[Ian G]

Yup! 3889409... At least we'll all be able to afford 2nd bodies when these end up refurbished :-)

[Artesia Aggie]

Looks like mine is ok.

[m8o]

Just checked mine, both on a blue sky and a pure white background at f/11. No discernible stain. Maybe I'm lucky. Serial 38368xx.

Hey Adam, can we embed a Google Docs Form into the forum via an iframe? A form can be built that requests the serial number, and we can later sort through the results as a spreadsheet to see if a pattern exists. Alternately, does anyone want to sort through the 10 pages (and growing) of this thread and cull the responses and serial numbers?

Yep, Mine too.
SN 3839115

Yup! 3889409... At least we'll all be able to afford 2nd bodies when these end up refurbished :-)

All those multi-quoted and countless others not (I only went back one page), the official location on this board to make note of serial numbers and any conditions that affect it is: Pentax K-5 Serials - Pentax Serial Number Database - PentaxForums.com

Everyone, whether they find their machine is affected by this ailment or not can & should add their camera and whatever they want to say to that section.

[jpzk]

Pat - NaCl H2O ...

So it seems that if it is all over the place, it would be difficult for us to determine from where this is originating.
The only sure way to find out would be to have access to Pentax database with sensor SN's, then we could compare it to the SN's we have here, but that is a sure impossibility.

Maybe we should check with Wikileaks?

Johnmflores had this idea of embedding a form which could be used for analysing any "trend".
Does that seem a possibility to at least examine the data?

There has to be one major batch of sensors built in a specific time frame, affecting a specific number of K5's.

Any idea on how we could find out?

JP

[Pentax Lover]

After a lengthy wait picked up my K 5 last Friday. Tested it over the weekend and found out I am one of the unlucky owners of a stained sensor.
Only one spot on the sensor, but a rather big one.
S/N 3885503 purchased in Helsinki.

Contacted Pentax´s service center straight away. They told they have not yet received instructions from Pentax how to deal with these cases.
Half an hour later they promised to replace my camera with a new one.

I have very mixed feelings, dont really know whether this is tragic or comic. Pentax introduces a highly competitive new model, and ends up with a mess like this !

However, I think what this service center did is exactly the way to deal with incidents like this. If shit really hits the fan, attemps to cover it up only maximise the damage. Just do what it takes to get it right without delay ,and you have a reasonable chance of retaining customer loyalty !

Ahh, I wouldn't worry about it, just be glad your not in the Nikon Camp awaiting a D7000, which Nikon has more problems then Pentax, THEY JUST can't keep with demand for that D7000

[bobmaxja]

Ok I run the statistic and yes we can see a trend . Its Improving with time

Also the low serial # have more severe situation
One comments more than 160 peoples have voted but only 70 put a serial # .
Where peoples put a x in the serial, I added 0 for sorting purpose

See PDF File below

[Ofer Hadas]

Thanks Pat and Alex.
BTW My K-5 is ser# 3916677
the stained one was also 391xxxx - was replaced before leaving the counter.
I told the guy "do not stamp the warranty let me check it first (but coming to think of it thats way Pentax can follow the problem) any way I got a new clean on right there.
Thanks again for that great forum.

[bobmaxja]

Here a message I just left on the other tread
Serial# are not specific to a model#. All DSLR including 645D use a continuous string of #

In looking in the new Pentax Database that Adam have created , you can see K-X, K-R,K-5 and 645D with # that criss cross each other
This mean they have not produce 80,000 K-5 but 80,000 DSLR

[jpzk]

Ok I run the statistic and yes we can see a trend . Its Improving with time

Also the low serial # have more severe situation
One comments more than 160 peoples have voted but only 70 put a serial # .
Where peoples put a x in the serial, I added 0 for sorting purpose

See PDF File below

Good job!

Now, if more people post their SN's, the statistical sample will bebeneficial to your test.

It may look like the "early batch" is suffering more of this stain?

JP

[NaClH2O]

Pat - NaCl H2O ...

So it seems that if it is all over the place, it would be difficult for us to determine from where this is originating.
The only sure way to find out would be to have access to Pentax database with sensor SN's, then we could compare it to the SN's we have here, but that is a sure impossibility.

