[Not a Number]

Why not buy the part from US Camera yourself? They ship overseas. Sounds like @LSAGuy installed the part already and probably isn't all that willing to open up the camera again to take a picture.

[hnikesch]

Just received the aperture block from US Camera and it has the GREEN solenoid, If I can't find a white one I may just put in the GREEN Sol. when my K30 Solenoid dies, it's showing dark frame for the first shot on occasion so I started using AA adapter.

[photogem]

Just received the aperture block from US Camera and it has the GREEN solenoid

This is good to know. I am curious for the photos of LSAGuy of his aperture block.

If I can't find a white one I may just put in the GREEN Solenoid.

Not a good idea, you should be able to find the white solenoid.
Send the apertureblock back and use the money for the white solenoid.

Any green solenoid is prone to failure, nothing has changed.

when my K30 Solenoid dies, it's showing dark frame for the first shot on occasion so I started using AA adapter.

This helps for a while, with some even for quite a long time but the work to replace the solenoid is not really that difficult,
for me it is now kind of "peanuts".


I just repaired a late K-S1 for the first time and I didn't even need photos of the camera, I know how to place all those many screws now to have them ready

when I put the camera back together.

There are plenty of defunct *ist and other early Pentax DDSL bodys on ebay.com or just the solenoid.
Any K100D will do as well as will do. K10D, K20D, K200D, K110D, K2000, Kx (the latter three can have green solenoids at least in Europe, but I suspect in
USA this is not the case, so you probably will be safe with any of them)
The non digital *ist is safe as well, many of the early non digital MZ5n, MZ50, MZ6 and MZ7 bodys have the same solenoid but in most cases with opposite polarity, so one has to change wires as well which is more tricky. If one does not change polarity they work the opposite way, i.e. pull even stronger when the voltage is applied.
Also in some of those early MZ series I found solenoids with a stronger holding force which is neither useful.

I have no idea if it is so in USA/Americas/Australia as well, because in Europe we have other parts to be cheaper in the early MZ series, such as gear-wheels being made of plastic instead of metal. They get damages pretty easy as well.

[Not a Number]

Just received the aperture block from US Camera and it has the GREEN solenoid, If I can't find a white one I may just put in the GREEN Sol. when my K30 Solenoid dies, it's showing dark frame for the first shot on occasion so I started using AA adapter.

What's the manufacture date stamped on the plate?

[hnikesch]

What's the manufacture date stamped on the plate?

The date stamp is 2018 6. 5

[andyk17]

Hi my K30 failed a few months back, no warning just started shooting all underexposed.

For the time being have been shooting manually with a couple of FA lenses, usually OK but have a tendency to over expose by a stop, but easily adjusted. I was originally going to upgrade to a K70 and keep the K30 as a backup, but the K70 seems to have the same issue.

I do have a couple of questions though.

Some people have said that using the AA adapter with Eneloops works to solve the problem, I have tried it with other rechargables without success, any reason while Eneloops might work if others don't? Do I buy Eneloops or give up on the idea

I have seen mention of shutter failure, is this related to the aperture block issue or something else. I know some people suggested shooting a few fast burst shots as a temporary cure to aperture failure, but my thoughts were that this could cause shutter/motor wear, so only used it a couple of times.

Has anyone (based in the UK) used Asahi Photo in Brentford to repair the issue, as this might be my route if I do decide to repair. I am reasonably happy at the moment with manual, but seems a shame not to have full capability on the K30.

Andy

[stillshot2]

Some people have said that using the AA adapter with Eneloops works to solve the problem

Mine failed while I was using with Eneloops. It's not a fix. Just shoot with lenses that have a manual aperture ring and forget about it and if you need to use a modern lens that doesn't have an aperture ring get a used K3 which is a much more solid camera. That's what I did.

[andyk17]

Mine failed while I was using with Eneloops. It's not a fix. Just shoot with lenses that have a manual aperture ring and forget about it and if you need to use a modern lens that doesn't have an aperture ring get a used K3 which is a much more solid camera. That's what I did.

Thanks for the response,I suspected that almost any good rechargeables would work (or not).

I have been using on manual, just disappointed I can't use some of my digital lenses or all the the potential shooting modes, although when it was working I tended to shoot in Aperture Priority most of the time, but nice to have options.

I find lack of full exif info a pain as well. Apart from this the housing for the flash extends further than on my old istDL and makes it more awkward to use the aperture ring.

Nothing I can't live with, although I may get it repaired as I have found somewhere that will repair for about £130 including sensor clean rather than the £200 that the official Pentax repairer quoted.


