K5 Poll

Just been checking my K5 today, first flash on white card at f22 and could only find one tiny barely detectable diffuse smudge at extreme upper right of frame easily cloned out. (Invisible when wider than f22)
Then used the wall mounted light box allowing f40 and the tiny smudge barely resolved any more with no other marks to speak of.

The only other thing was a hot pixel at extreme right of frame which vanished after one pixel mapping routine.

So ...I'm quite happy and going to keep the camera, certainly no problem here but sure those with the issue will get their cameras replaced soon.

K5 Kit(18-135mm lens) Serial No. 3865...

Mike

I viewed the poll initially saying I didn't have a K5. Well now I do but can't vote!
For the record, my sensor is OK. Having lots of fun with this camera and just used video on Grandchild at Kindy. Easy to use!
bb2

Well, having voted 'no' to marks on my sensor, and having the shots to prove it, this morning I took some ice photos, and was shocked to see significant marks have now appeared.

So in my case, no amount of QC of cameras coming off the production line could have spotted my problem, and perhaps this is a reason why it wasn't picked up there generally?

Gutted, both for myself (although I know it will get sorted one way or another), but also for Pentax. If these marks are under the AA filter, and they appear where once they weren't... Who knows what this means?

Dan

That's worrying. Could you post a picture of the sensor marks and also what was the start of the serial number of your camera?

3821xxx

Although the original test shots I took showed a very small single spot to one side of the frame at f/32, I just wasn't worried about it, as I never shoot smaller than f/16 and it simply wasn't a problem.

The marks that have appeared are near the centre of the sensor.

First shot, no marks, K-5 with DA*300mm lens at f/32, 7th December



Second shot, marks, K-5 with DA*300mm lens at f/32, 13th December



These are both 100% crops of the same region of the sensor.

Even with heavy processing, I just can't see anything in this region on the earlier shot, not even faint marks.

Dan

Dan, do you have any idea how many shots were taken between the tests

Assuming file numbers are sequential, about 80.

Dan

I had asked earlier fo soemone to test this.
thnx.
I bet ir will clean up off the sensor with a cotton swab and lens cleaner or alcohol...
If you try to clean it please post your results?

I am fairly certian there are two issues with this camera, I don't have one and cannot test...
But there seems to be a more rare issie with staining on the aa filter which you cannot clean, and oil fling off the mirror mechanism which can be cleaned.

Now you have got me worried, I have taken 115 shots with mine and I can see nothing at this stage.

Dan, how many shots have you taken in total. Do you use video or live view ??

In photome, the total shutter count is 968, about 700 of those are mine. I have done a few short videos, and used live view very briefly, but not between clear shots and marked shots.

Dan

I gave up and took mine back to the retailer this morning. I got a full refund, but only after a bit of a fight.

I will now wait for a definitive response from Pentax before buying another one.

According to this post link that 'Sapphie' posted in the "K5 Sensor Issues..." thread the fault is in the glass and not between the AA Filter and the Sensor, that would mean that any fault would be visible right from the start.
Now I wonder if it could be Oil Splatter or some other kind of surface 'dirt' that you may be able to clean as your first test was clean of any fault.
Please do not get me wrong here, I am not sure myself what is going on but most that have the fault seem to have it right from the first picture. I am only go by what is posted in various forums and what Pentax seemed to have said where the fault is.
I would see if a clean would work and if not I would say that you get back to the retailer and see what they say but I may would leave out the part that the sensor was clean in the beginning, just in case that they get funny.
SRS seem really to go the extra ten miles with replacements and you should be good if you got the camera from them but if you got another retailer it seems a bit of hit and miss of how they deal with the problem.
One thing that I learned out of this is that I will get myself a second body after I got the lens I need so that I be able to carry on working if I have a problem and need my camera repaired/replaced again.
I tend to get a K20D with Grip purely as you can get them cheap(ish) but I may wait a bit longer and get the K-7 as I can make use of my extra spare batteries I got for my K-5 and I can use the grip as well (also I probably would get a third party one then as well as they are relatively cheap anyway compare to the Pentax one).

I have returned my K-5 to the retailer and obtained a refund.

I still want a K-5 before the cashback offer ends, but I am unsure about buying another in case that is also faulty. I do not want to go through the mill again trying to get a refund/exchange.

Does anyone know if Pentax have got to the bottom of this problem and are 'clean' cameras shipping yet?

Thanks.

STOP PRESS:

I have just spoken to SRS Microsystems, who have a fresh batch on order that have been checked by Pentax and are clean. So I have placed an order and the new camera should be with me in a few days time.

Great!

In all cases it seems the marks were under, not on, the glass to the front of the sensor. The characteristic 'spray' patterns which look so much like oil spatters have been confirmed to lie behind the glass, as reported by people who have had their sensors professionally cleaned or by boffins like Falk Lumo who have measured the position of the offending marks. It would be extremely unlikely that two different causes were at work, producing the same or similar pattern of marks?

eech I've got to change that avatar, seemed a funny idea at the time...

unless the oil is spattering, then being absorbed by a coating on the glass or (think along the lines of curing a cast iron frying pan) the oil is getting baked on to (a porous) glass surface....

the fact that it is appearing after first use implies it is post purchase, not likely it got between the glass AFTER manufacure...
as I guessed earlier, if it happened after use some instances may on the glass and others may be during manufacture... in both cases it may be the same source... oil...

if the glass is defective and porus, then as it heats, individual molecules of oil could settle into the pores and be impossible to clean afterwards........ as in the cured frying pan example I stated...