[ivanvernon]

Shutter assembly in my K-7 failed at 30,000 + clicks. Eric replaced it plus CLA for $195.00. Wondering if this is unusual as I understand that the K-7 is manufacturer rated at 100,000 clicks. I had no leg to stand on, however, since I bought the camera used at around 5,000 clicks.

[RonHendriks1966]

Well the camera is "old" so things can go wrong in electronics. The camera warrenty is for 2 years (overhere) and the shutter limited to 100.000 actuations (as a limitation to the time off the warrenty and not the other way around).

[jamesm007]

Shutter assembly in my K-7 failed at 30,000 + clicks. Eric replaced it plus CLA for $195.00. Wondering if this is unusual as I understand that the K-7 is manufacturer rated at 100,000 clicks. I had no leg to stand on, however, since I bought the camera used at around 5,000 clicks.

It is unusual as the camera is fairly new to me. Age 'alone' has little to do with electronics when we are talking less than five or seven years. Moving parts, maybe. Like if oil and grease were missing and or dirty. None of this applies to your shutter however, at least not much of it. With the camera being used we don't know what may have occurred in the past with your K-7.


During a talk I had with Pentax USA top service/tech person. Pentax had found K20D cameras going to ~170,000 clicks before the shutter giving out on some not all K20D. But 100,000 is assured by Pentax. Really the most important thing to watch for is not the shutter breaking but losing accurate timing.


Long story short. Its rare for a Pentax dSLR as new as yours and with as many shutter counts as yours to need a shutter replacement. Shutters do give out, but not often. My K20D has almost 60,000 shutter clicks and shows no signs of wear. I have a K-5 but kept the K20D as it was my fav, and most reliable camera. My K-5 is too new (maybe 18 months) and with only 15000 shutter counts I have no worries about the shutter.


Now with a new shutter and almost assuredly a full check-up and cleaning your good to go. Just enjoy now.

[ivanvernon]

I understand and agree that early shutter failure is rare. I just got bit by a rare snake! I have K-20 and K-10 that lasted much longer than 30,000 clicks. I decided to go ahead and spend the money on my K-7 because $195 is still below the market price of a used K-7, and with a used camera (except with Keh), you never know exactly what you are getting in to, but with Eric's shutter replacement and CLA I felt like I would have a virtually new camera for less than the cost of an unknown used camera.

It is comforting to know that shutter failures at 30,000 clicks are quite rare, particularly in view of the fact that I have many other Pentax cameras!