645Z freezes / becomes unresponsive

marknolan · 07-07-2015, 04:22 AM

Hi,
This is my first post - i just got my 645z a couple of weeks ago.
I was out in the mountains yesterday taking some landscape shots. I was using the 90mm and 28-45mm lenses and every once in a while the camera froze up (4-5 times in 2h). The focus indicator would still blink but other then that, nothing...
Removing the battery was the only way to make it work again. After restarting, the camera would show aperture and shutter speed settings from approx. 5-6 frames earlier.

I wasn't using long exposures - around 1/8th of a second and aperture of 11. Mounted on a tripod - no extreme heat/cold/moisture etc.

Very annoying as the light was changing almost every second...

Anyone else experiencing similar issues?

Thanks,
Mark

Adam · 07-07-2015, 04:38 AM

Freezes are more likely to happen when the battery voltage is low (i.e. less than 3 bars) or if the drain is high (i.e. if the AF motor is commanded to go back and forth repeatedly, when shooting bursts, etc.). It's fairly unusual for it to happen that often, though, especially in the conditions you are describing. Hopefully recharging the battery will fix the problem. Also, just in case, be sure to update your camera's firmware to the latest version.

Pentax 645Z Firmware v1.21 Released - Firmware Updates | PentaxForums.com

marknolan · 07-07-2015, 04:45 AM

Thanks Adam. The battery was freshly charged - so all bars. I'm not sure if it was the first time i used that specific battery. Maybe a faulty battery? In the mean time I have called the shop I bought the camera form - they have another customer experiencing the same issues! So there is something going on here. I will update when I hear back from Ricoh/Shop support.
I'm on the latest firmware.

mark

georgelien · 07-07-2015, 05:42 AM

Hi,

Pentax 645Z user here.

I have a few questions for you:

1) Are you using PENTAX batteries or after market third party batteries ?

2) Is the 645Z's High ISO Noise Reduction function turned on or off ?

3) Which firmware version are you currently using right now ?

BR,

George Lien

marknolan · 07-07-2015, 07:00 AM

Hi George,

1. Brand New Original Pentax Batteries
2. High ISO NR is turned OFF
3. Firmware 1.21

Thanks, Mark

marknolan · 07-07-2015, 07:09 AM

One little extra Info: I was in mirror lock-up mode. I had used the camera for many hundred frames in a portrait session (without mirror lock-up) and it never became unresponsive.
i'm pretty sure I used a different battery (still an original pentax) but the same lenses.

Royce Howland · 07-07-2015, 07:54 AM

This is a known issue with the 645Z. I've had a few freezes myself, though not as many in one concentrated burst as you've had. A few others here have described a similar situation. My feeling is there's a combination of shooting parameters that triggers the freeze. Maybe more than one combination of things; but none of my cases had anything to do with low batteries. Mine seem to involve Live View (can't recall any with MLU but no LV), AEB sequences, and slower shutter speeds. But I've not been able to pin it down enough to say for sure since it happens very infrequently for me. Possibly it's not a completely "hard" fault, but something that happens only as a side effect of some other things, like a full buffer writing out while trying to do something else.

marknolan · 07-08-2015, 12:34 AM

Thanks to everyone for answering. I have yet to hear back from support.
I will be out and about in a similar situation today - I will let you know what i come up with and if i can record exactly what happened and what the settings were so we can try to reproduce this problem.
thanks
mark

Kolor-Pikker · 07-08-2015, 01:26 AM

I've had my 645Z freeze exactly once since buying it half a year ago, when I was trying to preview an image right after capture, didn't know what was wrong and nothing responded, but just as I was pondering about removing the battery, it started working like nothing happened.

Conversely I use MLU all the time, and have also done 5-shot brackets, sometimes in succession, and not so much as a hiccup.

Royce Howland · 07-08-2015, 07:48 AM

I just had something similar to Kolor-Pikker's description last night -- not a hard freeze up, just a long period of time where the camera was unresponsive. I was shooting in continuous high speed, Av, no bracketing, all other automatic functions disabled except for auto ISO. Doing some festival/street photos at the Calgary Stampede. At one point the camera wouldn't bring up the image preview of something I'd just shot, and then all controls stopped responding. Turning off the power didn't actually shut the camera down. As K-P said, just as I was about to pop the battery, the controls started responding again.

These kinds of situations where the camera stops responding to all controls, even the power switch, indicate to me that something really low level in the firmware is getting into a pooched state. Hopefully a subsequent firmware update will improve this type of issue. Fortunately it doesn't happen frequently...

georgelien · 07-09-2015, 04:01 AM

One more question for you who shared similar experience: Which brand and what type of memory card are you using with your Pentax 645Z ?

