Nearly K5

I nearly had a K5. I found a deal on amazon for a K5 body for £773, below my 'buy' threshold of £790. It was listed with a 2 year warranty, but that would have to be back to the seller, in Germany. Buying from Germany is not an issue for me, I have bought before, they are very efficient and you really can get some good bargains online there. As we are all in Europe, no import duty etc. Apart from the persistently high price of the K5, the other thing that puts me off is how Pentax dealt with the sensor stain issue. From the perspective of what was happening in the online communities at the end of last year (with a healthy dose of scepticism about the level of hysteria) I found them slow to react to the problem, but at least they issued their statement about it in January. The fact that there are still cameras turning up with this problem does not instil me with confidence in a pro-active or reputation maintaining response. So, I wasn't ready to shell out for what was almost certainly a dud camera, but I dutifully put a note here in the 'Leads to Deals' and waited for the 'its not from SRS', which seems to be the mantra. Rather than putting me off, that sort of talk is just a red rag to a bull here, so I decided to bite the bullet and see what would happen if I ordered one. I feel safe behind a known German seller, Amazon and my credit card, so I think I was sorting of waiting to have the fears of a dud confirmed.

Camera arrived on Monday. All good, box a bit tatty but camera looked as expected. Charged up the battery and fired off a few shots, all good, the K5 is nice to use and an easy transition from the Kx. I like the screen, much easier to check focus than my Kx. I like the mode dial, especially with a proper X and B setting. Love the proper MLU and the fact that it is quieter than the Kx (I use a sigma HSM lens as the noise of the screw drive is annoying - to me at least). I really like the ability to see when the camera is level, that is a real problem for me, and the fact you can see it on the top screen makes it worth having one of those as well.

All good, but like I said, I nearly had a K5. It went back today. Postage paid, so not so bad. The reason? This camera was manufactured in SEPTEMBER last year. Initially it looked fine when I took a photo of the sky, long focal length, narrow aperture. Even ramping up the contrast was OK. But against a white background, you can see the dreaded line of dots. It was much fainter than I expected, but it is there and looks like the classic oil on sensor problem.


So it went back. You would have thought that Pentax would have mopped up these rogue early cameras by now, if this was a car we would all be dead in a ditch with failed brakes or something! For the moment, I might wait a little longer and see how the K5 moves towards my threshold. Sadly, it did confirm my theory, I was expecting it to be bad and it was (sad state of affairs really). I did talk to Pentax regarding European warranty etc. That is fine, I think they fix it, but they sound like fixing consumers cameras is all just too much, they don't exactly give you a lot of confidence in their service. So I opted to just send it back for the refund. Ho hum, back the Kx.

Retailers selling off K-5s manufactured during the height of the Stain Scandal should be named and shamed.

Hope you get a good K-5 before long

I had that in my basket for 2 days when it appeared and I immediately and arghed about buying it and then when I decided to bite the bullet it had gone. This was exactly why I worried about buying it. Will definitely be buying mine in a shop now...

I think the manufacturer has a role to play as well. It is not a case of naming and shaming, the two key dealers here in the UK have fallen foul recently as well, it is not all up to them.

Try number two: some of you will have seen the Jessops deal for £829 for the 18-55 and K5 kit that appeared on Friday. I bit the bullet again and ordered one for collect in store. Seems that Jessops have now shifted the stock they wanted to (mine was the last in the Guildford branch) and raised the price to £999 again . Interesting that SRS's price has now gone back up as well, they were able to match that price over the weekend, but not today, unless there is a bit of competition. Sheep farmers may see an analogy here. I have picked up the one from Jessops and I can confirm it is a 385xxx serial number, (my Amazon / Avides one was 383xxx) and both were manufactured in September last year. The new one has a couple of dust spots on it, but not the same as the first one I had, so I think this one might be OK. I need to charge the battery and see what is really going on. The STAIN SCANDAL continues. Is that an accepted term now? Should we add SS to LBA and call it our own

thanks for sharing this. i have been watching K-5 price movement for a while. i may wait to Christmas, as pentax always has some cashback offer. it was about 100 pounds off. i hope i will be lucky to see the special offer again

I suggest you check it check it properly. Of course it might be one of the batches which was not affected (like mine, serial 39XXX)

If they are selling faulty batches then Pentax should take the blame for not recalling them. Or maybe Hoya knew they were about to sell the brand and did not care. If that's the case, I cannot see Pentax surviving with Ricoh. But, being an optimist, I reckon you should not worry about the stains and enjoy the brilliant K5.

I wonder if there will ever be a big sell-off of the affected K5s at a knock down price? I'd probably fork out £200 for a mildly affected one and just become adept at cloning

If you've photoshop you can make it into an action

A disgrace they could be out there with no recall. 'Hopefully' this is something more shady, one that has got through the net

But only on the full version i think? Elements does not allow you to record new actions.

Davex.

What a disgrace. I certainly wont be buying a K5 until I can be assured that it is in perfect condition. (if at all)

Pentax was really pushing out new models, and features over the last few years, like a dying effort to regain market share. Unfortunately, their quality control was lost. Not recalling known defective products was probably the death knell of the Pentax brand as a sought after camera. No wonder they had to sell out. The only people buying pentax now will be those that just dont know, and those afficionados that know better, and know what to look for. Without forums such as these, many would be oblivious to these defects.

May make me think twice about buying another Pentax camera, after my Kr wears out. What a shame, I am really happy with the Kr so far. But I regret I must demand total committment from the manufacturer.

All faulty cameras have been replaced, so I wouldn't expect anything more than that could be done surfseen. Don't think that batch faults are exclusive to Pentax, because they are not.

Nikon and Canon have both had their own problems. In the case of Canon an entire lens production run had to be replaced. The returned lenses were, I hear, destroyed to prevent them re-entering the supply chain. Sounds a pretty drastic situation to me.

There will still be faulty cameras here and there because not all suppliers will have returned them, so residual problems may crop up from time to time.

If you're really happy with your K-r, then surely your personal experience is totally satisfactory?

Whilst I do not disagree with your sentiment surfseen, I think you are being a bit harsh all the same.

Other brands have had to perform recalls and have lived to fight another day.

My line of work involves communications within an IT project capacity. You can be as proactive as you think possible, but ugly things often rear their head which you need to contain and re mediate.

The best cases of customer service where the patron is left feeling the happiest is when something went wrong and the organisation involved did everything they could to address it.

The point I'm trying to make is that *hit happens. It's how you deal with it that really matters. Pentax issued the statement and offered free repairs to affected K-5's.

Yes it's a pain in the bum that their quality control is/was pants. I just hope they learn from their experience otherwise it could be their undoing.

I had a stain issue with my first K5, but a call to SRS put the wheels in motion and my 3*** became 4*** replacement - and works absolutely fine. A cheap deal may not be all it seems - you get what you pay for etc etc. Buy from a reputable company who have their name and reputation to protect and any problems should be readily addressed