Maybe we should check with Wikileaks?

Johnmflores had this idea of embedding a form which could be used for analysing any "trend".
Does that seem a possibility to at least examine the data?

There has to be one major batch of sensors built in a specific time frame, affecting a specific number of K5's.

Any idea on how we could find out?

JP

JP, I doubt it. Does pentax know? Assuredly. Or at the very least they are working very very very hard to find out. For something as important as the sensor assembly, they are definitely serialized. And pentax has a record of what sensor S/N went into which camera. But how are the sensors assembled? Does Sony provide all the sub assemblies? Are there any parts that are outsourced? Why did QA miss this? Was there shoddy clean room procedure? There are a myriad of questions that Sony and Pentax have to answer. Unfortunately, being Japanese companies, those answers usually remain in house. I would be exceedingly surprised if Pentax will come out and say "Cameras with S/N's 456 to 789 were affected." That would be rather un-Japanese. I doubt that you or I will ever be able to look at a K-5 S/N and say "Yep it was in the range" However I am fairly certain that they could. If I understand Falk correctly, he is in contact with the head of Pentax Europe and they have guaranteed that if you give them an affected camera they will replace it with one that is defect free. And while I would like much more information than that, I think it is unlikely that I will get it. And to be completely honest, I don't think I really need more than that.

NaCl(Japanese companies are far less open than their western counterparts)H2O

[NaClH2O]

Ok I run the statistic and yes we can see a trend . Its Improving with time

Also the low serial # have more severe situation
One comments more than 160 peoples have voted but only 70 put a serial # .
Where peoples put a x in the serial, I added 0 for sorting purpose

See PDF File below

Interesting read bobmaxja, the one thing that stood out for me was that there are no Japanese cameras with reported problems and the one Chinese camera has only "one dot". That was the only "trend" I could spot (pun intentional)

edit: didn't see the second page, that too has one chinese camera (singapore) that seems possibly a bit more severe, no string but a spot instead of a dot.
second edit: Sample size is exceedingly small. Standard deviation will be huge.

NaCl(is it only export cameras?)H2O

[jpzk]

JP, I doubt it. Does pentax know? Assuredly. Or at the very least they are working very very very hard to find out. For something as important as the sensor assembly, they are definitely serialized. And pentax has a record of what sensor S/N went into which camera. But how are the sensors assembled? Does Sony provide all the sub assemblies? Are there any parts that are outsourced? Why did QA miss this? Was there shoddy clean room procedure? There are a myriad of questions that Sony and Pentax have to answer. Unfortunately, being Japanese companies, those answers usually remain in house. I would be exceedingly surprised if Pentax will come out and say "Cameras with S/N's 456 to 789 were affected." That would be rather un-Japanese. I doubt that you or I will ever be able to look at a K-5 S/N and say "Yep it was in the range" However I am fairly certain that they could. If I understand Falk correctly, he is in contact with the head of Pentax Europe and they have guaranteed that if you give them an affected camera they will replace it with one that is defect free. And while I would like much more information than that, I think it is unlikely that I will get it. And to be completely honest, I don't think I really need more than that.

NaCl(Japanese companies are far less open than their western counterparts)H2O

Thanks for the reply, NaCl H2O (can't I just use "Salty"?)

I understand very well what you are saying.

Thanks also for the efforts you are putting into this.

Cheers!

JP

[NaClH2O]

JP you are very welcome. Warranty analysis is what I do to be able to afford to do what I like to do. So this stuff is right up my alley. And yes of course call me Salty, it's so much easier to type!

NaCl(simplicity should always be rewarded)H2O

[Eagle94VT]

I have the K-5 (new from my Nikon FM2N's and Canon EOS 3) and really am enjoying it. I am new to the DSLR world and have been reading these "stain threads". I have a question for the experts out there - are the string of stains considered a different defect than the single spots? I tested my camera and at f16 and above I have an isolated spot on the right edge. I will post an image later - but it does not have the same circular appearance and halo pattern that many of these images do - a dark somewhat rectangular smudge.

[nickmeertens]

Sn: 3830891 bought in The Netherlands is clean after all (spots were removable with wipe)