[Wheatfield]

Next week i want to buy the K5 after long long long thinking. The D7000 is not my cup of tea due to the hotpixel issues and i like the grip of the K5 body much more.

But i want to know for sure there arent any widespread issues with the K5 too? Is the K7 blur issue fixed etc? Does the camera have hardware issues in general?

I can't speak to the "blur issue" with the K7 as in a few tens of thousand exposures, I never noticed a problem, so I would surmise that it is either
A: a non issue (bad shooting technique)
B: limited to a few bodies

Since the K5 has a brand new shutter and mirror mechanism, any K7 issues regarding this part of the camera have been eliminated anyway.
The only think I've noticed so far, and this is implementation that I don't like, not a bug, per se, is that when I want to switch from Fn adjust back to focus point adjust (in focus point select) I have to push the OK button to do so. The K7 didn't make me do this (after the firmware revision where they fixed it). Not a big deal, just a minor nitpick with the way they implemented this function.

[kozway]

i just noticed as my battery ran out in the K-5 that the system froze up and was unresponsive. I had to take the battery out, then the camera shut off. Anybody notice anything similar?

[Wheatfield]

i just noticed as my battery ran out in the K-5 that the system froze up and was unresponsive. I had to take the battery out, then the camera shut off. Anybody notice anything similar?

Someone else mentioned that in another thread. I suspect the K5 is a little more battery intensive than the K7.

[Rin]

For street photography, I find DA 35 F2.4 is good replacement of 50mm FOV.
Alternatively, FA 43 F1.9 or DA 21 F3.2. DA 70 is too tele.

I think the aperture is a bit too small of the 35mm, i would like to have some nice bokeh once in a while, so i thought the 50mm 1.4 would be a good option, The 40mm 2.8 seems nice too for snapshot style photography with an occasional bokeh type photo. The SDM 50mm isnt available in Europe as far as i know and the only other pentax 50mm is the older screw focus version.

Does anyone know how the Sigma 50mm performs on a K5? Does it have back/front focus problems?

I can't speak to the "blur issue" with the K7 as in a few tens of thousand exposures, I never noticed a problem, so I would surmise that it is either
A: a non issue (bad shooting technique)
B: limited to a few bodies

Since the K5 has a brand new shutter and mirror mechanism, any K7 issues regarding this part of the camera have been eliminated anyway.
The only think I've noticed so far, and this is implementation that I don't like, not a bug, per se, is that when I want to switch from Fn adjust back to focus point adjust (in focus point select) I have to push the OK button to do so. The K7 didn't make me do this (after the firmware revision where they fixed it). Not a big deal, just a minor nitpick with the way they implemented this function.

Thanks for your insight. This kinda assures me. This Wednesday i will buy the K5. Now only need to decide on which lens first.

[climbertrev]

i just noticed as my battery ran out in the K-5 that the system froze up and was unresponsive. I had to take the battery out, then the camera shut off. Anybody notice anything similar?

That's weird
My car (an Audi A3) does the same thing
Once the battery runs down it won't start and if I remove the battery it goes completely dead

Annoying how these modern electrical devices rely on a supply of electricity

[elho_cid]

I think the aperture is a bit too small of the 35mm, i would like to have some nice bokeh once in a while, so i thought the 50mm 1.4 would be a good option, The 40mm 2.8 seems nice too for snapshot style photography with an occasional bokeh type photo. The SDM 50mm isnt available in Europe as far as i know and the only other pentax 50mm is the older screw focus version.

Does anyone know how the Sigma 50mm performs on a K5? Does it have back/front focus problems?

The K-5 has focus adjustments that even work with Sigma lenses. I owned the FA50/1,4 and replaced it with DFA50/2,8 as i like occasional macro. I'm looking towards DA* 55/1.4 in the future, that lens is expensive, but the best APS-C portrait option by far.

[Rin]

I didnt trust the 55mm/1.4 because of SDM, tomorrow i will receive my K5 with a Sigma 50mm, if the sigma doesnt work well i will buy a 40mm 2.8 limited and a maybe the older 50mm 1.4 prime lens from Pentax trough ebay since it isnt available in Holland anymore.