I was looking at maybe a 2nd hand K5 or K7, but repair is cheaper and I know the history of my K30.

Andy

[photogem]

Hi my K30 failed a few months back, no warning just started shooting all underexposed.

For the time being have been shooting manually with a couple of FA lenses, usually OK but have a tendency to over expose by a stop, but easily adjusted. I was originally going to upgrade to a K70 and keep the K30 as a backup, but the K70 seems to have the same issue.

The K70 uses the same technique and a few K70's did fail but it is very likely that this problem is solved by now.

I do have a couple of questions though.

Some people have said that using the AA adapter with Eneloops works to solve the problem, I have tried it with other rechargables without success, any reason while Eneloops might work if others don't? Do I buy Eneloops or give up on the idea

It can work with Eneloops (which are the only really good AA's) but not always and not forever.

I have seen mention of shutter failure, is this related to the aperture block issue or something else. I know some people suggested shooting a few fast burst shots as a temporary cure to aperture failure, but my thoughts were that this could cause shutter/motor wear, so only used it a couple of times.

Very good though! It is as you say!

Has anyone (based in the UK) used Asahi Photo in Brentford to repair the issue, as this might be my route if I do decide to repair. I am reasonably happy at the moment with manual, but seems a shame not to have full capability on the K30.

Andy

If you have it repaired, make sure that you ONLY have the white made in Japan solenoid built in.

Get it and supply it to them


or...

DIY which is pretty easy and then you know what to expect if ever your (possible) K70 fails

The K5 is a nice camera but a repaired K30 particular with the K50 firmware as offered on this forum is better in Low Light.

Nevertheless, the K5 is a very good body. If you don't need PLM, then the K5II or K5IIs is superior. And very solid, rock solid.
Great handling as well. I prefer it often over the larger K3 when on long walks.

[Tangent88]

I don't think it's clear yet whether the K-70 has the aperture problem or not.

Also DxO disagrees with you about the K-30 being better than the K-5 in low light.

[photogem]

I don't think it's clear yet whether the K-70 has the aperture problem or not.

You yourself wrote recently
that there have been reports of failure so why do you question your own "thinking" 4 days later?

I know of reports in the German Pentaxians forum where 4 cases were reported


And I know personally the case of one person whose K70 had failed after replacement of the solenoid for a second time.

Also DxO disagrees with you about the K-30 being better than the K-5 in low light.

I don't care much about what the holy DxO says.

But I am now not going into a DxO sense and sensibility discussion but leave it just with those few comments:

DxO tests cameras by counting lines and checking noice. The result of this were Sony sensors because they are made to meet DxO requirements, are aligned to those requirements and are "denoised" (??? don't know the correct English name for this) and so seem particular sharp.

Those very fine shades which can be found with the leaves of a tree cannot be measured (but seen) and that's why for some the old CCD Sensor was better, more natural. Allthough more noice, there are more shades of greys and this more analogue way a photo looks like. For similar reasons some love the Foveon-Sensor of the Sigma DLSRs.


I own the K10D, K5, K5II, K5IIs, K3, KP and K30 and a K50 is nearby.
I have worked with all and particularely in low light because I dislike flash.

I like the K5 very much, but the step towards the K5II was immense, particularely in low light!

You cannot just compare processors. The processor is processing but not more. This is after the sensor (and AF) captured the subject of desire.

The AF sensitivity and SAVOX is what counts for low light prior processing what has been captured:

K5 - Savox IXi+ (9): 1 - 21.5
K5II- Savox X (10): -3 - 18
K50- Savox IVi+ (9): 1 - 22

So you see, the low light AF abilities of the K5 and K50 are similar concerning AF and SAVOX, but the K50 has higher ISO and its processor is a bit more modern, which actually is exactly what you wrote in the same post, just that you bring the K5, K5II and K5IIs into the same league because of their same processor. Which is true, but they don't share the same SAFOX!


If I recall it right it was the K3 which got those particular 2,8 sensitive sensors in the center.

But what can weigh is the quality of the antishake which I find better with the K5. So taking shots handheld can make a difference in favour of the K5,
but this is a different story.

A particular difficulty of the K5 was AF in lowlight + tungsten light. I have to dial in a -10 when taking photos with the K5 with tungsten-light so a mighty front focus. This was not solved by firmware updates.

But I use my K5 differently now.


By the way, when Pentax brougth out the K30, they advertised particular with it having improved low light (coloured low light if I recall it rightly) and improved AF against the K5.


So which of the K5's do you own?

[Tangent88]

You yourself wrote recently
that there have been reports of failure so why do you question your own "thinking" 4 days later?

