[philbaum]

Hi
This is just so strange, I had precisely the same retort from the local PENTAX agent here when I turned in my K-5 with the mirror shakes. But then they repaired the camera successfully (it seems) without any further ado. With intermittent faults like these it is usually difficult for service staff to pinpoint the exact cause, but since they were able to remedy the problem quickly, my hunch would be they ask for and received advice from PENTAX Japan.

Replaced the mainboard they said. Which is true enough but I was surprised to see in EXIF that the manufacturing date changed from the original 10.Dec10 to 04.Jul10, which means a much earlier board replaced the original one. Not quite sure what to make of this. My thinking is if in the earlier boards had faulty components which caused the faults and it got ironed out in later production models, (which is usually the case) will I face the same problem again later on? Then again mayby the older mainboards where of better quality than the newer ones ? Who knows. Also since the repair was done very quickly they must have used a mainboard that came with the first shipment of spares.

Anyway time will tell, but so far my K-5 works like a dream, absolutely no faults that a know of.

Greetings

Thanks for your reporting, yours is the only one i've seen so far that reports a successful repair. There is another post where the "top control board" was replaced and the problem reappeared.

My sense of this problem has always been that the first batches of K5s did not have this problem. I bought my K5 in February, 400xxx, and the reports of this problem on the K5 all showed up after purchases in Jan, Feb and some thereafter. (my body does not have this problem itself) Pentax factories must buy parts for their main board in bulk for a manufacturing line, and i think they must have gotten a batch of bad parts. This weaknesses is further exaggerated by fully charged batteries, but its not a problem with the batteries/chargers themselves. Its some bad batch of mainboards or some part on the mainboard.

Well thats excellent, now that we know thats its the mainboard, there is a solution that folks can ask for when they send their cameras in. Interestingly enough some K7s and Kr (see the notorius u-tube video) also have a few bodies with the problem. Perhaps this part is also common to those bodies as well.

[Schraubstock]

My sense of this problem has always been that the first batches of K5s did not have this problem

That is my preferred thinking now.
And you are quite right, a camera (all brands) is made up of all sorts of third party supplier parts, just like cars are, and any of those parts can and have failed in the past. Unfortunately when this happens, as in this case, it's PENTAX's name that suffers.

Greetings

[geezer52]

philbaum/Schraubstock

Have followed this thread and similar from the beginning and my opinion matches yours. My K5 was manufactured 11/28/2010 and has almost 15K shutter activations and todate has been free of problems. That these reported problems seem to occur in time related clusters strongly suggests a bad batch of supplied parts. It's tempting to think Hoya, not loving the Pentax Camera division and knowing it would sell as soon as possible, went overly cheap in picking it's suppliers or in testing the parts it received. While in the long run I'm very hopeful with Ricoh taking charge of the Pentax name plate, in the short/immediate run I'm a bit concerned over who's watching over production during the transition period. I really like my K5 and have thought about buying a second. It would be nice to hear Ricoh has firmly taken charge and is committed to supporting the current product line with both quality hardware and firmware.

[Schraubstock]

and is committed to supporting the current product line with both quality hardware and firmware.

I would imagine it couldn't be anything but full commitment, otherwise I see no reason for the purchase. One has to give company management credit sometimes. (As hard as this might be)

Greetings

[OutdoorLady]

Hello to all who are still following this issue. Just got my K-5 back from repair 3 days ago and put a freshly charged Pentax battery in it. So far, no malfunctions, in the first 200 shots anyway. I phoned CRIS to clarify what "Mirror Overrun" is: Supposedly it's when the charged mirror is "traveling too far" - it's going beyond the limits of the factory specifications. No parts were replaced in my camera; it sounds like they basically just tightened some nuts and bolts. Guess they're so confident in their repair, they returned my mailing label to them to make it handy for me should I need to mail it back a second time!

They also "adjusted to manufacturers specifications, general check and clean (which I don't believe; have dust spots on a few pics), and updated firmware (to 1.11)." Just find it interesting that they have such vastly different approaches to fixing the same problem. IF this fix holds up over time, then it tells me CRIS is just going after what the market will bear. [My cover letter told them I'm under a time constraint.] I'm guessing Pentax pays them more money for extensive repairs and replacement parts vs. a minor tweak.

Happy for now.

[Jim Radcliffe]

My K5 returned from CRIS on Monday.. I placed a fully charged battery in the camera and have taken about 50 shots without a recurrence of the Mirror-Flops. I have been so busy at work due to hurricane Irene that I have not really had a chance to give the K5 a real workout.

They upgraded my firmware and stated they fixed the mirror-overrun issue.. other than that, that is all I received from them in the way of describing a solution.

I will let you guys know if the issue returns.

[Schraubstock]

... just find it interesting that they have such vastly different approaches to fixing the same problem...

