[mellowyeahlow]

So I noticed my K30 has been performing under par with low light performance than previous before.

I noticed after a small drop (literally fell 1 foot out of my hands and landed on a thick rug) that camera has been performing sub par.

Photos are coming out extremely dark. Even with 35mm 2.4 attached at 1600 ISO and 1/40 I'm getting pretty close to black photos decently lit inside.

My main reason for thinking/knowing that something is very wrong is, when ever I set the camera to "auto" mode it will just take photos that are completely black.

I just did a test.... pointed the camera at my standing lamp. Put it on auto. Took a photo and it just came out completely black.
Is it something I can adjust/fix on my own or will this be an issue that can only be solved by spending hundreds of dollars to fix?

--------------------- update -----------------------------
Well after reading other people with the same issues, I can after wiping the lens contacts with the body the issue has been resolved.
I wish I had done this before I took photos outside with my family. So many noisy photos tonight. But still usable.

---

Last edited by mellowyeahlow; 10-18-2015 at 09:23 PM.

[virusn3t]

Maybe is the aperture lever, happen to me on my K30, if you set the Raw/FX button to optical preview set an aperture to say f5.6 and you will see that the camera closes the diafragma completely. Press several times the Raw/FX until the diafragma stop closing completely and the camera will star working Ok again... at least until that procedure stop working, the you have to send to repair

[6BQ5]

Yep, sounds like an aperture lever problem. Google it. Your camera is closing the lens down to f/22. Put your camera in MF mode and look into the lens as you click randomly away. What do you see?

[mellowyeahlow]

Hey guys looks like after cleaning the contacts between lens/camera body everything seems to be performing as it should be.

I'm so relieved!!!

[AlexBW]

I had a similar issue (intermittent underexposure) with a recent DA21 mm lens on my K30 (firmware V1.06), but none of my other lenses (DA 50, DA 35, DA 18-138). This effect was largest when shooting at f/3.2. This particular lens had no problems on a K3 and K-S2 tested in a camera store.
After asking and phoning around, I've concluded it is an aperture control problem related to the body but manifested with only that lens:

My K30 (don't know if other K30 do this) closes down the aperture of any mounted lens to its max aperture, then opens the aperture to specified aperture for each shot (very easy to see on my DA 50 f1.8 lens). In contrast, when pressing the optical preview (Fx), the lens stop down to specified aperture without going to f/22.
The K3 and KS-2 tested did not do this.
So it appears that in my case, for the DA21mm tested, the aperture blades did not open fast enough after closing all the way, resulting in underexposure due to the shot being taken at wrong aperture.

(Ricoh/Pentax told me I'd have to send it in for repair, but I don't think it's worth it as my other lenses do fine and this body has 28,000+ shutter actuations)

[Hinomaru]

I was shooting K50 with manual focus lens and shots were extremely underexposed like they were practically black. Mounted AF lens and same thing. Pointed at a lamp and photo barely shows outline of light from a desk lamp. I cranked up exposure comp all the way to +5 and the picture came out like normal. Switched to another AF lens but same thing - way under exposed. Then after about 25 shots - suddenly back to normal. Hope this won't become a recurring problem.

iso1600, f/2.5, 1/60th shutter on both. First extremely underexposed then later better.





Rick

[mellowyeahlow]

I was shooting K50 with manual focus lens and shots were extremely underexposed like they were practically black. Mounted AF lens and same thing. Pointed at a lamp and photo barely shows outline of light from a desk lamp. I cranked up exposure comp all the way to +5 and the picture came out like normal. Switched to another AF lens but same thing - way under exposed. Then after about 25 shots - suddenly back to normal. Hope this won't become a recurring problem.

iso1600, f/2.5, 1/60th shutter on both. First extremely underexposed then later better.





Rick

I actually did the same test. My K30 would do this. I took photos of my lamp in my room at 100 ISO. Black. Shot at ISO 3200 and it came out black. I knew it was something seriously wrong.

I did two things to fix the problem.

I cleaned the contacts of the body and lens. I used a glass cloth not to scratch anything. Apparently this can affect communication between the camera and the lens causing darker pictures.

I went ahead and also reset all my settings back to factory settings.

I haven't had any issues again since. But It worries me because I've only taken around 1500 photos with my K30 so far.

You can see the photo I've attached. I knew something was seriously wrong when shooting at ISO3200 produced a dark picture while pointing the camera at my lamp.

Attached Images

View Picture EXIF

File Date

 

[Hinomaru]

I actually did the same test. My K30 would do this. I took photos of my lamp in my room at 100 ISO. Black. Shot at ISO 3200 and it came out black. I knew it was something seriously wrong.

I did two things to fix the problem.

I cleaned the contacts of the body and lens. I used a glass cloth not to scratch anything. Apparently this can affect communication between the camera and the lens causing darker pictures.

I went ahead and also reset all my settings back to factory settings.

I haven't had any issues again since. But It worries me because I've only taken around 1500 photos with my K30 so far.

You can see the photo I've attached. I knew something was seriously wrong when shooting at ISO3200 produced a dark picture while pointing the camera at my lamp.

Yes exactly. There's a discussion at dpreview regarding the same problem - many of them w/K30 cameras. Most likely K50 is using the same parts/assembly. Seems like this is due to aperture lever failure. Grrr!

