[mars76]

Hi All,

My K-50 started having this problem. Many thanks to this forum i think my K-50 developed similar problem. I bought mine in mid 2014 and bought two year extended warranty. So i think Precision Camera should cover this under warranty as i am still under three year warranty period.

I was pulling my hair apart for the past few hours why my shots are coming so dark. I tried all my lenses (manual M42, auto, Pentax-m)

Could some one post your experience if you sent your camera to Precision Camera for repairing this Issue.

Really appreciate your input.

Also this seems to be a wide spread issue and why is Pentax not doing anything about it. May be fix it for a nominal fee for the affected users.

Thanks
Sateesh

[Hutchoman]

Hi All,

My K-50 started having this problem. Many thanks to this forum i think my K-50 developed similar problem. I bought mine in mid 2014 and bought two year extended warranty. So i think Precision Camera should cover this under warranty as i am still under three year warranty period.

I was pulling my hair apart for the past few hours why my shots are coming so dark. I tried all my lenses (manual M42, auto, Pentax-m)

Could some one post your experience if you sent your camera to Precision Camera for repairing this Issue.

Really appreciate your input.

Also this seems to be a wide spread issue and why is Pentax not doing anything about it. May be fix it for a nominal fee for the affected users.

Thanks
Sateesh

Mars76, exactly why I wrote a letter to Yoshinori Yamashita, the head honcho of Ricoh. As I see it, "loss of face" is a big deal in Asian culture. At least here in Hong Kong and I'm guessing Japan as well. So owning up to a problem would be shameful I believe. As part of Ricoh's mission statement it claims; “to put ourselves in the other persons place”. I told them they obvisously don't do that. Look at the Japanese company Takata. Had car airbag problems. Didin't take ownership until after some deaths in the US. Told them South Korean company Samsung took action over Note 7. The HK Ricoh dealer did call me and said they had been in contact with Ricoh Japan and offered to take a look at my K-50 for no charge. By this time I had already dismantled my camera and my replacement solenoid had arrived, so I repaired the camera myself. I am going to the Ricoh dealer maybe this week to tell them how I repaired it myself. I also wrote a letter to the Consumer Council of HK. They did receive a reply from the dealer, but it was HK$900.00 for replacement parts. Interestingly, in initial enquires with the dealer they said there was no problem with these cameras. I am aware that Yoshinori Yamashita would not have read my letter, but at least I believe someone read it and did contact the HK dealer.

[enyaw]

All it takes is a trickle and that can lead to a waterfall, well done and thank you

[mars76]

Mars76, exactly why I wrote a letter to Yoshinori Yamashita, the head honcho of Ricoh. As I see it, "loss of face" is a big deal in Asian culture. At least here in Hong Kong and I'm guessing Japan as well. So owning up to a problem would be shameful I believe. As part of Ricoh's mission statement it claims; “to put ourselves in the other persons place”. I told them they obvisously don't do that. Look at the Japanese company Takata. Had car airbag problems. Didin't take ownership until after some deaths in the US. Told them South Korean company Samsung took action over Note 7. The HK Ricoh dealer did call me and said they had been in contact with Ricoh Japan and offered to take a look at my K-50 for no charge. By this time I had already dismantled my camera and my replacement solenoid had arrived, so I repaired the camera myself. I am going to the Ricoh dealer maybe this week to tell them how I repaired it myself. I also wrote a letter to the Consumer Council of HK. They did receive a reply from the dealer, but it was HK$900.00 for replacement parts. Interestingly, in initial enquires with the dealer they said there was no problem with these cameras. I am aware that Yoshinori Yamashita would not have read my letter, but at least I believe someone read it and did contact the HK dealer.

Hi Hutchoman,

Thanks for the initiative. Could we start (use your letter as) an online petition to Ricoh.

Thanks

[Jeff Lopez]

Hi Hutchoman,

Thanks for the initiative. Could we start (use your letter as) an online petition to Ricoh.

Thanks

omg, I was writing the same thing and it didnt post, lol.
Yes, that would be a great initiative among the affected and would be affected owners. Maybe Pentax dealers would participate, as they are the first to get hit by warranty claims. Ive been reading other Pentax european forums and it seems they are very concerned about this issue too.
This may lead to a class action suit, it has been done before with Nikon and Canon.m

[Hutchoman]

Hi Hutchoman,

Thanks for the initiative. Could we start (use your letter as) an online petition to Ricoh.

Thanks

More than happy to have my letter used. I'm sure it could also be improved on. Would it be better for someone to take a look first. Send to a personal email? Or is there a way to send it privately on this forum? Yep, just found a way!

