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First DSLR, K5, shutter count...

Posted 27/04/2017 - 15:43 Link
I am looking for my first DSLR.
I have seen a K5 with 9kcount on a dealers site and a K-5ii on another dealers site, the K-5ii has a
66kcount. ~7 times the count sounds like I should be going for the former. But is the K-5ii so much better.
The price difference is 20 quid.

I am not concerned with normal cosmetic wear and the shutter count in itself doesn't bother me if it has no effect on the camera. Electronics are usually really reliable these days and as far as I can see online the life of the shutter is at least 100kcounts.

Does anything else wear/break on the cameras.
Algernon
Posted 27/04/2017 - 16:38 Link
Wait for a K-5ii with a lower shutter count.

--
Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi
stu62
Posted 27/04/2017 - 16:49 Link
or even wait for a k5iis infact if you give chris a bell at srs he may just have somthing there thats not on the website
Posted 28/04/2017 - 06:07 Link
I have had a lot of experienced buying cameras and in the early days bought a number of them used. After the writing was on the wall in regard to Olympus abandoning the DSLR I decided to have a second system available to me and tested the water with a used Pentax K-20D. I can't recall the shutter count but I discovered that getting the camera to focus was very difficult. I questioned the seller (a shop perhaps similar to the one you are dealing with) and they told me to send it back and they'd send me another which he did. Interestingly the second one had no serial number on it. It did however work very well. I liked it and used it for a long time.

The second Pentax I bought was a K7, used, but the seller claimed to be near new. It had a one year warranty and lasted a week or so over one year before needing work. I had it repaired but while it was in the shop I decided I was going to give up buying used cameras. I then bought a K5 new. The K5 was the best camera I'd ever owned up until that time. It was flawless -- perfect. I did eventually get a K5iis, but it wasn't because I thought there was anything wrong with the K5. I just tend to buy newer cameras after a while and give my older cameras to my son.

I personally would never buy a camera with 66,000 shutter clicks on it. Unless you have a lot of camera experience and want some of the exotic new features, you will probably be happy with the K5.

But like someone else mentioned, you might shop around and get something with fewer clicks yet. You mentioned the K5ii, but the K5iis has the aliasing filter removed and has received much better reviews -- although most of us probably wouldn't notice the difference.

Lawrence
stu62
Posted 28/04/2017 - 07:56 Link
Lawrence you had a good expirencevwith the k5 yet the one I had was a big heap of better not say the word or jr will be on my back lol I Reyes every thing with it and like you I decidebuy new so I bit the bullet and bought a k3ii
Posted 28/04/2017 - 14:38 Link
stu62 wrote:
Lawrence you had a good expirencevwith the k5 yet the one I had was a big heap of better not say the word or jr will be on my back lol I Reyes every thing with it and like you I decidebuy new so I bit the bullet and bought a k3ii

Stu,
Was your K5 new? As it happens the only new Pentax camera I thought was defective probably wasn't. I bought a new K-S2 at the same time I bought a new 55-300PLM and a used 16-45 planning a relatively lightweight kit for lightweight hikes. Nothing worked right. Neither lens would focus automatically with reliability. Since the shop that sold me the K-S2 gave me 30 days to return it before I'd have to go to warranty and return it to Pentax, I returned the K-S2, thinking it unlikely that both lenses could be bad. Then I tried the 55-300PLM and 16-45 with my K3ii a camera I had been using for some time and the lenses malfunctioned on that camera as well.

I returned the 55-300PLM and the 16-45. I got a better 16-45 from another seller but decided to stick with my earlier version of the 55-300. Most of my shooting is below 55mm anyway.

But my point is (if I have one) that if you get a new camera or lens and then use the heck out of it in the first couple of weeks, you'll probably know if you have a defective copy. I also don't like to get a new item as soon as it comes out -- as I did with the 55-PLM. There are often bugs that will have been corrected in future copies.

I used my K5 for quite a long time and then gave it to my son. He now has the K-20D, the K-7 and the K-5, all of which work flawlessly, but the K-5 is now his favorite.

Lawrence
Mag07
Posted 28/04/2017 - 17:38 Link
I believe K5s shutter life is 100k, that's really the minimum, by no means the maximum. 60k doesn't prticularly scare me at all. That is still few good years of 'normal' use to go.
'Photography...it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten....' (Aaron Siskind)
Algernon
Posted 28/04/2017 - 17:53 Link
A lot of shutters never last the 100k Some will last a lot longer

This site isn't up to date and only has cameras prior to the K-5 such as the K-7

http://www.olegkikin.com/shutterlife/pentax_k7.htm

--
Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi
Posted 28/04/2017 - 18:07 Link
Mag07 wrote:
I believe K5s shutter life is 100k, that's really the minimum, by no means the maximum. 60k doesn't prticularly scare me at all. That is still few good years of 'normal' use to go.

It wouldn't scare me if I'd put the 60K on the camera, but I'd occasion to buy several high-shutter count cameras in my Olympus DSLR days and invariably the high shutter count meant hard usage. These cameras were invariably disappointments. Even the Olympus E1 which was built so well is was thought to be immortal developed problems when the shutter count was high: cracked covers, loose material, heavily scratched bottoms from tripod use, dust inside that seemed impervious to removal. I was bent upon getting an excellent copy & so bought several (most of which my son now has -- I kept two). It seems that many sellers lie (I know this will be hard to believe) about the condition of the used cameras they are trying to sell.

