I mentioned that a few weeks ago I helped a woman catch her dog, in the process, with the heavy camera in the handlebar bag the bike fell over. Shortly thereafter I noticed some issues with the lens focusing, but they seemed to correlate with low contrast situations, the camera wouldn't solidly lock focus on mountains through the haze. A couple days later I noticed the smart function dial on the K-3 III was broken. I took the camera and lens to the local repair shop today, I hadn't noticed that the barrel of the lens was actually broken: https://photos.app.goo.gl/rW86kLCAo8vWTRKa9 The estimates were something like $450 for the lens (which I can buy used for half of that), and $700 (even more than precision) for the camera body. Sigh. I think that for now I'll replace the lens with an 18-135, much less expensive, water resistant, smaller, and I think sharper at least within its range. When I have some time, I may try taking the lens apart and doing a kluge fix myself. In any case, if anyone has either an 18-135 or 18-270 they're looking to offload, let me know. I'm also beginning to think that I should just pony up the dineros and send the K-3 III to precision in case there is anything else I missed. -- Larry Colen lrc@red4est.com. sent from Mirkwood

Ouch! You might look into insurance. I have a “rider” on our homeowner’s policy that covers my cameras and lenses. It wasn’t expensive. Rick > On May 18, 2024, at 9:11 PM, Larry Colen <lrc@red4est.com> wrote: > > I mentioned that a few weeks ago I helped a woman catch her dog, in the process, with the heavy camera in the handlebar bag the bike fell over. Shortly thereafter I noticed some issues with the lens focusing, but they seemed to correlate with low contrast situations, the camera wouldn't solidly lock focus on mountains through the haze. A couple days later I noticed the smart function dial on the K-3 III was broken. > > I took the camera and lens to the local repair shop today, I hadn't noticed that the barrel of the lens was actually broken: > https://photos.app.goo.gl/rW86kLCAo8vWTRKa9 > > The estimates were something like $450 for the lens (which I can buy used for half of that), and $700 (even more than precision) for the camera body. > > Sigh. I think that for now I'll replace the lens with an 18-135, much less expensive, water resistant, smaller, and I think sharper at least within its range. > > When I have some time, I may try taking the lens apart and doing a kluge fix myself. In any case, if anyone has either an 18-135 or 18-270 they're looking to offload, let me know. I'm also beginning to think that I should just pony up the dineros and send the K-3 III to precision in case there is anything else I missed. > > -- > Larry Colen > lrc@red4est.com. sent from Mirkwood > > > -- > %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List > To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-leave@pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.