Strange behaviour from my K-70...aperture block?

drumhead · 09-17-2018, 04:20 PM

I thought my K-70 was toast tonight! Maybe it still is! Took it out of the bag for a few shots of a rainbow and it was displaying all signs of aperture block failure. No amount of resetting or removing battery helped. The photos were all black unless I cranked up exposure and even then still very dark. Yes, I tried a variety of modes and photographing a variety of subjects with varying lighting. Metering, complete garbage. I swapped the lens for an old manual K to do further testing. Photos were fine but I was setting aperture manually. I put the kit lens back on and now everything seems to be working fine again. However, now that I think back I would say that one out of every 20 or 30 photos for the past few months was black or severely underexposed. I chalked it up to poor metering or bad settings but thinking back I think it was probably aperature block failure. Has anyone ever heard of this as being an intermittent issue. Any advice? Not sure what I should do. I think my camera warranty expired just a few days ago!

automorphism · 09-17-2018, 04:23 PM

If you bought if from a store, you could try calling them and see what they say about the warranty...maybe they will still honour it?

drumhead · 09-17-2018, 04:27 PM

Originally posted by automorphism

If you bought if from a store, you could try calling them and see what they say about the warranty...maybe they will still honour it?

I hope so. I did buy it from local camera store. I doubt I will be able to replicate the issue for them though. Hopefully they take my word.

**Cee Cee** · 09-17-2018, 06:21 PM - **1 Like**

this can be how the aperture block fail symptoms begin with K30 & K50. Its usually the first one or two shots after turn on then things start working, there is a sticky thread on how to test / diagnose. It could also be an unrelated failure of the aperture.

Dark exposure problems on K-30 or K-50? Read me first!

drumhead · 09-18-2018, 02:14 AM

Thanks. After reading this, unfortunately it seems my K-70 aperture motor is failing.

The first few shots are dark, then it wakes up. Same settings. It must be headed to permanent failure soon. Wow, this is very disappointing. I've owned this camera for exactly one year. I love it, but I expected much better reliability. Will let you know how it goes with warranty.

**Cee Cee** · 09-18-2018, 07:12 AM

Originally posted by drumhead

Thanks. After reading this, unfortunately it seems my K-70 aperture motor is failing.

The first few shots are dark, then it wakes up. Same settings. It must be headed to permanent failure soon. Wow, this is very disappointing. I've owned this camera for exactly one year. I love it, but I expected much better reliability. Will let you know how it goes with warranty.

this will be very disappointing if this is the case, there hasn't been any widespread reporting of this issue with K70 as far as I know, so maybe an isolated incident, this doesn't help you I know. It will be interesting to see how you get on with warranty, best of luck.

The Squirrel Mafia · 09-18-2018, 08:24 AM

That is not good. Hopefully this is just an isolated incident. There's this temporary fix that you can do when the camera has that issue. But yeah, if you can get it fixed or replaced, even better.

drumhead · 09-18-2018, 05:32 PM

Update: I got up this morning and tried camera with kit zoom. I took a dozen photos, all very dark/black. Plenty of light, iso cranked. I swapped for manual lens and left for work. I took ~100 photos in the field. Worked great. This evening I tried the kit zoom again and the camera seems to be working fine. Safe to say the aperature motor failure is intermittent, if that is what is going on.

Good news is that I purchased the camera on Sept. 27, 2017 so it is still under warranty. I'm taking it to the local camera shop where I bought it tomorrow. Will let you know what they say.

**paulh** · 09-18-2018, 05:38 PM

Best of luck at the camera shop tomorrow. I certainly hope this is an isolated issue with your K-70, and not the dreaded ABF rearing its ugly head again!

KoolKool · 09-18-2018, 07:12 PM

omg....another thread k70 aperture motor failing

i just bought one 5 months ago, made me worry, man!

drumhead · 09-19-2018, 04:15 PM

The camera has been sent for repairs. The guy at the store figured it was indeed aperture block failure. Although he was quite familiar with the issue, this was the first K-70 he has had to send in for repair.

