Pentax PZ-1 Mirror locked up?
Hey all,
I received a Pentax PZ-1 as part of a lot purchase of some K-Mount lenses. It looks like it's never been used except for a chunk of plastic missing near the battery door. I put the battery in and fired the camera to test the shutter and the mirror went up and just stayed up. I tried resetting the camera, removing the battery. The mirror won't come back down. I did some googling and it seems like this is common when the gears that move the mirror break, as they are plastic and want to do. I can physically move the mirror downward, so it's not locked up, but it always springs back into the lock up position when I release it.
Any cheap way to fix this? I didn't particularly want the camera, as the price I paid was more than fair for the lenses I picked up. But I actually kind of like the body, it has this weirdly generic design. Like instead of Pentax on the pentaprism housing it should say [CAMERA], I also kind of wanted a beater film camera that I could take to the coast or wherever and not worry about it getting damaged or stolen and it's surprisingly heavy for how much plastic is involved, but in a way that makes it feel nice in the hand.
Never mind. I killed it. I was messing around with it moving the mirror around and trying to see if I could get anything to happen while pressing the shutter and something caught on fire inside. So I'm going to write that one off.
Quote from Cory Maben on July 16, 2024, 1:42 amI also kind of wanted a beater film camera that I could take to the coast or wherever and not worry about it getting damaged or stolen and it's surprisingly heavy for how much plastic is involved, but in a way that makes it feel nice in the hand.
I have couple different Minolta AF SLRs for this purpose. They mostly look plastic, cheap and old which makes in unlikely that someone would steal it. + they are actually worthless. If someone would steal it, the battery and the film roll is all the value that is lost.
I think I have still about 5 bodies laying around as I always assumed they would eventually die but only one actually broke (mirror got stuck/some gears stripped).
The common lenses are dirt cheap too. I think the last one I bought was the Minolta 7000i with the 50mm F1.7 AF + camera bag and it was like 20 USD + shipping.
For an auto focus SLR, this is pretty much an unbeatable beater package.
The legendary beercan lens 70-210mm F4 which is still one of the best portrait lenses for film, can be found for 20 bucks or even less.
Quote from Cory Maben on July 16, 2024, 1:52 amNever mind. I killed it. [...]
You could still make an autopsy and see what is actually wrong. I would imagine finding spares for striped gears might prove difficult and if a chip let out the 'magic smoke' there is also no hope... but maybe its just a shorted tantalum capacitor (which are famous for doing that) and the mechanical fault might also be a simple fix. If not, there is not much to loose. On second thought...is there a builtin flash? In that case the 300+V on the flash capacitor will hurt and can even be dangerous. So the knowledge how to safely discharge it is fundamental for dismantling the camera.
Quote from Christian K. on July 17, 2024, 3:23 pmQuote from Cory Maben on July 16, 2024, 1:52 amNever mind. I killed it. [...]
You could still make an autopsy and see what is actually wrong. I would imagine finding spares for striped gears might prove difficult and if a chip let out the 'magic smoke' there is also no hope... but maybe its just a shorted tantalum capacitor (which are famous for doing that) and the mechanical fault might also be a simple fix. I
f not, there is not much to loose.On second thought...is there a builtin flash? In that case the 300+V on the flash capacitor will hurt and can even be dangerous. So the knowledge how to safely discharge it is fundamental for dismantling the camera.
It does have a built in flash. I decided to trash it, I don't know what I'd do with the parts and considering it was effectively free I don't feel to bad. I did order another one though as it turns out, it's one of the handful of Pentax film cameras which can use lenses without aperture rings, which opens up some interesting lens possibilities.
Quote from Kamera Brand on July 17, 2024, 8:29 amQuote from Cory Maben on July 16, 2024, 1:42 amI also kind of wanted a beater film camera that I could take to the coast or wherever and not worry about it getting damaged or stolen and it's surprisingly heavy for how much plastic is involved, but in a way that makes it feel nice in the hand.
I have couple different Minolta AF SLRs for this purpose. They mostly look plastic, cheap and old which makes in unlikely that someone would steal it. + they are actually worthless. If someone would steal it, the battery and the film roll is all the value that is lost.
I think I have still about 5 bodies laying around as I always assumed they would eventually die but only one actually broke (mirror got stuck/some gears stripped).
The common lenses are dirt cheap too. I think the last one I bought was the Minolta 7000i with the 50mm F1.7 AF + camera bag and it was like 20 USD + shipping.
For an auto focus SLR, this is pretty much an unbeatable beater package.
The legendary beercan lens 70-210mm F4 which is still one of the best portrait lenses for film, can be found for 20 bucks or even less.
I'll keep that in mind. I almost bought a minolta as my first film camera after being put off by the prices of Canon FD lenses. I really like the styling of some of the higher end bodies, but I'd rather stick with pentax to avoid having lenses for multiple mounts. I really like the simplicity of all my cameras both digital and film sharing the same lenses.
I would still keep it for spares, if not for the more involved repairs, there is always little things like battery doors, film door latches that sometimes break and wouldn't be a big deal, if only spares were available economicly (or at all).
I lost the little knob of the rewind crank of my RTS II last autumn and haven't come across a possible donor for less than 100€, yet. (If I was more of a businessman, I would buy a working one, rip it apart and sell the spares, and probably make a profit, but that doesn't feel right to me).
Quote from Cory Maben on July 19, 2024, 7:21 am[...] I really like the simplicity of all my cameras both digital and film sharing the same lenses.
This is a big plus. Adapting works fine and is fun, but you get thrown back into the 1950s from a camera usage perspective (with DSLRs) or you miss out on the OVF. I do envy Pentax and Nikon users in that respect.
Sharing the same lenses between cameras is great but for a beater camera it might not be the necessary. Maybe its just me but I tend to always put one of the more expensive lenses on when I have the option. Cheap beater with hundred+ dollar glass kinda defeats the purpose.
Going "all in" on dirt cheap for the whole package is what give the results you wouldn't get otherwise. Wind, rain, salt water, sand, kids (and clumsy adults) etc. if it make you worry about the gear then opportunities will be missed.
I'm not even putting a strap on my beater camera(s) it just slow down operation and when you place it somewhere on a table the strap just makes it more likely that someone accidentally makes the camera meet the ground.
That's also true.
There are always pros and cons to everything.
