K5 Poll

I am planning to get a K5 when I'm back in the UK over Xmas. However, the issues with the sensor have got me concerned. I thought it might be useful, for potential buyers, to get some idea about the scale of the problem by starting a poll here.

More detailed observations (how serious the sensor marks are, for eg.) could be included below.

I'm one of the lucky ones, nothing showed up.

Mine does. You can see the spots in this thread.

It may be worth noting the serial numbers of those affected or not too.

Mine starts with 3828.

My one has got it as well but not as bad as others



IMGP0060 (Crop 100%) by smutjeuk, on Flickr


My number starts with 3824...

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.
I've posted this same comment in the other thread.
David

PS my serial number starts 3823. The marks in my K5 are not as bad as those posted above by Smutje and his aren't as bad as some of the others.

I also posted my pics in the other thread. My marks are quite faint compared to most peoples, like David I probably wouldn't have noticed it for quite a while unless I had read about it first. (That's not to say it is insignificant, I'm sure it would have become painfully obvious as soon as I had my first macro session, or skyscape session, but that could have been months from now).

My serial number is 3825xxxx.

I hope you will post in here as soon as you hear from Chris at SRS as I can see them getting busy about this one.
I will follow this thread so I do not miss out when you got the response.

IMO Pentax should do a recall of all effected and replace them. It would be damage limitation and this way it would also show if it is only Pentax who have the problem or if others have the problem too.
I can see now every owner of a new DSLR does the test, no matter what make or model. Would be interesting to see how far spread the fault is.

I would be very careful by now of buying any second hand and relatively new camera from feeBay etc just because the price seems to be too good. You may get this fault and be stuck with it.

Problems like this can happen to the best and may even do, they may just have not noticed it yet. Strange that is has not shown up in ANY review so far. Bet the magazines will be full of it next issue round.

My serial number starts 3822 if it's any help. It seems to be earlier than the ones with problems reported.

I had ordered one from SRS at the weekend. I cancelled my order this morning (thanks SRS & Chris for being so helpful) until this is sorted by Pentax.

Hope it gets sorted quickly for those affected.

Think I'll wait and buy a refurb :arrow:

Mine is not affected. Serial number starts 3865

I have checked my K-5 and it has the marks on the sensor – also tried cleaning the sensor with a arcticbutterfly brush but as expected it made no difference.
The marks only showup at f22 and I wouldn’t have noticed them but for the alerts posted on the forums.

I will contact Chris at SRS and let him know and wait to see what Pentax say, but I don’t see any point returning the camera until after the Christmas rush has finished.

Thank you Dr Mhuni for including option three. Well thought out.

Thanks Oggy, but this was my second attempt - made the mistake of not including a third option in the original post !

Mine is affected (pics in other post) and my serial no. is also 3865***.

I've yet to fully 'field' test the camera, so don't know if it is obvious within any shots.