[sagiboy]

What is all this??..now we have to worry about the 'optimum' temperature, correct time and optimum battery charge....before we take a photo.....???!!!!

[stanic]

What is all this??..now we have to worry about the 'optimum' temperature, correct time and optimum battery charge....before we take a photo.....???!!!!

come on, you don`t have to worry
we`re just trying to figure...
the highest temp I had today was 35°C, without problems, but it wasn`t so very hot here anyway
firmware 1.03.22.11
production date 03/24/2011

[darrenleow]

What is all this??..now we have to worry about the 'optimum' temperature, correct time and optimum battery charge....before we take a photo.....???!!!!

Good for you that your K-5 is working fine

[Rin]

really this worries me, i wonder how widespread it is, i dont use my K5 THAT often so i didnt came across any problems yet. But soon a period comes when i will use it a lot, so now i am a bit worried about reliability.

[Shantz]

I had my K-5 for a little over a month now but this Sunday I was out in the scorching heat so after about 4 hours the mirror started flipping at the touch of various buttons. It wasn't as bad as in the videos posted here and turning the camera off and on pretty much solved it.
By the way, has anyone with a silver K-5 reported thid issue?

[KansasHorizons.com]

I should specify that the 34c was camera temp on the pics (via photome) at the time of failure. Outside temp was 104F.

You may be right.. I went out for a bit today in 101 degree weather and the camera performed as it should, no issues at all... although I was not out very long. Camera may not have reached the outdoor ambient temperature.

My previous thought that it was heat related problem was based on the issue only happening when I was outside in 95 to 100+ temperatures.. during those times I was out for an extended period of time. The issue never has occured indoors.

It is truly a mystery and may not be easily solved if one cannot force the issue to happen with a given set of circumstances and settings.

[Ligonography]

My K-5 has been doing this for about 6 months. I live in Washington State so heat is not the issue. I take a lot of photos everyday and have to re-charge the battery daily and the symptoms only occur after I recharge the battery, insert it back into the camera and press the shutter release button for the first time. The problems will then slowly go away and the camera seems to perform somewhat normal until the battery is once again recharged. It is definitely related to the battery somehow. I've also noticed that the shutter seems to be not as "Fast" or as "Quiet" as it was when I first purchased it. I really can't afford to be without it as I use it for work on a daily basis, so I have been reluctant to send it in and frankly with there being a 2 month or longer waiting period, I would rather just have it replaced! What are my chances of getting a replacement? and what is required to get it replaced?
By the way I purchased mine in Jan. 2011 S/N #39705XX.

[philbaum]

Perhaps one of you folks that have experienced the problem can report back if the new firmware 1.11 helps or not? Its rare for any of us in the Pacific Nortwest to have temps in the 90's or higher.

[campdog]

Perhaps one of you folks that have experienced the problem can report back if the new firmware 1.11 helps or not? Its rare for any of us in the Pacific Nortwest to have temps in the 90's or higher.

I got my K5 in January and done it from day one. Nothing to do with heat on mine. Does it in the car with air conditioner on. In the snow at Yellowstone and inside Antelope Canyon in Arizona. Done it through all firmware from day one. Now Pentax Australia trying to figure it out.
John

[kmarceau]

"My K-5 has been doing this for about 6 months. I live in Washington State so heat is not the issue. I take a lot of photos everyday and have to re-charge the battery daily and the symptoms only occur after I recharge the battery, insert it back into the camera and press the shutter release button for the first time. The problems will then slowly go away and the camera seems to perform somewhat normal until the battery is once again recharged. It is definitely related to the battery somehow. I've also noticed that the shutter seems to be not as "Fast" or as "Quiet" as it was when I first purchased it. I really can't afford to be without it as I use it for work on a daily basis, so I have been reluctant to send it in and frankly with there being a 2 month or longer waiting period, I would rather just have it replaced! What are my chances of getting a replacement? and what is required to get it replaced?"

I'm in the same boat.

If there's a possibility that my K-5 can be replaced with a new one I'm all for it!! My fear is that I will send it in for repair, Pentax Service will not be able to reproduce the problem, and it will start malfunctioning as soon as I get it back. Or they will replace some parts but it will still malfunction when I get it back.

Has anybody had this issue repaired to their satisfaction? And, if so, what was the remedy?

[Jim Radcliffe]

"My K-5 has been doing this for about 6 months. I live in Washington State so heat is not the issue. I take a lot of photos everyday and have to re-charge the battery daily and the symptoms only occur after I recharge the battery, insert it back into the camera and press the shutter release button for the first time. The problems will then slowly go away and the camera seems to perform somewhat normal until the battery is once again recharged. It is definitely related to the battery somehow.

Well, I guess I will re-evaluate my conclusion that this issue is somehow heat related. I will recharge a battery and see if the issue occurs while indoors in cooler temperatures using a fully/newly charged battery. Thus far that has not happened but then I rarely shoot indoors.

The other thing that bugs me a bit about this issue is that it happens most of the time when I have a DA* lense mounted. It has only happened once with my Ltd. lenses mounted and that was the 43 Ltd.

