Pentax K3

Has anybody had their K3 "seize up"? This happened to me, and nothing whatsoever would work. Only thing I could do was to take out the battery! Comments? JohnR.

Nope, not here.

No, not for me either.

I've had one lock up whilst viewing pictures on the rear LCD, had to take the battery out to get it going again (manual refers to static electricity possibly causing lockups).

All seems ok now.

George

The latest firmware might help (if not already installed).

Philip

Just the once. Grip off and battery out job. Been OK since. That happened on a shoot amongst other togs. Now I don't use the K3 for shoots, that removes the risk 100%.

Best regards

It can, and does, happen to all makes of camera. All computers can lock up.

I have never experienced it, but I never use grips, so I don't know if it's the changeover from one battery to another in the grip that can make the risk higher.

It's happened to every Pentax camera I have owned ... K10D/K20D/K-7/K-5/K-5II, they have all done it. Every time the camera has had a grip attached.


Never on my Canon 7D though.

I like having the grip attached as I find it easier to hold when using the camera in portrait. When using the grip do people have a battery in the camera and grip or just in the grip. I just use a battery in the grip. Is this defeating the purpose of the grip.

Huh? Really, you don't trust it at all? Don't you feel its a bit wasted then?

It has never happened to me on any of my Pentax cameras, including one K-3, one K-5iis, two K-5's, four K-x's, two K-01's and one K-m.

I've only recently acquired a grip that is used on my K-5iis, no problems with this camera since then, but have never used a grip on any of the others. Maybe this could be why I haven't had a problem?

Also, all of my cameras have always been kept up to date with the latest firmware.

Regards
David

There are always occasional reports of this with most models. I think it's due to early firmware bugs, so best to keep the firmware up-to-date.

It's happened a couple of times to my K-30 - battery withdrawal has sorted it. It also happened with my previous non-Pentax cameras. It happens with my TV, my cellphones, my laptops and other devices. It's simply a fact of modern life. I work in the IT industry and 'have you switched it off' is a valid response - particularly if you withdraw the power source - in many instances.

Wasted?

No not really, my istD, K10, K7 and K5 may be classed as wasted at the moment as I left them in the UK along with all of the Pentax film cameras except the MZ-S which I brought here to use.

I have never had my "other" kit freeze on me.

That’s just the way it is at the moment. The battery in the grip and camera were fully charged and I was only into the first dozen or so shots at a Sunday Times fashion shoot.

At the start I was quite happy to give the K3 a good work out throughout the event. Once it froze, I dropped out/re-fitted the batteries and it was OK. That, at that point didn’t matter; it went into a bag and stayed there.

It has never frozen since but it’s a case of why even risk it when the other kit does the job without issue.

Best regards