[Stringmike]

A report from a Spanish contributor to the forum-that shall-not-be-named says that the defect is in the filter glass. It is said to be present from the time of manufacture and does not change with time. Some fraction of units were acknowledged to have been affected.

If correct, Pentax will be able to quickly identify and rectify the problem, which sounds likely to have originated with the glass supplier and not Sony or Pentax.

Mike

[NaClH2O]

Very good news if it doesn't turn out to be rumor

NaCl(Not doubting you Mike, you are just passing info along, but there have been plenty of 'misinformed' statements maded)H2O

[oliver939]

where can we read forum-that shall-not-be-named ?

[dadipentak]

the glass supplier

Gee, where would Pentax get glass? Let me think....

[pscl57]

This is the best news of the day !

[Samsungian]

Not sure if link will post, see quote

http://forums.*************/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1036&thread=37177457


QUOTE:


(Good)News form Pentax Spain about the stains, and explanationof the problem [SIMILAR]
Jorgechu - 1 hour ago
First of all, this is my first post in pentax forums...i was in panasonic forums...but K5 have change this! i'm receiving mine this week..:-). So glad to meet you.

This is from Pentaxeros forum. It's like the spanish pentaxforums. The webmaster is the owner of the web shop too, with the distributors in Spain. This is information right for the manufacturer to the spanish distributor.

manchas en el sensor de la K5

Several things that they say here:

1-) Pentax declares that the problem is in the construction of the glass covering the sensor. It´s not something between the filter and the sensor, but a defect in the glass.

2-) They change, at least in Spain (and i think that in Europe too) all the cameras affected with no delay, just send and receive back, with no cost for the owner (I suppose no post cost...)

3-) As Pentax knows the problem, they are checking all their stock, and from now only sending good ones.

4-) the problem IS, or ISN´T. Pentax declares that once they know that the problem is in a defect of the construction of the glass, it's not something that can change with time, as sometimes we have supossed, due to heat or oil, or something like that.

At least this is what distributor in Spain says:

"Bueno, lo primero comentar, que desde hace un par de dias que se ha detectado el problema, se han tomado medidas a fin de que no ocurra.

Me informan desde Pentax España, que es un problema que afecta a pocas unidades, y que aquellas que tengan el problema serán sustituidas rapidamente en garantia sin ningún coste para el cliente.

Tambien me informan que están revisando todas las maquinas en que tienen en stock una a una, a fin de quitar todas aquellas que tengan este problema.

El problema como me informa el tecnico de Pentax, es que se trata de un defecto en el vidrio que cubre el sensor.

Aqui en España, Reflecta, Pentax España, reemplazara sin ningún problema aquellas cámaras que presenten dicho problema."

Translation (sorry for my grammar...:-)

"First of all, since the problem was detected two days ago, meassures have been taken in order not to happen again(...)Those units with the problem are going to be change quickly with no cost for customer.

They say to me that they are checking all the cameras in stock one by one, so not to send any other with the defect.

The problem, a Pentax Spain technical says, is a defect in the glass covering the sensor.

Here in Spain, Reflecta (Pentax Spain), is changing with no doubt all the cameras with the problem."

In the discution after, they afirm what i say about the problem IS or ISN't. If you've got a good one, problem is not coming with time. And Pentax Spain says that the firmaware for the issue with AF in low tungsten light will be ready in just days.

Hope this help you!
regards!
Jorge

Gee, where would Pentax get glass? Let me think....

[buntal]

nice to hear first somewhat official response on this problem. even tho my k5 wasn't deffective, this is about communication with customers.

[AGWoodard]

Well, my buddy told me that a friend of his who knows this guy who has a girlfriend who used to date an engineer with Sony that someone at Nikon had told someone at Canon that he heard it from a janitor who overheard two guys talking about it to the lunch room person who relayed it to him.

There is nothing official about this at all.

If it's true, then B&H, Adorama, Hunts and a any other big reseller should know. Heck Pentax USA should know. How come we have not heard it from anyone of them?

This came from a guy who has 12 post total on DPReview. I would love to believe that Hoya has taken this seriously, but I cannot believe they have made any public announcement to anyone yet.

[Stringmike]

While I agree that we have to take unconfirmed reports with some degree of skepticism, I posted this one because I thought it had reasonable credibility and had been posted in good faith. The new report also supports my own suspicion that the stains could result from tiny voids or irregularities in the glass.

We may never hear a direct report on this problem from Pentax Japan, they are very likely to just fix it and say nothing.

Time will tell!

Mike

[AGWoodard]

Let's be honest here. When Hoya decided to buy Pentax and downsize the company to make it profitable, the first department they cut was Public Affairs.

They needed the room for a paint booth

Pentax will never say anything official about this. Some heads will roll, some face will be lost, and someone will get sued, but we will never hear anything about this from Pentax.

It'll either just go away, or they will bury it like they did the SDM issue.

[Wheatfield]

As long as it goes away, isn't that enough?

[builttospill]

Pentax will never say anything official about this. Some heads will roll, some face will be lost, and someone will get sued, but we will never hear anything about this from Pentax.

It'll either just go away, or they will bury it like they did the SDM issue.

Do they need to say anything "official" about this? What do you expect them to do, hold a press conference? Pentax has already acknowledged there's a problem and have offered to pay the cost of shipping for camera returns/exchanges and fixed the problem long ago. See here: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/ask-b-h-photo/125245-k5-infamous-stain.html

[glanglois]

They look (to me) like bubbles. Always have. For the time being, I will accept that they are bubbles.

OTOH, as long as my theoretically-en-route K-5 has no problems and the issue goes away for others, as well, I'm perfectly happy not even knowing the precise stage of manufacture. Or the "offending" supplier.

With no particular post or thread in mind, I think the idea that Pentax/Hoya should rat out their supplier is ludicrous.

[falconeye]

Oh, I feel really stupid now

If you look up my Stainology original post you'll see that I identified the defect position to be IN the cover glass (the area marked by 3 green lines).

I then dismissed my own result as unlikely and said ON the cover glass is most likely.

But ok, it all makes sense now. And the cover glass is Sony's responsibility which means Pentax doesn't pay with profit meant for our next models.

[glanglois]

<snip>

But ok, it all makes sense now. And the cover glass is Sony's responsibility which means Pentax doesn't pay with profit meant for our next models.

Good point. Perhaps not a cash drain on Pentax, depending on how they work out the peripheral costs associated with replacement. I'm not sure how that works in Japanese business.

And it may end up reflecting well on Pentax regardless of the source of the problem.

I've a vendor review meeting tomorrow - we'll rate our most critical suppliers. I pay a lot of attention to how difficult situations are handled - more than I pay to a recent lack of difficult situations. The latter, sometimes, is just luck. Luck that can change at any moment. Corporate culture does not change quickly.