Thanks !

BR,

George Lien

algrove · 07-09-2015, 05:37 AM

Originally posted by georgelien

One more question for you who shared similar experience: Which brand and what type of memory card are you using with your Pentax 645Z ?

Thanks !

BR,

George Lien

Sandisk Extreme Pro 64GB 95mb/s

Royce Howland · 07-09-2015, 05:51 AM

64GB SanDisk Extreme 45MB/s for me.

Kolor-Pikker · 07-09-2015, 06:40 AM

Card 1 is a Lexar 64GB, probably around 90mb/s.
Card 2 is a SanDisk extreme 64GB 45mb/s card.

Despite the speed difference, I don't notice any real variance in performance between the two, but they are both quite high-end as far as memory cards go.

I don't quite recall on which card I locked up with unfortunately.

Edit: Luckily for me I always forget to delete photos for months at a time, just went way back through my images and recalled the spot where I had the lockup, it was the SanDisk card.

Something tells me that there is a pattern here. I have a DVR that accepts SD cards for direct-to-media recording, and at one time I wanted to record some video onto the SanDisk, everything seemed normal until I copied the files to the computer and the video was all jittery. I searched for this online and ran into a thread where someone had the same DVR and memory card as me and warned against using SanDisk cards in combination with it. It seems that SanDisk cards have a problem when it comes to dealing with high loads of continuous data transfer.

marknolan · 07-10-2015, 01:27 AM

i'm using lexar 128GB 150MB/s cards... so no sandisk on my end.
i was out shooting long exposures last night. nothing - not one single glitch... but I only took around 60-80 frames in the 3h i was out.

07-07-2015, 04:22 AM	#1
marknolan Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Gstaad, Switzerland Posts: 7	645Z freezes / becomes unresponsive Hi, This is my first post - i just got my 645z a couple of weeks ago. I was out in the mountains yesterday taking some landscape shots. I was using the 90mm and 28-45mm lenses and every once in a while the camera froze up (4-5 times in 2h). The focus indicator would still blink but other then that, nothing... Removing the battery was the only way to make it work again. After restarting, the camera would show aperture and shutter speed settings from approx. 5-6 frames earlier. I wasn't using long exposures - around 1/8th of a second and aperture of 11. Mounted on a tripod - no extreme heat/cold/moisture etc. Very annoying as the light was changing almost every second... Anyone else experiencing similar issues? Thanks, Mark

07-07-2015, 04:38 AM	#2
Adam Administrator Site Webmaster Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Arizona Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 51,594	Freezes are more likely to happen when the battery voltage is low (i.e. less than 3 bars) or if the drain is high (i.e. if the AF motor is commanded to go back and forth repeatedly, when shooting bursts, etc.). It's fairly unusual for it to happen that often, though, especially in the conditions you are describing. Hopefully recharging the battery will fix the problem. Also, just in case, be sure to update your camera's firmware to the latest version. Pentax 645Z Firmware v1.21 Released - Firmware Updates \| PentaxForums.com Adam PentaxForums.com Webmaster (Site Usage Guide \| Site Help \| My Photography) PentaxForums.com server and development costs are user-supported. You can help cover these costs by donating or purchasing one of our Pentax eBooks. Or, buy your photo gear from our affiliates, Adorama, B&H Photo, KEH, or Topaz Labs, and get FREE Marketplace access - click here to see how! Trusted Pentax retailers:

07-08-2015, 01:26 AM	#9
Kolor-Pikker Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 344	I've had my 645Z freeze exactly once since buying it half a year ago, when I was trying to preview an image right after capture, didn't know what was wrong and nothing responded, but just as I was pondering about removing the battery, it started working like nothing happened. Conversely I use MLU all the time, and have also done 5-shot brackets, sometimes in succession, and not so much as a hiccup. Last edited by Kolor-Pikker; 07-08-2015 at 01:36 AM.

07-09-2015, 06:40 AM	#14
Kolor-Pikker Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 344	Card 1 is a Lexar 64GB, probably around 90mb/s. Card 2 is a SanDisk extreme 64GB 45mb/s card. Despite the speed difference, I don't notice any real variance in performance between the two, but they are both quite high-end as far as memory cards go. I don't quite recall on which card I locked up with unfortunately. Edit: Luckily for me I always forget to delete photos for months at a time, just went way back through my images and recalled the spot where I had the lockup, it was the SanDisk card. Something tells me that there is a pattern here. I have a DVR that accepts SD cards for direct-to-media recording, and at one time I wanted to record some video onto the SanDisk, everything seemed normal until I copied the files to the computer and the video was all jittery. I searched for this online and ran into a thread where someone had the same DVR and memory card as me and warned against using SanDisk cards in combination with it. It seems that SanDisk cards have a problem when it comes to dealing with high loads of continuous data transfer. Last edited by Kolor-Pikker; 07-09-2015 at 06:52 AM.