I know of reports in the German Pentaxians forum where 4 cases were reported

And I know personally the case of one person whose K70 had failed after replacement of the solenoid for a second time.

Sorry I misread your post, I thought you were saying there wasn't an aperture problem with the K-70 when actually you were saying there was but you think it's been fixed.

So which of the K5's do you own?

K-5 II.

Which is rated best Pentax APS-C camera in low light by DxO.

[andyk17]

The K70 uses the same technique and a few K70's did fail but it is very likely that this problem is solved by now.




It can work with Eneloops (which are the only really good AA's) but not always and not forever.




Very good though! It is as you say!




If you have it repaired, make sure that you ONLY have the white made in Japan solenoid built in.

Get it and supply it to them


or...

DIY which is pretty easy and then you know what to expect if ever your (possible) K70 fails

The K5 is a nice camera but a repaired K30 particular with the K50 firmware as offered on this forum is better in Low Light.

Nevertheless, the K5 is a very good body. If you don't need PLM, then the K5II or K5IIs is superior. And very solid, rock solid.
Great handling as well. I prefer it often over the larger K3 when on long walks.

Thanks for your comments, will probably get it repaired, but use it more when it went wrong it was about 4 years old but only had 2500 about actuations, so if it lasts another 4 years I will be happy. Reluctant to try DIY as I am not very handy and can see me ending up with an unusable camera, at least at the moment it does 80% of what I need. Pity there aren't and digital lenses with an aperture ring.


Out of interest does anyone know if Pentax/Ricoh are now supplying better quality solenoids or are they sitting on a thousands of the low quality ones with more newer cameras likely to fail. Having used Pentax for over 30 years with no issues I am rather disappointed with the way they have handled this issue.

[photogem]

Thanks for your comments, will probably get it repaired, but use it more when it went wrong it was about 4 years old but only had 2500 about actuations, so if it lasts another 4 years I will be happy. Reluctant to try DIY as I am not very handy and can see me ending up with an unusable camera, at least at the moment it does 80% of what I need. Pity there aren't and digital lenses with an aperture ring.

It is really not that difficult, fear is much more a hinderance than actually going about and doing it: "Once it is shouldered it is light!"

Out of interest does anyone know if Pentax/Ricoh are now supplying better quality solenoids or are they sitting on a thousands of the low quality ones with more newer cameras likely to fail. Having used Pentax for over 30 years with no issues I am rather disappointed with the way they have handled this issue.

According to what Pentax USA said once to somebody who asked this question it seems (could be) that there was a time when Ricoh realized and did something about it.

But there is something strange about serialnumbers in those posts:

It was member Tonytree who got this positive information by Pentax USA:

My Pentax k-50 has 3,403 shutter activations.
Date of Birth: 1/20/2016.
Serial Number: 6096174

But member Rob-48 with a white K50 has datas which could lead to confusion:

Current shutter count of my GOOD, (white), K-50 is only 1,534
Date of manufacture 2015-12-04
Serial # 6280896

Maybe it is because his K50 is white but I don't think so. Could be that external serial numbers are different to the actual date of manufacture
but there is quite a huge gap between 6096174 and 6280896 which does not match this tiny gap of dates, i.e. 7 weeks.


I just don't know how to bring these two contradictory K50's into perspective???

But which solenoids repairplaces use, no idea.

I came across 2 repaired K30's which had the same green solenoid.
And I came across a K-S1 with the same problem.


But I suspect ... because I feel Ricoh/Pentax must be intelligent.. that they did something about it.

Early K-S1's and K-S2's very much likely have already been manufactured and on their way to dealers around December 2015 and January 2016!
As much as it could be that Vietnamese workers still had bad green solenoids and just built them into early K70's until Ricoh gave order to destroy
all of them (which could very well explain why there is suddenly such a surplus of bad green solenoids from China on ebay!)

[Tangent88]

Pity there aren't and digital lenses with an aperture ring.

You can use the 55-300mm PLM lens but it's pretty expensive.

EDIT: Actually the price has come down a but but it's still £369 in the UK.

Out of interest does anyone know if Pentax/Ricoh are now supplying better quality solenoids or are they sitting on a thousands of the low quality ones with more newer cameras likely to fail. Having used Pentax for over 30 years with no issues I am rather disappointed with the way they have handled this issue.

There was a time that Japanese companies were different and the person responsible would have quit citing "deep shame".

It's actually not that difficult to repair yourself following the instructions and videos on here but I have a K-5 II as well so it didn't matter quite as much if I messed it up.