From: Ed Keeney
Yes, the subject says it all. I've been using the K100d for 6+ years
now. It's been a great piece of equipment.
While at my daughters graduation this week, I was asked to take
friends photos with their cameras (of course, I'm the only Pentax
shooter). The first thing I noticed was how clear the subject looked
through the view finder. Hmm, I thought to myself, why doesn't my
camera look that way. I'm sure when I hand off my camera to others,
they're thinking the same thing; this Pentax sure doesn't look good.
My shots turn out fine, so the obvious issue here is that my 6 year
old eye piece is a mess. I tried to clean it but I didn't accomplish
anything. Does anyone have a recommendation on how to clean the eye
piece? Should I send it out for a once over somewhere?
Secondly, I happen to notice that with age comes hot pixels. The
problem is that I'm starting to see more and more of these. A few
months ago, it wasn't much of a hassle, but now they're showing up and
visible more often.
Next question, is there anything I can do to clear some of these hot
pixels (service) or do I start saving my cash and preparing the better
half for a new camera?
I don't clean my cameras as often as I should. I'm not afraid to take a
micro-fiber cloth and wipe the outside of the viewfinder or try to clean
spots off either end of the lens, but given the number of delicate
things I've broken over the years, I don't really want to be poking
around INSIDE the camera.
If it needs cleaning that much, I prefer to pay someone who's not as
clumsy as I am.
That said, if you do want to give it a go yourself ...
A quick search for "cleaning camera eyepiece" turned up an article by
Herbert Keppler, who if I remember correctly was a Pentax user:
http://www.ritzcamera.com/static/articles/tips/clean-slr.html
Another search shows that the K100D does have a removable focusing screen:
http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-camera-articles/10326-how-change-focusing-screen-k100d.html
As to your other question:
My K20D has a BIG hot spot - a clump of about 150 bad pixels. So far,
the spot healing tool in Adobe Camera Raw seems to be able to take care
of it reasonably well.
I talked to the KEH rep at the PPNC convention this year about whether
to send it to KEH's repair facility or even to CRIS.
He said getting it repaired would probably run $300 or more.
Economically it would make more sense to buy a replacement & junk the
one I have. He's right of course. KEH has a LN- K20D for $299 right now.
But, since the camera still works just fine otherwise, and is perfectly
usable despite the annoyance of the hot spot, I can't bring myself to do
that. I can't even force myself to get rid of a dead Super Program or my
dead Auto110 Super.
FWIW, KEH is also currently showing a LN- K100D for $144.
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