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07-07-2015, 04:45 AM	#3
marknolan Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Gstaad, Switzerland Posts: 7 Original Poster	Thanks Adam. The battery was freshly charged - so all bars. I'm not sure if it was the first time i used that specific battery. Maybe a faulty battery? In the mean time I have called the shop I bought the camera form - they have another customer experiencing the same issues! So there is something going on here. I will update when I hear back from Ricoh/Shop support. I'm on the latest firmware. mark

07-07-2015, 05:42 AM	#4
georgelien New Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Posts: 5	Hi, Pentax 645Z user here. I have a few questions for you: 1) Are you using PENTAX batteries or after market third party batteries ? 2) Is the 645Z's High ISO Noise Reduction function turned on or off ? 3) Which firmware version are you currently using right now ? BR, George Lien

07-07-2015, 07:00 AM	#5
marknolan Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Gstaad, Switzerland Posts: 7 Original Poster	Hi George, 1. Brand New Original Pentax Batteries 2. High ISO NR is turned OFF 3. Firmware 1.21 Thanks, Mark

07-07-2015, 07:09 AM	#6
marknolan Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Gstaad, Switzerland Posts: 7 Original Poster	One little extra Info: I was in mirror lock-up mode. I had used the camera for many hundred frames in a portrait session (without mirror lock-up) and it never became unresponsive. i'm pretty sure I used a different battery (still an original pentax) but the same lenses.

07-07-2015, 07:54 AM	#7
Royce Howland Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Calgary, Alberta Posts: 275	This is a known issue with the 645Z. I've had a few freezes myself, though not as many in one concentrated burst as you've had. A few others here have described a similar situation. My feeling is there's a combination of shooting parameters that triggers the freeze. Maybe more than one combination of things; but none of my cases had anything to do with low batteries. Mine seem to involve Live View (can't recall any with MLU but no LV), AEB sequences, and slower shutter speeds. But I've not been able to pin it down enough to say for sure since it happens very infrequently for me. Possibly it's not a completely "hard" fault, but something that happens only as a side effect of some other things, like a full buffer writing out while trying to do something else.

07-08-2015, 12:34 AM	#8
marknolan Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Gstaad, Switzerland Posts: 7 Original Poster	Thanks to everyone for answering. I have yet to hear back from support. I will be out and about in a similar situation today - I will let you know what i come up with and if i can record exactly what happened and what the settings were so we can try to reproduce this problem. thanks mark

07-08-2015, 07:48 AM	#10
Royce Howland Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Calgary, Alberta Posts: 275	I just had something similar to Kolor-Pikker's description last night -- not a hard freeze up, just a long period of time where the camera was unresponsive. I was shooting in continuous high speed, Av, no bracketing, all other automatic functions disabled except for auto ISO. Doing some festival/street photos at the Calgary Stampede. At one point the camera wouldn't bring up the image preview of something I'd just shot, and then all controls stopped responding. Turning off the power didn't actually shut the camera down. As K-P said, just as I was about to pop the battery, the controls started responding again. These kinds of situations where the camera stops responding to all controls, even the power switch, indicate to me that something really low level in the firmware is getting into a pooched state. Hopefully a subsequent firmware update will improve this type of issue. Fortunately it doesn't happen frequently...

07-09-2015, 04:01 AM	#11
georgelien New Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Posts: 5	One more question for you who shared similar experience: Which brand and what type of memory card are you using with your Pentax 645Z ? Thanks ! BR, George Lien

07-09-2015, 05:37 AM	#12
algrove Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Posts: 160	Originally posted by georgelien One more question for you who shared similar experience: Which brand and what type of memory card are you using with your Pentax 645Z ? Thanks ! BR, George Lien Sandisk Extreme Pro 64GB 95mb/s

07-09-2015, 05:51 AM	#13
Royce Howland Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Calgary, Alberta Posts: 275	64GB SanDisk Extreme 45MB/s for me.

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07-10-2015, 01:27 AM	#15
marknolan Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Gstaad, Switzerland Posts: 7 Original Poster	i'm using lexar 128GB 150MB/s cards... so no sandisk on my end. i was out shooting long exposures last night. nothing - not one single glitch... but I only took around 60-80 frames in the 3h i was out.