[GreenNonic]

hello, i dunno where to look up the issue i'm having or really what the issue even is, i got a used pentax k-5, and a SMC DA 55-300mm lens, when i am trying to shoot at birds in trees, sometimes, it wont take the photo, when i press the shutter button it just makes noises, and the view finder repeatedly goes on and off or rathe ri guess the mirror flips up and down? but i dunno why, it's very frustrating though because i am missing shots since it just refuses to take the photo, even though it's in focus (at least it thinks it is, since it gives the beep) it may be a setting but i dunno which one, i usually just shoot in "green mode" (it says green mode at the top) which is all auto mode, but it still does the same thing in manual mode. i dunno if i bought a broken K-5 or if i bought a broken lens, or if it's a setting, i cant find anything about mirror flipping noises and auto focusing issues though, but i am not very good at computers and such

[mikesbike]

What about when you are shooting at well-defined stationary objects not in the trees? Like a bird sitting on a fence? Or the fence post top itself? I'm just giving possible examples. Just point it around at any well-defined object. The birds in the trees might indicate brief focus success that is so brief focus disappears before you can get the shot.

BTW, avoid using the green Auto mode, but use the Program mode instead for fully automated exposure. This will allow you full access to controls which are disabled when in Auto mode. The Auto mode also keeps resetting functions that are unnecessary to change, like the Custom Image category. Maybe doing a reset to all original factory default might also help. Once you have done these things, switch your AF setting to center-only spot AF. This is a more precise way to focus with AF, and you can then hold focus at a particular distance by focussing on a more clear part of the scene then holding down the half-press of the shutter button or the rear AF button as you move the camera to frame the shot you want.

[35mmfilmfan]

I had a similar issue with my K3, until I changed to Back Button Focus, which enabled me to focus then shoot without changing focus.

[GreenNonic]

it seems to focus fine but sometimes it gets stuck, and i have to point at random things to make it stop doing it and take the photo, it might be that setting that makes it not allow the shutter to move if it's not in focus, maybe i'm just super shaky with my hands and it cant focus, it is an old camera.

[17dew]

Search Pentax K5 mirror flop. I have a K5 that does the mirror flop, only on a fully charged battery. When it's partially discharged it's ok,usually around 8.1 volts. Thread here https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/115-pentax-k-5-k-5-ii/391684-k5-questions-mirror-flop.html

[photogem]

hello, i dunno where to look up the issue i'm having or really what the issue even is, i got a used pentax k-5, and a SMC DA 55-300mm lens, when i am trying to shoot at birds in trees, sometimes, it wont take the photo, when i press the shutter button it just makes noises....

The screwdrive-motor makes quite noticable noices with any screwdrive-lens such as the DA55-300.
The DA55-300 is a longer heavier lens with more elements so the AF-motor inside the K5 needs to "drive" a lot.
That is very normal. Nothing to worry about.

... and the view finder repeatedly goes on and off or rather i guess the mirror flips up and down?

The viewfinder cannot go On-and-Off! The viewfinder is an optical instrument like glasses.

The other way to "find a view" is LiveView, i.e. you see the desired object on the LCD Screen.

LV is often much slower.


If the mirror flips up and down, you have to check this carefully and google "Pentax mirror flop", then you find samples on youtube and you can listen to that particular sound and compare.

but i dunno why, it's very frustrating though because i am missing shots since it just refuses to take the photo, even though it's in focus (at least it thinks it is, since it gives the beep) it may be a setting but i dunno which one, i usually just shoot in "green mode" (it says green mode at the top) which is all auto mode, but it still does the same thing in manual mode. i dunno if i bought a broken K-5 or if i bought a broken lens, or if it's a setting, i cant find anything about mirror flipping noises and auto focusing issues though, but i am not very good at computers and such

What you actually are using is AUTO-mode, there is no green mode but the green-button method for manual lenses which is nothing for you.
With Auto-mode you won't be able to shoot birds really, too many ??? for the K5.
AUTO-Mode is almost useless, the K5 is for those who can work with Av, Tv or Tav etc.

If you don't master Av at least, then the K5 is not for you really except you are willing to learn how to master "real modes".

For beginners a K30/50 or K-S1/K-S2 or K70 is better because they at least allow SCN = Scene modes.

A start would be P-Mode which is Auto when switched on by you can "override" Auto by turning the front and back thumbwheels and thus "align" to the given light situation etc.

[GreenNonic]

The screwdrive-motor makes quite noticable noices with any screwdrive-lens such as the DA55-300.
The DA55-300 is a longer heavier lens with more elements so the AF-motor inside the K5 needs to "drive" a lot.
That is very normal. Nothing to worry about.