[elho_cid]

I can understand someone likes to stick with the body motor option for reliability. With shallow DOF it doesn' make sense but maybe with K-5 it already does, I didn't try. But the Sigma HSM is just as likely to fail as the SDM plus the QC is worse at Sigma. And The sharpness and boked performance is clearly at the side of DA*55. I just can't understand this decision.

[Rin]

the main problem is also that the DA* lenses are hard to find here in Holland, really really really hard, many of those arent listed on the Dutch Pentax website either. I like the quality of the bokeh though of the Sigma. I never saw many HSM failure threads and posts on photography forums. But i do like screw AF lenses. They simply never failed me. It is true the QC is horrible at Sigma, or you are extremely lucky or you have a shitty lens that needs to be returned.

I hope more Pentax lenses will be available in Holland soon because from what i have seen they have some pretty amazing lenses.

[bobmaxja]

Sigma warranty is 6 years now in Canada. I believe they will have issue if the QC was that bad

[Pentax Lover]

The only issue I have with the K-5 is how soon I can save up for another K-5 body.

Can you Buy me one too, just kidding!
You must really like it to want two of them!

[mattdm]

I can't speak to the "blur issue" with the K7 as in a few tens of thousand exposures, I never noticed a problem, so I would surmise that it is either
A: a non issue (bad shooting technique)
B: limited to a few bodies

It's not A, because the test is carefully designed and controlled. B would be quite a coincidence given that a number of different bodies were tested and all exhibited the same behavior.

The answer is "C" and "D":

C: it only shows up in certain circumstances, which are worth learning about if you really care about sharpness (although the advice is basically: use a really solid tripod, and keep the shutter speed relatively high)
D: the effect isn't earth-shatteringly huge (so to speak), and it's not a noticeable factor in many or most images.

But the important thing here is that ALL cameras have quirks like this, both intentional design compromises and accidental issues. This one happened to get a thorough examination because someone with an engineering background noticed a particular problem and decided to track it down. This is a good thing in that when sharpness is paramount, it's something else you can know to correct for. It's bad in that people take it all out of proportion, leading to the worries that caused the creation of this thread.

The fact is, it's certain that the K-5 has some sort of problem like this. Ditto Nikon's D7000, and Canon's what-have-you. Probably lots of such problems. Some people may discover some of them, investigate, and maybe even write lengthy white papers. Other people will be oblivious and happily take pictures. Nothing wrong with either pursuit.

[Pentax Lover]

you are right about that, there is also a lot of nitpicking about both cameras in general. but the hotpixel issues on the D7000 are quite bad and very noticeable in some cases without long exposure/high iso photos. The performance is very similar though for both cameras. I simply need a durable camerabody with a fast 50mm prime and a sharp zoom lens around the 18-50mm/18-135mm/24-70mm) and then i am happy. i mainly do streetphotography anyway. The K5 body is ergonomically the best option for me. Maybe in combination with the 70mm limited prime lens i can drop the 50mm idea and take advantage of the small pancake lens design.

how are the current SDM lenses by the way? Are there still issues with those?

I think Nikon is going to do a Recall on the D7000, somebody had mentioned that over at Nikonians Forum when they were talking to Adorama.
So I am suspicious about the D7000, it may not be what Nikon meant for it to be or even rushed it too soon Like Pentax did with K-5 Buffer

[jpzk]

Instead of trying to dig out unforeseen circumstances with the K5/K7, which will likely be discussed as time goes on, why not just do something a little more constructive, such as:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-k-5-forum/123308-death-soft-k5-urban-legend.html

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-k-5-forum/123731-no-more-tests-just-pictures.html

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-k-5-forum/122910-real-life-k5-auto...ml#post1279758

Enjoy taking pics!

JP

[ve2vfd]

Well, I'll admit that I have a MAJOR issue with my K5d!

Since I picked it up from the post office, I've been using it exclusively and my old K20d is really feeling lonely!

I'm sure you understand how much of an issue that is!


No but seriously, the only "bug" I've found up to now is the overexposure when bouncing my hotshoe flash, a bug thats been discussed my many on this board so I was expecting it, and it's a bug Pentax is apparently well aware of so I am not to worried, a fix is probably in the works.

Pat