my fix of the K-30 aperture problem without disassembly

Soaptrail wrote:

DS21 wrote:

flektogon wrote:

DS21 wrote:

flektogon wrote:

So, the K-70 is affected as well? Not good sign for Pentax. Very, very sad..

I don't think Pentax cares very much, K-70 and K-3 lines are at dead end, all eggs are placed in a K-1 and heavy/bulky/expensive lenses basket now. According to some vocal posters on the forum, catering to "budget" customers nearly bankrupted the brand, so then why continue it.

But this is so simple problem, that it is really ridiculous that Pentax hasn't resolved it yet. It is just one, low quality part (a simple solenoid), with which Pentax has replaced far more reliable part used in the previous cameras (the last one was very likely K-r). Their more expensive camera series (K-5,3,P) apparently uses a different lens aperture driver, as no such faults were reported. But this failure has started to be reported with the introduction of the K-30 camera. Pentax had enough long time to replace this part, but they decided to ignore it. So, they do not care about the "budget" customers. But they are not able to satisfy any professional customers either. So, who do they care about?

People who will buy K-1 II, D-FA 50 1.4, and similar, the moment they become available. These are the target customers, and apparently there is still enough of them to keep the ball rolling (for now).

I have the K-30 and this issue occurred when i went to take Halloween photos. If the K-70 also suffers from this issue what is my recommended upgrade path? I have not looked at cameras since buying a K-30 so any recommendations? I still have a DA* 16-50 lens i repaired once due to the motor dying. Will the replacement motor eventually die as well? If that is the case should i change systems?

The only Pentax model now in production and compatible with your lens is the KP. The other options are K-3 II (recently discontinued), or used K-3, K-5 II or K-5 IIs.They are all free of the "dark frame" issue. Avoid K-50, K-S1, K-S2 and K-70.

There is no guarantee your 16-50 will not fail again, but if it happens,  there is a way to convert it to screw drive focusing (camera motor), by hacking the lens firmware, not sure if you are willing to go through that. There are numerous tutorials on how to do it on the web, and other Pentax forum site.

If 16-50 is your only lens, it makes sense to change systems, and sell it while you still can (and it is working). You have to like Pentax a lot to find a reason to stay with that brand these days, and I have a feeling you are not particularly attached, so it would be easy and cost effective to switch now.  Otherwise, you are saddled with the unclear future for DA* 2.8 zoom lenses, still with their SDM motors  (you have to hope the SDM will not fail when you need it the most) , and disappearing alternatives from Tamron and Sigma, which will all be discontinued after the current stock is eventually sold out. That is, if you need standard 2.8 zoom lenses, if you don't, and want to indulge  in the cult of the Limiteds, you can still do that, and stay with Pentax.