[Mikhail_Kriviniouk]

Oh Dear.

Went for a walkabout, shot 40/50, got home, cuppa tea in the garden, shot 4 or 5 more. Next shot, depressed the shutter .....'Thunk' and ... nothing (WTF ?!?) .... again ...... 'Thunk' .......and again and again - then 'Depleted Battery' icon appears. This 'Thunk' is a very dull noise I haven't heard before.

Strange. OK change the battery ..... 'Thunk' ..... Thunk, Thunk, Thunk .... 'Depleted Battery' icon ....WTF !?!?! Change to 3rd battery .... one 'Thunk' then ..... 'Depleted Battery'.

Camera can not take a shot. Switches on (though metering looks a bit strange 1/8,000 @ f4 ?!?) metering settles down, AF works fine on all 3 batteries.

Any ideas .... suicide doesn't count ?

today - exactly the same. died as described above 4 months since new (replacement body for sensor stains issue) the "double mirror clunk" problem preceded this sudden death for some time.

[Mikhail_Kriviniouk]

I just wish Pentax brings out K5+ which fixes all these issues. Everytime I think of buying K5, these problems are holding me back, it will be nightmare to get it serviced or replacement from India due to virtually non-existent Pentax support here.

Well, I had a Kx and knew nothing about Pentax service in Russia. Now I have a K5 and know it is the same as in India ))

So keep thinking ;-)

[shuie]

Don't have a k-5 but just wondering if using the sensor cleaning function (not ultrasonic)
mirror up might free it?

shu

[George Lama]

Great - so I can look forward to spanking my camera in the middle of a shoot?

[rod_grant]

I am not into hitting electronic gear to make it work! Why risk further/different damage? Each camera comes with a little card that entitles the purchaser to free repairs, if required, during the first year. I suggest you use it!

[xjjohnno]

My K5 needed a replacement main board when it failed in the same way. Stuff I tried with no joy was using the clean sensor as in lift mirror, movie mode plus whatever else I could think of to see if the shutter/mirror would move, all with no joy.

[Mikhail_Kriviniouk]

update - my k5 came back to life after putting into the sensor cleaning mode (the mirror did not go up itself) and lifting the mirror manually about half way then switching the camera off. It worked after this. 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.

[Frogfish]

update - my k5 came back to life after putting into the sensor cleaning mode (the mirror did not go up itself) and lifting the mirror manually about half way then switching the camera off. It worked after this. 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.

Exchange it under guarantee ... it's a problem very few people seem to experience.

[JMR]

Well, my new K5 is also locking up and freezing intermittently and refusing to shut off unless I remove battery. It does this behaviour, as near as I can figure, after extensive shooting. The last lock up lasted two days. This is unacceptable and I can't get the camera to duplicate the behaviour to show the camera store staff what is going on.

Frustrated! I only have one digital camera! My K10 broke when I smashed it into the ground in a fall, but it was a well built and designed workhorse. I see a lot of new features I don't like on the K5, not least the poorly designed card removal door. So why did I buy the K5? Because of the new sensor and the weather sealing. Hope I can replace the camera or get it fixed.

JMR

[Mikhail_Kriviniouk]

update - my k5 came back to life after putting into the sensor cleaning mode (the mirror did not go up itself) and lifting the mirror manually about half way then switching the camera off. It worked after this. 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.

[Frogfish]

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.

Mikhail. Enough with the DIY repairs - send it in to get it repaired or replaced under guarantee. I believe they changed the motherboard in mine.

[rod_grant]

Right on, regarding DIY repairs. They give warranties with new gear. ou paid for the warranty when you bought the equipment. Why not use it, instead of bellyaching about the problem?!

[Mikhail_Kriviniouk]

Right on, regarding DIY repairs. They give warranties with new gear. ou paid for the warranty when you bought the equipment. Why not use it, instead of bellyaching about the problem?!

Oh, be assured I attempt no "repairs"! Just turning dials, flicking switches, performing ritual dances around this camera, that's all. It is going back to SRS and that's that. The problem is I am working in Russia at the moment and can't just pop the camera into the shop I bought it from. Now, in the city I am in the repair people authorised to do Pentax warranty repairs say "you bought it in UK, you get it fixed in UK" being quite rude about it. No amount of waving the international warranty card and all necessary receipts etc. in front of their eyes makes them do anything for me. GREAT! PENTAX, THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT WORLDWIDE WARRANTY REPAIR NETWORK. Another thing about these "specialists" - what they said when I presented them with my first defective K5 (CMOS stains, obvious to anyone who'd seen them and read about them on this forum, for instance) proved their total incompetence, I simply could not believe it... They were talking out of their ar^e, pardon my French, saying that "the signal from the sensor must be corrected by means of software" probably meaning pixel mapping. )) THESE GUYS ARE AUTHORISED BY PENTAX OFFICIAL REPAIR GUYS IN A CITY WITH POPULATION OF2 MILLION WHERE THERE ARE US AND UK CONSULATES GENERAL! I mean it's not a remote village in the Russian North we are talking here. This is them: http://www.photocamera.ru/ Do you think after that I will let them butcher my camera even if they did take it despite it being purchased in the UK.

I expect more from the company that sold me a product spoken about as "PRO" or "semi-PRO" class for which I paid 999 Pound Sterling.