As to taking comfort in the life-expectancy estimates of K5, K5ii, etc cameras, these are just estimates. Pentax has not tested these cameras to destruction. You can find sites where people report how long their various cameras have lasted before failure. Even cameras that are "estimated" to have a life expectancy of 100,000 shutter clicks or more are reported to have failed at 30,000 or so clicks; which isn't to say that others don't make the 100,000 number, but many don't. Other cheaper models not expected to last 100,000 clicks have been reported to last more than 200,000 clicks. There are so many variables involved. If you know you have babied your camera, never dropped it, never left it in a hot car and never spilled water on it you won't be surprised if your camera lasts 100,000 clicks. On the other hand if someone tries to sell you a K5ii with 66,000 clicks on it, will you be confident that he has treated this camera with the sort of care it would take to make sure it will last you 34,000 clicks more? Or is something starting to fail that you aren't likely to discover until you've had the camera a few months -- too many months to return it?

Lawrence
Edited by LawrenceKH: 28/04/2017 - 18:08
stu62
Posted 28/04/2017 - 18:54 Link
Some people don't even put 5000 on a camera in 4 or 5 years can't see the point in that you spend all that money on cameras and lenses

I did 5000 in the first 6 months of getting my k3ii
HarisF1
Posted 28/04/2017 - 19:18 Link
I did 1500 clicks in around 2 hours when I used my K-1 to do time lapses. At the time I posted on here as I was quite surprised that timelapse frames counted as shutter clicks, but I'm over it now.

Show your appreciation for your kit by using it!
All the gear with no idea
Posted 28/04/2017 - 19:23 Link
stu62 wrote:
Some people don't even put 5000 on a camera in 4 or 5 years can't see the point in that you spend all that money on cameras and lenses

I did 5000 in the first 6 months of getting my k3ii

Quite right. There are a lot of variables. I did through costly trial and error become fairly good at picking out used cameras. I recall buying an Olympus E520 offered by a fellow who had received it as a gift but never used it. This camera was truly is pristine condition. I got a few others with less than 1,000 clicks and these proved very reliable as well. Cameras with high usage never turned out so well for me. If a previous owner has only used a camera for 1,000 clicks then he has had very little time to screw it up.

Lawrence
Posted 28/04/2017 - 20:06 Link
HarisF1 wrote:
I did 1500 clicks in around 2 hours when I used my K-1 to do time lapses. At the time I posted on here as I was quite surprised that timelapse frames counted as shutter clicks, but I'm over it now.

Show your appreciation for your kit by using it!

1500 clicks in two hours, impressive!

I got a K-70 recently. I do a lot of hiking in the early morning (Summer days and even Spring & Autumn days get hot early here in San Jacinto, California) in the lee of a mountain. I enjoy trying different cameras and lenses for different effects. I had been using the K3ii but decided to try the lighter K-70 with its improved low-light capability since early mornings in the lee of a mountain tend to be darkish. Thus, I was taking a lot of shots on my first few times out partly to make sure the camera was okay or if it wasn't to give me time to send it back, but (since it seems okay thus far) checking out its low-light capability in my real-life situation as well as checking it out with some different lenses and situations to see how it would feel to use regularly.

When I got home and checked the results in Light Room, I averaged about 100 clicks per outing. Mind you I'm an old fellow, going on 83; so a day hike is good enough for me nowadays, but if I don't over do things I might make three day-hikes a week. So 300 clicks on a good week?

Do I need good quality gear for such limited usage? I recall starting out on a hike years ago only to discover there was something wrong with my camera. Nowadays I am in the habit of checking things before I head off with the dogs, but it is worth it to me to pay more & buy new just to avoid something happening to my gear on a hike. Also, it is worth having lots of backups in case a camera malfunctions and I have to send it in for repair. Also, it is worth it to me to be able to look through different lenses and, later, to look at their effects in light Room -- having a bit of an artistic bent despite an engineering background.

When the rumor began about Ricoh perhaps discontinuing its Pentax DSLR line, I got out my old Olympus E-5 and 12-60 Zuiko lens to "feel" what it would be like to have just old stuff. You can see shots from the E-5 and 12-60 in my first two hikes in the April 2017 folder: https://lawrencehelm.smugmug.com/RiverPhotography/Apr-2017/ Subsequent hikes in this folder were for checking out the K-70, but for me it was reassuring to see that the E-5 could still perform. Or perhaps I should better say that it was encouraging to discover it could perform as well as more modern cameras and (with the 12-60) lenses. I have no wish to put huge shutter-click numbers on any given camera. In fact I hope I don't. I would rather spread them out so that I can switch from one to another as it suits me, to see through the eyes of different lenses, to feel the heft, see through the view-finder, and hear the click of different shutters.

Not many of you (perhaps) would do what I do, but not many of you (probably) are as old as I am.

Lawrence
Posted 01/05/2017 - 14:17 Link
Well I almost have two DSLRs.
I bought a K200D. It came with a 18-55 lens, so I will have a lens for a K5 if/when I buy a body only.
It wasn't to expensive, hopefully I wont loose any money when I sell the body. I get to try a DSLR without spending lot's. I need specs and wasn't sure about using a viewfinder.

Well the K200d seems great. I can use it without specs, I really hate specs and don't get on with them.
I realised I would be happy with the K200, but within 24 hours of getting it I bought a K-5ii, which I will
get in the next few days.
Posted 01/05/2017 - 15:27 Link
integerspin wrote:
Well I almost have two DSLRs.
I bought a K200D. It came with a 18-55 lens, so I will have a lens for a K5 if/when I buy a body only.
It wasn't to expensive, hopefully I wont loose any money when I sell the body. I get to try a DSLR without spending lot's. I need specs and wasn't sure about using a viewfinder.

Well the K200d seems great. I can use it without specs, I really hate specs and don't get on with them.
I realised I would be happy with the K200, but within 24 hours of getting it I bought a K-5ii, which I will
get in the next few days.

Intergerspin,

Now you must tell us if it is the K-5ii you told us about earlier, the one with 66,000 clicks on it -- so we can commiserate properly later on should it fail.

Lawrence

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