Nooooo..... My K3 (sad face)
I got my K-3 in April and it only has 500 on the counter. It's still new practically. Today, I turn my camera on only to find that it's STUCK in manual mode 🤬🤬🤬🤬. Everything else works perfectly. No matter what mode I choose on the dial it stays in manual. This is so lame. I don't want to repair this on my own. But this little dial will cost close to 200 or more to fix I've been quoted. I'm pretty tech savvy but I don't want to risk making this a more expensive repair than it already it. Sooooo I guess this camera is going to sit until I have a spare 200 or more to fix it. 😞 We'll at least I still have my K-X and my *ist D.
Quote from Thetimecatcher on June 27, 2023, 11:51 pmI got my K-3 in April and it only has 500 on the counter. It's still new practically. Today, I turn my camera on only to find that it's STUCK in manual mode 🤬🤬🤬🤬. Everything else works perfectly. No matter what mode I choose on the dial it stays in manual. This is so lame. I don't want to repair this on my own. But this little dial will cost close to 200 or more to fix I've been quoted. I'm pretty tech savvy but I don't want to risk making this a more expensive repair than it already it. Sooooo I guess this camera is going to sit until I have a spare 200 or more to fix it. 😞 We'll at least I still have my K-X and my *ist D.
I like the advice @corymaben gave. I've heard of dials being cleaned without too much hassle before.
I actually did see a Pentax K-1 for sale recently at a discount because it was stuck in manual mode. Surely not the worst problem ever, but if I'm not shooting in manual I'm in AV and it would be a pain to lose that for when I want it.
So while I have heard of it, I haven't heard of it a lot, so it does seem a little odd.
For the time being you can hit the green button. While in manual mode, this will auto expose and set the camera settings for you. So you'll be in the ball park you want and then can adjust. I think you can also lock a setting in manual mode, then green button auto the other settings to act like a sorta priority mode. I'll have to double check with mine how you could set that up.
Yeah, it's definitely the mode dial. Looking into it further, apparently, early models of the K-3 and K-1 can have this issue. The little plastic finger that pushes the switch to select the mode can easily break leaving you stuck in manual. I'm wondering if that might be the case. I really don't want to operate on this camera but I'd rather not spend 200 or more to do a possible simple fix. But yes it's not the end of the world if it's stuck in manual. I just wanted a fully functional Pentax after saving for this camera.
I don't blame you for wanting to have a working K-3. Especially with only 500 shutter count! I use all the modes except maby shutter priority on my cameras so that would drive me nuts.
On the K-1 I believe the issue was a ribbon cable not being seated properly under the top cover.
Good luck!