If the battery is somehow delivering more "juice" than it should that might be the cause. I would certainly rather have this be a battery issue than a camera/electronics issue.. although it may be possible that some of the components used in the electronics of the camera could be having difficulty with fully charged batteries... still a mystery... love a good mystery.. just not when it involves my gear.

[philbaum]

[/LEFT]

Well, I guess I will re-evaluate my conclusion that this issue is somehow heat related. I will recharge a battery and see if the issue occurs while indoors in cooler temperatures using a fully/newly charged battery. Thus far that has not happened but then I rarely shoot indoors.

The other thing that bugs me a bit about this issue is that it happens most of the time when I have a DA* lense mounted. It has only happened once with my Ltd. lenses mounted and that was the 43 Ltd.

If the battery is somehow delivering more "juice" than it should that might be the cause. I would certainly rather have this be a battery issue than a camera/electronics issue.. although it may be possible that some of the components used in the electronics of the camera could be having difficulty with fully charged batteries... still a mystery... love a good mystery.. just not when it involves my gear.

Jim,
I wouldn't discard your theory about the hyper shutter problem being somehow temperature related. I found this in a Wikipedia article on Lithium ion batteries:

To reduce these risks, Lithium-ion battery packs contain fail-safe circuitry that shuts down the battery when its voltage is outside the safe range of 3–4.2 V per cell

So the voltage of our K5 batteries is 7.2 or 7.4 volts depending on mfr. That means there are 2 cells per unit to reach the voltage of about 7.2. But internal protection circuitry can result in 2 cell variations of 6 to 8.2 volts - i'm just brainstorming here.

Voltage also goes up with ambient temperature increases, like your Texas weather.

It could well be that theres a bad batch of Pentax batteries that don't control their voltage very well, and the high voltages are causing the shutter malfunction.

It would be interesting for someone with this shutter problem to buy a cheap third party battery, like the Pearstone i have, to see if an alternative battery doesn't cure the problem (i.e. another battery mfr may not have the same voltage control circuitry and would behave differently)

Please note: i'm not saying this for certain is a battery problem, just that battery voltage could be a potential problem, as it varies with temperature.

[Jim Radcliffe]

Jim,
I wouldn't discard your theory about the hyper shutter problem being somehow temperature related. I found this in a Wikipedia article on Lithium ion batteries:

So the voltage of our K5 batteries is 7.2 or 7.4 volts depending on mfr. That means there are 2 cells per unit to reach the voltage of about 7.2. But internal protection circuitry can result in 2 cell variations of 6 to 8.2 volts - i'm just brainstorming here.

Voltage also goes up with ambient temperature increases, like your Texas weather.

It could well be that theres a bad batch of Pentax batteries that don't control their voltage very well, and the high voltages are causing the shutter malfunction.

It would be interesting for someone with this shutter problem to buy a cheap third party battery, like the Pearstone i have, to see if an alternative battery doesn't cure the problem (i.e. another battery mfr may not have the same voltage control circuitry and would behave differently)

Please note: i'm not saying this for certain is a battery problem, just that battery voltage could be a potential problem, as it varies with temperature.

After reading a number of posts suggesting that a fully charged battery is the problem I am thinking of running another test. I have 3 genuine Pentax batteries for my K5. I am going to fully charge one of them and run one of the others down to a half charge or so.

I'll first run the test with the fully charged battery inside my home where the tempreature is a comfortable 74 degrees and see if the mirror flops begin. If they occur inside then the battery might seem to be the culprit. If the mirror flops do not begin inside I will take the camera outside and let the camera warm up in the summer heat.. if the mirror flops begin after that then there may be a heat/battery issue.

Once I get the camera to begin the mirror flops I will replace the fully charged battery with one that has a half charge on it and see if the mirror flops continue. If they do not then maybe it is a battery related issue... or.. unfortunately a combination of both heat and battery.

I replaced the battery in my camera the other day and the mirror flops began.. I used the camera quite a bit and the mirror flops have dissappeared. Nothing yesterday afternoon or this morning when out shooting... and it's still in the 100s outside.. with no mirror flops. Hmmmmmm

I guess all we can do is test at this point. Some have indicated the mirror flops on their camera happen in cooler weather.. but that does not explain why my camera just recently began to exhibit this behavior as I used it in cooler weather back in March and had fully charged batteries in the camera. All of this prior to the mirror flops beginning in the last month with the arrival of Texas 100 degree temps.

I hope I can do this test in the next day or so.. real work has to come first. I'll let you know what I observe.

[stanic]

It could well be that theres a bad batch of Pentax batteries that don't control their voltage very well, and the high voltages are causing the shutter malfunction.

yes, this could be really close...if anyone with a voltmeter could measure the voltage of different batteries...Phil, Jim, any posibility to measure ?

[sagiboy]

Good for you that your K-5 is working fine

Oh I wish if that was the case...Mine showed the signs almost a month ago after about 800 pics..its now under repair...they dont have parts and it may take weeks....just waiting...