Is there life after aperture block failure?

peterpainter wrote:

Smitty1 wrote:

peterpainter wrote:

So it happened. My K50 after nearly 4 years and 4,000 shots has succumbed. I don't think I'll be getting it fixed (or fixing it myself - too clumsy). The K50 was great, a weather-sealed body and lens, important in this climate, at an affordable price. I don't trust a K70 because of the same issue, so what next?

What have other people done?

I don't know if anyone has suggested this and frankly I don't have the desire to go through the 60+ other posts to check.

Buy a K-3 or K-3 II and be done with it. The higher end bodies didn't suffer such a failure since they seem to use a different shutter and motor.

Plus you'll get a better handling body, improved autofocus, faster burst rate, deeper buffer, support for a battery grip, dual card slots, much improved metering, larger magnification viewfinder, mag alloy frame with possibly better sealing, and better KAF4 support for newer lenses. etc etc etc

Plus they're cheap on the second hand market if you shop around.

I did look into that for a while after the problem happened, then decided to try the battery insert approach. It isn't perfect but a lot cheaper than buying another body. Whether or not I'll continue to use Pentax is still in doubt.

Personally, if you're not fixated on trying to make Pentax work I'd look elsewhere. But the K-3 would be a fairly cheap addition if you were looking to try to bandaid the issue.

Nikon and Canon both have superior DSLR crop and full frame systems with vast 3rd party options, if you're willing to spend a little extra.   Well and don't care about the IBIS in Pentax.  And all of them (inc Sony, Fuji, and Olympus) have interesting mirrorless systems too if that's your thing (with IBIS).