[altopiet]

Your last sentence conflicts with your first.
People selling K-30/50 cameras "know that the new owners will in all likelihood have a problem" only if a high percentage of the cameras are affected by these problems, but first sentence clearly indicates no idea what that percentage is.

"people selling their repaired bodies".....knowing problem...the repairs probably done with replacement parts which in the end will display same problems, like mine did...

I'm also sure the problem is probably well known by Pentax, but they'll never acknowledge it, or give repair numbers done as result of the problem...probably just hoping the unlucky blokes will forgive, and buy another Pentax , like I did, and not worry much about lost future sales as result of the problems....That is why I "wonder"

EDIT: But if it seems confusing to you, it's probably a lack of proper translating from my home language, by me...I apologize

[jeffgusa]

Add me to the list of K50 owners with this problem. My wife gave me the camera for father's day 2014 and has a shutter count of right at 1000. Still trying to decide what route to take for repair.

[caliscouser]

Add me to the list of K50 owners with this problem. My wife gave me the camera for father's day 2014 and has a shutter count of right at 1000. Still trying to decide what route to take for repair.

Sorry to hear about that for such a low mileage camera.

It's anecdotal, but it lends itself to the theory that the failure is more time related than actuation related. And that any actuation patterns relating to the failure are more a function of time than anything else.
For example from what I've been reading here it seems like these seem to fail typically between 5 and 15 thousand actuation's (with some outliers). For a lot of people that would be 3-4 years of usage.

I wonder if the insulation on the solenoid windings is breaking down over time causing it to weaken. Maybe a result of poor materials quality, cheaper sourcing of components. (Entirely speculative here of course)

It would be great if Ricoh could make replacements for some of these troublesome parts available to the public or even independent repairers. They wouldn't have to run a huge parts inventory and it would make this whole issue a lot easier to swallow for the Pentax community.

[clackers]

What I would find interesting, is knowing what percentage of Pentax K-30/50's are affected by these problems, and how many first time users, and perhaps even diehard Pentax fans, decided to jump ship because of these problems...

If the K-30/50 was my first DSLR purchase, and I had the problems that I've experienced with mine, it would've been the last Pentax purchased by me.

What bugs me is that there are still new K-30/50's on store shelves, and even people selling their repaired bodies, knowing that the new owners will in all likelihood have a problem with their cameras later on...

Have you seen this forum's survey?

You can extrapolate it to get a guess anywhere between 6 and 25 percent.

The true percentage is not known.

[reh321]

"people selling their repaired bodies".....knowing problem...the repairs probably done with replacement parts which in the end will display same problems, like mine did...

I'm also sure the problem is probably well known by Pentax, but they'll never acknowledge it, or give repair numbers done as result of the problem...probably just hoping the unlucky blokes will forgive, and buy another Pentax , like I did, and not worry much about lost future sales as result of the problems....That is why I "wonder"

EDIT: But if it seems confusing to you, it's probably a lack of proper translating from my home language, by me...I apologize

Oh no, you are perfectly clear in English. The reason I don't agree with you is the same reason I disagree with so many other comments made here. Over and over again people make definitive comments - but the truth is that we don't know any actual facts. This same part is used in many other contexts, but this is the only one where it fails. We don;t know what is causing this problem - whether there is a design issue, simply a bad lot of the parts, or something else. Whether or not your statement is true depends on the underlying issue, the one thing we clearly do not understand.

[caliscouser]

Over and over again people make definitive comments - but the truth is that we don't know any actual facts.

Don't want to get too far into the weeds on this, just trying to understand your position. We do know some facts, but not all the facts:
- Replacing the solenoid with one from a donor camera resolves the issue for some indeterminate period of time, or maybe forever.
- Replacing the solenoid with one from a donor consumer electronics device like a CD player also can fix the problem some indeterminate time, and maybe forever (if you get the right solenoid)
- The only exception to this I have seen is niceshot who had other compounding issues with his camera. That is the exception rather than rule.
- Filing down the metal fork can resolve the problem for some (this may be temporary mitigation)

Taken together that points to a weakening or dying solenoid being the issue. That's not a fact but that's were the facts and logic lead.

This same part is used in many other contexts, but this is the only one where it fails.

We don't actually know that. Many consumer devices get very quickly obsolete. Maybe their life-cycle is just not long enough for it to be a problem. Or maybe they fail and people just throw away a $25 CD drive and don't care. Or maybe Pentax specified a solenoid that is marginal for its application but not marginal for other applications.

whether there is a design issue, simply a bad lot of the parts, or something else.

True, could be a bad run of solenoids, could be design related in the sense the part that was specified was too marginal for the application, or something else.
But will we ever know that, and does it matter? I think it matters in order to know whether it makes economic sense to do a repair or not as we don't know the as of yet how the repairs will hold up over time.
There is not enough data. If that is your point then I certainly agree.

Whether or not your statement is true depends on the underlying issue, the one thing we clearly do not understand.

We understand enough to say the evidence points to the solenoid and there are now some proven options to deal with it so people can put their camera on life support for a while if they choose to do so (maybe a year or two until it times to upgrade anyway). At this point that is all that matters.

We'll probably never know more than that.

[altopiet]

Add me to the list of K50 owners with this problem. My wife gave me the camera for father's day 2014 and has a shutter count of right at 1000. Still trying to decide what route to take for repair.

My "repair" failed, I'd take the punch and go for another model, if I was in your place.

