[PALADIN85020]

I have had the mirror flutter problem. It happened only once, shortly after I first received my K-3 from B&H on Nov. 13, 2013. My camera's serial number is 4833996. The mirror started flopping machine-gun style. Panicking, I turned the camera off - it continued to flutter. I do not know what the settings were on the camera, but I usually shoot in aperture priority, single shots only. I began to attempt removing the battery, but before I could do that, it ceased fluttering. The firmware at the time was v. 1.00. I have since upgraded the firmware with versions 1.01, 1.02, and 1.03, but have had no further recurrences of the flutter. At the time of the incident, I was not using the battery grip, I was using only a 32 GB SanDisk Extreme memory card in slot one. Slot 2 was unused. Routinely, when a battery shows any depletion at all, I rotate it with a fully charged one, so I believe the Pentax battery was fully charged or almost so. My lens was the Pentax 18-135 WR. Daytime temperatures at that time in Phoenix were probably around 65-70 degrees F. I'm sure I had less than 500 shots logged on the camera at the time. I'm pretty sure I was on autofocus.

Looking through the viewfinder after the flutter, it was impossible to see anything, so it appears the mirror was left in the "up" position. Turning the camera on again, I checked for any photos taken, but none were, and the camera worked normally. I have been using it off and on (maybe 3 or 4 pictures a week on average), but have not experienced the "flutter" since. I would be very interested to know if Pentax is aware of this annoying problem, and if they are going to do anything about it. If a firmware fix will take care of it, I hope it comes out soon.

John

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Last edited by PALADIN85020; 03-13-2014 at 12:06 PM.

[OJGoreng]

S/N: 4850479
Bought: December 18th, 2013.

I've mentioned this incident from January 25th in another thread, but on request I'm reposting it here. I'm happy to say it has not happened since, while I have been using the camera on a daily basis, typically taking a few hundreds of shots a day documenting local birdlife. I have not yet updated the firmware to 1.02, FTM. Can't help but speculate it might be a capacitor somewhere in the circuit that needed to be "broken in" before operating at normal levels.

Just to add a data point... the reason I'm reading this thread is that the same thing happened to me today. Fully charged original battery, firmware 1.01, no grip attached, in high-speed drive mode when it happened. 3 Degrees Celsius outside, lowest temperature I've used it so far. It scared the heck out of me, but didn't repeat itself the rest of the afternoon. Couldn't help but think of the recent passing of colonel Kalashnikov when it happened...

Edited to say I had a second instance yesterday, March 24th. This time without panic; just popped out he battery as soon as it happened and moved on. Still a tad annoying, though.
Edited even more to add the serial number and DOP.

[umber]

My K3 Info:
Serial number: 4834115
Bought on 12/26/13

The mirror flutter problem happened twice:
1. In January 2014, it happened indoor, temperature about 70F. The grip was attached (it happened probably when I first tried out the grip). 2 different brand, and capacity cards were in the slots, and 1 was getting the raw images and the other JPEG. It happened when I played with Live View and returned back to normal mode. Firmware was 1.01

2. In Feb 2014, it happened outdoor, while the temperature was about 30F. The grip was attached. The same cards and same setting as above. Still after I played with Live View. Firmware 1.02

In both times I did not have chance to take out the battery before the flutter stopped.

[danny09]

My K3 Info:
Serial number: 4834115
Bought on 12/26/13

The mirror flutter problem happened twice:
1. In January 2014, it happened indoor, temperature about 70F. The grid was attached (it happened probably when I first tried out the grip). 2 different brand, and capacity cards were in the slots, and 1 was getting the raw images and the other JPEG. It happened when I played with Live View and returned back to normal mode. Firmware was 1.01

2. In Feb 2014, it happened outdoor, while the temperature was about 30F. The grid was attached. The same cards and same setting as above. Still after I played with Live View. Firmware 1.02

In both times I did not have chance to take out the battery before the flutter stopped.

What do mean by a 'grid was attached'? Did you mean the 'grip' instead? Or did you attach an external device commonly known as 'grid'?

