[mille19]

I had the machine gun shutter happen twice when shooting a rugby match at the weekend, I had to take the battery out both times to stop it.

[gosman]

I thank Rabbit too for removing himself.

[DRabbit]

I actually still check this thread daily.

I like to check and see if there are any new developments.

I find it mildly disturbing that there exists this odd movement amongst other members and those of DPR that one should ignore an issue such as this...I think more so because the main proponents of the argument are those who have not experienced the issue, or have only had it occur infrequently. Sweeping it under the rug because of your personal experiences and optimistic thinking would be doing a grave disservice to those of us whom find the problem commonplace - not to mention you yourself as a potential K3 user should you ever encounter it in the future.

Logging information about individual occurences certainly may not lead anywhere with Pentax directly doing something, though I feel that gathering as much data on the issue would certainly make it easier to replicate eventually, and through that some troubleshooting by various members may find some solution. I definitely hope that it so happens Pentax takes notice and fixes things, however.

Still, I would like to thank DRabbit for taking the time to actively pursue the issue.

Thanks A. I appreciate your thoughts on the issue. I don't know why anyone would want to ignore the issue. I can certainly understand if it were just me who has had the problem, but I think enough people have run into it, that it should just be brushed aside.

I thank Rabbit too for removing himself.

I have no idea what you are referring to. I'm also a "herself".

[gosman]

Sorry Rabbit Miss. I misinterpreted your response. I thought you deleted yourself from the thread!

[DRabbit]

UPDATE

In case any of you following along are interested, article got published last night on Steve Huff's website.

The Pentax K3 and the Crazy-Acting Mirror Sickness by Amy Medina | STEVE HUFF PHOTOS

[JinDesu]

UPDATE

In case any of you following along are interested, article got published last night on Steve Huff's website.

The Pentax K3 and the Crazy-Acting Mirror Sickness by Amy Medina | STEVE HUFF PHOTOS

I find it pretty well written. I thought you were putting in as much positive stuff as possible to prevent it from sounding too negative.

I bought a k-3, haven't had an issue yet, but haven't spent too much time with it. I'm certainly hoping I don't get the issue, but I also don't use the camera for my livelihood.

[gosman]

Well I'm glad I don't do time lapse pictures! Very few of us do.

[DRabbit]

Well I'm glad I don't do time lapse pictures! Very few of us do.

Gosman, you should read this very thread you are replying to then. Most of the users here had the issue without shooting time-lapse.

No need to keep replying. Let's try to keep this thread for valuable updates, new information and new reports.

JinDesu: thanks, and I hope you don't run into the issue!

[Mutters]

Better count me also.
One mirror craziness about 3 months back during quite warm weather.
Battery removal remedy. Worked fine for rest of shoot.
Plus, I've had a couple of lock ups since that required battery removal.
I get the feeling they're related, but obviously don't actually know that.
Hoping a firmware update is the fix.

Good work Amy - feel for you when you get knocked, plus having to explain yourself constantly.

[audiobomber]

This hasn't happened to me (yet) but this thread has me a bit worried. I don't do time lapse but I do a bit of continuous high "sports" shooting.

Me too, I shoot in high speed burst mode most of the time. In over 6300 shots, I've had mirror runaway once. In the same time period my laptops and Blackberry have crashed numerous times. I've never used interval shooting.

[howieb101]

Well I currently have a K5. There were reportedly issues with mirror flop with this camera that thankfully I ignored. I have used the K5 classic for many years and would have missed out if I faithfully followed and worried about everything I read on the internet.

Yes, there is risk but sometimes it's worth it.

I haven't got the K3 yet and all this negativity is affecting me despite what I say. I may go for the K5 IIs instead given it's ridiculously low price now days and hope that in another 1 1/2 years Ricoh-Pentax will have a fullframe and skip the K3 all together. This may be partially due to the x% reports of this issue but is in many ways because the improvements in the K3 are not enough to outway the $500 price differential between the K5IIs and the K3 and also the way I shoot.

If I was a birder or action shooter I'd probably still go for a K3.

And for all the K3 users who don't have an issue also please don't blame them for saying this. All this negativity also irks them. There are more than one viewpoints to this issue.

[DRabbit]

I've said it before, but I think it's worth repeating because a few want to minimize the problem because it has only happened once to them.

One user has already posted that when the fault happened, it also seemed to have broken his camera completely. It would no longer power on after the mirror-flapping fault occurred. Considering the aggressive nature of this flaw, I think the attitude of "one time is acceptable" is a bit short-sighted.

In addition, I know I ran into this problem more often than most because of the sheer number of of shutter actuations I was putting on the camera - it's law of averages. For example, if on average, you are only going to run into it every 3,000-5,000 photos, how often is the average user going to run into it? Probably not all that often. To the users who say "I've put 5000 frames on the camera and the issue only happened once", I would respond that it doesn't surprise me, but it equally is not going to be surprising if the issue happens to you again in the future.