Shipping a K5 body with appropriate insurance to the UK will cost me at least $150 US and I might end up being liable to pay UK import tax (!!! great job, UK customs, rip the little guy off, what can he do? It's much easier than stopping the flood torrents of illicit drugs being brought into the country, for instance) on the blasted thing.

It is cheaper than to fly there in person to take it in, but not by that big a margin, especially taking into account the pain that the UK customs can cause if the camera travels as "goods" rather than around my neck on a plane as a "personal effect"

So the combination of the dreadful Philippines Pentax QC/QA with frighteningly incompetent repair personnel in Russia, and the lack of uniformity of warranty policies of Pentax in Russia/Ukraine and Pentax in the rest of this globe makes one look for ways to make the sh^te product you spent some good money on (plus 150 postage last time it was sent in) work without having to send it to the wonderful SRS shop in Watford where I bought it.

I wrote about this to Pentar (St. Petersburg), a company representing Pentax in Russia, the headquarters. These guys: http://www.pentar.ru I wrote about this to Pentax Europe. No reply. Here, on the Russian Pentax website: http://www.pentax.ru/service/policy/qm-show-eq-ru.htm it clearly states that warranty applies only to Pentax gear purchased in Russia and Ukraine, which is in TOTAL CONTRADICTION to what the paperwork for my camera says about repairs under warranty while being outside the UK, as in "go to any of these authorised centres to get wonderful high class friendly and fast service you'd expect from Pentax" or something along these lines, and a list of companies with addresses which includes the blasted Pentar.

Reading stuff here I see many a story about Pentax owners in the US sending their cameras back and forth to warranty repair centres BECAUSE nothing was done first time they sent it in or their gear wasn't repaired properly and the equipment was simply returned to them as if it was OK but failed again very quickly. Well that is a luxury I can't afford.

Each time a Pentax repair company forgets to do something, or does a sloppy job of fixing something in my camera in the UK it will cost me further $150 for sending it there again and cause all the non-monetary bother of sending "goods", "commodities" across state borders.

So off it goes to SRS Microsystems. Another $150 out of my pocket through NO FAULT OF MINE. Another month, at least, without a decent camera.

I guess I'll shoot more film and finally get my lovely Yashica with f1.4 Yashinon properly tested in various lighting conditions at various exposure settings.

If they manage to fix the K5 (my SRS contact said it unlikely to get replacement for this defect, only for stains )) so as it would be able to take some shots in hands of a prospective buyer - which may be too much to wish for - I should sell it off before it packs up again. Then flog the lenses, leaving a couple for the Kx which is going to the shop too (but this is in Russia, no international worries) to get the selector wheel replaced, damn annoying. But nothing major at least. Just the crap resolution of the LCD spoils the fun of using it. Well I'll leave that with the wife with a couple of lenses. And if I manage to sell the rest of the gear of this (damn you Hoya) brand that caused me so much stress in the last half year, I might be able to buy something less quirky from some other manufacturer whose certified repair engineers in Russia are unlike Pentax's, that is not total tosspots, and whose warranty is, unlike Pentax's, really international.

[Mikhail_Kriviniouk]

Mikhail. Enough with the DIY repairs - send it in to get it repaired or replaced under guarantee. I believe they changed the motherboard in mine.

how many shutter actuations since new mother(fff...)board? all well so far? no new faults introduced?

My frustration is that nowdays repair people don't "repair"They pretty mindlessly replace parts according to some algorithms... same in automotive repair.

OK let's replace this. Didn't work. Let's replace that. Oh, part is not in stock. Got the part two weeks later. No, not that. Let's replace that other thing. Oh, we have no equipment for that, let's send it to Japan. Camera is back 2 months later. Fixed, allegedly. No dust on the mirror and the LCD screen is polshed. One strap lug ring missing. Firmware back to version 1.0. Fault not fixed but became intermittent and you have difficulty demonstrating the fault in the shop and all seems well until your daughter's christening when the camera locks up and dies having made a flurry of weird noises mixed of the triple double single and octuple mirror slap sounds and SR going nuts. An uncle with a Benq point and shoot takes pictures of the ceremony blinding everybody with the flash and producing really ugly pictures impossible to look at without cringing. 12MP though, he bouth it last week and never hel a camera in his hands before. In the meantime you think of how you hate Hoya. Sounds familiar?

[Mikhail_Kriviniouk]

Well, my new K5 is also locking up and freezing intermittently and refusing to shut off unless I remove battery. It does this behaviour, as near as I can figure, after extensive shooting. The last lock up lasted two days. This is unacceptable and I can't get the camera to duplicate the behaviour to show the camera store staff what is going on.

Frustrated! I only have one digital camera! My K10 broke when I smashed it into the ground in a fall, but it was a well built and designed workhorse. I see a lot of new features I don't like on the K5, not least the poorly designed card removal door. So why did I buy the K5? Because of the new sensor and the weather sealing. Hope I can replace the camera or get it fixed.

JMR

This is why K5 is cheaper than equivalents from other brands. You have to have 2 K5s - or three - allowing for some of them spending considerable time in repair shops being puzzled over by cognitively challenged weirdos. Well, what's better - one 5d mk II or two K5s? sorry, not an option. PK lenses. No money for 2 K5s. Stuck. Just free yourself, sell the dying brand stuff to those more "loyal" to the badge.