[Nicolas514]

Sad moment for me. I just got back from yet another wonderful trip to Iceland and my K3 is acting up. The camera lights up, all the back buttons are working, the half shutter press works and the camera focuses but doesn't fire. Most of the top buttons are also not responding, including the "play" button, but the dials do... I'm at a loss here. We had moderately cold weather in Iceland and the car was a bit warm but nothing out of the ordinary. Any thoughts? Is it fixable?

I don't have much cash these days and that's a big loss for me

Any help would be appreciated!

[MarkJerling]

Have you tried a reset?

[Nicolas514]

Have you tried a reset?

Yes, to no avail.

[UserAccessDenied]

Try taking the lens off the camera, wrapping the camera in a paper towel, and putting in a sealed container of rice for a couple of days. This will draw out any lingering moisture inside the camera body, which may be causing shorting in one of the ribbon cable connectors.

I'd remove the battery too, since electrical current can accelerate any corrosion that might be caused by the moisture.

I'd say put a lens on, or at the very least the body cap if doing this!
You don't want rice getting inside and scratching your sensor. Likely to not happen, but in my world that very thing would happen to me...

[Nicolas514]

I'd say put a lens on, or at the very least the body cap if doing this!
You don't want rice getting inside and scratching your sensor. Likely to not happen, but in my world that very thing would happen to me...

Yeah I thought about the body cap! Argh... this is stressful. 6th time in Iceland, first time I have this kind of problem...

[TER-OR]

I had a bit of a problem last summer with the K5 after a rainstorm. The buttons all responded but the shutter would stop responding to the trigger. Cycling power would fix it, but it was very annoying. It seemed to clear up after a little while. I left the camera on the counter instead of putting it back in the drawer, and if there was condensation it seems to have evaporated.

You can also get some dessicant to try. I'm sure you don't have a dessicator, but a large glass jar would do the trick, as may plastic bags. Just put the dessicant in a cloth bag to prevent it going anywhere you don't want. The stuff turns pink when it's reached its water limit. You can put it in an oven to drive the water back out, returning it to blue. IIRC it's not very dusty, but you always want to take precautions.

https://secure.drierite.com/catalog3/default_home.cfm

[Nicolas514]

I had a bit of a problem last summer with the K5 after a rainstorm. The buttons all responded but the shutter would stop responding to the trigger. Cycling power would fix it, but it was very annoying. It seemed to clear up after a little while. I left the camera on the counter instead of putting it back in the drawer, and if there was condensation it seems to have evaporated.

You can also get some dessicant to try. I'm sure you don't have a dessicator, but a large glass jar would do the trick, as may plastic bags. Just put the dessicant in a cloth bag to prevent it going anywhere you don't want. The stuff turns pink when it's reached its water limit. You can put it in an oven to drive the water back out, returning it to blue. IIRC it's not very dusty, but you always want to take precautions.

https://secure.drierite.com/catalog3/default_home.cfm

Thanks for giving me a glimpse of hope!

[cxzj]

I too had a similar problem with my K5 after hiking in the rain. I took out the lens, put on a body cap, took out the battery, opened all the flaps (pop up flash, battery cover, SD card,etc) and left it to dry overnight. Worked fine the next morning. All the best for your K3!

[UserAccessDenied]

I wonder how many other members have experiences "issues" after putting their pentax through the test... Aren't these supposed to be WR?
I understand condensation would be omitted from the WR designation, but hiking in the rain should be fine?

[TER-OR]

Mine has been in the rain on more than one occasion, but this was a little different. It had started light rain, so I switched from the FA100 to the DA 18-135. It's certainly possible that the moisture in the air was enough to cause some condensation inside the body later. I didn't do a lot of zooming when the DA was mounted, I think I set it at aboug 70 and left it there, just in case. It's important to remember there are limits.

[Nicolas514]

I also had the 18-135 WR on the camera, so it should have been WR all around... DIdn't change the lense outside either.

[Mistlefoot]

You can also get some dessicant to try. I'm sure you don't have a dessicator, but a large glass jar would do the trick, as may plastic bags. Just put the dessicant in a cloth bag to prevent it going anywhere you don't want. The stuff turns pink when it's reached its water limit. You can put it in an oven to drive the water back out, returning it to blue. IIRC it's not very dusty, but you always want to take precautions.

https://secure.drierite.com/catalog3/default_home.cfm

I will be captain obvious here and say, put the dessicant in the oven, not the camera.
I think you were pretty clear here, but in case anyone considers using heat to dry a potentially moist electronic device, the odds are just as good that you'll just push the moisture deeper......making the situation worse.

[Pavel_Zhelev]

Before you do any desiccant experiment, have you tried opening and closing the memory card door. You might have lost the small magnet on the door and the camera is thinking that the door is not closed? This is just an assumption. I have exposed my K3 to water very often with 18-135 and 16-50 for prolonged time + switch from bitterly cold and to hot with no issues so far.

[niceshot]

Try taking the lens off the camera, wrapping the camera in a paper towel, and putting in a sealed container of rice for a couple of days. This will draw out any lingering moisture inside the camera body, which may be causing shorting in one of the ribbon cable connectors.

I'd remove the battery too, since electrical current can accelerate any corrosion that might be caused by the moisture.

Great advise, Hope he follows it

[darylk]

One weekend several years ago, I was working on a critical marketing proposal using my laptop at home on my own time. I had been very productive with the aid of Samuel Adams . Unfortunately, with a poorly executed movement of my arm to grab a paper, I dumped a nearly full open top glass of beer over the keyboard . The laptop immediately shut itself down and I immediately turned it over to try to drain the beer out from the same direction it entered rather than letting it percolate all the way through the machine - and of course, I unplugged the power and took the battery out. That was a scary couple of days while I didn't touch the machine, waiting for it to dry out (I didn't use any rice or desiccant). Then came judgement day when I finally, and very anxiously, powered it up. To my amazement and relief, it booted successfully and I was able to retrieve the majority of my work (thank God for autosave!). The keyboard was very "crunchy" to begin with, but all the keys broke free and were usable. However, for the next year or so, high humidity would kind of "re-stick" the keys, providing a tactile "crunchy" reminder of what I'd done .

How does this relate? If I can pour a glass of beer on a PC and have it survive after adequate dry-out time, I'd say there is some hope for a camera's electronics exposed to pure water condensation!

Wishing you the best possible outcome!

Daryl