[Anteros]

Hello!

I've recently purchased a k3-II to upgrade from my faithful K5. Got it with ~100 actuations and I'm at about 300 now, with no issues. GPS also works, as well as all buttons and both SD slots. While checking the SN, I found out that it's one of the early units that are/can be affected by a power-off problem. Since I still have the K5, I thought of sending the K3-II for inspection, or check if it's already been serviced, but the CS representative on the phone told me that they don't have any recall information for K3-II, so I'm not sure how should I proceed.

How likely is that the camera will start showing those symptoms if it doesn't have them from the beginning?
Where else should I call/email to get the camera inspected and/or serviced?

Any guidance will be helpful. Thanks!

[jpzk]

Hello!

I've recently purchased a k3-II to upgrade from my faithful K5. Got it with ~100 actuations and I'm at about 300 now, with no issues. GPS also works, as well as all buttons and both SD slots. While checking the SN, I found out that it's one of the early units that are/can be affected by a power-off problem. Since I still have the K5, I thought of sending the K3-II for inspection, or check if it's already been serviced, but the CS representative on the phone told me that they don't have any recall information for K3-II, so I'm not sure how should I proceed.

How likely is that the camera will start showing those symptoms if it doesn't have them from the beginning?
Where else should I call/email to get the camera inspected and/or serviced?

Any guidance will be helpful. Thanks!

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it " !!
My guess: if it hasn't caused any problem(s) it will likely not.
More members will come in and give more information, I'm sure.

[stevebrot]

You might contact the seller to see if they have any information on the camera's history. Was the camera sold to you as new or used? In regards to the CS representative, you can send them this link:

Ricoh offers fix for Pentax K3 II power-off problem

I have no idea whether there is a flag in the EXIF indicating whether the service had been performed, though there may be a few clues such as whether the serial number in the EXIF agrees with that on the body or whether the manufacture date is after the recall date.

Good luck


Steve

[UMC]

That's kind of tricky. I had the same question after I bought a demonstrator K-3 II from the US in December 2015. I was reluctant to send it for rework, as neither did I know if the recall had been carried out before nor did I know, if the German Pentax repair facility would rework a camera from the US. However, during the next 2 years every now and then it completeley drained the battery (even the additional one from the grip) while lying on the shelf. At last it died from an aperture actuator problem (not the one known from the K-30 and the likes) in Feb. 2018. I sent it for commercial repair - and to my big surprise, they fixed it at no charge, even though the 2 year EU warranty was long gone!

Anyhow, there was a recall on the K-3 II for sure and back then they stated, that they would rework affected cameras even after the warranty had expired (which in the EU means after 2+ years!).

[stevebrot]

How likely is that the camera will start showing those symptoms if it doesn't have them from the beginning?

You can always attempt to provoke the symptoms by leaving the battery out for several days/weeks as described in the notification.


Steve

[Adam]

Hello!

I've recently purchased a k3-II to upgrade from my faithful K5. Got it with ~100 actuations and I'm at about 300 now, with no issues. GPS also works, as well as all buttons and both SD slots. While checking the SN, I found out that it's one of the early units that are/can be affected by a power-off problem. Since I still have the K5, I thought of sending the K3-II for inspection, or check if it's already been serviced, but the CS representative on the phone told me that they don't have any recall information for K3-II, so I'm not sure how should I proceed.

How likely is that the camera will start showing those symptoms if it doesn't have them from the beginning?
Where else should I call/email to get the camera inspected and/or serviced?

Any guidance will be helpful. Thanks!

Definitely see if you can provoke the behavior. If not, then chances are it's either been fixed or happens to be fine.

If it turns out a repair is necessary, contact Ricoh and provide them with all the necessary documentation/info about the recall; they will likely hand you off to precision. Phone would probably work best in this case since the explanation might get tricky.

[Anteros]

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it " !!
My guess: if it hasn't caused any problem(s) it will likely not.
More members will come in and give more information, I'm sure.

What's what I'm trying to figure out. Don't want to send it for repairs if not needed, but don't want it to fail when I need it the most!

---------- Post added 06-06-2018 at 04:36 PM ----------

You might contact the seller to see if they have any information on the camera's history. Was the camera sold to you as new or used? In regards to the CS representative, you can send them this link:

Ricoh offers fix for Pentax K3 II power-off problem

I have no idea whether there is a flag in the EXIF indicating whether the service had been performed, though there may be a few clues such as whether the serial number in the EXIF agrees with that on the body or whether the manufacture date is after the recall date.

Good luck


Steve

I'll ask the seller. It came from Canada (eBay) and it's a very early serial. 04/25/2015 mfg. date 618xx SN

---------- Post added 06-06-2018 at 04:38 PM ----------

You can always attempt to provoke the symptoms by leaving the battery out for several days/weeks as described in the notification.


Steve

Might try that once I get back from vacations, though I don't want it to be sitting unused for a month (or more?) if I can be using it instead!

---------- Post added 06-06-2018 at 04:42 PM ----------

Definitely see if you can provoke the behavior. If not, then chances are it's either been fixed or happens to be fine.

If it turns out a repair is necessary, contact Ricoh and provide them with all the necessary documentation/info about the recall; they will likely hand you off to precision. Phone would probably work best in this case since the explanation might get tricky.

I'll try once I get back from vacations, but I want to make sure I can send it for repairs once I make it fail, although it might be ok, since having only ~100 shots since 2015 has me thinking it could have been with no battery or fully drained battery for a while.