[sansfin]

I brought my K5iis to Mt Fuji this Sept with some patches of heavy rain. I though K5iis was water proof but sadly I was wrong. After drying, the K5iis is now exposure locked. Whenever I switch on the camera, the camera is exposure locked after a spit second. (with asterisk in viewfinder)

Also the green button is not responding (as if it is always depressed) This is confirmed by, when I play photos and use dial wheel to zoom, the picture is always zooming out.

I have disassembled the camera top and back, and cleaned almost every circuit and button I can see with contact cleaner. The problems still exist.

So I have taken it to the official repairer of Pentax in my place, The agent said the main board needs replacement, but the quotation costs more than the camera at about $400. This is obviously beyond economic repair so I am preparing to live with the exposure lock problem.

For the M42 or non-A manual lens, I can use M mode and optical preview knob to perform auto metering once. This works fine with some habit changes.

However, there is the problem for autofocus lens. Once the exposure is locked, I cannot get a different exposure setting even I change the combination of shutter speed / ISO / Aperture in Any mode , because they will auto adjust each other to maintain same exposure. I can only switch off and on the camera. Also, the optical preview knob cannot perform metering but only tell whether the exposure is over or under by the gradient bars.

I hope some experienced user can lead me some workarounds:
1) is there a way to disable exposure lock in k5iis
2) or for autofocus lenses, it there any way I can change actual exposure even exposure is locked?

Your help much appreciated.

[stevebrot]

Welcome to the Pentax Forums!

Sorry about your broken camera. If the main board is shot, it is anyone's guess just what any of the controls is doing anymore. I can't offer any specific advice, but perhaps some other users have special knowledge.


Steve

[Wingincamera]

Sorry to hear about the problem. I can't comment on the repair, but do have a question. Were you using a WR lens with the camera? If not, that's where the water & moisture got in. I had both the K-5 II and now my K-S2 out in some serious rain without any problems, but I was using a Pentax WR lens.

[Canada_Rockies]

My K10D had this problem for a while. The top of the camera had an almost microscopic crack right next to the AE-L button. Mine would come on with the camera, but pressing the button would turn it off. I had Mr. Pentax fix it - for C$300+

[Bengan]

I would do a full factory reset and if that doesn't help, a firmware relode Before giving up

[sansfin]

Wingincamera is right I was not using a WR lens so that may be the problem but I know it too late now.
I got firmware 1.07 reloaded with no improvement. As to factory reset, I have performed it in the menu also without improvement. Would there be any other way to do the full reset?

[stevebrot]

Would there be any other way to do the full reset?

There is a second option to clear the custom settings. The steps to do a full reset are detailed on page 296 of the user manual (English version). I am not sure what benefit it might do given that your camera has physical damage, but there is no harm in trying.


Steve

[sansfin]

Today, when I was playing with debug mode with PKTether, the camera works normally again. The exposure lock now functions correctly. I don't know whether it is because PKTether has done something, or the recent dry weather which disperses the moisture inside. Now my beloved camera revived! Thank you all of your advice.

[dansamy]

It lives!!

Happy to hear that your camera is feeling better.