Hi
Perhaps there are two totally separate and different issues here. I could not have described my camera problem as a "Mirror Overrun". An overrun situation would mean to me that the mirror tilts back a second or third time after the release button was pressed, in other words the mechanism did not realize it was only to happen once, so to speak.

In my case the mirror started flopping uncontrollably as soon as I turned the camera on or started doing this after a shot was taken, would stop occasionally and could be starting anew by pressing any sort of button like Info, LV, WB, Menu, AF and the rest or turn any of the wheels on the camera. The camera had to be switched off and if this did not fix it the batteries had to be removed.

In the first scenario I can see that an adjustment of the mirror mechanism could fix this, (Perhaps a limiter switch/contact needed adjustment?) but in the second scenario (my case) in my opinion it points to a fault in the main board which has a faulty component sending the wrong message (electronically) to the mirror. The mirror mechanism hasn't got a "life" of its own but gets instructions from the main board, and in my case it was sending the wrong instructions I think. This is why the repair guys here have replaced the main board. With my limited knowledge that is the way I see it.

Greetings

[OutdoorLady]

An overrun situation would mean to me that the mirror tilts back a second or third time after the release button was pressed....In my case the mirror started flopping uncontrollably as soon as I turned the camera on or started doing this after a shot was taken, would stop occasionally and could be starting anew by pressing any sort of button like Info, LV, WB, Menu, AF and the rest or turn any of the wheels on the camera.

Sometimes mine would do scenario #1, sometimes scenario #2 (and would continue indefinitely until I lifted my finger from the button/wheel). I'll leave feedback as it happens...no news equals good news. Good luck to everyone in this same boat.

[toothpick]

I'm on my second K5 at the moment...the first had to be returned due to Sensor stains. I've had the second since July 29th. Having had a few family events and a holiday, I've taken a LOT of photos in the first month. Sadly whilst on holiday last week, I ran into this shutter / mirror problem (I am assuming it is the dreaded mirror flop). Only happens on a full charge, and to varying degrees each time (the first time it just went crazy and wouldn't stop). My shutter count at the time was in the region of 5000. Sadly as I'm just over a month into ownership, I have no option but to send it for repair. It reaches a point where pressing any button or using any dial on the camera will cause the mirror to go crazy.

I'm starting to wish I'd not chosen the Pentax - the problems I've had so far just give me little confidence in the camera, which is a REAL pity as It takes such amazing photos!

I've recorded my shutter problem so am hoping to put it on youtube tomorrow - will post it up here once I've uploaded. It worries me that some people are reporting that their 'fixed' cameras have subsequently developed the same fault.

[Chex]

I'm using the Pentax D-LI90 battery which is 7.2V 1860mAh(14Wh) and an Ansmann A-Pen D Li 90 7.4V 1600mAh (11.8Wh) and have not had any problems with mirror flop yet. I haven't tested it's fully charged resting voltage on a multi meter, but with a lower watt/hour rating maybe it's more related to amperage than voltage?

[darrenleow]

After months of flopping on fully-charged batteries, my K-5 failed to trip the mirror & shutter twice today. Upon depressing the shutter button, the lens aperture blades stopped down but no picture was taken. The only way to fix this was to give the camera a firm smack with my palm. The K-5 is heading straight to CRIS once I'm back from my summer vacations, hope it holds up the rest of the way!

[Jim Radcliffe]

It is quite obvious that more than a few of the K5 cameras suffer from this problem. The real question is if sooner or later will all K5 cameras suffer from the same issue? Will those which have been sent in for repair experience a recurrence of the problem?

Is it a design flaw or simply a bad batch of components? Until and if Pentax actually issues a statement regarding this problem we simply will never know.

Obviously the longer reports of this problem come in the more widespread the problem must be rather than limited to a small number of k5 cameras isolated by a particular production run.

[toothpick]

I've put a video up taken a couple of days ago showing my K5 with the problem. The camera is only 5 weeks old (thought it was 6-8 weeks when I shot the vid, but have since checked date of purchase). I'll check manufacture date when I get a chance!

You Tube

You Tube

[darrenleow]

I've put a video up taken a couple of days ago showing my K5 with the problem. The camera is only 5 weeks old (thought it was 6-8 weeks when I shot the vid, but have since checked date of purchase). I'll check manufacture date when I get a chance!

Pentax K5 Mirror Flop - YouTube

That's exactly what my K-5 does.. When the battery charge drops a bit then it stabilizes and there's none of this crazy behavior.. Until the battery goes flat and it's time for a battery change If I were you I'd try to return it to the store you purchased it from and get a new set if it's not too late

[Jim Radcliffe]

That's exactly what my K-5 does.. When the battery charge drops a bit then it stabilizes and there's none of this crazy behavior.. Until the battery goes flat and it's time for a battery change If I were you I'd try to return it to the store you purchased it from and get a new set if it's not too late

It's not the battery that is causing this.. my K5 was repaired and I use the same batteries I had before they repaird the camera.. the issue has not returned since the camera came back from repair.