[reh321]

In Europe failures of the K70 are very few. The K70 is the most successful Pentax midrange body, failures are not at all higher than those of other brands or with the KP.
So it is totally wrong to say "Pentax has not been able to deal with the aging problem, they have been able"
Not only did they try but they succeed.

I do observe that there have been two discussions about the Dark Image Syndrome this month in the "Troubleshooting and Beginner Help" section alone.

[photogem]

I do observe that there have been two discussions about the Dark Image Syndrome this month in the "Troubleshooting and Beginner Help" section alone.

Well... compared with the trouble the K30 and K50 brought those are no strong figures yet.

[reh321]

Well... compared with the trouble the K30 and K50 brought those are no strong figures yet.

Please provide comparable figures for any other recent camera body {using stepper motor to control aperture} sold by Pentax.

[photogem]

please provide comparable figures for any other recent camera body sold by Pentax.

So you allow yourself to produce figures based on sheer guessing but others should provide real figures?

Well, it is much more simple: A friend of mine recently had contact with one of the senior officials at Pentax Europe.

You would love it if you'd know the reason but I won't tell you.
Anyway, he told my friend that the K70 was the best selling Pentax body ever since the K30.

They couldn't get enough from Japan.

Now, it is now over 3 years since the K70 appeared on the market.
When the K30 was 2 years on the market in USA people started already to complain quite a bit because of the dark image syndrome.
Not so with the K-S1, K-S2 and K-70.

The K-S1 did sell quite well in Europe, many youngsters love the hip style and those LED's in action.
Went well with LED's in trainers.
And yet, very few complaints.

[reh321]

So you allow yourself to produce figures based on sheer guessing but others should provide real figures?

Well, it is much more simple: A friend of mine recently had contact with one of the senior officials at Pentax Europe.

You would love it if you'd know the reason but I won't tell you.
Anyway, he told my friend that the K70 was the best selling Pentax body ever since the K30.

They couldn't get enough from Japan.

Now, it is now over 3 years since the K70 appeared on the market.
When the K30 was 2 years on the marke t in USA people started already to complain quite a bit because of the dark image syndrome.
Not so with the K-S1, K-S2 and K-70.

The K-S1 did sell quite well in Europe, many youngsters love the hip style and those LED's in action.
Went well with LED's in trainers.
And yet, very few complaints.

I am sure that lots of people purchase the K-70 - they are the cheapest camera sold by Pentax.
They also have a lot that fail.
They are cheap bodies.
I heard a lot about Pentax quality on another photo forum where I used to post - and it wasn't positive.
In my opinion this does not contribute to Pentax's desire to become a "quality provider" - using stepper motors would be a simple, but positive, move - but that is up to them.

[swanlefitte]

Failures of the solenoid in the K70 are very rare, even Post-December-2015 K50's, K-S1's and K-S2's have way way less failures.

As I had many for repair, I never came across any which went wrong after that date.

Have you been able to open any that haven't fail? It would be interesting to note the differences. In particular % working with green vs white. The holding power of working solenoids compared to failures especially. You have a viable fix already so it is more for curiosity. The main questions being, 1. Why do some green fail and others don't? 2. If this green was in 2 different cameras would it fail in one and not the other?

[photogem]

Have you been able to open any that haven't fail? It would be interesting to note the differences. In particular % working with green vs white. The holding power of working solenoids compared to failures especially. You have a viable fix already so it is more for curiosity. The main questions being, 1. Why do some green fail and others don't? 2. If this green was in 2 different cameras would it fail in one and not the other?

I only opened 2x K-S1's which still were alright but I noticed the manufacturing date was pre 12/2015. So I repaired them anyway. I purchased them for family so wanted to be safe because they life far away now.


I think the failure is linked to the camera not being used a longer time and then the plunger and the mainbody (same alloy) which holds the coils and magnet get magnetised too strong.

It seems so that once this happened once, it then happens again easier.
Could be linked to the alloy used. I am not that deep into "magnetism" as that I would know enough but maybe some memory effect?
But this is guessing only.


Some magnetic materials lose their magnetism through shock (permalloy).


Because the Japansolenoids are anyway better built I prefer those always.
Not once did I experience any failure.

I am also absolutly certain that there is no other hidden fault, because then a Japan-Solenoid would fail at least sometimes.
But they just don't.

Of course very few repairs went wrong but it was pretty obvious that something else went wrong.
The only 2 cases (both times K-S2) I can recall in this forum:
1. tonyzoc: soldering with butan-gas....
2. Angryman51: His K-S2 was left for 1 week not used, then by some magic it worked again. He just forgot to mention it in the thread he opened.

[stevebrot]

One can see very well how PC35 modifies the plunger of the solenoid and if one studies the information I tried to summarize here:
Why you shouldn't file/sand the plunger of the green Chinasolenoid but replace it - PentaxForums.com

I went to this page but saw no evidence of PC35s handiwork there. Did I miss something? They may well be filing the armatures, but given that their usual business (aside from making prints) is scavenging and reselling camera parts, one would think they might have a good supply of compatible solenoids on hand and would have no need to take the trouble of filing.

Do we have a photo of a filed solenoid from one of their repairs?


Steve

[stevebrot]

Just this weekend I repaired a K-70 of very recent manufacture....
It still had warranty and was repaired on warranty but failed again.

Anyway, the solenoid was even better than the previous one. Almost correct holding force!

This is very good news! Do you have any idea as to why the repair with this improved solenoid failed?


