K5 owners

Under the Sale of Goods act, you are entitled to a replacement after a 'reasonable' time, otherwise it will go off for repair. Some deem this reasonable time to be 30 days, so get it replaced now rather than repaired (so you will not be without a camera for 4 weeks!!)

Under the Sale of Goods act, there is a six month period where by the onus changes from the retailer to the consumer to prove what is at fault and when. This may cause issues, so why muck about?

If you went back in under warranty after 1 year 11 months to complain about 'a dirty sensor' it maybe argued that it is normal wear and tear. If you were to point out that it was a known problem in December 2010, then the obvious question will be 'so why didn't you do it then? Obviously it wasn't faulty, or you were happy with it?' Think of the 'fun' you will have arguing this one.

So if you want a hassle free replacement, get it done now. If you want future aggro trying to get a repair and leave you without a camera for a few weeks, by all means wait. It's the best advice I can give.

I checked mine today after reading all of the posts. I can't find any specs or problems on mine. Guess I must be one of the lucky ones!

I bought mine from SRS 23rd November. I've just checked it and I can't find any marks on mine.

Fletcher8 and smudge

Just a thought

Dr Mhuni has a thread about the K5 and its problems with a poll to see the numbers of folk with and without a problem. It might be a help if you two posted on it

link





This could possibly help Chris and the SRS staff so they can have a good idea of the numbers involved

Mine too!
Will post on the other thread too...

Noticed this thread re a D7000: link

Perhaps the issue is with the Sony-supplied sensor and is there on D7000s too. Or maybe it's just a manufacturing thing that can affect any body.

My one as well, but not as bad as others



IMGP0060 (Crop) by smutjeuk, on Flickr

Will post in the vote as well. Hope Pentax does a recall and exchanges the faulty ones rather then just repairing them.
No out comes my Panasonic again for the time my new toy is away. Wait till we got an answer from Chris as SRS has an response from Pentax before I send it back.
It would look better with a recall then just repair quietly as it would show that Pentax cares and it is damage limitation when standing up to a fault!

From a look at that thread it does appear to have been dust - and folk like Gwyn have tried and failed to remove whatever it is on the K5s

Two tiny specs, barely noticable until the frame is enlarged. Until I read about this problem I would have put it down to specs of dust, easily removable or cloned out. They are more distinct at f22, a tiny blur at f11.
I hadn't noticed anything amiss on any of the 600+ photographs I've taken with my new K5, some of which I've blown up quite a lot to see just how sharp it is. (And boy it is sharp). I would now be blissfully unaware had I not read about it on PUF.
David

Yes you are right

I have to say I am a little surprised at those on this thread who are minimising this issue.

To clarify - are we saying this dust is between the filter and sensor?

If that were the case and I had bought one, I would be less than pleased.

I hope Pentax have not shot themselves in the foot here.

There is a case for minimising the issue because we don't know yet what the problem is, or how widespread it is. It wouldn't stop me buying a K-5 right now. It's the cost of Christmas that's doing that!

It may be that it's rare, but of course the only ones who post about it are those with a problem, so we get a skewed picture of the situation.

There are also few photographers who spend much time shooting white paper at f22....I can't remember the last time I did that.

If it is dust trapped between the sensor and the filter, although disappointing, for me it’s not too much of a disaster. (My K-5 is also affected) My main worry is if it is some form of surface contamination then it could get worse over time. We will have to see what Pentax have to say about this.

There are two with no problems on this page alone John.

So if you spent £100K on a Ferrari and it would not do more than 70MPH you would cheerfully accept it on the grounds that you would seldom use any higher speeds?

Come on people - it has a long wooden handle and a flat metal blade, let's call it a spade.

I don't recall mentioning Ferraris, but I know what you mean. Equally well, even the poll on another thread isn't definitive. It's the problem that we can't escape with polls of any type - they are self selecting samples.

That is, they are answered by people who answer polls. We can never know what the rest think.