I recently had an odd one with one of my MXs. I put the Sigma 70-200 2.8 on it and the light meter worked with one twist of the aperture ring, then nothing at all. It was as if the meter had packed up, registering a top red LED. Strange. I tried the lens on the other MX and it was fine. Okay, so it looks like the meter's dodgy on the first MX. So I try the 85mm on it, now it's working fine. Huh? A few of you are nodding and winking, but gimme a sec - it takes a little time with me to figure these things out. Actually it's 'six of one, half a dozen of the other' as we Brits say. Here's what I found: Looking into the vacant lens mount of an MX, in fact any Pentax, you will see a small metal (on mine) tab that sits flush with the lens mount, at the 2 o'clock position. This is the tab that engages another tab in the relevant position on the lens so that the camera knows what aperture is set on the lens, so it can calculate what exposure information to display in the viewfinder. Sound right? Move the aperture ring, it moves the tab, and the LEDs move accordingly. On my first MX, I noticed that the tab was very flush with the side of the lens mount when compared to the second MX. Not usually a problem, as when I look at all my lenses, the counterpart tab on each lens is very wide - the two should engage each other like, well, like contributors on this list. However, when I looked at the Sigma 70-200, the tab is made of thinner metal! Aha, what have we here: looks like the tab on the camera is at first engaging the tab on the Sigma, then slipping past it (it's spring loaded) and then - nothing. So which is wrong, the MX's tab or the Sigma's? Actually they both are! Out of all my lenses the Sigma has the thinnest tab, and I can see how easily it slips past the MX tab. However, the MX tab, although a bit worn, is still very functional - I did mention it sat flush with the side of the lens mount. Should it? Looking at the other MX, apparently not. So what's made that happen? Ahh - what kind of body cap has that particular MX had on it recently? Answer: a cheap plastic push-on type, that when I inspected it, obviously is pushing the said tab right up against the lens mount inner surface. D'oh! Solution: a small amount of pressure on the tab to get it away from the mount, and the cheapo body cap straight in the garbage. I've already won an eBay auction for another proper Pentax body cap, it will arrive in a few days. Just thought this might help someone somewhere - camera electronics are usually the least understood and most despised parts of our kits, but in this case what I first thought was a dead meter and an expensive fix, turned out to be something very simple. Just shows: you do get what you pay for. Buy original Pentax accessories!!! Happier now, Cotty _______________________________________________________ Personal email traffic to [EMAIL PROTECTED] MacAds traffic to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Check out the UK Macintosh ads www.macads.co.uk - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
