[paolo11]

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Good question. I assumed this as he doesn't replace any parts, and in talking about the repair to him about what others do (filing). He's also told me (about a month ago), that he's repaired about 25 Pentax cameras successfully.

"This repair includes a modification of the aperture control block in order for it to function properly. We believe this should be a permanent fix of the aperture control block and we will guarantee proper aperture function for one year. If the aperture block fails again, return the camera to us and we will repair it again. You'll only pay return shipping. Having your aperture control block replaced by Pentax may not guarantee it won't fail again. This part appears to fail over time and use. It is likely a quality control problem, meaning some aperture controls will function indefinitely while others will fail. We believe our solution is better because it is a permanent fix and at around half the cost of having Pentax replace the control block."

I've read successful repairs by filing being done on other forums (dpreview), and one guy repaired a couple by filing for other members. I also read that one person filed too much off.

But,if it's a QC problem, how does a modification fix it?

My wife is happy, and I dare not ask her if I can tear it down to see if he did any filing. But,if it fails again, I'll open it before mailing back.

[penguinsoda]

He fixed my K-30.It worked like new. Till it fell off the tripod and fell about 4 feet to a hard wood floor. Note cameras do not like those type of sudden stops. It now has a host of other issues.
I had considered trying to fix it myself , but thought for a hundred bucks I would try him. Glad I did I only wish he could fix my camera now. Alas not to be. I think the motherboard has been cracked in the fall, from the way it acts now. That was my fault, I do recommend letting Mark fix the aperture block if you are not sure about doing it yourself.

Oops.... yeah sudden stops like that with cameras don't mix well. But its good to hear that the other issue was taken care of. Maybe next week I'll contact him and get mine sent in. I have watched the videos of how to fix it but... yeah, would rather let someone take it apart that actually knows what they are doing. Sure right now its a paper weight anyway but if I attempted it it could end up being a permanent paper weight. For $100 and change its worth it to me.

[Nakedgun]

If my wife's K50 suffers this failure I will certainly send it in to the California repair guy. I can easily spend $100 for the convenience of having experienced hands do the mod.

[paolo11]

I use to live in SD, now I'm here in W'burg, VA. Really miss the SD clime. Mark, the repairer, might be able to fix your K30, but talk to him first to make sure he can and if he has the parts.

I was just looking at stats for camera failures from Squaretrade, the cheaper the camera, higher rate of failure, more expensive, lower rate of failure. Makes sense. Pentax was high in the cheaper cameras for failures.

Highlights of the study include:
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On average, 10.7% of digital cameras fail within two years, and 15.6% are projected to fail within three years.
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Accidents account for slightly less than 40% of camera failures
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More expensive cameras tend to be more reliable than cheaper models.
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For Point-and-shoot cameras under $300, Panasonic cameras had the lowest 2 year malfunction rates (5.3%), and Polaroid and Casio had the highest malfunction rates (11.9% and 13.0%).
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For DSLR Cameras, Nikon and Canon were equally reliable.

2 year failure rate for cameras in the $500.00 + range was 4%. Not bad. I tried finding stats for K30/K50, but can't read Japanese.

[ERNR]

Mark in CA repaired my K30 about the beginning of January; fast turnaround, kept in touch by email with progress reports, and I've kept the camera very busy since its return, with great results.

[paolo11]

Ditto for me. Actually, my wife's camera.

[enyaw]

Oops.... yeah sudden stops like that with cameras don't mix well. But its good to hear that the other issue was taken care of. Maybe next week I'll contact him and get mine sent in. I have watched the videos of how to fix it but... yeah, would rather let someone take it apart that actually knows what they are doing. Sure right now its a paper weight anyway but if I attempted it it could end up being a permanent paper weight. For $100 and change its worth it to me.

Word, and I'm still under warranty

[paolo11]

My wife doesn't use the camera too often. I went to try it, and I got the dreaded black image at wide open aperture. After a few shots, it worked okay. I turned it off, and tried again after a minute or so, okay. Went back after 10 minutes, and it failed the first time, then okay.

I contacted the CA repairer just a minute ago, and I'll post after hearing from him. I'm sort of reluctant at throwing more money for postage.

I remember reading one post where the person said something about the K50 sitting around too long, and thus having the problem.

I think I'm ready to take a hammer to it.

[BigMackCam]

Sorry to hear this, Paolo. Sounds like the repair may only be temporary, then.

Frustrating though it may be, if you've really had enough of the camera, why not sell it with the fault disclosed? Or even give it away to someone with an interest in photography but limited funds? It's still a fine camera for use with manual, preset and switchable A/M M42 lenses, as they don't require the aperture control mechanism...

[stevebrot]

Thanks for sharing. I am sure you are disappointed in this outcome. With any luck your experience will provide additional information regarding the reliability of the "CA (California) repair".


Steve

[Not a Number]

That is disappointing news. The repair person gives a one year warranty on the repair as I recall. Still, as the OP says throwing good money after bad for additional postage doesn't feel like a good decision.

A couple of other posters had their cameras repaired by the same service before the OP. And several after. We still await the outcome in those instances. Let us hope they post follow ups.

[paolo11]

Thanks BigMackCam. Strange as it may sound, if I leave the battery out for 15 or so minutes, reinsert battery, it works. I've only tried this 3 times, so we'll see. Worse case error seems to be 1st shot is bad, then okay after that. Whatever the CA guy did it seems to have helped as it was a hard failure last time. He won't say at this time what he did.

I just might try taking it down to see what was done (filing??), and take it from there.

It's really a good camera for my wife, and she loves it. Hard decision.

[stevebrot]

He won't say at this time what he did.

Based on what he sells from his eBay store, I suspect he replaces the bad solenoid with salvage parts from other cameras.

pc35photolab | eBay


Steve

[paolo11]

Reply from CA:

"If you like send it back and we'll adjust the aperture control some more. We have been fine tuning our repair process. I think we'll be extending our testing procedure to allow for several days of "sitting". Right now we let the camera "sit" for about two days, then test it to see if the aperture control will stick. Most of our repaired cameras are fine but there have been a couple of cameras that required a second repair.

Expect us to have the camera for at least one week, then add the shipping back and forth to estimate turn around time."

I think that he's working with the current solenoid, not sure what fine tuning means (filing)? I'm reluctant to mail out as it's about $30.00 for mailing. Currently, it's just the 1st photo that's black, after that it works fine. I still have about 9 months left on the warranty, so I won't rush to have it repaired again.

The problem didn't recur till after 3 months, so sitting for several days might not show the problem.

[robtcorl]

Not sure where you're located, but $30 shipping seems high.
Wouldn't a USPS priority flat rate box suffice?
Also since the repair didn't "stick" it would be nice if they paid the shipping both ways.

My K-S2 has started doing the same thing, first shot dark, then fine after that until shut down for a few minutes and restarted.
My understanding of the problem is that in time it most likely will get worse.