[the_snark]

We have a K-3 which is 12 months plus about 2-3 weeks old. I could make the usual excuses about being too busy, but I didn't raise my concerns with Pentax within the warranty period. I will give them a call tomorrow (or the Oz distributor CR Kennedy here in Adelaide) to see if they will help me. Anyway, I thought I would mention the issues here to see if anyone has seen anything similar.

The first issue. On a few occasions I have seen the camera get into a mode where all images have a strange colour cast to them. Resetting the settings gets the camera back to normal. Investigating further, I used the Pentax DCU 5 software to look at RAW images. (I don't currently have any other software for this). In the Custom Image menu I noticed that the "good" images have the Bright setting (which is what the camera should have had), and "bad" images are all set to Cross Processing. It has occurred to me that I may have accidentally pressed keys on the back of the camera to change to cross processing (right arrow, then left arrow would do it). I think it's unlikely I would accidentally do this exact same thing maybe 4 times, but it's possible.

The second issue is more definite. While using the camera, it suddenly began continuously releasing the shutter at a rapid rate. I couldn't get it to stop, and even turning off the power switch didn't stop it. I had to remove the battery. On replacing the battery all was normal. I expected 100+ images to have been captured while the camera was doing this, but there were none, just the ones I had taken. This problem has never returned.

The camera was running FW 1.01 when issue 1 was seen. I then upgraded to 1.03, and don't recall if issue 1 was seen again. Issue 2 happened while runing 1.03. [EDIT - just cecked, and it's now up to 1.11! I didn't see anything relevant to my problems in the changes.]

Any thoughts on these things would be appreciated, thanks.

---

Last edited by the_snark; 12-13-2014 at 05:20 PM.

[Adam]

We have a K-3 which is 12 months plus about 2-3 weeks old. I could make the usual excuses about being too busy, but I didn't raise my concerns with Pentax within the warranty period. I will give them a call tomorrow (or the Oz distributor CR Kennedy here in Adelaide) to see if they will help me. Anyway, I thought I would mention the issues here to see if anyone has seen anything similar.

The first issue. On a few occasions I have seen the camera get into a mode where all images have a strange colour cast to them. Resetting the settings gets the camera back to normal. Investigating further, I used the Pentax DCU 5 software to look at RAW images. (I don't currently have any other software for this). In the Custom Image menu I noticed that the "good" images have the Bright setting (which is what the camera should have had), and "bad" images are all set to Cross Processing. It has occurred to me that I may have accidentally pressed keys on the back of the camera to change to cross processing (right arrow, then left arrow would do it). I think it's unlikely I would accidentally do this exact same thing maybe 4 times, but it's possible.

The second issue is more definite. While using the camera, it suddenly began continuously releasing the shutter at a rapid rate. I couldn't get it to stop, and even turning off the power switch didn't stop it. I had to remove the battery. On replacing the battery all was normal. I expected 100+ images to have been captured while the camera was doing this, but there were none, just the ones I had taken. This problem has never returned.

The camera was running FW 1.01 when issue 1 was seen. I then upgraded to 1.03, and don't recall if issue 1 was seen again. Issue 2 happened while runing 1.03.

Any thoughts on these things would be appreciated, thanks.

I would recommend updating to the latest firmware version, 1.11:
Pentax K-3 Firmware v1.11 Released - Firmware Updates | PentaxForums.com

That will hopefully decrease the likelihood of the mirror flop issue.

[jatrax]

I don't believe you have an issue.

"bad" images are all set to Cross Processing.

I think you answered your own question, you set it to 'cross processing'. Easy enough to do especially if you are using select AF points and you are actually in the menu. Thumb hits keys, and there you go.

it suddenly began continuously releasing the shutter at a rapid rate.

This is a known problem, that generally happens infrequently. Has happened to me twice in over 18,000 exposures. Solution is to pull the battery and re-insert. Supposedly the last firmware update had a fix for this. At least I have not seen many reports of it since then. I believe 1.11 is the latest firmware.

[the_snark]

Thanks for the quick replies - that is reassuring. I did see a thread about mirror issues here before posting - sorry, I should have looked closer and I would have realised that was my issue!

I guess I should have checked the forums sooner, rather than being prompted by an email about that 3 million post giveaway!

Will go to FW 1.11 shortly.

[stevebrot]

While using the camera, it suddenly began continuously releasing the shutter at a rapid rate.

With any luck, Ricoh/Pentax will honor your warranty on this one. If your problem has the same cause as the "runaway mirror syndrome" that has plagued some users, it is the result of a fault in the mirror control components and will not go away on its own. It is also not addressable through firmware update. V1.11 is capable of detecting the behavior when it occurs, but at the cost of a lost shot evidenced by a blank frame. The fix requires the camera be sent to the shop where they will re-flash the offending component.

I would contact Ricoh post-haste.


Steve

[bladerunner6]

What sort of credit card did you buy it with, many offer extended warranty.