K5 build quality

So, having finally taken the plunge and buying a K5 in September I spent the first couple of weeks watching closely to see if any of the known issues presented themselves. Fingers crossed, all looked fine.

30th September, set off for a family holiday in Cornwall with all the gear ready to play with.

6am 1st october- happily wandering around the harbour in Padstow waiting for the sun rise. Decided to change lenses on the 5, pressed the lens release button and it fell off the camera. Spent 10 minutes scrabbling around until I found it. manage to get it back in but it immediately fell out again when pressed. So I was stuck with the 24-70 on the K5 most of the week.

This is a new one on me - in 30 years I have never heard of a lens release catch just falling off - old style levers being snapped off due to over zelous use - yes - but never a button just falling off the camera.

Oh well - back to SRS!

That's a new one, never heard of it happening either. At least you had a fairly useful lens stuck on the camera, not something obscure.

Hope the repair doesn't take too long.

Sorry to hear that the K5 has problems, knowing SRS's reputation you should soon be up and running again. Despite the stuck lens the image of the sunrise silhouette digger is excellent.
Regards David

Numerous reports of this exact problem, over on the other forum.

I doubt that it's a particular problem with the K5, as I can't see that they'd have changed it since the K7. Could just be that more people own the K5, so there are more stories about these rare 'faults'.

Thanks David - glad you liked the image - I have many more sunrise shots from the trip and may post a set later in the week.

regards
Carl

Hi All

Similar situation, in Greece with sons and families, Day 1 and the lens release flew across the room. Surgery by my wife with some fabric Elastoplast and I could use the camera for the rest of the holiday. On return to the UK, I bought a K-r so that I would never be in the same position again especially with a holiday to the Galapagos due.

Camera repaired by Pentax in about 3 weeks and no problem since.

Eoin Hanlet

Sorry - cannot spell my own name despite a preview!

Eoin Hanley

What an indictment of the company's quality control!

They expect customers (who, let's face it, have plenty of choice in the field of DSLRs and don't have to buy a Pentax) to part with a sum in the region of £1000 and, when they do, have to cross their fingers that nothing will go wrong/fall off!

I do hope that Ricoh will get a grip on things before the next model is released. The poor so-and-sos who have bought the K5 have had quite enough to put up with.

Sorry to hear of your problem -I'd never heard of that before either. At least you were still able to take some good photos.

Andrew - there are thousands and thousands of people who are extremely happy with their K-5 and have never had a problem with them. People with problems will report them here and on other forums, people who have no problems don't post to say their camera is perfect.
This results in a skewed view of the K-5 which some people then seem to delight in using to put Pentax and the superb K-5 down.

You have to admit though Gwyn that there are a lot more problems being reported with the K-5 that any other Pentax camera before it. I have to say probably more than all previous Pentax cameras combined.

Still a great body and I am more than happy with mine but I must admit I would be a lot more cautious buying one now than I was when they first came out.

Hi again

The last post from Gwyn to Mike-P is not fair (IMHO) because a problem was reported, commented apon and discussed - surely the point of a forum. I am in competition with my close friend and photographer who has a Nikon 300 and always carry the flag for Pentax especially with the cost and weight (lack of) of Pentax or Sigma lenses that do not need IS.

However, I previously had a K7 which I sent back to Pentax 3 times for auto focussing problems but I have been happy with the K5. I am delighted that we have a forum to discuss and broadcast problems, issues and the advantages of Pentax.

Eoin

Hi Eoin..

I think “Gwyn” was making a valid point, as this forum only represents a very small minority of K5 owners/users.
Which means we have to acknowledge, there are probably a lot more K5’s out there with faults, but also there will be many thousands of owners/users, completely happy with their K5 cameras, that will remain completely anonymous.

I must declare an interest, as I am an owner of a K5.


Take care.

Please don't think I seek to put Pentax down. Far from it, I love both of my Pentax cameras and intend to carry on my support of the marque. Of course, you're absolutely right, Gwyn: it's human nature to voice complaints and perhaps stay quietly satisfied when all is well. It's just that when one reads, inter-alia, the post on sensor stains here which runs to 30+ pages...well, you catch my drift. It's such a shame as the K5 is clearly one of the best DSLRs around: the results (when the cameras work properly) speak for themselves.

I'm quite new to the wonderful world of digital capture. I wonder if there were similar problems with the *ist range of cameras or the K100D?K200D or K10/K20. Mike P. suggests not.

There were a few reported problems with the K10D (when I arrived on the Pentax scene) and K20D but really only what you would normally expect with any camera. I didn't really notice any at all with the K-7 (although that wasn't particularly a popular body) but the K-5 seems to have quite a wide spread of different problems which seem to me more down to quality control rather than anything else. This could in some way be because the K-5 has proven to be more popular than any Pentax DSLR to date (more sold so more to go wrong) but I would bet on the percentage being higher overall.

From a personal perspective - I have owned versions of most Pentax SLRs - film and digital from the ME Super to the K5 and this is the first fault I have ever personally experienced with a 'new' body. So by the law of averages - it had to happen eventually.

That said - I have to agree with the comments about QC on the K5 it does seem to have had more than it's share of issues reported - I held off on the purchase for months due to all the reports - previously my decision to hold off on purchase was always based on the price dropping to a level I found acceptable.

Ultimately though - this has not in any way put me off Pentax - I am a realist - this could have happened to any brand and even though I was unable to change lenses - the camera itself performed fantastically well - especially in low light

Carl