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06-15-2011, 10:25 PM   #91
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update - my k5 came back to life. further info - I seem to have established that if the voltage on the battery's terminals is below 8.1V the multiple mirror slap cannot be repeated... if you exchange the battery for a freshly charged one (8.4V), then It might do it. This is regardless of where the battery is and which one is used - body or grip. If there is a battery in the system with voltage higher than whatever - problems will be there. Under 8.1V and the weird behaviour can't be repeated.

06-15-2011, 10:34 PM   #92
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QuoteOriginally posted by Mikhail_Kriviniouk Quote
update - my k5 came back to life. further info - I seem to have established that if the voltage on the battery's terminals is below 8.1V the multiple mirror slap cannot be repeated... if you exchange the battery for a freshly charged one (8.4V), then It might do it. This is regardless of where the battery is and which one is used - body or grip. If there is a battery in the system with voltage higher than whatever - problems will be there. Under 8.1V and the weird behaviour can't be repeated.
You might be onto something here. I put in a freshly-charged battery (original Pentax) and it started acting up.
06-16-2011, 03:40 AM   #93
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QuoteOriginally posted by darrenleow Quote
You might be onto something here. I put in a freshly-charged battery (original Pentax) and it started acting up.
I had this issue as I mentioned earlier in the forum. I would like to add that after 2 weeks the issue hasn't reappeared even once, and I've recharged both batteries I own.
06-16-2011, 04:39 AM   #94
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QuoteOriginally posted by darrenleow Quote
It sounds like there may be a problem in your K-5 camera.
Um, yeah.

06-16-2011, 05:12 AM   #95
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Similar problem here - the shutter seems to "over-release" when I'm in continuous shooting mode (in both AFC and AFS). There is an odd clicking sound that is very different than the normal shutter release sound. I just posted the same issue over on dpreview - hadn't seen this post until now. Hopefully it's not a big issue, but it looks like I need to send back.

Pete



QuoteOriginally posted by darrenleow Quote
Hi all, just wondering if anyone has experienced the same problem as me. My K-5 is on the latest 1.03 firmware right now. Using a mix of original and third-party batteries and a third-party grip from DealExtreme.

Sometimes the camera will get all buggy and the shutter will start tripping by itself or when the shutter button is half-pressed, although no photo is taken. When a photo is being taken, the mirror seems to do a loud double-slap. When I turn the camera off, the shutter cycles another 2-3 times. When I turn it back on immediately, the shutter cycles another 2-3 times again, and the aperture resets to f/8. It will work fine for a few more shots before the double-slap and the rest of the crazy behavior comes back again.

I've tried only using one battery, resetting all settings and custom functions but it's not helping. I might try using the camera without the grip and see if it glitches, although I do recall it having done this before I received my grip and on a previous firmware, though I can't be sure.

Anyone has any suggestions? Thanks!
06-19-2011, 07:17 AM   #96
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Sad Update -- Replacement camera doing the same thing

As I posted on this thread a couple weeks back, I had a K5 in repair for two months for this issue, and they finally agreed to send me a new one. Took it out a few times, no issues at all, tickled to have it back. Yesterday for the first time I was out taking 'important' pix (location shots before a wedding with the bride) and the same damn thing started happening again. Previous time it took about two weeks to go from minor issue (a few extra mirror movements) to unbearable (many mirror movements from just about any control -- AF button, rear wheel, turning on, turning off. Yesterday this took about two minutes. I totally had to cut it short the camera was acting up so bad. And I have this wedding (only my second -- a freebie for a poor friend, but still) in just 5 weeks.

Also, I noticed this time what someone else said -- that when the camera freaks out like this, it somehow resets exposure to 125/F8. Had a bunch of highly overexposed pix from that.

Well, in addition to just moaning, I have a theory of what's going on -- there may be some kind of malfunction in the battery or the charger that's just frying the circuit board or whatever. Because yesterday morning I went to top up the battery, which generally takes like 5 or 10 minutes if I haven't taken many pix, and this time the green light on the charger was on for like two or three hours. I thought it was really weird, but I went with it, waited for the green light to go off before I took it out.

I don't know much about electricity or electronics (next to nothing, actually), but I wonder if somehow the battery was 'over-charged' and this fries something or another on the circuit board? Would be an incredibly shame to be repeatedly frying a fifteen hundred dollar camera because of a faulty 10 dollar charger.

