K5 Jamming and locking up ?

Pentaxians and Friends, never buy refurbished electronics. The defects for which it was sent back to the factory WILL RETURN at some point. Random failure with electronic equipment especially HANG UPS is often due to motherboard or component or software fault no matter what the manufacturer tells you. Hard to diagnose. Worst still the problem will not show up when you bring in your camera for repairs - leaves you frustrated.
Now the good stuff is that some of these problems are well documented on the net - just google. Looks pretty silly if you analyse some of the causes - battery grips, bad battery or an SD card, condensation, dirty contacts on the lens or body, buggy firmware, and many times owners themselves. Try a full reset of all the menus. Finally send it back if under warranty. Next time think twice if you buy stuff made in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philipines, ... and Timbuktu.

I have never tried the electronic horizon

???????????
Ever thing is made there ?

Had two “K5” lock ups, both times, when camera/lens was hunting for focus.

Take care.

I don’t think any one on this thread is talking about refurbished electronics, unless you are suggesting that all new K5 cameras use, refurbished electronics.

If you are, then be very careful what you say, or you may land yourself in court.

Take care.

Yep, I experienced lock-up a short while ago. The battery had been fully charged and I was switching from (or perhaps to) continuous focusing when it happened. Impossible to know if coincidence or not. The most vexing sort of fault - one that can't be replicated at will, only at the camera's convenience.

It seems to me sometimes an electronics company has a death wish. So far I've had no trouble with my camera, a K7, it's only a few months old, but if I started getting the same "unfixable because we can't replicate it" recurring problem I'd be thinking twice before "upgrading" from the same manufacturer. It's an unfortunate fact that all electronics seem to be manufactured by "Ying Tang Diddly Aye Poo Co. Ltd" who obviously put in the cheapest tender.

Regards

Re: K-5 jamming - only happened to me twice and only using a cheap grip in AF-C w/continuous shooting. No probs since ditching the cheap grip.

I don’t think, the fault is related to using an external battery grip, as I only use the internal battery, ie (I don’t have a battery grip).

Take care.

not with the K5, but have had it with the K20d, whereby the front adjustment wheel decides not to do anything.

Only fix I have found is to remove grip, remove battery and refit.

Happens once in a blue moon, but as thats about to be back up back up cam, not really fussed.

Also first K20d I had, had a full on meltdown after upgraded the firmware. I notice I can upgrade firmware on K5 but am too chicken to do so now!

Actually, I might as under full warranty.

Hi Lynton.

At last, another person that is prepared to admit fear of upgrading camera firmware.
Also advising of a camera failure when attempting a upgrade.

When ever I have brought this subject up before on this forum, suggesting that the camera suppliers should offer firmware upgrade as a service, I have been advised that this operation is so simple, that anyone using a digital camera should be able to do it.

Sorry to read about your K20D, but thank you for demonstrating that firmware upgrading is not without risk, of destroying your cameras operating system.

Take care.

This has also happened to my K-7 just the once. As others, removing the grip (not easy on a cold day shooting a fell race) and the battery sorted the problem. I did wonder what the heck I'd done at the time!

Geoff

Bought myself a 35mm 2.8 macro Ltd yesterday so decided today to try it out and my shutter has jammed again and is still jammed !!!! So as always helpful SRS have asked me to return it once again which it will go off today Matt has stressed he will get it sorted which I am pleased with but how many times must it be returned.
I pay just under a grand for a camera and have problems from stains to shutter jamming
I know other brands have issues but to be honest this is the third outing cut short with camera issues and now I face another 3 weeks with my K7 which I am not a lover of
I am beginning to wish I had my K20 back or my K-m There is the issue of cost of sending this back again so far its £12 and rising !

Mine just jammed again after switching to spot metering

The skills required for a firmware upgrade are essentially these:

- To be able to read
- To be able to follow simple instructions one at a time, and without making mistakes

The instructions are of the nature "download file", "insert SD card", "press button", etc, none of which is any more complicated than things that anyone that uses a digital camera or a computer does all the time.

However, before you get all affronted by an implication that I assure you I am not making, it is undoubtedly the case that the consequences of doing a firmware upgrade wrong can be serious.

Accidentally stuffing up the copying of three images from a card to the computer, and turning your expensive camera into an attractive paperweight are not the same sort of thing at all, even though the skills required for each are almost identical.

It becomes an issue of weighing up the benefit of the new firmware (does it add features you need, or contain undocumented fixes for features you already have?), against your confidence in not making a mistake.

The issue is further complicated by the confidence you have in the guy in the camera shop that offers to do it for you.

Personally, I have more confidence in myself, than some random guy in a camera shop (Chris@SRS excepted), to do a firmware upgrade, or indeed go anywhere near my sensor.

Having a 'guarantee' that they'll get it sorted if it goes wrong, is all very well, but sending cameras away takes notoriously long, and they often come back in notoriously unexpected conditions too.

So there's lots to weigh up. I can understand the trepidation (and I bet there isn't a single one of us that have done loads of firmware upgrades, that doesn't look a little nervously at the progress bar every single time).

But getting someone else of dubious or at least unproven competence to do it is not necessarily the panacea you seek.

So that rules out 99.9% of the "box shifting" stores then

...look a little nervously at the progress bar every single time

No, after donning my rubber safety trousers, I kept my eyes firmly shut and fingers tightly crossed

Regards