Steve

[stevebrot]

In Europe failures of the K70 are very few. The K70 is the most successful Pentax midrange body, failures are not at all higher than those of other brands or with the KP.
So it is totally wrong to say "Pentax has not been able to deal with the aging problem, they have been able"
Not only did they try but they succeed.

Thank you for sharing your opinion on this. It is good to be in full agreement with you.


Steve

[stevebrot]

I am sure that lots of people purchase the K-70 - they are the cheapest camera sold by Pentax.
They also have a lot that fail.
They are cheap bodies.
I heard a lot about Pentax quality on another photo forum where I used to post - and it wasn't positive.
In my opinion this does not contribute to Pentax's desire to become a "quality provider" - using stepper motors would be a simple, but positive, move - but that is up to them.

You are probably the most vocal fan of the KP on this site and that is a good thing. The KP is a very nice tool and I am pleased and happy for every person who is a happy owner. I am also pleased and happy for every person that is a happy K-70 owner. It is good to do well by one's needs.

I also know that if my K-3 were to die tonight, the KP would not be my first choice to replace. Strangely, the K-70 feature set intersects that of my K-3 for several areas corresponding to how I use the camera, while the KP has zero support for several others. I would place an immediate order for a K-70 with possible intent to keep it as a low-angle camera in addition to a K-new purchase. I like to think that my fondness (from a distance) for the K-70 does not eclipse my respect for the KP and that it is not a reflection on my intelligence, taste in cameras, ability to gauge quality, income level, or propensity for foolish purchases. Yes, I did buy a K-3 even though it says Ricoh on the back, but to my credit, I did consider taping it over at one point.


Steve

[swanlefitte]

I only opened 2x K-S1's which still were alright but I noticed the manufacturing date was pre 12/2015.

Thanks for responding. This might go without saying.
I assume you noticed the date before opening and found, as suspected, the green guys.
I had to remember that date was when solenoinds were switched over or it reads because of the date you would have replaced a white one if found.

[reh321]

You are probably the most vocal fan of the KP on this site and that is a good thing. The KP is a very nice tool and I am pleased and happy for every person who is a happy owner. I am also pleased and happy for every person that is a happy K-70 owner. It is good to do well by one's needs.

I also know that if my K-3 were to die tonight, the KP would not be my first choice to replace. Strangely, the K-70 feature set intersects that of my K-3 for several areas corresponding to how I use the camera, while the KP has zero support for several others. I would place an immediate order for a K-70 with possible intent to keep it as a low-angle camera in addition to a K-new purchase. I like to think that my fondness (from a distance) for the K-70 does not eclipse my respect for the KP and that it is not a reflection on my intelligence, taste in cameras, ability to gauge quality, income level, or propensity for foolish purchases. Yes, I did buy a K-3 even though it says Ricoh on the back, but to my credit, I did consider taping it over at one point.

Steve

I got a KP for two reasons - and I have no reason to expect either to apply to you.

1. I have already had a camera with Dark Image Syndrome. I used my “Super Program” for over twelve years, then switched to a Canon EOS Elan in 1995 when I was ready for AF because I liked their EF/usm mount so much; I stayed with Canon when I went digital understanding that I would need only a ‘standard’ zoom lens .... I could continue to use the telephoto lenses I had. Unfortunately, the Rebel processor started acting flakey ... and eventually died - 6 years and about 3500 clicks later {I really am a low volume shooter}. Not having thought about another camera yet, I just purchased another Rebel, but I went through the same process, only faster - 18 months and about 800 clicks. Emotionally, I would have real problems if I got a K-70, and the solenoid quit working in a year .... which is a genuine possibility.

2. I like the styling of my “silver” KP. When it arrived, my wife thought I had left my {beloved} “Super Program” on the dining room table.

Since I have never missed a shot because of the size of the KP’s buffer or battery, those are not issues for me, and my K-30 didn’t have an LCD for me to miss.

Incidentally, I don’t care how my camera is labeled. If I had started with Pentax earlier, I could have had a camera with both the manufacturer {“Asahi”} and the type {“Spotmatic”} on its front

[swanlefitte]

just checked my ks2 serial number. it is a 612. The data base list 3/11 with <613 failed and 0/19 =or>613

[photogem]

I went to this page but saw no evidence of PC35s handiwork there. Did I miss something? They may well be filing the armatures, but given that their usual business (aside from making prints) is scavenging and reselling camera parts, one would think they might have a good supply of compatible solenoids on hand and would have no need to take the trouble of filing.

Do we have a photo of a filed solenoid from one of their repairs?

We had that discussion previously and post#15 was your response to it:

First post by Tonyzoc:

Last spring I sent out my K-S2 for the $100 solenoid repair. It work well but this week it's starting to return. I'm still under the 1 yr warranty though....

My question to him:

I did not fully understand but now I got it (and correct me if I am wrong):
You did not send your K-S2 to for an "official repair" but to California:
Pentax Camera Repair - PC35 Photolab???
If so, this person most likely does apply the sanding-filing method!
So I am very curious for your photos!

Tonyzoc's answer:

Yes, you're correct. I tried the $100 repair (plus shipping). I bought the camera used from Roberts Camera for $330 with no lens and around 600 exposures on it. I didn't want to do the $200 "official" repair because it had the same risk of reoccurring.

Fotos followed showing what a critical filing-job Pentax Camera Repair - PC35 Photolab do:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191214/4f8ae1b66716daa6075c54855c0db4dd.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191214/ed9caa643bae479af6e060dc51c00a4f.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191214/13e9e2703b01c21e3e8bc61486184883.jpg

You answered as well: #17
and in #23 you wrote, that PC35 Photolab seems to have done a pretty good job.

This I had to question in #24 of course