RiceHigh's Pentax Blog: Death of My Second Pentax SLR

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Death of My Second Pentax SLR

(Above: My MZ-30 with my FA 43 Limited)

The week before, when I tried to use my MZ-30 for shooting film, the light meter first went nuts and then the mirror locked up after pressing the shutter and it did never come down again anymore no matter how!

I used nearly new Panasonic CR2 lithium batteries and its expiry date is in 2020, which worked completely flawlessly when they were put into my MZ-S. Really too bad.. :-(

And, my SFX did die twice like that, for exactly with the same symptom and for what happened. What an unfortunate "coincidence"! >_<

Btw, can anyone tell me that what has been going wrong with this "mirror locked up" issue? :-o

Related:-

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Can Pentax DSLRs be Made Thinner?

"Film is Dead"! ;-)

The World First / Pentax First: My (Obsolete) Pentax Collection

Comments (13)

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Djay · 641 weeks ago

Check the voltage of your battery.
It's probably too high for the specifications, CR batteries are now 1.5V, in that time they were 1.35V.
Common rookie mistake.

3 replies · active 641 weeks ago

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RiceHigh 110p · 641 weeks ago

Of course it is not a battery problem.

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Michael A. · 641 weeks ago

Hi RH, the mirror lock-up is caused (usually) by cracked/broken plastic gear on mirror's motor. It can be replaced, but the MZ-30 is worth near nothing, so just say your last good byes and dump it...

I just "buried" my old Joe Oly 2100UZ what went crazy and died when I loaded it, after a year or so, with recharged batteries and wanted to give it to a friend. I guess it couldn't handle the prospect of a new home.. :o)

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Djay · 641 weeks ago

Well nevermind, I mixed CR and CR2.
Common angry guy mistake :)

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Fred · 641 weeks ago

My Z-1p mirror mounting failed on one side! Took a photo, heard a strange noise, and the VF remained black.

Any suggestions where it could be fixed? I do like that camera!

3 replies · active 641 weeks ago

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RiceHigh 110p · 641 weeks ago

Just glue it back! But the alignment of the mirror, especially the sub-mirror for the AF, is not straightforward. Or we can go to Jebsen on one day for the repairing of our film SLRs! ;-)

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Fred · 641 weeks ago

Seems to me a little screw has come undone. I'll take it to Jebsen and see what they say. Hopefully it won't cost more to repair than its used replacement value.

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RiceHigh 110p · 641 weeks ago

Their usual reply after the charged inspection was usually that the unit was too old to repair and there was no service parts available!

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Ste · 641 weeks ago

go buy another one for 10$ or less :)

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Lars Eric Fjellman · 641 weeks ago

1 K1000, 2 K2, 2 SuperA, 1 ME Super, 1 MZ1, 1 MZ1p still working but replaced by 1 K10 and 1 K5. A little sorry that I sold my Spotmatic.

1 reply · active 641 weeks ago

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RiceHigh 110p · 641 weeks ago

Oh I see now, you actually meant Z-1 and Z-1p!

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Lars Eric Fjellman · 641 weeks ago

Yes, I thought they were called MZ in the US. Here in Sweden it was just Z. But you´re right, it shall be a "-" in between. Forgot that. What was the US name of SuperA?

1 reply · active 641 weeks ago

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RiceHigh 110p · 641 weeks ago

MZ was the next generation of the Z line of Pentax AFSLRs where M means Mini. The US names of MZ and Z were ZX and PZ respectively. Besides, the Super A was named as Super Program in US.

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RiceHigh's Pentax Blog

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Death of My Second Pentax SLR

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