Originally posted by jamarley Very glad to see you state this. There are probably more of us who stick to working older gear than those who jump on the latest & greatest as soon as it arrives. And, for a lot of us, reliability, robust build & backwards compatibility are chief among the reasons we chose Pentax in the first place. We just might be a happy silent majority. That is not to say we never experience frustration, jealousy, remorse or anger when these kind of issues arise; it just illustrates how percentages can appear skewed in one direction while actually being quite the opposite. It could be that we Pentaxians use our cameras more than other brands get used, so the raw numbers of reported mirror flops are still a smaller percentage than they appear.
I'm not minimizing the problem. In fact I can recall the last time this happened to my K5. I was about ready to take THE BEST PICTURE I EVER TOOK when the mirror decided to ruin it for me. Once I took the battery out and things returned to normal I was so relieved I felt like giving the camera a big hug. After all, it is my constant companion while out & about and brings me much joy & relaxation after a tough day at the office!
Unfortunate for you the K5 flop issue is not related to the K3 issues and is well documented and repairable.
There will be no regression FW, extended warranty (like the life time stain warranty) or any 'user' fix......
The two main reasons the K5 flops is
1 power regulator failed - symptom flops on using fresh charged battery.
2 syncro worn - mirror flops and occasional full electronics lockups, flipping the mirror with finger will release lockup.
The repair is
1 replace Mother board
2 replace mirror box
You camera needs to go to service if its outside warranty you will pay as fair ware and tear.
Look on the bright side if you have a Nikon D80 , d31000 , d700 or d200 and it flops it mirror up you'll also be paying for the repair....
Its easy to believe your brand is stiffing you but the truth is a complex computerized battery driven electronic tool is likely to suffer issue especially when portability outweighs clean supplies.
You could potentially make the case that Pentax were aware of the regulator failure issue and try using you countries consumer protection rights to get your camera repaired... In the UK consumer rights give you 6 years warranty against design issues which the power regulator I feel woudl come under. But it up to you to prove it.
Sorry.