[MRRiley]

Like many folks I returned my K-5 to Pentax (thru my dealer) and have been waiting over a month. This was the reply to my latest "when is my camera going to come back?" question.

Michael,

We talked to Pentax for you. They said they are replacing your camera and not repairing it. They are waiting for more replacement cameras to come in currently. The lady said it could be up to two more weeks before your replacement comes in. When it does, it will be overnighted for you. We still have not gotten any new cameras in either, we had to send all of ours in and we do not even have a time frame for ours. The lady said that their are 6300 replacements that need to come in before we see ours, so you are in better shape than us at least. Sorry about the inconvenience.

-John

6300+ bad K-5s... and this would just be in the U.S. alone.

Pentax... you really need to step up here and make this right. I fear this could wipe out all of the great gains you have made over the past couple of year and I believe could seriously endanger your future. You don't want that... and we who have been loyal Pentax shooters, many for several decades, don't want it either.

To paraphrase an old song...

Please don't take my Pentax away!!!

Mike

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Last edited by MRRiley; 03-04-2011 at 01:44 PM.

[deadwolfbones]

I'm not sure how they could step up any more... I'm sure they have the factories running full blast to meet demand.

[psychdoc]

The lady said that their are 6300 replacements

wow! No wonder I have not recieved my K-5 back yet either.

Pentax... you really need to step up here and make this right. I fear this could wipe out all of the great gains you have made over the past couple of year and I believe could seriously endanger your future.

No kidding! I must admit I have toyed with going to being a 2 system user. Sell the new K5 when it comes, move to Nikon. Keep my old K2000 and the Limiteds and get rid of the other lenses too. Essentially using the Pentax system as my everyday/travel system only. But...I dont want to change from Pentax. Unless the replacement k5 turns out to be a dud too...stains plus constant freezing up and more expensive than the Nikon equivalent. Ouch! I really hope Pentax is ready to keep up with the big boys in the upper-end of the APS-C camera range.

[dgaies]

I'm pretty sure the majority of the K-5 bodies produced during the first few months of production either had stains or have the capacity to develop stains. I had two bodies (382xxxx and 388xxxx) that both had stains. The current body I am using (396xxxx) seems ok for now, but I'm keeping a close eye on it.

And remember, 6300 is just how many bodies are ahead of you in line (so to speak). The total count of bad bodies would also include the number of bodies that have already been replaced for people ahead of yours.

It's certainly unfortunate for Pentax (and their customers) that so many bodies were produced/sold with a stained sensor and that there is now a long backlog to replace the affected units. It certainly could hurt them long term and I also agree that much of what could have been gained with the release of the K-5 has probably already been lost.

[dadipentak]

I sent mine in last week so I guess I'm sort of at the end of the line. It's a good thing I held on to my K20D.

[Raffwal]

On the bright side - think of all the refurbished ones flooding the market at some point of time!

[bobmaxja]

THat number could have been made of by that person on the phone#

[amoringello]

I am lucky, I have only two small spots and they are only noticeable with plain backgrounds such as sky, and easily spot-removed.

Not worth the turnaround time. I'm not sending my camera back for repair until something actually breaks down.

[Wheatfield]

No kidding! I must admit I have toyed with going to being a 2 system user. Sell the new K5 when it comes, move to Nikon. Keep my old K2000 and the Limiteds and get rid of the other lenses too. Essentially using the Pentax system as my everyday/travel system only. But...I dont want to change from Pentax. Unless the replacement k5 turns out to be a dud too...stains plus constant freezing up and more expensive than the Nikon equivalent. Ouch! I really hope Pentax is ready to keep up with the big boys in the upper-end of the APS-C camera range.

If you read about all the problems the other players are having, you will quickly realize that they are keeping up very well indeed.
Anyone else notice that when Pentax was a couple of steps behind, technologically speaking, they had reliable cameras, but now that they are closer to the cutting edge they are having problems just like everyone else?

I guess the moral is to be careful what you wish for....

[adestefan]

I wonder how many people are sending in cameras that have a speck of anything on them and what they're doing in that case.

[mickey]

I'd imagine heads are rolling somewhere.

Having not bought the K-5 (yet), I say a replacement is better than a repair.
I think new investors into Pentax could be having second thoughts, and for existing users, it could be the last straw before changing systems.
Shame overall, cus like has been said, Pentax had make big steps since the release of the k-x.
"inconvenience" is the key word. If I was in this situation, I would carry on with my K10 until the replacement arrived.
Disappointing, but not the end of the world.

[JayBee]

THat number could have been made of by that person on the phone#

Or she said "63 to a hundred". Whichever - it's hearsay.

My warranty repair took 6 weeks, and I got my original camera back fully repaired. I would definitely pick the K-5 again - it's miles ahead of the Canon-Nikon offerings in that range. I picked up a D7000 at Futureshop last week, and the build is so Fisher-Price compared to the K-5.

The sensor stain was a stumble for Pentax, but it will recover quite nicely as the K-5 gains recognition.

[sterretje]

Don't worry; I'm close to 3 month waiting now. So you have plenty of time for whatever

Nice thing: I bought mine in a brick and mortar store and they let me keep the K5 till they have the replacement.

[30v iPentax]

Harmi koko tahra ongelma. Mutta Pentax on silti paras ja K-5 niistä parhain.

[Purusam]

Don't worry; I'm close to 3 month waiting now. So you have plenty of time for whateve

Are you kidding ?

Im not waiting 3 month for something i already payed for. Ive been waiting for something like 50 days now
Grrrrrr

I think the problem is huge, and they are already out of stock in pentax belgium whi is delevering to all europe ? or just the nordic countries like norway sweden and soumi finland and denmark