K-5 not focusing in the cold?

I went out early this morning to take some photo's using my news lenses (DA15 and FA43). It was around zero/-2 and after a while the camera seemed to stop focusing properly. At first I thought it was the lenses. I've not really used them before and didn't have any others with me to check, but upon returning home and leaving the camera for a while to get to room temperature it appears that it now focus's fine.

The manual claims the camera will function down to -10 but has anybody had a similar experience? Might it just be a case of delicate, sensitive electronic equipment reaching it's operating limit, even though it wasn't as cold as the manual claims it should operate too? I know my fingers were bloody cold!

Here's one shot I liked...hope you do too.

link

PS. why won't it let me show the image in the post? I've read a topic regarding linking to Photobucket but following the same instructions didn't work for me with Flickr or, ironically, this sites gallery! Did I do something wrong?

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Dunno about the focussing problem but I like that shot very much. Hard to get something that striking from a subject that has been much photographed.

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Regards, Philip

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Newcastle on a cold, crisp morning by Hawthorn Lodge, on Flickr

Sorry, can't help with the cold thing.

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My K-5 has focussed just fine at -19C so I don't think the cold is the problem.

Nice photo btw .

Hi Simon,
I've heard that the low battery may affect the autofocus.
(And the cold is affecting the battery).
Just a thought.

George

Unless the battery was already low it would need to be a lot colder before the cold affected the battery in my experience.

Thanks everybody and a big thank you to Phillip for the kind comment! I only got the lens a couple of days ago and hadn't yet shot with a tripod apart from messing around in the home, so I resolved to go and take some pictures for practice more than anything else. Guess it was my lucky day to catch such a lovely sunrise combined with the still water. I bet if I do this another 20 times they won't be as good!

I had thought about the battery, but this still showed as full. It was more a case of it not locking focus on the part of the frame that it should have done, rather than not moving at all. So you could hear the screw drive whirring but it just didn't focus accurately on the part it should have. Thankfully I noticed! Also, it only started to do this after I'd been there for about an hour.

And thank you Mike for the image instruction. I was doing it right but clearly just taking the link from my browser wasn't correct.

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Nice shot...I was in the middle of Snowdonia for sunrise yesterday at around -4 and the K5 worked perfectly

Simon

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Thanks for the compliment Simon. Can I ask what lens were you using?

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No problem...mainly the DA12-24 but a couple with the DA 17-70

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Hmm, perhaps I have a problem then. The trouble is it's not going to show up when tested in a store unless they have a freezer! Hopefully it's a one off...

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Whoah! What a beautiful photo. The arches! The arches!

Thanks for sharing. Here's to hoping we find a very specific reason for this issue.

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I've been out when its been colder than that and had no focus problems, the camera has functioned perfectly right down to the battery finally giving up the ghost (I like my moneys worth) and I'm talking about it driving the Bigma not some piddling little 15mm that's with brand X third party batteries too.

Having said that I have a couple of thoughts, firstly many of us will be hand holding the body so will be transferring a little heat to the camera via the grip, yours was on a tripod so would not benefit from that so I would not totally rule out battery problems. I would try doing a few tests to see if you can get the camera do do it again.
Secondly, and no disrespect meant Simon, but are you sure this wasn't human error, early morning, cold, tired, fingers not working properly after standing round for an hour at -2, perhaps after getting home the problem was sorted after you'd warmed up.

EDIT: PS excelent shot, well worth the discomfort.

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My Names Alan, and I'm a lensaholic.
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Not offended at all Alan! You're quite right to point out that it is a very small lens and whilst it may make no difference I would have expected the problem to be more likely to manifest itself on longer and zoom lenses, hence my reply after Simon listed the lenses he used without a problem.

I'm pretty sure it was the camera. You're quite right to highlight that being sat continually on the tripod meant no heat was transferred from my hand so perhaps this had an influence. Also, I omitted to mention that the problem persisted when I got home (and had warmed up ). I then left the camera for a couple of hours; when I then tested it was fine.

I think I'll just have to try and replicate the conditions and see what happens then. Now I'll be looking for the problem, should it happen again I can do a few things differently and see what occurs.

And thank you for the compliment!


Thank you very much

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I'm sorry but I also doubt being on a tripod had much if anything to do with it. I took my northern lights photos using a tripod last year. It was about -13C at the time and the camera was on the tripod taking long exposures (15-20sec) for 90 minutes or so. Again with the DA 17-70. No problem with the lens or the battery, which stood up to it surprisingly well. It wasn't even the Pentax original battery.

Any way with the cold snap you shouldn't have too much trouble replicating conditions, even if only in your back garden.