The viewfinder cannot go On-and-Off! The viewfinder is an optical instrument like glasses.

The other way to "find a view" is LiveView, i.e. you see the desired object on the LCD Screen.

LV is often much slower.


If the mirror flips up and down, you have to check this carefully and google "Pentax mirror flop", then you find samples on youtube and you can listen to that particular sound and compare.



What you actually are using is AUTO-mode, there is no green mode but the green-button method for manual lenses which is nothing for you.
With Auto-mode you won't be able to shoot birds really, too many ??? for the K5.
AUTO-Mode is almost useless, the K5 is for those who can work with Av, Tv or Tav etc.

If you don't master Av at least, then the K5 is not for you really except you are willing to learn how to master "real modes".

For beginners a K30/50 or K-S1/K-S2 or K70 is better because they at least allow SCN = Scene modes.

A start would be P-Mode which is Auto when switched on by you can "override" Auto by turning the front and back thumbwheels and thus "align" to the given light situation etc.

when i turn my K-5 on it literally says "green mode" on the back screen, but yeah, auto mode is not very good, i am learning P mode currently, when i said the view finder "goes off and on" i was referring to it rapidly going dark and then light over and over if i held the button down, i know it's a D-slr, i just dunno what that is called, i assume the mirror is doing something, because light stops going through view finder and it goes black for a fraction of a second over and over while the camera makes a chek-it chek-it kind of sound, i gotta make a video and figure out how to attach it on here, i'm new to pentax, new to dslr's and photography. i stopped using "live view" because with this DA 55-300 the time it takes to focus this lens is terrible, but it's only slow in live view mode, i dunno why that is. thank you for the input and feed back, i'm learning as i go, kind of...slowly

---------- Post added 10-10-21 at 02:43 AM ----------

also it seems to only happen in very bright sunlight, i have turned off a few settings, so tomorrow i'll go out and see what happens, i looked up mirrior flop and it doesnt really sound like that and it also makes the noise when you use any button or wheel, i'll try and make a tiny video clip of it happening tomorrow. i turned off the dust cleaning on startup and also turned off the setting that doesnt allow the camera shutter to open if it's not in focus, since i made a "user" profile, i can just go in and turn off everything thats on in that profile and maybe one of those things will work. i thought maybe it was the lens because i bought it used and the person shipped it across country in a soft envelope in a bubble wrap bag but the bubble wrap had like no bubbles left in it, anyways i'll keep looking for videos on it, sadly there is only a few (most of them are from 2011 on youtube) i guess pentax isnt that popular anymore the k-5 is my second dslr, i started with a Olympus E-420 from 2,008 my budget is limited so there will not be anymore cameras for some time, so this k-5 will work or it wont and i'll just toss it and do something else. i'm not attempting to go pro or anything, i just want something to do that gets me out of the house and moving that doesnt involve meeting people, or even seeing people, which photography can do perfectly since half the people on the street run away or cuss you out if you even look like your pointing the camera at them, since i hate most people i stick to animals and bugs and things. (i talk about as well as i type, thats why this is my first forum ive ever tried to use,.

[steephill]

I think your camera is working OK. When you press the shutter the mirror has to flip up out of the way which means the viewfinder goes black temporarily. The shutter then opens and closes making the sounds you hear. Then the mirror goes back down and you can see through the viewfinder again. If you hold down the shutter button the camera repeats this action until you release it. All DSLRs work like this.

[haycyn]

I bought a K5 around 2012, and I had a similar issue w a sigma 70-200 lens. I know I was in auto mode bc I was trying to photograph my children playing. I didn’t trust myself w important shots in manual focus. Important shots to me were/and are capturing moments as I see/experienced them; I want my kids to be able to see themselves as I see/saw them.

Can I tell you how stupid I felt spending that much money on a lens, feeling for a second I had clue w that big honker of a lens, then fiddling and missing shots so special to me!? I read then, a few of those lenses had a problem. So, I thought I had bought a lemon.
I didn’t venture into much beyond stills after that.

Eventually I stopped shooting altogether, but that has little to do w equipment.
Recently, my father passed away, and the quest for photos for the service ensued. I think you can see how it’s all circled back.

I am going to investigate the setting someone mentioned about a back button setting; and reset to default settings. I’ll let you know how it goes!
I’m taking my daughter hiking next weekend and I might have to give the mammoth lens another go.

Learn as you go, there really isn’t a wrong way to learn anything, and shoot your passion. I was taking photos of pea gravel today. It’s not my passion but it’s how I learn different settings. How different does this make it? Reminds me of going to the eye doctor 🤣

And lastly- my hands shake as well. Sometimes muuuch more than others. You’d never know it w the K5- probably all Pentax but I’ve only had a Pentax film SLR and this one so I cannot say for sure. That is reason enough to use the camera even though it is plenty more capable.

