Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
06-23-2012, 07:52 AM   #1
Forum Member




Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 57
Intermittent problem: Weird and streaky

Once in awhile, my K5 has started producing images that look like this. I shoot in DNG format. FYI the image looks fine both on the preview screen and on preview prior-to-importing in Lightroom 4. Has anyone else ever seen anything like this? Any thoughts?

Attached Images
View Picture EXIF
PENTAX K-5  Photo 
06-23-2012, 08:14 AM   #2
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
Fries's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Gauw
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 2,582
The preview only shows the embedded low quality JPG and not the RAW so in theory one file can be ok and the other one not. Have you tried another RAW converter to exclude problems with your software?
06-23-2012, 08:49 AM   #3
Forum Member




Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 57
Original Poster
I haven't tried another RAW converter, no ... but could that really be the culprit? I shot around 50 images the same day within a period of a couple of hours, and this was the only "bad" image. This is typical: Many, many good images and only one bad one.
06-23-2012, 09:39 AM   #4
New Member




Join Date: Jul 2010
Photos: Albums
Posts: 6
I haven't seen this on my K-5 but I saw it on a friends pocket camera. In his case it turned out to be a problem with the SD card. So have you tried another SD card to see if the problem is still there?

06-23-2012, 12:20 PM   #5
Senior Member




Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Riverside CA
Photos: Albums
Posts: 269
QuoteOriginally posted by henkemann Quote
I haven't seen this on my K-5 but I saw it on a friends pocket camera. In his case it turned out to be a problem with the SD card. So have you tried another SD card to see if the problem is still there?
+1 for this. It's quick to try another SD card. They are rated for a certain amount of write cycles, so if you've been using yours for quite a while it could be nearing it's end of life. Or you could just have a bad one. Always try the cheapest, easiest fix first!
06-23-2012, 12:30 PM   #6
Pentaxian




Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Posts: 6,027
Another +1 on that.These wacko images almost always seem to trace back to file corruption. Could be the camera doing the corrupting, but usually just the card or an isolated glitch.
06-23-2012, 01:50 PM   #7
Forum Member




Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 57
Original Poster
It *is* an old SD card... I'll replace it, and see what happens. Thanks for this!

07-31-2012, 09:36 AM   #8
Forum Member




Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 57
Original Poster
In case anyone else has similar problems and happens to run across this thread at some point in the future: I've done a lot of shooting since replacing the SD card, and this hasn't happened again. So I'm pretty sure at this point that it was a faulty SD card.
08-03-2012, 10:05 AM   #9
Forum Member
ifringe's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Tijeras, NM
Posts: 84
I have the same problem, and mine is NOT related to the SD card.

I have used a reliable card, and it produced the same problem (SanDisk Ultra II). I switched to a brand new, out of the box card (Samsung) and it too had the same problem. I tried another card, also out of the box (Samsung again) and it also fails. These same cards work perfectly on the K10. I also have the problem when shooting PEF.

I contacted Pentax support, who basically told me it wasn't happening. I sent the files to them, and they claimed it was because I used a card reader. I used the transfer cable, and it happened again. Then they claimed it was my OS (Mac), so I developed the DNG in camera to JPG, and it too had the problem. Then they said it was the camera body itself and I should send the body back. I declined to do this.

What I have done to work around this is always shoot DNG+JPG. JPG images NEVER have the problem, so this tells me it is not the card.

I believe this problem started with the latest firmware, but can't prove that.

Hope this helps, and maybe someone else can chime in to get enough attention for Pentax to finally see this as a problem. I ran around for a couple of months with Pentax support before finally giving up.
08-03-2012, 10:55 AM   #10
Pentaxian




Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Posts: 6,027
QuoteOriginally posted by ifringe Quote
Then they said it was the camera body itself and I should send the body back. I declined to do this.
Why? Sounds like that is the problem, and up until this sentence it sounded like that is what you were trying to convince them (that the camera was broken). So you convinced them, but don't want to get it fixed?
08-03-2012, 12:07 PM   #11
Forum Member
ifringe's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Tijeras, NM
Posts: 84
QuoteOriginally posted by vonBaloney Quote
Why? Sounds like that is the problem, and up until this sentence it sounded like that is what you were trying to convince them (that the camera was broken). So you convinced them, but don't want to get it fixed?
I believe that it is a firmware problem. And since I depend on this camera, I am none too keen to send it away for a while for a problem I do not think will be fixed. I'll reach a slow time soon, and by then, hopefully, there is new firmware or I have enough down time to send it away. I gave up on support because I was just getting standard, canned responses, and didn't feel they were even responding to my specific issue.

Lest anyone not think I like Pentax, I've been shooting nothing except Pentax since 1984, and will continue to do so for as long as I can.
08-03-2012, 03:29 PM   #12
Pentaxian




Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Posts: 6,027
QuoteOriginally posted by ifringe Quote
I believe that it is a firmware problem.
If it was a firmware issue, wouldn't we all have the same problem? I'm assuming you're using the latest firmware?
08-03-2012, 05:22 PM   #13
Pentaxian
SpecialK's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: So California
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 16,479
QuoteOriginally posted by vonBaloney Quote
So you convinced them, but don't want to get it fixed?
Pentax was not convinced, because the camera was not sent it in to get fixed. Pentax will not register this as a problem.
08-03-2012, 05:42 PM   #14
Pentaxian




Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Posts: 6,027
QuoteOriginally posted by SpecialK Quote
Pentax was not convinced, because the camera was not sent it in to get fixed. Pentax will not register this as a problem.
They asked for the body back to fix it, and he wouldn't send it. They were as convinced as they could be without actually seeing it.
08-04-2012, 05:54 AM   #15
Forum Member
ifringe's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Tijeras, NM
Posts: 84
Sorry for stirring this all up.

Perhaps a better way to have said this was: it is, at this time, not practical for me to send this body in. I depend on the K5. I have a workaround (JPG) and taking critical shots twice. At some time, in the future, I will send it in, when it is not as a critical time. Perhaps, between now and then, the problem will be fixed in firmware or my sales will be higher than expected and Pentax will release a new camera, or I will purchase another K5, freeing this one up. At the moment, it is monsoon season in the American west, a beautiful time for photography, but not a beautiful time to be without a K5, and since the K5 drives my income, sending it in for something which is annoying, yet minor, is not a great idea.

In the meantime, Pentax support gave me the runaround, so I did not have any confidence that it is the body, and felt that they were simply giving me canned answers.

My image failure rate is about 1 in 100 images.

Hope that clears up my reasons. I chimed in on this thread in case others were experiencing the problem as well.
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
camera, dslr, k-5, k-5 ii, k-5 iis, k5, pentax k-5, preview
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Weird K5 problem Paul Evans Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 9 01-16-2012 05:23 AM
Intermittent AF front focus problem on FA 50mm Quazimoto Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 4 01-01-2012 02:24 PM
Weird problem with K10D RipDaJacker Pentax DSLR Discussion 9 08-07-2010 10:05 AM
645 intermittent problem :( Asahiflex Pentax Medium Format 6 09-22-2009 09:11 AM
Intermittent problem w/AF on K10D dales Pentax DSLR Discussion 2 10-28-2008 01:35 PM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 03:44 PM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top