[Tommot1965]

I finally got my second replacement today. This copy is flawless. Not a single speck anywhere on the sensor, the electronic level works exactly as it should, everything about it is perfect. Paired it up with a new SanDisk Extreme Pro card, and the whole camera is blazingly fast and responsive. It's a dream come true. After 1.5 months without a camera, I finally have what I was hoping for.

...except that I already made up my mind to sell it to someone else over a week ago. So back it goes into its box. At least its new owner can be assured that he's getting a non-defective camera. Lucky bastard.

*punt* buh bye Pentax!

thats a shame mate, had you already bought into another system at that point?

[JeffJS]

*punt* buh bye Pentax!

So long Sporty!

[jolepp]

Come to think about it: if I was offered a full refund for a return at this point what would I do? I think I'd take it and probably get a k-x and then maybe a nice lens with the money. The K-5 has better spec, but the tungsten / low light AF problem (which was not an issue with the k-x, currently in warranty repair for another problem) really gets in the way of me using it and even having it replaced for sensor stains means hassle and being without a proper camera for a while.

[Tommot1965]

Come to think about it: if I was offered a full refund for a return at this point what would I do? I think I'd take it and probably get a k-x and then maybe a nice lens with the money. The K-5 has better spec, but the tungsten / low light AF problem (which was not an issue with the k-x, currently in warranty repair for another problem) really gets in the way of me using it and even having it replaced for sensor stains means hassle and being without a proper camera for a while.

yours still has sensor stains?..if so Id imagine that you get a full refund if you push it?

[jolepp]

yours still has sensor stains?..if so Id imagine that you get a full refund if you push it?

Well, the seller (importer, manufacturer) obligation by law in here is to fix or replace a faulty product which they have offered to do. I have been holding on that hoping that the AF issue would be solved by a firmware update in which case the potential of having to send the stain-fixed (replaced) body back for an AF fix would be eliminated. As the they would incur a non-trivial loss/cost I don't think asking for a refund would fly (or even be reasonable). If, however, a fault remains unfixed after one attempt or they fail to address it in a "resonable" time (after receiving the complaint) they would be required to refund, so I guess I need to make a written complaint about the AF issue as well. I'd rather avoid that sort of thing, though - a firmware fix turning up soonish would allow me to do just that .

[edit: If returning my current the sensor-stain-challenged K-5 results in a NIB replacement which seems to have been the more common way to handle this the seller might be as kind as to put that back to shelf for a refund as there is no direct loss to them (as opposed to taking back and selling a used piece), so a refund might work after all, depending. ]

[JayBee]

I had my doubts about their ability to replace a sensor and get it factory precise, but after checking it out this past week, I can say that it seems all good. The sensor is spotless, and passes the stain tests, even after a fair bit of live-view and video. In fact the entire camera was amazingly clean. So, I can go to the K-5 serial number page now and turn mine green.

Or maybe yellow until Pentax fixes the low-light focusing problem. I still have that to deal with. The work-around is to use LV.

Interesting info revealed in PhotoMe: Shutter count reset to 10, build date advanced to January from October, and internal serial number changed. External serial number unchanged. (although, based on the brand-newness of the camera, I did wonder if they might have stuck the serial number sticker to a new unit.

[interested_observer]

Interesting info revealed in PhotoMe: Shutter count reset to 10, build date advanced to January from October, and internal serial number changed. External serial number unchanged. (although, based on the brand-newness of the camera, I did wonder if they might have stuck the serial number sticker to a new unit.

They replaced the main PC board that holds the sensor. So essentially your camera's guts were exchanged......

[JayBee]

They replaced the main PC board that holds the sensor. So essentially your camera's guts were exchanged......

Well, that makes sense. And, I much prefer that to the thought of someone who just had a crash course in sensor replacement taking a stab at it with my camera.

[ve2vfd]

Shutter count reset to 10, build date advanced to January from October, and internal serial number changed

They replaced the main PC board that holds the sensor. So essentially your camera's guts were exchanged..

That makes a lot of sense! They changed my body and the very early serial number on the camera simply doesn't match the build date PhotoME reports.

Pat

[jolepp]

Seems like the subassembly which has the sensor also carries the part which stores the manufacture date (the main flash chip(s)?). They probably overwrite the serial number stored in the same to match the one visible to the naked eye.

[areidjr]

Come to think about it: if I was offered a full refund for a return at this point what would I do? I think I'd take it and probably get a k-x and then maybe a nice lens with the money. The K-5 has better spec, but the tungsten / low light AF problem (which was not an issue with the k-x, currently in warranty repair for another problem) really gets in the way of me using it and even having it replaced for sensor stains means hassle and being without a proper camera for a while.

I was able to get a full refund after exchanging twice and I bought a K-x to hold me over until such time that it looks like the K-5 bugs are all worked out. I will say that if you use selectable focus points, the lack of visibility in the VF will be hard to get used to. It pretty well makes focus point selection unusable.

[jolepp]

I was able to get a full refund after exchanging twice and I bought a K-x to hold me over until such time that it looks like the K-5 bugs are all worked out. I will say that if you use selectable focus points, the lack of visibility in the VF will be hard to get used to. It pretty well makes focus point selection unusable.

That particular issue would not matter to me; coming from the K-x I ended up turning the viewfinder dots off having gotten used to center point + recompose. Actually I originally planned on waiting for K-3 to be on the horizon or so but then the k-x got broken and it seemed like a good idea to get the K-5 not to have to go without a proper camera. At the time I assumed the stain issue to be kind of rare, but still made sure to buy from a brick&mortar in case. I would seem to recall that the tungsten / low light AF issue had barely surfaced. Also, I was initially prone to suspect a problem with my Tamron 17-50 1:2.8 alone, it took some time to overcome the assumption that the latest and greatest should not have such a problem and convince myself that I was not somehow systematically goofing up myself.

[henryk]

My K-5 arrived back from CRIS in USA today; I had sent it in Feb. 8.

On Feb. 5, I decided to take 20 minutes of movies and test that sensor for stains (serial 396XXXX, build date 12/10/10). After doing so I shot the sky at ISO 80 and F22, and in Lightroom five spots appeared, two of them very close near the center and the others scattered along the edges. All five had hard centers with halos around them, though they were not in necklace form.

I took the camera to a local camera shop for a sensor cleaning. When I got the camera back I repeated the sky shooting test. All of the spots were there. Ergo, I said, this sensor is faulty, and got a UPS label from Pentax.

When the camera was returned, the CRIS invoice said the sensor had been cleaned and everything checked to factory specs. No repair. No replacement. No charge, either.

And when I repeated the sky-shooting test half an hour ago, the sensor was . . . absolutely spot-free.

Conclusions: 1. That local camera shop perhaps did not do a damn thing with the camera except maybe give it a couple of puffs with a Rocket Blower. 2. If that was so, it fooled me into drawing the wrong conclusion. (I am going to have a word with the shop and see if I can find exactly what they did ... and maybe get my $70 back.)

Lesson learned.

I wonder how many K-5 owners have done as I did, sending perfectly good (but dusty) cameras in for repair.

[andi]

a brand new replacement kit arrived today, new camera looks great, clean,
no dust, no stains, nothing. Sure my extra battery, charger, strap etc will come handy
Firmware needed to be updated.

Thanks Pentax!

[30v iPentax]

Onneksi olkoot.