[umber]

What do mean by a 'grid was attached'? Did you mean the 'grip' instead? Or did you attach an external device commonly known as 'grid'?

Sorry my mistake. I meant the battery grip.

[Erd§]

On request, here are my (probably unhelpful) details:

K3 purchase date: 13/12/2013 (serial number unknown at the moment - don't have it with me).
Crazy mirror flap occurrance: 14/12/2013 - on first use - after about 10 shots. It was outdoors, 11:30am and about 30 degrees Celcius.
No unusual settings - AV mode - only one SD card in use (slot 1) - genuine battery, fully charged. Firmware 1.0.
The mirror machine-gun-flapped for about 30 seconds (no response from any button including the power switch) until I hit the Menu button, which is when it stopped (possibly a coincidence).
I then pulled the battery and reinserted it.

In the 3 months since, I have shot around 6000 frames without further issue, updating the firmware with each release (up to 1.02).
I do not shoot video or time-lapse.
I consider my crazy mirror flap event to be a one-off aberration.

[jhmos]

Reproduced a second time yesterday with a no-name battery while the Pentax battery was charging.

I got mirror flap at 998 frames with the following EXIF readings 119_0313/IMGP1035.JPG
Body Battery State : Full
Body Battery Voltage 1 : 7.03 V
Body Battery Voltage 2 : 6.69 V
Camera Temperature : 29 C
Camera Temperature 2 : 33.7 C
Camera Temperature 3 : 33.7 C


So, considerably higher battery voltage readings than the previous report.


I worked out that, with the replacement value of the camera in worst case, each frame costs me 0.65 cents ($1300 / 200000 shutter life). So its about $19.50 spent on this so far (about 3000 frames) :-)

I may hold off doing another test till I think there is something new to learn.
Here is the 'proof' video and last image (to provide full exif data).

You Tube

You Tube

Attached Images

View Picture EXIF

File Date

 

[Poit]

Camera bought at release, S/N 2573637

Crazy Mirror Flap only occurred on one day, but four or five times in close succession. Battery grip attached, both grip and body with original Pentax batteries. Charge remaining was very low. Firmware 1.00. Single shot shooting.

I haven't had a repeat of the issue since that first 'event', but I've always been cautious since then to monitor battery state and change when getting low. I'm only on firmware V1.01 at the moment.

[pearsaab]

now happen twice this week...with 1.02 and now 1.03 version...afa, single point, jpg L, stabilization on, 1 memory card, aa off, continuous shooting high although only shooting 1 shot...grrrrrr

[audiobomber]

now happen twice this week...with 1.02 and now 1.03 version...afa, single point, jpg L, stabilization on, 1 memory card, aa off, continuous shooting high although only shooting 1 shot...grrrrrr

Pentax battery? Fully charged?

[pearsaab]

Pentax battery? Fully charged?

yep...have now marked the battery and trying another

[jhmos]

Pentax battery? Fully charged?

Hi pearsaab,
If you can identify and still have the last image before the fault, could post a small version so we can read the Battery voltages etc. ?

[mille19]

I've had it happen just the once

[Geoff Ince]

I also experienced a K3 lockup once. two weeks back

Using a Pentax battery that was running low shooting a single JPEG frame with a PENTAX GPS device connected. I couldn't turn-off the K3 after waiting 5 mins and had to pop the battery. I did experience a few time during the day after shooting single JPEG's the K3 wouldn't turning off for a few minutes. I assumed it was still processing. Using firmware 1.02.

[walter]

One incident here, first time I tried to take a timelapse. Woke me up several hours in with the out of control mirror. It stopped when I disconnected the batteries. I was able to get it to go out of control two more times by hitting the LV button a few times when just the drained external battery was connected, but not when running on the internal charged battery. It didn't happen the second night with the same setup, except I switched the external power source to a regulated one using two batteries.

Temperature: near freezing
Battery: Internal and External, both genuine
Trigger: External
Cards: Two