K7 busted sensor strikes production body - Page 3

raider · 07-09-2009, 06:23 AM

Prolly doesn't mean that the sensor is weak as even the nikon D700 experienced something like this (remember seeing some posts in a forum somewhere). I think the K-7 deserve more credits than we think in this case.

I am inclined to believe that we are just pushing the sensors too much by incoporating live view and stuff, hence this kind of artifacts. Personally I would be happy to trade liveview and video recording features to get a "stripe-free" K-7.

Darth Ramirez · 07-09-2009, 06:27 AM

Originally Posted by bentax

Alright Ive been messing around with it for about 2 hrs now, different lighting, different settings, liveview and video on/off, and have not been able to replicate the line.

Soooo... beats me.

Edit: Just did a whole slew of 20+ sec exposures using liveview and the line still wont show again.
Hmm..

Now i dont know whether to even take it back.

Hopefully yours snaps out of it too aaib.

When I picked my K7 on Monday, I played around a bit with it that night. I experienced the exact same thing you did, though I was only noticing the line at ISO 1600/3200 - on the lcd. In each image the line was in the exact same place. I didn't fool around with it too long that night as I had a long day, but when I woke up Tuesday morning I took a few more shots - and the line was no longer appearing! I had used live view and movie mode a bit on Monday - no longer than 5 minutes I'd say. One difference though is that my shots on Monday with the line were using my Sigma 70-200 @ F2.8. In the morning I put the kit lens on and shots were at f4. I didn't save my pictures from Monday night. Wish I had.

More testing coming when I get some time.... Damn work...

Mark

*falconeye* · 07-09-2009, 08:35 AM

Originally Posted by a a i b

I don't think I was stressing the camera ... live view for perhaps a bit, but certainly not movie mode.

Today I took some more shots -- no line at all for the first bunch, and then it shows up again.

Take it back?

@aaib: Timo, your line is horizontal, right? And you didn't heat up the sensor, right?

If so, then I guess you got a different problem and are eligible for a replacement body as soon as your dealer has one.

a a i b · 07-09-2009, 10:25 AM

Originally Posted by falconeye

@aaib: Timo, your line is horizontal, right? And you didn't heat up the sensor, right?

If so, then I guess you got a different problem and are eligible for a replacement body as soon as your dealer has one.

I didn't see your post about a line in your pre-production camera. Hmm.. Until I read that, my working thesis for awhile was that this was a jpg issue ... I'm going to try and shoot a bunch of .DNGs and see what's what.

Another idea is that it's a high ISO problem.

Anyway, no love in exchanging right now as B&H is out of stock.

*falconeye* · 07-09-2009, 10:57 AM

General comment ...

1. this is no stitching artifact (because it is possible to get 3 lines in extremely rare cases)

2. You normally should only get it with a hot sensor (red thermometer appering in LV or movie mode). With a red thermometer, it may be considered normal extra noise. Without a red thermometer visible in LV, it shouldn't emerge in images. Even with the red thermometer, the line is very faint.

3. The red thermometer needs more than 10 minutes constant LV/movie recording to appear (except in hot sunshine). And disapperas rather quickly.

4. In normal photo operation (with breaks in between invocations of LV), the phenomenon should not be present at all. It is not necessary to avoid LV. If it is, then the camera is defect. None of my images (execpt for the one where I provoqued the issue) has this and I used LV a lot.

So, an overheated K-7 sensor may exhibit a faint vertical line with additional noise. This is acceptable to me (can be easily removed for a keeper). Nothing to panic about.

Torphoto · 07-09-2009, 11:22 AM

Thanks Falcon, I was panicing a bit as I am in tropical heat all year round, My K7 just got here and batteries charging, will test in a bit.

jeffkrol · 07-09-2009, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by falconeye

General comment ...

1. this is no stitching artifact (because it is possible to get 3 lines in extremely rare cases)

So, an overheated K-7 sensor may exhibit a faint vertical line with additional noise. This is acceptable to me (can be easily removed for a keeper). Nothing to panic about.

Have you seen more than one line in a production camera?????
I agree not a major issue, just annoying since Pentax has, unfortunately, had minor bad luck issues all it's life in the DSLR world.

*falconeye* · 07-09-2009, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by jeffkrol

Have you seen more than one line in a production camera?????

I don't have a production camera, and no K-7 at all anymore, actually

But come on, if the K20D and pre-production K-7 sensors haven't been stitched, then the production K-7 sensors aren't stitched either. Esp. as stitching increases the cost.

Torphoto · 07-09-2009, 12:18 PM

I got a line, not to bad and shows up at 1600 iso, damn tropical heat

correction, shows up at 800 iso as well, so should I send this back?

Edit this line is at every iso, I'm thinking seriously of sending it back, tho wondering if I should wait to see if Pentax fixes it first.

jeffkrol · 07-09-2009, 02:32 PM

Originally Posted by falconeye

I don't have a production camera, and no K-7 at all anymore, actually

But come on, if the K20D and pre-production K-7 sensors haven't been stitched, then the production K-7 sensors aren't stitched either. Esp. as stitching increases the cost.

I just wanted to know if you saw more than one line in any production cameras yet. Stitching issue (or non-issue) aside. I think I earlier stated it was an off the cuff thought....
Anyways photo above me seems to show 1 green line and may be some light patterning...

*brecklundin* · 07-09-2009, 02:49 PM

you know, looking at this line issue reminds me of when an LCD inverter goes bad and shows a row or column of dead pixels. I am wondering if the sensor is fine but rather the issue is in the controller for the sensor. If they are a bit high strung or there was a flaky batch of the component that made it into the production line it could follow that most of them are fine under the conditions people will normally use the camera but only for folks who push the body beyond what a more casual user might that the issue appears.

I might have missed this in the thread, but does this show in both RAW (PEF and/or DNG) and JPG. I know it makes sense it should show in all formats but if it's really only linked to AVI (that is the video format, yes?) and/or JPG then I would say it's correctable via firmware. If this really is a flaky component then I don't see how it can be fixed beyond a recall sort of thing where Pentax replaces the flaky component.

If this is also linked to using Live View for extended periods I am going to be forced to wait as I use LV a LOT when doing product shoots. In fact it is one of the primary uses I have for my camera's. So, this kind of issue will cause me to hold off even longer on getting the K7 I made to switch to have....

ftpaddict · 07-09-2009, 02:52 PM

It appears the K-7 is in need of a firmware update.

*brecklundin* · 07-09-2009, 02:58 PM

Originally Posted by ftpaddict

It appears the K-7 is in need of a firmware update.

hehehe...it's a v1.0.0 product, these days ALLLLL such products need fixes. MS has made me numb to such issues, then again so has pretty much all software free or commercial.

Torphoto · 07-09-2009, 03:11 PM

But mine shows up with NO live view!!

then again I am in tropical heat so ....

Also notice the same line at 100 iso

octavmandru · 07-09-2009, 03:23 PM

Originally Posted by Torphoto

I got a line, not to bad and shows up at 1600 iso, damn tropical heat

correction, shows up at 800 iso as well, so should I send this back?

Edit this line is at every iso, I'm thinking seriously of sending it back, tho wondering if I should wait to see if Pentax fixes it first.

People, do you see what I see? The color changes from one side of the line to the other. The brown shade I mean. What is this?