My K10D locked up on me

Hello all. I've been lurking for some time and now have a K10D in my hands - partially due to all the favorable comments on this forum (and site). I plan to give a detailed analysis of the lenses I tested and finally picked for this camera in a later post but first I have an issue that I want to see if anyone else has seen.

Twice my K10D has locked up on me. Both times were at night. I was setting long exposures and using the exposure compensation to brighten things up a bit. At some point I noticed that no matter what I did, the camera would not take a picture. I then turned the camera off and the top panel simply showed the number of photos left on my memory card. When I turned the camera back on, it only showed the state of the battery. Nothing else would show or work. I turned it on and off a few times but could not get it to do anything so I did a 'hard-boot' by popping out the battery. Once back in, everything was fine again.

Perhaps it's my memory card. Perhaps something else triggered it. I searched through the forum and could not find anyone else with this problem so I'm posting it here.

Can't say that I've had that happen. I haven't tried any long exposures, though. The auto-off function throws me off sometimes and it kinda acts like that, although pushing the shutter button or turning off/on the camera gets it working. I'll try that with my camera to see if it does happen.
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What is the meaning of life, the world, and everything? 42. Nice and Simple.

You said that this happens during long exposures, are you sure that it wasn't the camera during dark frame noise reduction, which is enabled on the K10D be default.

With noise reduction turned on, if you take say, a three minute exposure, the camera will 'lock up' for another three minutes after the first three minute exposure to take a dark frame for the dark frame subtraction.
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Kristian Farren
http://kf3.net

The strange thing is I never got to the point where I was able to actually take a photo. I was getting all the settings set when it locked. In both circumstances, the backlight was on which is how I noticed it had locked.

I had a Nikon Coolpix that would lock up every once in a while. Popping out the batteries always did the trick...

My DS locks up now and then during a slide show. Even the on/off switch doesn't respond. I have to open and close the battery door to get going again. The first time it happened I was worried about the extent of the problem, but it seems to be a limited if recurring error, and now I just accept it as a minor bother, part of the camera's routine. I've never had lock-up when shooting.

Using a 150x SD Card, a 30 second exposure takes a long while to clear and THEN allow me to take a picture. Everything is disabled and the top display just blinks how many remaining shots I can take until it's set (roughly 30 seconds).

For shorter exposures, this never happens. I've never had it lock up definitely tho. Hope this helps.

since resetting the battery corrects the problem - could the problem be with the battery door or battery contacts?

Unless I miss my guess, that's the noise reduction system operating.

For exposures longer than about 1/5 second, the camera makes a second "dark" exposure equal in length to the first exposure with the shutter blinds closed and then subtracts off the noise. So a 30 second exposure takes about 60 seconds plus a little bit for the write time.

You can defeat this by turning noise reduction off.

Godfrey

WilliamN said:

Using a 150x SD Card, a 30 second exposure takes a long while to
clear and THEN allow me to take a picture. Everything is disabled
and the top display just blinks how many remaining shots I can take
until it's set (roughly 30 seconds).

For shorter exposures, this never happens. I've never had it lock
up definitely tho. Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

Yes, thanks for the clarification.

Godfrey said:

For exposures longer than about 1/5 second, the camera makes a
second "dark" exposure equal in length to the first exposure with
the shutter blinds closed and then subtracts off the noise. So a 30
second exposure takes about 60 seconds plus a little bit for the
write time.

You can defeat this by turning noise reduction off.

Godfrey

WilliamN said:

Using a 150x SD Card, a 30 second exposure takes a long while to
clear and THEN allow me to take a picture. Everything is disabled
and the top display just blinks how many remaining shots I can take
until it's set (roughly 30 seconds).

For shorter exposures, this never happens. I've never had it lock
up definitely tho. Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

rhythm88 said:

My DS locks up now and then during a slide show. Even the on/off
switch doesn't respond. I have to open and close the battery door
to get going again. The first time it happened I was worried about
the extent of the problem, but it seems to be a limited if
recurring error, and now I just accept it as a minor bother, part
of the camera's routine. I've never had lock-up when shooting.

Click to expand...

Have the same problem with the W20

This freeze problem has been reported several times already. Removing the battery is the only possibility to get it to work again.

No solution so far.

Perhaps a software bug, perhaps the battery, perhaps the memory card, perhaps a combination of everything ...

I can't seem to find the thread that I'm looking for. But a while back someone posted here that their K10 locked up after 32 secs. Anyway people here tried it with their K10's and some did it and others didn't. Then I think it was JohnCPentax or maybe NedB came up with the ansswer that the battery had to be charged and discharged for a few times to get the battery conditioned or something. After this cycle had been done a few times the problem disappeared. Just wondering, could this be the cause of your problem here?
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Regards Allan.
AKA Taffy.

Was it cold? I had this once with another brand DSLR- turned out that even +3C caused the battery to deliver insufficient juice, depending what I was asking of the camera. The warm battery in the pocket solved it. Just a thought.
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http://www.mikeblackburn.com (EOS 5D, Pentax K10D, and a bunch more )

I agree. I had the same 'lock up' problem. It went away when I turned noise reduction off.

Well, if it's any consolation, every Canon DLSR I've owned (which is most of them), has locked up on me at one time or another also. Most times it was a result of a Sigma lens. When I put a Canon lens back on, no more lockups... My K10D hasn't locked up yet, but I haven't put a Sigma lens on it either.
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Chris
http://www.imagineimagery.com

The problem was that the K10D would not take an exposure LONGER than 32 seconds, in Bulb mode. I made one of those posts. Some say it's because of the "newness" of the battery. I'll try it again now that my battery has seen some use. But my camera never "locked up" -- other than the dark frame subtraction feature, described above by Godfrey.

I just got off the phone with Jason at Pentax on this issue and another issue. He said if it keeps happening to send the camera in. Because the cameras are so new they really have not built up a database of issues people are having yet. He suggested I wait until after the holidays and then send in the camera because they are so swamped right now. Also, that might be a better time to call in and ask about the issue since there will be more cameras in people's hands.

does the lockup happen with Pentax lenses?

ScottSe said:

I just got off the phone with Jason at Pentax on this issue and
another issue. He said if it keeps happening to send the camera in.
Because the cameras are so new they really have not built up a
database of issues people are having yet. He suggested I wait until
after the holidays and then send in the camera because they are so
swamped right now. Also, that might be a better time to call in and
ask about the issue since there will be more cameras in people's
hands.

Click to expand...

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Kristian Farren
http://kf3.net