K50 Repair - Trustworthy Quote

Hi All,

I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction.
My daughter has just finished her photography GCSE which means I get my K50 back.
The only problem is that the shutter release button does not appear to travel as far as it did - the movement from nothing to full depression is hardly anything. I have also had it on occasions unable to focus when using the Tamron 70-300 lens - been ok with the kit lens so far.
I took it to Jessops as they are my local/closest camera store and where I bought it from a couple of years ago, they sent it off for a quote. I was expect something like £100 to fix.
I had the quote come through the post the other day and it was in excess for £440 (inc VAT). The quote did say replace PCB, clean and service. For a camera a couple of years old that was approx. £475 at the time the quote seems excessive. Would a shutter button issue as I mentioned turn in to a PCB issue?

Would any one be able to recommend a repair shop in the Bristol area that can give me a quote that I could trust. If the camera is beyond economical repair then that's fine as well - maybe time to drop hints at an upgrade

Thanks

Andy

Very often with repairs the labour part of the quote adds most of the pain, because the technician is an expensive person to employ and therefore his time is expensive. The shutter button is connected to a circuit board, so there may lie the issue.

Why not pay for PU Plus and then get your 20% on servicing at the official repair house, JPS.

https://www.pentaxuser.com/discounts

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Best regards, John

Sorry to hear of your K-50 woes. The main Pentax repair people are:
Johnsons Photopia Ltd
See http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.uk/en/repair-process.html
Also Alan Marlow of Shepperton Surrey is a reliable independent repairer.
See http://www.cam-rep.co.uk/
Locally you have Bristol Cameras who are Pentax dealers so they may be able to help or more likely act as agents for Johnsons and take a cut on top!
Others may have more local knowledge of repairers local to Bristol.
I have a spare new K-50 body and have PM'd you with details should you prefer that to getting the existing one repaired.

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John K

The shutter button is a surface mount component on a printed circuit board.
They official repair processes may be to replace the board with another one, hence the comments and cost.
This may fall into DIY territory if you can source a replacement shutter switch.

Here's an example pic from a K-01:

As others have said, you are better off going straight to the main repairer or a reputable individual with access to Pentax spares otherwise you're in effect paying twice...once to the national repairer (where it will almost certainly be sent to by a third party) and then again to the middle man who handles your repair on your behalf.

The price of repairs on all electronic goods seems excessive...so much for saving the planet by clamping down on the disposable society.

Personally I think if you've spent lets say £500 on a camera or camcorder the manufacturer should be legally obliged to warranty it for 5 years against normal 'wear and tear' and for the type of everyday use it was designed for. We'd all end up with much more reliable and robust equipment that wouldn't become disposable after 2-3 years. Spend £250-£300 and I don't think its unreasonable to expect a minimum of 3 years useful life out of it.

That's a good point actually, do you have any comeback via the seller on this?

In New Zealand, we have a consumer guarantees act that covers the buyer for a 'reasonable time' after purchase. That wording means it gets slugged out at hearings, but typically a camera shutter button should work for 3+ years I would have thought. There are some requirements for this, such as you have to buy from a legitimate outlet (not second hand/private seller) for example, so that rules out ebay/trademe and it only covers items purchased in New Zealand, so no cover on imported gear.

Do you have anything similar in the UK?

As an aside, Back button focussing seems a viable work around if you keep it unfixed?

At that price I would by a new camer

If the repair costs do turn out to be excessive then maybe a workaround solution would be to go into the menu, disable focusing from the shutter button, and set it to back button focusing.

Have you tried using a remote shutter release at all ? Just to prove the problem is actually the button...

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K-1Gripped K-1 ungripped K-5ii K7 Various lenses

Stuart..

Or have you tried factory reset

All,
Many thanks for your comments and suggestions.
I'm going to have a look through and see what can be done.

Thanks

Andy

How are you getting on with that new K-50 body?

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John K