Rick

[mellowyeahlow]

Yes exactly. There's a discussion at dpreview regarding the same problem - many of them w/K30 cameras. Most likely K50 is using the same parts/assembly. Seems like this is due to aperture lever failure. Grrr!

Rick

Well... now we all know why the K30/K50 are so damn cheap.

Sometimes I kinda regret not getting a Canon/Nikon. But weather sealing was such a big win for me. I guess long as I can keep repairing it myself.

Did they tell you how much the repairs would cost?

[Hinomaru]

Well... now we all know why the K30/K50 are so damn cheap.

Sometimes I kinda regret not getting a Canon/Nikon. But weather sealing was such a big win for me. I guess long as I can keep repairing it myself.

Did they tell you how much the repairs would cost?

One user mentioned that minimum charge is $250 to send out for repair. I paid $299 when Pentax Ricoh had special last December on K50 body - only 10 months of use. Grrr!

Rick

[6BQ5]

The picture of that lamp on the right is totally normal. My K-3 will produce the same image.

[mellowyeahlow]

The picture of that lamp on the right is totally normal. My K-3 will produce the same image.

ISO 3200 that lamp should be briiiight and blown out.
That is not normal.

[mellowyeahlow]

I just did another test.
This is done on my pentax 35mm 2.4 plastic fantastic.

I'm shooting these in manual mode. I set the aperture, iso and the shutter speed.
1st picture the picture came out really dark (meaning the camera is still having issues)
2nd picture came out properly as it should. iso3200 should blown out the image especially at 1/40 and f 2.4.

I'm 100% convinced that the metering/aperture mechanism is having issues... because the first picture came out as if the iso was set at 100. That's a huge difference.

---------- Post added 10-22-15 at 10:33 PM ----------

One user mentioned that minimum charge is $250 to send out for repair. I paid $299 when Pentax Ricoh had special last December on K50 body - only 10 months of use. Grrr!

Rick

$250???? That's like.... buying a used/fairly new K30......
Are you kidding me?
I can buy a brand spanking new K50 for that much...
http://www.amazon.com/Pentax-K-50-Digital-Camera-3-Inch/dp/B00DBPKBQO/ref=sr...entax+k30+body
I'm definitely regretting getting a Pentax instead of Canon/Nikon now.....

---------- Post added 10-22-15 at 11:15 PM ----------

I emailed Pentax Customer Service about this.

This is complete BS!!! If this is a common issue!!!
And they expect people to pay $200-$300 dollars for a poor quality part that they messed up on?

[6BQ5]

ISO 3200 that lamp should be briiiight and blown out.
That is not normal.

Oh, 3200 - not 320! Haha! Sorry, I missed that. Yesterday was kind of rough on me.

I feel bad about your problems. My K-30 would close down the aperture to f/22 every so often like yours. Images would be dark to pitch black. My problem came along during a time when many others started experiencing the same issue. It was like a wave of people. We all must have bought our K-30's at the same time. Then it got quiet and now it seems like tit's flaring up again. Unfortunately, it's a well documented problem that many people don't know about. My camera had well over 22k clicks on it. I passed it on to my father who put another 8k clicks on it. Interestingly enough, he only now noticed the problem flaring up again.

One thing I noticed is that this would happen more with some lenses than other lenses. I would get more dark images with my D-FA 50mm than any other lens combined. My DA 18-135 was much more immune to this but not completely.

I don't know if there are other factors like aperture setting. Is this more likely to happen if you shoot from wide open to f/5.6, are you relatively immune if you set the aperture to f/6.3 and beyond, etc? Maybe that would explain why my DA 18-135 was more immune. It's a slower lens.

[mellowyeahlow]

Oh, 3200 - not 320! Haha! Sorry, I missed that. Yesterday was kind of rough on me.

I feel bad about your problems. My K-30 would close down the aperture to f/22 every so often like yours. Images would be dark to pitch black. My problem came along during a time when many others started experiencing the same issue. It was like a wave of people. We all must have bought our K-30's at the same time. Then it got quiet and now it seems like tit's flaring up again. Unfortunately, it's a well documented problem that many people don't know about. My camera had well over 22k clicks on it. I passed it on to my father who put another 8k clicks on it. Interestingly enough, he only now noticed the problem flaring up again.

One thing I noticed is that this would happen more with some lenses than other lenses. I would get more dark images with my D-FA 50mm than any other lens combined. My DA 18-135 was much more immune to this but not completely.

I don't know if there are other factors like aperture setting. Is this more likely to happen if you shoot from wide open to f/5.6, are you relatively immune if you set the aperture to f/6.3 and beyond, etc? Maybe that would explain why my DA 18-135 was more immune. It's a slower lens.

Woke up and tested my camera again. Tested it out again. First 2 pictures were extremely underexposed again.

Yeah... i'm just extremely pissed. First experience with a brand leaves a ever lasting impression. I know people most of the time have good experience with Pentax... but this is not keeping me a happy person. I also bought a 35mm plastic fantastic lens and a 18-135mm WR lens because I thought I'll be a pentax user for life. Didn't think this camera would have issues within 2 years. Was hoping this camera would last at least 5-6 before it showed issues. Didn't even get up to 10k photos. Only up to 6k photos.

I emailed customer service, but they didn't even email me back. >.>
It's funny how it's a well documented issue iwth K30-K50 but they won't even give free repairs for people with this issue which is THEIR fault.