Also, I learned today Pentax camera warranty is 2 years here in Canada. Repair only has 6 month warranty.

The Squirrel Mafia · 09-20-2018, 08:46 AM

^ Hopefully this is a random isolated case. It would be pretty bad if Ricoh decided to keep using that same faulty "green" solenoid on a 5th generation camera since the K-30, K-50, K-S1, & K-S2. We'll see in the next few months if Ricoh made the right or wrong move inside the K-70.

CodyH · 09-30-2018, 11:42 AM

Just saw this thread and wanted to join to reply. Bought my K70 Sept 17, 2017 and have take around 3400 photos. Mine failed last week. Looks like aperture block failure as well, but mine went all at once and never intermittently came and went. Very disappointing.

Tangent88 · 10-05-2018, 08:45 AM

Originally posted by The Squirrel Mafia

^ Hopefully this is a random isolated case. It would be pretty bad if Ricoh decided to keep using that same faulty "green" solenoid on a 5th generation camera since the K-30, K-50, K-S1, & K-S2. We'll see in the next few months if Ricoh made the right or wrong move inside the K-70.

If this is the case I wouldn't say "pretty bad" I would say "very bad", the K-70 came out 4 years after the K-30.

reh321 · 10-05-2018, 09:07 AM

Originally posted by Tangent88

If this is the case I wouldn't say "pretty bad" I would say "very bad", the K-70 came out 4 years after the K-30.

Has anyone taken a K-70 apart and actually looked at the mechanism?
That is the only way to be certain it is the same mechanism.

09-17-2018, 04:20 PM	#1
drumhead Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 71	Strange behaviour from my K-70...aperture block? I thought my K-70 was toast tonight! Maybe it still is! Took it out of the bag for a few shots of a rainbow and it was displaying all signs of aperture block failure. No amount of resetting or removing battery helped. The photos were all black unless I cranked up exposure and even then still very dark. Yes, I tried a variety of modes and photographing a variety of subjects with varying lighting. Metering, complete garbage. I swapped the lens for an old manual K to do further testing. Photos were fine but I was setting aperture manually. I put the kit lens back on and now everything seems to be working fine again. However, now that I think back I would say that one out of every 20 or 30 photos for the past few months was black or severely underexposed. I chalked it up to poor metering or bad settings but thinking back I think it was probably aperature block failure. Has anyone ever heard of this as being an intermittent issue. Any advice? Not sure what I should do. I think my camera warranty expired just a few days ago!

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09-17-2018, 04:23 PM	#2
automorphism Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Ontario, Canada Photos: Albums Posts: 791	If you bought if from a store, you could try calling them and see what they say about the warranty...maybe they will still honour it?

09-17-2018, 04:27 PM	#3
drumhead Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 71 Original Poster	Originally posted by automorphism If you bought if from a store, you could try calling them and see what they say about the warranty...maybe they will still honour it? I hope so. I did buy it from local camera store. I doubt I will be able to replicate the issue for them though. Hopefully they take my word.

09-17-2018, 06:21 PM - 1 Like	#4
Cee Cee Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Glenroy, Melbourne Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,441	this can be how the aperture block fail symptoms begin with K30 & K50. Its usually the first one or two shots after turn on then things start working, there is a sticky thread on how to test / diagnose. It could also be an unrelated failure of the aperture. Dark exposure problems on K-30 or K-50? Read me first!

09-18-2018, 02:14 AM	#5
drumhead Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 71 Original Poster	Thanks. After reading this, unfortunately it seems my K-70 aperture motor is failing. The first few shots are dark, then it wakes up. Same settings. It must be headed to permanent failure soon. Wow, this is very disappointing. I've owned this camera for exactly one year. I love it, but I expected much better reliability. Will let you know how it goes with warranty.

