K5 shutter jamming

I was shooting an equestrian event on Sunday and on four occasions my shutter jammed.

The camera would not turn off without removing the battery and the shutter was jammed with the mirror up. Having removed the battery and reinserting it the shutter/mirror then reset to their normal positions. After the second occurence of this problem, I left the battery in the body out completely as it was a bit of a pain, when you have a job to do, to remove the grip, then remove the body battery, then put it all back together again, especially with very cold fingers.

The cause (I think). . . was my use of cheap 7Dayshop, non-Pentax batteries.

Having removed the offending battery and replaced it with a Pentax branded one, the problem went away.

I've never had the issue before, but also I've never depended on these cheap batteries before either.

The problem was probably also not helped by my very rare use of 'machine gun' mode, required to ensure I got a good shot of some fast moving horses. I suspect that repeated shutter actuations may have drained the battery to a point that it couldn't return the mirror after a few shots.

Once I'd replaced the 'cheap' batteries with 'proper' Pentax ones, no problem. So for me, it's Pentax branded batteries only for important events from now on. The cheapies will still get used, but not when getting the shot really matters.

Interesting that you have posted this Peter - as I suffered exactly the same problem on Saturday - for the first time ever.

The only difference being - mine was a Pentax original battery that appeared to be causing the problem and when I replaced it - ironically with a 7 day shop battery - problem stopped immediately.

What seems to be the common experience is that my Pentax battery was fairly drained when the K5 mirror started jamming. I was not using continuous shooting but was using an HDR burst

So - looks as if this could be an issue with any battery when the power drops below a certain level. I would not condemn the 7 day shop batteries as the cause - certainly mine generally give me as good service as the original Pentax - perhaps we have both learned that it is best to replace batteries that are 'almost' flat rather than trying to squeeze the last breath out of them

Carl

That's why I always use Pentax equipment, more expensive but no hassle!

Happened to me twice in the last 3 weeks. Both times with grip attached and battery selector set to auto. Can't recall brand of batteries in use.

I was thinking it was perhaps at the point of switching from one battery to the other.

I've now set it to use the grip battery first. When it starts to get low, I'll change it myself to the body battery

Happened to me a few times - usually when I'm shooting in 'burst' mode, Caf and the battery is less than 100% charged. Only solution is always to take the battery out.

In my case, the battery indicator was showing partially depleted at the time of the lockup.

It also occured to me that the camera will only decide which battery to use when the camera is turned on. It would seem that it doesn't switch to the second battery whilst the camera is actually in use.

I haven't totally condemned the 7dayshop batteries. Although I charged them all before use (I have 2 x Original + 2 x 7Dayshop), the 7Dayshop battery didn't last very long in the cold weather, only a couple of hundred shots at the most. Ordinarily, 200 shots would not be a problem.

For info: I was using both continuous Hi-Speed shutter and AF-C at the same time so the batteries were working quite hard. Coincidentally, I almost totally depleted a Pentax branded battery and the camera still worked fine. I did change it before any more problems occured.

Not had that but did have the 'double shutter' problem I had before on a new K-5 that I've only had a few weeks! Problem seems to be heat in that case as it happened whilst in direct sunlight in Spain last weekend. Again removing batteries 'fixed' the problem and these were genuine items.

You've just reminded me that Richard asked me about the event but I had forgotten all about it! Guess you came back from Spain in time to help and hope to catch up whilst you're back, I still owe you that beer!

Danny, the event I was going to cover alone was cancelled due to the weather and I was able to assist Richard at his event.

I think we're coming to your camera club tomorrow night so you'll have the opportunity of buying me as much beer as you like

Good stuff, we're on the summer programme now so it'll be a nature walk convening down the pub! Will bring the 250-600 and 200 macro for you to play with if you like!

Details here:- http://www.imagezcameraclub.co.uk/programme/

I dont know about your camera but the K20d doesn't automatically switch between batteries, when the first one depletes you have to switch off and on again.

If you are only getting around 200 shots from the 7 day batteries - they may well be the problem - I always get 400+ even in cold weather

Perhaps I have been lucky - it would be interesting to hear how many shots others get from 3rd party batteries - I have one I bought off ebay that claimed to last twice as long as the Pentax original and whether that is true or not I have not worked out but I have never needed to change it in a full days shooting even when I have taken over 700 shots.

Carl

I've had the "freeze" problem a number of times with my still pretty new K-5, with both original and non-Pentax batteries. No suggestion of low power though - it can happen with a newly charged battery and with a depleted one. It does seem to happen when trying to take a number of shots while tracking moving objects (usually birds in flight)in single shot mode, not burst. I wondered if it was because auto focus couldn't keep up. Is that likely? It's certainly annoying! Disengage, then re-engage the battery and all's well again - but the bird has flown!