[Schraubstock]

HiAs previously stated, my K-5, which was purchased at the end of Feb. this year, started to "Mirror Flop" while being on a shoot in Cambodia some 6 weeks ago. Cambodia is very hot and humid this time of the year. Back in cool Melbourne (winter now) the cam worked o.k. But I had another trip coming up to Chicago and New York from which I returned yesterday so I delayed the warranty claim. New York temp was around 34-38C and the mirror flop started to get really worse together with a new previously unknown LCD display problem.

Today I have taken the cam to CRK in Melbourne (I live more or less just around the corner from them). After explaining the problems to the guy behind the counter he looked at me as if I had just returned from the moon. When I queried him about how many such cases he had to deal with recently, he looked at me and said "NONE". He said he was totally unfamiliar with this problem concerning the K-5 although he remembered one or two such incidences with the K-10 and K-7, but never the K-5. Is he having a lend of me?

I was told by CRK if the technician cannot reproduce the fault then he most likely will not be able to repair it. So there you are folks, CRK in Australia have no knowledge of this mirror flapping problem (according to the man behind the counter) and I now wonder if the problem really exists or whether I was just hallucinating. I am starting to think in 2-3 weeks time CRK will return the Cam to me with the comment "No faults found".

I am now calling on all "Mirror Flopping" sufferers, particularly those living in Australia to register here and tell me what their experience is/was with CRK (or any other location/dealerships) in relation to this K-5 mirror problem so we have some documented case history to work with.

Manythanks in advance

Greetings

[twitch]

Well my K-5 isn't flopping its mirror, but I was just at CRK Melbourne on Monday and found the guy there very helpful. He took my lens, tested it there and then, and agreed it had a problem. I'm guessing he really hasn't seen the shutter problem, I don't think Pentax sell a whole lot of K-5's here to be honest so it could be yours is the first to arrive at the shop with that issue.

I'd be interested though if others have had the same experience as you, it's gotta suck to have the repair guy not believe you.

[Schraubstock]

Well my K-5 isn't flopping its mirror, but I was just at CRK Melbourne on Monday and found the guy there very helpful. He took my lens, tested it there and then, and agreed it had a problem. I'm guessing he really hasn't seen the shutter problem, I don't think Pentax sell a whole lot of K-5's here to be honest so it could be yours is the first to arrive at the shop with that issue.

I'd be interested though if others have had the same experience as you, it's gotta suck to have the repair guy not believe you.

Hi
O.k. I understand what you are saying, me being the first, but I find this extremely hard to believe. But even if this is so, the problem most definitely exists and not in a small way it seems and as a national dealer/agent you would think that this problem has by now filtered through to every PENTAX warranty repair location with the appropriate repair advisory. Are PENTAX in Japan really that slack?

Greetings

[goddo31]

Schraubstock, would you mind describing what this 'flopping' sounds or feels like?
I'm a bit confused by all this, I admit.

EDIT: I guess this explains it: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-k-5-forum/144309-k-5-bug-shutter-g...ff-itself.html

---

Last edited by goddo31; 07-19-2011 at 11:34 PM.

[Bob from Aus]

The only time I disagreed with CRK is when my K7 hot shoe was lose and the chap said he hadn't seen the problem before. He said I must have thumped it. When I walked out I recalled I had accidentally ripped a flash of the camera some months before. I have had CRK replace my K5 and my 50-135 zoom no questions asked. I took my K5 in the week it was released and before the sensor stains were known. They looked at it on the spot, said there was a problem and the camera replaced as soon as they had stock. When I was unhappy with a repair they sold me a new replacement item for next to nothing.

I have found them very good over the past 40 years

[campdog]

HiAs previously stated, my K-5, which was purchased at the end of Feb. this year, started to "Mirror Flop" while being on a shoot in Cambodia some 6 weeks ago. Cambodia is very hot and humid this time of the year. Back in cool Melbourne (winter now) the cam worked o.k. But I had another trip coming up to Chicago and New York from which I returned yesterday so I delayed the warranty claim. New York temp was around 34-38C and the mirror flop started to get really worse together with a new previously unknown LCD display problem.

Today I have taken the cam to CRK in Melbourne (I live more or less just around the corner from them). After explaining the problems to the guy behind the counter he looked at me as if I had just returned from the moon. When I queried him about how many such cases he had to deal with recently, he looked at me and said "NONE". He said he was totally unfamiliar with this problem concerning the K-5 although he remembered one or two such incidences with the K-10 and K-7, but never the K-5. Is he having a lend of me?

