Phoenix[es]

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Pictured is what I thought was going to be my next repair project: a Pentax MV1 with a 50mm f2 lens, purchased for the princely sum of twenty quid plus change, including postage; which arrived this afternoon. The lens has issues in that the focussing helix is jammed, and I thought initially that the body also had problems: the override 1/100th sec. speed (it's flash sync speed) was functioning OK and was sounding sweet as a nut. But when I put fresh batteries into it, neither did the electronics fire up, but the flash sync and B settings failed to work properly, which I thought odd. I did the usual YouTube search for known problems and repairs and came across a guy repairing a Pentax ME - the more expensive predecessor of this one [although they are pretty much mechanically one and the same camera].

His video seemed to indicate a possible failure of a thin, flexible circuit board wrapped around  the pentaprism at the top of the camera, which he repaired with some heroically delicate soldering work. It was only when he replaced the batteries to test his repair that I noticed the LR44s were inserted button side out, unlike virtually every other film camera I own. On swapping my cells orientation, the camera came to life: it's a worker! And as for the lens; in the same post came the delivery of three lenses bought as a bargain bundle - again on eBay - two short zooms, one Pentax, in pristine nick, one Vivitar in perfectly usable condition, and the topper: a 50mm f1.7 prime Pentax standard lens as-new, which replaces and betters the damaged f2 that came with the camera body in the first place. Win-win, methinks...

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