09-18-2018, 07:12 AM	#6
Cee Cee Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Glenroy, Melbourne Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,441	Originally posted by drumhead Thanks. After reading this, unfortunately it seems my K-70 aperture motor is failing. The first few shots are dark, then it wakes up. Same settings. It must be headed to permanent failure soon. Wow, this is very disappointing. I've owned this camera for exactly one year. I love it, but I expected much better reliability. Will let you know how it goes with warranty. this will be very disappointing if this is the case, there hasn't been any widespread reporting of this issue with K70 as far as I know, so maybe an isolated incident, this doesn't help you I know. It will be interesting to see how you get on with warranty, best of luck.

09-18-2018, 08:24 AM	#7
The Squirrel Mafia Pentaxian Join Date: Jan 2015 Posts: 3,054	That is not good. Hopefully this is just an isolated incident. There's this temporary fix that you can do when the camera has that issue. But yeah, if you can get it fixed or replaced, even better.

09-18-2018, 05:32 PM	#8
drumhead Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 71 Original Poster	Update: I got up this morning and tried camera with kit zoom. I took a dozen photos, all very dark/black. Plenty of light, iso cranked. I swapped for manual lens and left for work. I took ~100 photos in the field. Worked great. This evening I tried the kit zoom again and the camera seems to be working fine. Safe to say the aperature motor failure is intermittent, if that is what is going on. Good news is that I purchased the camera on Sept. 27, 2017 so it is still under warranty. I'm taking it to the local camera shop where I bought it tomorrow. Will let you know what they say.

09-18-2018, 05:38 PM	#9
paulh Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: DFW Texas/Ventura County, CA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 33,262	Best of luck at the camera shop tomorrow. I certainly hope this is an isolated issue with your K-70, and not the dreaded ABF rearing its ugly head again!

09-18-2018, 07:12 PM	#10
KoolKool Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2018 Posts: 59	omg....another thread k70 aperture motor failing i just bought one 5 months ago, made me worry, man!

09-19-2018, 04:15 PM	#11
drumhead Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 71 Original Poster	The camera has been sent for repairs. The guy at the store figured it was indeed aperture block failure. Although he was quite familiar with the issue, this was the first K-70 he has had to send in for repair. Also, I learned today Pentax camera warranty is 2 years here in Canada. Repair only has 6 month warranty.

09-20-2018, 08:46 AM	#12
The Squirrel Mafia Pentaxian Join Date: Jan 2015 Posts: 3,054	^ Hopefully this is a random isolated case. It would be pretty bad if Ricoh decided to keep using that same faulty "green" solenoid on a 5th generation camera since the K-30, K-50, K-S1, & K-S2. We'll see in the next few months if Ricoh made the right or wrong move inside the K-70.

09-30-2018, 11:42 AM	#13
CodyH New Member Join Date: Sep 2018 Location: Soddy Daisy, TN Posts: 11	Just saw this thread and wanted to join to reply. Bought my K70 Sept 17, 2017 and have take around 3400 photos. Mine failed last week. Looks like aperture block failure as well, but mine went all at once and never intermittently came and went. Very disappointing.

10-05-2018, 08:45 AM	#14
Tangent88 Junior Member Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 37	Originally posted by The Squirrel Mafia ^ Hopefully this is a random isolated case. It would be pretty bad if Ricoh decided to keep using that same faulty "green" solenoid on a 5th generation camera since the K-30, K-50, K-S1, & K-S2. We'll see in the next few months if Ricoh made the right or wrong move inside the K-70. If this is the case I wouldn't say "pretty bad" I would say "very bad", the K-70 came out 4 years after the K-30.

10-05-2018, 09:07 AM	#15
reh321 Pentaxian Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: South Bend, IN, USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 23,179	Originally posted by Tangent88 If this is the case I wouldn't say "pretty bad" I would say "very bad", the K-70 came out 4 years after the K-30. Has anyone taken a K-70 apart and actually looked at the mechanism? That is the only way to be certain it is the same mechanism.