I was told by CRK if the technician cannot reproduce the fault then he most likely will not be able to repair it. So there you are folks, CRK in Australia have no knowledge of this mirror flapping problem (according to the man behind the counter) and I now wonder if the problem really exists or whether I was just hallucinating. I am starting to think in 2-3 weeks time CRK will return the Cam to me with the comment "No faults found".

I am now calling on all "Mirror Flopping" sufferers, particularly those living in Australia to register here and tell me what their experience is/was with CRK (or any other location/dealerships) in relation to this K-5 mirror problem so we have some documented case history to work with.

Manythanks in advance

Greetings

My K5 has been in the Melbourne Branch for over 2 weeks.I was told the Japanese trained Tecnician was on leave. They definetly know of the problem. Im waiting for a reply to what is happening with my camera. They have a choice of the three R's
Repair, Replace or refund.


John

[campdog]

Hi
O.k. I understand what you are saying, me being the first, but I find this extremely hard to believe. But even if this is so, the problem most definitely exists and not in a small way it seems and as a national dealer/agent you would think that this problem has by now filtered through to every PENTAX warranty repair location with the appropriate repair advisory. Are PENTAX in Japan really that slack?

Greetings

Pentax Australia told the dealer I got my camera from that Japan had no knowledge of such a fault. Like I said my camera has been in theire hands for a couple of weeks now.
John

---

Last edited by campdog; 07-19-2011 at 11:38 PM.

[campdog]

Schraubstock, would you mind describing what this 'flopping' sounds or feels like?
I'm a bit confused by all this, I admit.

My K5 started playing up from day 1. I would focus and as I pressed the shutter it would sound like I fired off a few shots but I could feel the vibration in my hand. More of a clunk noise now. It happens on the tripod or handheld or even with a remote. Just came back from the USA and while the camera was on my black rapid strap I could hear it clunking away and even took photos of my feet or people behing me.Even took a couple of pics of the inside of the car while driving along. Got to stage where hte camera froze a few times. Definetly not a battery fault.
John

[Schraubstock]

Schraubstock, would you mind describing what this 'flopping' sounds or feels like?
I'm a bit confused by all this, I admit.

EDIT: I guess this explains it: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-k-5-forum/144309-k-5-bug-shutter-g...ff-itself.html

Hi
The mirror flicks up and down in rapid machine gun fire fashion without you doing anything after a shot was taken or when any of the buttons of the cam is pressed.
(Like the green, EV, ISO or any such buttons) There is no shot taken only the mirror takes on a life on its own. The only way to stop it in my case is to turn off the cam or pull the battery.

Greetings

[campdog]

Hi
The mirror flicks up and down in rapid machine gun fire fashion without you doing anything after a shot was taken or when any of the buttons of the cam is pressed.
(Like the green, EV, ISO or any such buttons) There is no shot taken only the mirror takes on a life on its own. The only way to stop it in my case is to turn off the cam or pull the battery.

Greetings

Thats it but ask CR Kennedy and they are not aware of any such problem.

[JohnX]

Check out YouTube. Examples of the problem have been posted on there which should help to demonstrate it.

[campdog]

Check out YouTube. Examples of the problem have been posted on there which should help to demonstrate it.

Hi John. I sent that link to the Shop I got my camera from and Pentax say they havent heard of this problem.

[_phil_]

When I had my K5 replaced for stains at CRK (Melbourne) I mentioned that he should note on the returned camera job-sheet (I assumed they would repair it) that it flipped the mirror twice for each shot on occasions and that I expected it was a known condition. The guy said he'd never heard of it!

I thought at the time he was not being completely honest with me and was perhaps trying to protect Pentax's reputation. I had no problem with that as I'd got a replacement on the spot without question for the faulty camera. I previously had a new for old replacement for an SDM lens failure.

Apart from not acknowledging the mirror problem I have absolutely nothing but praise for CRK.

Incidently, my replacement K5 also flips twice but takes two shots as well, in conditions I've not yet identified. I guess this is the same problem with slightly different failure modes.

I need to return that soon as the 12 months warranty relates to the original purchase date. It would be nice to get a repair while I still have some warranty left.

[Ivor K Ecks]

Phil,
My K5 does exactly the same as yours. A double exposure but only occasionally maybe every 400-500 shots. I have not noticed any specific condition under which it does it. For now i can live with it but like you will be sending it for repair before the warranty expires.
This is the only problem my K5 has shown. No stains, no over exposure with bounced flash and it focuses well in low light with my FA43 f1.9 Ltd.

[GerryL]

All those with problems, tell Pentax about it so they would become aware of the problem and fix it.
If you don't tell them about it then they will just say that they haven't heard of the problems and might just shoo you away.