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K 100D and Sigma 170-500mm; HELP! (1 Viewer)

Matt Palmquist

Active member
I bought a Sigma 170-500mm APO off of Ebay. It said that it was for a film camera, but I thought that it could be used on either.

Anyways, I have had the camera and lens for a while now, but am still very naive to the dSLR game and the manual settings. I have taken quite a few photos, but now have a problem.

My problem is that the camera will not do anything when the 170-500mm lens is attached. The other lenses I have work fine. It is flashing Av-- in the top LCD, and F-- is flashing through the viewfinder. I have tried changing the aperture priority, but I can't change anything. Have I accidently caused the camera to lock up, or is there a problem with the lens?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Matt
 
I have no experience with pentax d-slr so i dont know. The lens should work fine, i assume you have the non dg version. I have a 135-400 non dg on my 400d, it works fine. perhaps you should try phoning sigma/pentax?
 
It's probably a lens issue. Some of the older copies of this lens are not suitable for use on digital bodies and need to be 're-chipped' to work. You may be able to get some use from it by setting the camera to apertue priority and setting the lens wide open (F6.3 at 500mm) as it's closing the aperture that is the problem. If you contact Sigma with the serial number of the lens they will be able to tell you if this is the problem and also advise if it can be sorted.
 
So it was working then stopped, Matt?

That might rule out Postcardcv's suggestion, which would probably be the explanation if it had never worked.

A couple of thing to try:

Make sure the battery is fully charged (you never know);

Try removing the battery for a while to see if that resets the camera/lens;

Try a "hard reset" of the camera (most cameras have an option to do this, I assume the Pentax is no different);

Clean the lens contacts - a pencil eraser is good.
 
I bought a Sigma 170-500mm APO off of Ebay. It said that it was for a film camera, but I thought that it could be used on either.

Anyways, I have had the camera and lens for a while now, but am still very naive to the dSLR game and the manual settings. I have taken quite a few photos, but now have a problem.

My problem is that the camera will not do anything when the 170-500mm lens is attached. The other lenses I have work fine. It is flashing Av-- in the top LCD, and F-- is flashing through the viewfinder. I have tried changing the aperture priority, but I can't change anything. Have I accidently caused the camera to lock up, or is there a problem with the lens?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Matt
Hi try checking that the aperture ring is set to the A position on the lens. If that doesnt work try asking the question at http://pentaxworld.com ;)
 
Yes, it was working, but then quit. The aperture ring is set on A, but I think the problem may be with the aperture ring. It started doing this a week or two ago, but if I jiggled the lens it would work. Now it just flashes Av -- constantly.

I have contacted Sigma, but of course they just want me to send it to them. So, I guess that is what I will do.

Thanks for the suggestions and help.

Keith, Stupid question, but where are the lens contacts?

Matt
 
Well, I cleaned the contacts, and it didn't change. I decided to jiggle the lens like before, and got it to work again:t: Something isn't contacting right, but I may have found a quick fix to get me through the fall months.

Thanks again for the help and ideas!!

Matt
 
This has to be said Matt;

Have you bought a dodgy lens? its quite possible this is the reason the original owner disposed of it. do you have or know anyone who has any other Pentax bodies you could try the lens on to see if the problem ocours with other cameras? However if all your other lenses are ok then the problem does seem to be with the contacts on the Sigma, if you got the lens for a good price it may well pay you to have it checked out by Sigma
 
Yes I would say I did get the run around by a person on Ebay. The lens will not work on My K100D or my ZX-30 film camera.

It is not contacting on the botton side of the contact ring. If you push/pull down the lens will work, so I know that is the problem.

I only paid $390 for it on Ebay and most were going for well over $500 at the time. I thought it was a steal, but am now having second thoughts.

Lesson learned I guess:-C
 
Yes I would say I did get the run around by a person on Ebay. The lens will not work on My K100D or my ZX-30 film camera.

It is not contacting on the botton side of the contact ring. If you push/pull down the lens will work, so I know that is the problem.

I only paid $390 for it on Ebay and most were going for well over $500 at the time. I thought it was a steal, but am now having second thoughts.

Lesson learned I guess:-C
That would explain alot as the contacts are on the bottom side. It might be fixable with a new mounting bayonet ;)
 
Well, I am a little embarrassed to say it took me so long to identify the problem, but at least I did before sending it to sigma|:$|

I have been getting by on using an eraser to clean the contacts on the lens. While doing so today I noticed that one of the screws on the mount was loose. I tightened it up and problem fixed.

I sure feel like an idiot for not noticing this earlier, but better late than never. Plus now I still feel like I got a good deal off of Ebay.

Thanks for all of the ideas.

Matt
 
Well, I am a little embarrassed to say it took me so long to identify the problem, but at least I did before sending it to sigma|:$|

I have been getting by on using an eraser to clean the contacts on the lens. While doing so today I noticed that one of the screws on the mount was loose. I tightened it up and problem fixed.

I sure feel like an idiot for not noticing this earlier, but better late than never. Plus now I still feel like I got a good deal off of Ebay.

Thanks for all of the ideas.

Matt

Matt,
We all feel like idiots at one time or another, so don't worry too much about it, and just congratulate yourself with finding the solution to your problem. Your experience in this matter is a useful lesson to us all.
Thanks for relating it.
Hope that all goes well from now on.
 
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