Pentax lens compatibility, especially when its about backward compatibility ...

Thanks again yea!

Haha if i burn the film camera, my dads probably gonna burn me along with it. At least I don't die alone :) I die with fungus.
 

Ahh thats nice :)) DA and DAL only difference would be the Lightweight right? So I could just pop my 18-55 on the film body as well? :D Sorry I'm very very new to Pentax lens compatibility, especially when its about backward compatibility ...

Thanks again yea!

Haha if i burn the film camera, my dads probably gonna burn me along with it. At least I don't die alone :) I die with fungus.

Pop it on and look through the viewfinder, see if there is any vignetting on it. Since the DAL is the same optically as the DA II then it should work from mid-range, according to the link. Put a roll of film through it and let us know!

My cousin passed me a dead PZ10 (?) and I gave it away to one of the bros for him to dismantle for parts.:sweat:
 

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Pop it on and look through the viewfinder, see if there is any vignetting on it. Since the DAL is the same optically as the DA II then it should work from mid-range, according to the link. Put a roll of film through it and let us know!

I have use DA1855WR on my k1000. Definitely usable in the mid range focal length. Vignetting occurs from 18 to 20 plus.
 

Pop it on and look through the viewfinder, see if there is any vignetting on it. Since the DAL is the same optically as the DA II then it should work from mid-range, according to the link. Put a roll of film through it and let us know!

I have use DA1855WR on my k1000. Definitely usable in the mid range focal length. Vignetting occurs from 18 to 20 plus.

Even my sigma 18-200 can work ,albeit at longer FL and focused further away...
 

kneonx,
That lens may be worthless to most and not worth repairing but to you, it probably has sentimental value as your dad owned it and used it to take pictures of you. My take is as a sentimental person myself, if its less than $60, you may want to proceed to repair it anyway, so that this antique will be complete again and you can take pictures of your own kid and pass it on to them (assuming you can still buy film then!).
In anycase, as mentioned the Camera Workshop at peninsula plaza does repair such old lenses.
So if you do want to proceed, do drop by and let them see it. :)
 

yeah im definitely going to repair it ;) its just that ill do it when im more financially able! haha ... now that im in my transition phase from ORD to Employment I got no $ to sustain my camera funds. I'm looking to restore it by the end of year, together with the SF7 :) and if it works well (im sure if i maintain it, it'll last like all japanese products made back then) ill definitely pass it down to my kids hahah, but thats still a long long way to go. Im only 23 this year lolol
 

In that case I'd suggest you to send the lens and camera to the Camera Hospital. It's one of the place I trust more than most other repair shops here in SG.

Good luck.