Originally posted by mikesbike If I were you, I would get the KP. Its construction is of professional caliber. I got mine in silver and it is a beauty. The K-70 still is subject to the same problem as your K-50. There is another recent thread by a K-70 owner having this problem with a very low-use camera! One of many great things about the KP is the changeable grips. When you want to go with a small camera ensemble, yet of top quality with the ultra-compactness of a Limited lens, the smallest grip is as neat as a mirrorless, but has a built-in flash and all the goodies of a DSLR. If even the largest grip is not large enough, one can still go larger by adding the battery grip, which also has other uses, including a much greater battery life capability. It becomes a different animal. This modular design is quite unique.
I agree completely. However, I'd also suggest sending the K-50 to Precision Camera; just tell them what's wrong with it, but that they should check everything and get it back into "like new" condition. They generally handle stuff like that right quick and do a really good job in my experience (on your dime, that is, this is not true with respect to warranty issues where Ricoh is calling the shots and it can take forever to get something simple done). They charge some percentage of the cost of the thing to be repaired, generally as a flat fee, though they call it an "estimate" - I've never gotten a itemized statement from them. If you go to their website and go through the process as though you'd decided you're definitely sending it in, the website will tell you what their "estimate" amounts to, then you can decide whether to pull the trigger on the credit card or not. I think the K-50 is a great camera and ought to be saved.
Now, then, of course, I'd written all that before I saw this:
Originally posted by NoobOnTour I successfully repaired my K-50!
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So now, I'm curious... what did you do, exactly, to fix the K-50? Are you happy with the results?