[distudio]

It happened to my K3 tonight, very early into a shoot, I pulled off the grip and it seemed to stop of its own accord then continued to work flawlessly for another 1500+ shots

Firmware V1.03, 29deg C ambient, Grip with two charged OEM batteries, 2 x 32GB cards loaded, single shot mode, daylight WB, Av, Spot focus, focus on back button, SR on, lens correction off, Jpg 6MP + RAW DNG.

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Last edited by distudio; 03-16-2014 at 10:32 AM.

[bschafer]

It has happened to me 3 times. All occurrences outside in colder (near freezing) weather. Appears to have occurred with partially discharged battery (both Pentax and 3rd party)
Purchase Date: Dec 2013 Serial # 4859510

[danny09]

What do u mean by an external battery? A grip? Or a non pentax battery?

[fjeril]

Firmware V1.02

• Memory card
  Sandisk Extreme Pro 32GB
• Logged errors or error messages
  No error message
• Bad images before/after stutter
  Nope
• Drive mode
  AF.A Mode (SPOT)
• Camera mode
• AV
  
• Lens mounted
  DA15
• Live view vs. viewfinder
  Viewfinder
  # of shutter cycles per session before mirror flapping occured
  approx. 400 single shots with the same battery
• General use patterns (high #'s per session, cold, humidity)
  Approx. 18C and %30 humidity.
• Shutter count
  8650 - mirror flapping happened at about 7500 - no issues since then
• Serial numbers (body)
  4833604
• Damage or part failure in mirror box/aperture coupling
  No
• Other problems noted at the same time
  No
• Actions that stopped mirror flapping
  Switching off camera did not work, but it stopped after removing the battery

[alexcoitus]

i have a pentax k-x that done it 1 or 2 times in 4 years when the battery is very low (before dead)
after shooting long exposures all night
the shutter is flapping non-stop and cannot stop it unless you take the batteries out,
the batteries are enelp x rechargable AA
its a common thing when pushing it to the limits.its just a hiccup, the camera is fine and its normal, i know my camera by now and pentax to me are the toughest cameras around

[bvanes]

It happened when the non-Pentax battery was depleted in battery grip BG-5.

Firmware V1.01 ( when the problem occurred) now 1.03

* Memory card

2x Lexar Professional 400x speed 32GB

* Logged errors or error messages

No error message

* Bad images before/after stutter

No

* Drive mode
Fast 8 shots per second

AF.S

* Camera mode

Program

* Lens mounted

F* 300/4.5

* Live view vs. viewfinder

Viewfinder

# of shutter cycles per session before mirror

approximate 150

* General use patterns (high #'s per session, cold, humidity)

Approx. 14C and %80 humidity.

* Shutter count

no idea, but currently 1720

* Serial numbers (body)

4841342

* Damage or part failure in mirror box/aperture coupling

No

* Other problems noted at the same time

No

* Actions that stopped mirror flapping

Switching off camera did not work, but it stopped after removing the battery

[Mallee Boy]

Hi,
As I reported on another thread I have had this occurrence with my K3.
It was at the the end of a heavy shooting session in the field where I would have taken several hundred photos over the period of an hour or less. Battery could have been a genuine or non genuine, I have both and can not recall which I was using at the time (it was some time back now).

The solution: Remove & replace battery. (which is generally the solution to any weird power issues)

I have not had it happen since and the camera would most probably be one of the hardest working cameras on the forum shooting on average around 1500 shots per week.

I also had this happen with my K20D and I think with the K5, although not 100% certain on that one. K5iiS has never missed a beat.

I always update firmware at the first opportunity.

Cheers
Grant

[DRabbit]

Thanks everyone who has replied so far. Hopefully all this varied information is helpful to Pentax. It's certainly not insignificant that almost 50 people have reported some mirror-flap crazy episode, even when not shooting time-lapse.

I will keep updating the first post as people report in.

Mallee Boy: 1500 shots per week may be a lot, but I'm shooting 7000 shots in a day. Law of averages dictate that's probably why I run into this problem more often than most people. (I'm shooting time-lapse professionally, multiple times per week). I have mirror-flap lockup occur on nearly every shoot I go to (and it happened when both K3 cameras were practically brand-new, out of the box). However, the K5-II hasn't had one bit of trouble in all the same scenarios with over 100,000 shutter actuations in 4 months. There is definitely something going on with the K3 model.

[BillO]

Amy asked me to supply my details here. This is what I sent to Pentax:

• Camera was mounted on a PENTAX FA* 600/f4 ED (IF) on a large tripod
• A D-BG5 battery grip was used and fully charged batteries were in the grip and the camera body.
• Firmware is Ver: 1.02
• I was using a 32GB Lexar Platinum II SD card.
• There were less than 1000 images exposed since the camera was new
• It was set to Av mode with motor drive on high-speed
• AF single was selected and AF mode was spot.
• ISO was set to 400
• SR was off
• Lighting was bright sun

I pointed the camera/lens combination at a flying bird with a blue sky back ground and pressed the shutter release. I had intended to take multiple frames at maximum frame rate of the flying bird. Instead the camera lost control and it sounded like a machine gun going off. For about 15-20 seconds it sounded like the shutter and mirror were being operated at about 20 times per second. The noise was very loud and mechanical. I tired turning off the power, but this did not help. I attempted to remove the battery in the grip, but this also did not help. Before I could remove the battery from the body, the camera stopped making the noise.