Loaded up the pictures, and since then the camera has not been acting up. I'm gonna call pentax support just to discuss, but if it happens again I'm returning again and insisting on a new replacement.
06-19-2011, 07:41 AM   #97
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QuoteOriginally posted by dandeluca Quote
I don't know much about electricity or electronics (next to nothing, actually), but I wonder if somehow the battery was 'over-charged' and this fries something or another on the circuit board? Would be an incredibly shame to be repeatedly frying a fifteen hundred dollar camera because of a faulty 10 dollar charger.

Loaded up the pictures, and since then the camera has not been acting up. I'm gonna call pentax support just to discuss, but if it happens again I'm returning again and insisting on a new replacement.
I have 4 Pentax branded batteries and the two chargers from the K-7 and K-5. The K-7 doesn't seem to have any issues with any of the batteries. I'll have to charge them and check each. So either the K-5 has some faulty power circuitry, our components used in the design changed for the worse compared to the K-7. I do agree that it does sound like a power related issue.

06-20-2011, 04:40 AM   #98
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Could be as simple as using a "wrong" solder material or some glitch in that area. Damn this is annoying. I have an Alaskan trip coming up and don't want to have to go around with a P&S only. That's for my family. My K5 is for MEEEEMEEEEMEEEE
06-20-2011, 09:18 AM   #99
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I sent mine in for repair friday....lets see what happens..
06-27-2011, 12:34 AM   #100
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dead. properly dead this time

QuoteOriginally posted by Mikhail_Kriviniouk Quote
update - my k5 came back to life. further info - I seem to have established that if the voltage on the battery's terminals is below 8.1V the multiple mirror slap cannot be repeated... if you exchange the battery for a freshly charged one (8.4V), then It might do it. This is regardless of where the battery is and which one is used - body or grip. If there is a battery in the system with voltage higher than whatever - problems will be there. Under 8.1V and the weird behaviour can't be repeated.
Update: mine died again yesterday. nothing I tried makes the mirror go up or the shutter to open (release/ fire); everything else functions, inc. AF, viewing, editing etc, but the camera would not take a shot.
06-29-2011, 12:26 AM   #101
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QuoteOriginally posted by darrenleow Quote
...it might be hotter temperatures that are causing such problems, and it might be possible, since Chicago just became really hot recently, and this episode today happened after I cycled in the mid-day sunlight for about 10 minutes with the camera in a black backpack...
"weather proofing" Hoya stylee!
06-30-2011, 06:05 AM   #102
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I'm having the same issues. Started a month ago and getting worse. Has anybody had their K5 "fixed"? I'm hoping to see some sort of definitive explanation of why this is occuring and what is being done as a repair before I send it in. It seems that too many folks are getting their cameras back only to discover that the problem hasn't been resolved! Ugh!!! :0(
06-30-2011, 01:00 PM   #103
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Hi,

By any chance did you use any 3rd party battery grip on your K-5. I'm just wondering if the grip somehow damaged the camera.

Val
06-30-2011, 01:37 PM   #104
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I have given the guarantee to repair my K-5 3 weeks ago, no information for now. Haven't used 3rd battery or any grips.
06-30-2011, 02:30 PM   #105
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Wow, watching that YouTube video was tough, but here is my take (as a software developer).

The Camera is a "Fly by Wire" device that doesn't have any real mechanical connections to firing the shutter. If touching/cycling any control on the camera causes the shutter to fire, then there is a glitch in the logic that fires the shutter circuit. Since it's a DSLR and the shutter itself would be too slow to have logic, as in the actual shutter circuit, the glitch is probably in the code up stream that interprets what control is actually being used. My guess is that there is a buffer that caches the camera settings just prior to an image being taken. Since any control on the camera is firing the shutter (when it is malfunctioning), then the buffer that accepts and stores the data prior to the shutter firing is either getting full or corrupted and then can't clear itself for the next shot - hence either multiple shutter slaps or any control firing the shutter.

The prior data is therefore not flushed and the camera fires again based on partial data in the "pre-fire" buffer that fires the shutter mechanism.

If I had access to the FW code, I would check the following.

1) Are there enough buffers allocated to accept the data in the pre-fire loop?
2) Is the cache being cleared and what data is retained for the next cycle?
3) How often does the pre-fire loop get data/samples from the camera controls?
4) Somewhere in the code, has there been a re-use of a parameter that got by the compiler but doesn't match what the pre-fire progam is looking for and therefore get's confused?
5) Are there voltage thresholds in the pre-fire program that cause confusion?
6) Are there temperature thresholds in the pre-fire program that cause confusion?

Ultimately I don't think they are clearing some cache somewhere or have enough buffers to both clear the old data and accept new data for the next shot.

Oh well.
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