[Jeff Lopez]

I have a K30 with is not affected (yet) with around 10k shutter counts.Im not a engineer but Ive done some small electronics as a hobby. Now, usually circuits like boards and sensors have very low current requirements, which a single battery will suffice to supply,but electromechanical assemblies such as solenoids and stepper motors work on a burst current and due to space, that type of high current burst would be supplied by a low voltage high capacity capacitator. If you add a bright lcd, a flash, a solenoid actuator,shutter,etc that would tax a small battery, youll need a good capacitator, this is basic high current electronics, like high wattage audio equipment. I think thats why most k30 issues can be temp fixed with AA batteries, as they supply more current than a camera battery. It is known that capacitators lose holding power as they get older and highly used.
Therefore, Im beginning to suspect that K30 caps are not holding a charge. Usually there are 2 caps inside a dslr, 1 for flash, 1 for electromechanical applications.
While its true that changing the actuator for a new one works ok, eventually it will stop working due to bad caps..

[enyaw]

thanks JL, the saga takes another turn? If you know that much, what are they doing at Pentax to make multiple generations with the same defect? Cost cutting? ie good "stuff" for the higher end models. Wish I had know that from start.

[Jeff Lopez]

Yes, its pretty much an industrial practice that electronic manufacturers produce their stuff with cheap components to keep mrsp low as possible and save the good components for higher end models. I wouldnt be surprised that the difference between a k30 and a kii would be its components grade, Im pretty sure they use the same chassis..Im trying to remember something that Sony did that its previous model was very good, and then a after model came out, which had a very short life, due to bad caps..

[enyaw]

touche, that is what I was trying to hit at. thx

was it spec'd out the same way though ie midrange to midrange or cosumer rated for midrange. I'm not specific which could be bad but you get my gist right?

[Jeff Lopez]

touche, that is what I was trying to hit at. thx

was it spec'd out the same way though ie midrange to midrange or cosumer rated for midrange. I'm not specific which could be bad but you get my gist right?

Yes, of course..all we need is a teardown of both cameras to confirm what we may know already

[reh321]

More than happy to have my letter used. I'm sure it could also be improved on. Would it be better for someone to take a look first. Send to a personal email? Or is there a way to send it privately on this forum? Yep, just found a way!

I wouldn't be surprised at all if the upper-tier cameras - K7, K5, K3, K1 - used a completely different mechanism, perhaps involving tiny stepper motors or some such thing.

My Super Program still works, so I'm not going to sacrifice it, but I'm curious how Pentax handled this job when the KA-mount was first developed. I have no way of determining shutter count, but I used the Super Program for eleven years, then had in in a closet for ten years, then shot several rolls of film using it {additional shutter count roughly 100}, then had it in a closet for over eleven years, and most recently took another twenty-found pictures with it. I'm guessing that the aperture mechanism in the average K-30/50 wouldn't handle this usage pattern very well.

[slartibartfast01]

I have a K30 with is not affected (yet) with around 10k shutter counts.Im not a engineer but Ive done some small electronics as a hobby. Now, usually circuits like boards and sensors have very low current requirements, which a single battery will suffice to supply,but electromechanical assemblies such as solenoids and stepper motors work on a burst current and due to space, that type of high current burst would be supplied by a low voltage high capacity capacitator. If you add a bright lcd, a flash, a solenoid actuator,shutter,etc that would tax a small battery, youll need a good capacitator, this is basic high current electronics, like high wattage audio equipment. I think thats why most k30 issues can be temp fixed with AA batteries, as they supply more current than a camera battery. It is known that capacitators lose holding power as they get older and highly used.
Therefore, Im beginning to suspect that K30 caps are not holding a charge. Usually there are 2 caps inside a dslr, 1 for flash, 1 for electromechanical applications.
While its true that changing the actuator for a new one works ok, eventually it will stop working due to bad caps..

Some people have noted that when the problem starts then using burst mode seems to fix it at least temporarily. If a capacitor was the problem would this be the case?

[Jeff Lopez]

Some people have noted that when the problem starts then using burst mode seems to fix it at least temporarily. If a capacitor was the problem would this be the case?

Im am pretty sure its the caps..A metal solenoid which has no friction would never fail, unless its coil was shorted or open, and looking at such low voltages, that should never happen.If a solenoid coil is open or shorted, then the actuactor would never work, its a yes/no circuit. Now, if related control curcuits like caps are failing, then you will have erratic operations like yes/no/maybe...

[enyaw]

some people really know their shit and I'm glad they are on this forum.