Thank you for posting as hopefully it’s helped my issue as well.

Enjoy your K5!

[GreenNonic]

sorry to hear about your father, i am also checking into that back focusing button someone mentioned, i'm also trying to figure out how to smoosh a 7 second 13mb clip of the issue happening into a 3mb one cuz this forum only allows 3mb .avi files apparently. i am not good at video editing though

---------- Post added 10-11-21 at 10:29 AM ----------

I think your camera is working OK. When you press the shutter the mirror has to flip up out of the way which means the viewfinder goes black temporarily. The shutter then opens and closes making the sounds you hear. Then the mirror goes back down and you can see through the viewfinder again. If you hold down the shutter button the camera repeats this action until you release it. All DSLRs work like this.

yes but my DSLR's drive mode is single shot, so it shouldn't be cycling the mirror up and down i dont think, also it does it when i havnt hit the button yet, i take a photo, and start to walk again i hear it make the sound, and if i try and take another photo it just cycles, the back screen goes off, and it just goes "ca chett, ca chett, ca chett while i point it at random things, eventually it "works" and focuses and takes a photo, sometimes i have to manually move the lens around until it decides thats good, or whatever it's doing, i'm trying to edit a clip of it right now, but since i dunno how its ..taking a long time to teach myself how to drop 10mb off a mp4 video file and also change it to .avi so people can see what the issue is, i have no ability to describe it properly

i really appreciate everyones help and feed back though, thank you guys very much for responding, and sorry if i'm dumb with this forum stuff, it's totally new to me lol

[GreenNonic]

okay, i hope this works, i checked the data embedded in files too and the shutter count is only 22,079 which i think it's pretty good for a camera of this age, the shutter life is 100k, so this K-5 is barely out of high school and working at mcdonalds. also it's in single fire drive mode if that makes any difference to know

[mikesbike]

The camera will make noises if the AF system is failing to lock onto anything but is trying to find something to lock onto. This is normal. As photogem mentioned, the screw-driven lenses like the one you have can be quite noisy, even though some lenses using this older technology are in the elite class of lenses and are very expensive. Additionally, that particular lens model has a longer focus rotation than most.

[MarkJerling]

hello, i dunno where to look up the issue i'm having or really what the issue even is, i got a used pentax k-5, and a SMC DA 55-300mm lens, when i am trying to shoot at birds in trees, sometimes, it wont take the photo, when i press the shutter button it just makes noises, and the view finder repeatedly goes on and off or rathe ri guess the mirror flips up and down? but i dunno why, it's very frustrating though because i am missing shots since it just refuses to take the photo, even though it's in focus (at least it thinks it is, since it gives the beep) it may be a setting but i dunno which one, i usually just shoot in "green mode" (it says green mode at the top) which is all auto mode, but it still does the same thing in manual mode. i dunno if i bought a broken K-5 or if i bought a broken lens, or if it's a setting, i cant find anything about mirror flipping noises and auto focusing issues though, but i am not very good at computers and such

Welcome to the forum. Can you please post a few images with the EXIF data intact. I'd like to review your settings.

[mikesbike]

my DSLR's drive mode is single shot

That's fine, but also have your AF type set to AF-S, which is the control on the left side of the camera body, opposite the grip side. This means AF-Single shot where the camera's shutter will not fire unless focus has been achieved, as opposed to the AF-C setting where AF is continuous trying to follow what it thinks is a moving subject, but may not be successful doing so. This setting is often used with burst shooting, and/or fast moving subjects hard to follow by panning, but does not mean you get a well-focused shot. And since AF is continuous, it will continuously make noise.

I have several Pentax DSLR bodies, including the K-5 as well as current models. With the K-5, in order to use the rear AF button, as set by default you don't have to do any kind of setup. You can use either the shutter button half press or the rear AF button. In order to set AF to center-only spot AF, so you don't have a bunch of AF sensors searching to grab focus, use the control lever, the one that surrounds the rear AF button. Once you do that, the technique is to point the camera at a precise spot where you want your focus to be trained before you hit the rear AF button or the shutter button half press. If you get the framing you want, but the spot AF is then trained on a part of your subject having no clearly defined aspect for the AF to grab onto, then move your camera to another part of your subject at that same distance that does have, then achieve your focus there and hold it by holding down the rear AF button or holding the shutter button half press while you then reposition the camera to reinstate the framing you want and then complete the shutter release. This takes practice, but you can eventually get pretty fast at it.

[MarkJerling]

.... i got a used pentax k-5, and a SMC DA 55-300mm lens,......

Do you have another lens to try with the K5, just to rule out it's not a lens issue?