No images were recorded during the episode. The camera has not done this a second time yet, but id does sound different (more clunky) and I am concerned that permanent damage has been done.

I have read on the internet about other people having this problem.

Have you been able to reproduce it, and is there a fix being release soon?
Also, have you determined if this problem causes damage to the shutter/mirror mechanisms, and if so, what is Ricoh planning to do the help those owners that have had this problem damage their camera?

I called both the US and Canada about it. The guy on the phone in the US said he had never heard of the problem. The tech in Canada said he had heard of it and would send my information in ot Ricoh Japan, but was not aware that they has specifically reproduced or solved the problem. He suggested upgrading to V1.03.

[emiliogv]

serial number4851834 K3 K-3 failure - couldn't stop the mirror flapping up and down
disconnecting the battery

[Mallee Boy]

Thanks everyone who has replied so far. Hopefully all this varied information is helpful to Pentax. It's certainly not insignificant that almost 50 people have reported some mirror-flap crazy episode, even when not shooting time-lapse.

I will keep updating the first post as people report in.

Mallee Boy: 1500 shots per week may be a lot, but I'm shooting 7000 shots in a day. Law of averages dictate that's probably why I run into this problem more often than most people. (I'm shooting time-lapse professionally, multiple times per week). I have mirror-flap lockup occur on nearly every shoot I go to (and it happened when both K3 cameras were practically brand-new, out of the box). However, the K5-II hasn't had one bit of trouble in all the same scenarios with over 100,000 shutter actuations in 4 months. There is definitely something going on with the K3 model.

Wow....that is a lot ! and I will stand corrected and go the back of the line.

[Essdubbya]

K3 Silver
Serial no 2573016
No idea how to check number of shutter operations but not many
Silver grip
Genuine pentax batteries. Full charge
Variety of pentax lenses mostly DA*50-135 and DA 10-17 and with Tamron 17-50
SD Card 1 is Sandisk Extreme 32Gb class10. Ditto card 2.
So far have had a couple of lockups and crazy Live View on/off
Two instances of mirror flap. Only stopped with battery removal (in camera not grip)
One instance of sudden inability to focus in poor contrast even though I had taken quite a few photos immediately prior, same conditions and same subject matter. Solution only resolved by using spot focus. Returned to normal after a good lie down.
Reported to Oz distributor. Initial response was to bring in for check though I haven't done that yet as they do not have any silvers available at the moment if an exchange is contemplated
After discussing this with the service guy he asked me to return it for examination and service
I will post the outcome when known
I have been using my K-5II mostly since this occurred.
I think it will take a while to resolve though the distributor (CR Kennedy) is very good and has a close relationship with Ricoh/Pentax Japan. All of the principals speak fluent Japanese and are long standing distributors of all of the Pentax products - not just cameras. I referred them to this website
I have posted this elsewhere

[riseform]

Happened today 3/17/14
Serial # 4830255. Purchase date 10/31/13 K3
Continued flapping even when camera was switched off. Stopped on its own after 15 seconds or more. No images were recorded during the event.
Outdoors, 48 degrees F but significant wind chill, Continuous shooting M setting but I was mostly snapping single shots, TAv (shooting a peregrine), Full battery, Firmware 1.03

[agkchang]

I Have Two K3s with The Issue.

K3 #1 was purchased from B&H on 10/8/2013 and received early November, 2013; SN 4830147.
K3 #2 was purchased from B&H on 1/16/2014 and received late January/early February, 2014. SN 4829944.

Occurrence Details
I only use Pentax brand batteries that were fully charged and with the grip on with the grip battery used first.
The problem occurred outdoors on my first camera several times within a short period; batteries could not be a problem because not enough shots to be the reason, but subsequent firmware updates have addressed battery related issues; I don't remember the exact settings, but it was most likely set in P mode, AFC, expanded focus point select, multi-segment metering, multi-WB; two Sandisk 32GB Extreme UI 95MBS cards installed; outdoor temp was about 45 degrees F. Turning off would always stop the problem. This K-3 was sent in mid-January to Pentax replace the top LCD under warranty which cracked across the bottom; repair took almost two months primarily to get the part; I had mentioned the mirror problem, but at the time they were not aware of the problem, so they say; they checked it, but evidently couldn't replicate the problem; they did update the firmware to 1.0.2; I can't remember know if the problem has occurred since getting it back; firmware has been updated to 1.0.3; I don't believe the problem has happened since 1.0.3 update on this camera.

The problem has occurred maybe a couple of times on my second K-3 with firmware 1.0.2, but I haven't had it happen since 1.0.3; was outdoors, temp was probably between 70-80 degrees F; Pentax batteries, grip, and settings same as my first camera although I do shoot manual focus/exposure as well as at times; problem stopped by turning off camera.

IN ALL CASES, TURNING OFF CAMERA STOPPED PROBLEM.

[fialdj]

just ran 2 @ 500 click @ 3sec tests. indoor, manual focus, jpeg format. K3 was purchased from B&H on 12/21/2013. s/n: 4851561. firmware 1.02

I have not had this issue yet.