[altopiet]

Oh no, you are perfectly clear in English. The reason I don't agree with you is the same reason I disagree with so many other comments made here. Over and over again people make definitive comments - but the truth is that we don't know any actual facts. This same part is used in many other contexts, but this is the only one where it fails. We don;t know what is causing this problem - whether there is a design issue, simply a bad lot of the parts, or something else. Whether or not your statement is true depends on the underlying issue, the one thing we clearly do not understand.

Wat ookal jou goed laat voel ou maat, geniet jou lewe

EDIT: GT to save you time...Whatever feel old friend you well, enjoy your life

[solatana]

you can add me to the list as well:

Pentax K50 (shuttercount 6500) failed.

It seems that the replacement part has exactly the same problem, in Germany we have first reports of repaired K30's and K50's
fail again just after the warranty for the repair. I sold my K50 "as is" and spent the money for a hardly used K-S1, not knowing then,
that it has exactly the same part inside. If it fails as well, I shall repair it myself.

Well, it's my light "travel-set". My K5II is my main camera.

[altopiet]

you can add me to the list as well:

Pentax K50 (shuttercount 6500) failed.

It seems that the replacement part has exactly the same problem, in Germany we have first reports of repaired K30's and K50's
fail again just after the warranty for the repair. I sold my K50 "as is" and spent the money for a hardly used K-S1, not knowing then,
that it has exactly the same part inside. If it fails as well, I shall repair it myself.

Well, it's my light "travel-set". My K5II is my main camera.

All my sympathies, it's very frustrating....

If I may ask, how much did you get for your K-50 "as is"?

Perhaps I should sell my K-30 and get another lens or something, as fiddling around with it every once in a while, just exacerbates my frustrations

[steveo-1]

Here's a recent youtube video which does a good job of explaining how to attempt a self-fix.

You Tube

You Tube

The only things I would add is there's a third screw under the bottom cover that needs to be removed, to the right and down from the two hidden screws in the hand grip. Also the rubber cover for the video out connection hooks under the rubber grip on the left side of the camera. So pry that grip rubber up a little to unhook and rehook, especially when putting back together.

I did the repair. The camera is working now - one day. I don't know how long it will stay working. Personally, I don't see how this repair did much - but it is working? It's not extremely difficult for anyone who likes to do this kind of thing. But it's not meant for a newbie either. The quarters are close and the parts are tiny. Also, for the time invested, it's probably worth the $100 to send it off to the guys who do this repair on the side (I didn't do that), if you want to keep the camera. I suspect their info is included somewhere in this thread. That also assumes their repair is actually long lived - so far I haven't come across any info on that.

In addition to sanding the prongs of the armature (covered in the video), I also sanded a little all around. I then polished the armature up with some brasso and a dremel buffing wheel. I can't see where that made much of a difference either. The last step I did was spray some silicon lube on the armature and let that dry before reassembling. I doubt that makes much difference either. There is residual magnetism in the top bar that connects the two coils and that seems to hold the armature up. But I suspect that's been there for awhile and may be by design? In conclusion I'll just have to wait and see how things go. If it goes another 2.5 years before it completely fails again, I'll be happier (still not happy, if you know what I mean). One thing I noted in looking at the pictures enlarged, is that the armature seems to be a core (probably not iron) with two thin iron faces bonded on. Well that could also be my imagination. In conclusion, in the industry where I used to work, this repair falls under the category, wave the dead chicken. But sometimes it works!

[solatana]

All my sympathies, it's very frustrating....

If I may ask, how much did you get for your K-50 "as is"?

Perhaps I should sell my K-30 and get another lens or something, as fiddling around with it every once in a while, just exacerbates my frustrations

It was exactly 70Euros (sold in Germany).

In Germany we don't have this repair option you guys have in USA:
Pentax Camera Repair - Aperture Control Repair

If I would live in USA, I would for sure use this possibility.

I studied the russian K30 repair suggestions, but this is not for me.

[ekip]

I can't see where that made much of a difference either. The last step I did was spray some silicon lube on the armature and let that dry before reassembling. I doubt that makes much difference either. There is residual magnetism in the top bar that connects the two coils and that seems to hold the armature up. But I suspect that's been there for awhile and may be by design?

The person who replaced his solenoid part with a similar looking one from a laptop cd-drive said that the replacement part had a stronger holding force from the permanent magnet than the one he removed from the camera. Because of this, excessive holding force at rest doesn't really ring true but then makes it harder to explain why sanding the corners fixes it.

[Not a Number]

The person who replaced his solenoid part with a similar looking one from a laptop cd-drive said that the replacement part had a stronger holding force from the permanent magnet than the one he removed from the camera. Because of this, excessive holding force at rest doesn't really ring true but then makes it harder to explain why sanding the corners fixes it.

And it doesn't seem to be the case of the plunger becoming magnetized as one person said that filings did not stick to the plunger.

[reh321]

The person who replaced his solenoid part with a similar looking one from a laptop cd-drive said that the replacement part had a stronger holding force from the permanent magnet than the one he removed from the camera. Because of this, excessive holding force at rest doesn't really ring true but then makes it harder to explain why sanding the corners fixes it.

And it doesn't seem to be the case of the plunger becoming magnetized as one person said that filings did not stick to the plunger.

Comments like these are why I believe this problem is not as simple as some would like to imply, and why I believe Pentax should be given some grace with respect to this problem using a known component with an otherwise satisfactory record