The biggest problem with this whole mirror-flapping issue is it's unpredictable and sporadic nature. Users who want to say they haven't had the issue... of course they are welcome to say that. However, using a car analogy, we don't knew if that's equivalent to saying "I've never had to change my oil" -- or if it's more like "I've never had to change my brakes -- or even if it's more like "I've never had to change my timing belt". We just don't know how likely or often a person is going to have the issue, if at all, in the lifetime of their camera. That's where Pentax need to step up and investigate, because I don't think 80+ reports of the issue in a month's time is insignificant.

Should users be worried? I only think it's a big issue for those that are seriously relying on their camera. I wouldn't recommend a professional buy the K3. I equally wouldn't recommend to birders or those that can't afford to miss the shot (because it cannot be recreated). And I definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone who shoots in a quiet environment that can't be interrupted (weddings, christenings, or during a play for example). Otherwise, just go ahead and enjoy it. If the problem happens, and if it doesn't impact performance overall, it is what it is. Maybe by then, because of people willing to put a little pressure on the company, Pentax will have a fix and you can send it in for repair.

I've said it before, but I think it's worth repeating because a few want to minimize the problem because it has only happened once to them.

One user has already posted that when the fault happened, it also seemed to have broken his camera completely. It would no longer power on after the mirror-flapping fault occurred. Considering the aggressive nature of this flaw, I think the attitude of "one time is acceptable" is a bit short-sighted.

In addition, I know I ran into this problem more often than most because of the sheer number of of shutter actuations I was putting on the camera - it's law of averages. For example, if on average, you are only going to run into it every 3,000-5,000 photos, how often is the average user going to run into it? Probably not all that often. To the users who say "I've put 5000 frames on the camera and the issue only happened once", I would respond that it doesn't surprise me, but it equally is not going to be surprising if the issue happens to you again in the future.

The biggest problem with this whole mirror-flapping issue is it's unpredictable and sporadic nature. Users who want to say they haven't had the issue... of course they are welcome to say that. However, using a car analogy, we don't knew if that's equivalent to saying "I've never had to change my oil" -- or if it's more like "I've never had to change my brakes -- or even if it's more like "I've never had to change my timing belt". We just don't know how likely or often a person is going to have the issue, if at all, in the lifetime of their camera. That's where Pentax need to step up and investigate, because I don't think 80+ reports of the issue in a month's time is insignificant.

Should users be worried? I only think it's a big issue for those that are seriously relying on their camera. I wouldn't recommend a professional buy the K3. I equally wouldn't recommend to birders or those that can't afford to miss the shot (because it cannot be recreated). And I definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone who shoots in a quiet environment that can't be interrupted (weddings, christenings, or during a play for example). Otherwise, just go ahead and enjoy it. If the problem happens, and if it doesn't impact performance overall, it is what it is. Maybe by then, because of people willing to put a little pressure on the company, Pentax will have a fix and you can send it in for repair.

I agree. If my car starts to behave strange from time to time, I stop trusting that it will take me from A to B when it really counts therefor I buy a new one. Same with my K-3. I have some 25000+ shutter releases and have had the mirror flopp 2 times. Fortunately not when I really needed it to shoot. If it had happened when I shot eagles last week I had been really dissapointed because for the first time in three years the eagles came much closer than they have ever been. That for a very short time, only minutes before they took off to where the normally stay. I need to believe that the camera will take photos when I press the button. Not hope it will. I have no alternative but to hope Pentax/Ricoh fixes the problem. Going for Nikon or Canon is not an alternative I would even consider. I like the Pentax style and it is not for the price tag but for the idea of a compact yet really capable DSLR. While my friend carries 6 kg I carry less than 2 kg and the result is the same. Also the other brands have there own glitches from model to model.
My vote goes to you DRabbit. Thank you very much for all the work you put into this and hopefully you will be able to switch back to K-3 again when this is resolved.

/Thomas

[gosman]

Amy you have made your point. I was much like you when I was considering buying the infamous D800 and D600 with all of their problems. I got run off the Nikon thread and decided to stick to Pentax. And now we have this problem. I am a believer of six sigma (worked in manufacturing) quality and don't like excuses for poor performance and quality too. But there comes a time when you realize that enough is enough and checking in ever so often is the best strategy. Thanks for being our advocate, but I think Pentax and world has heard you!

[captainbert]

I'm not sure this is exactly the 'machine gun' like mirror flop problem, but my K3 has been acting up this evening quite a bit. It's firing sporadically by itself, maybe a shot every 3 or 4 seconds quite randomly. I was mostly on multiple exposure mode each time, although it has happened on single shot also (twice). The screen was blank after each time it did this in single shot mode. It's happened five times this evening over a period of an hour and a half of shooting. Ive removed the grip and take out the battery but still faced the issue again after. I'm shooting a three week old Pentax K3 silver with genuine Pentax batteries. I had the mirror flop issue with the K5 before and it was nothing like this. Anyone else have similar problems?