capturef22
Senior Member
A week ago, while on vacation, my K5 froze up too. But I look at it as a progression (degression) that started a few months ago. First it was just an issue that could be resolved by removing the battery. That was maybe July or August (using the 300 mm, AFC, continuous shooting mode). Happened again in September (using the 18-135, AFS, single exposure mode). Inconvenient, but not the end of the world for me since I was not in the middle of a one-time event or deriving income from my work.
Last Saturday while on vacation in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan after getting some sunrise / reflection pictures in the early morning (cold), I noticed the battery indicator dropping to 3, then 2, then back to 3 bars. My experience has been once the indicator starts to show that, battery life drops quickly. I thought I had read that Li batteries actually do best not being fully charged / discharged so even though I was an hour out from the motel and headed west further away from it, I decided to return to the motel and throw the battery (the original battery that came with the camera) on the charger for a couple hours. I did so, but the charging light on the charger was still lit when I took the battery off 2-3 hours later. Nonethess the on-camera indicator showed a full charge so I was off and running. I used it the rest of the day with no problem.
Saturday night I was out on a point with the sunset to my back and the full moon rising in front of me. I took about a dozen pictures from the tripod using the 18-135 mm (AFS, single exposure mode) before tripping the shutter sounded "stuck". As I recall, I could still see through the viewfinder but couldn't get any shutter activation. After a couple attempts, I realized there was a "Battery Depleted" error message showing on the LCD. I tried removing the battery for several minutes and reinserting--nothing. After a few tries of that, I wasn't having any luck. After driving two hours back to the motel, I researched that error message and saw a few work-arounds posted. I inserted the battery back in the camera to attempt the "push LV twice" workaround, and the camera was working again, without the workaround. I put the battery on the charger overnight (it was already late and I was tired by this time).
Sunday morning, the battery light on the charger was off. I was up early, off and running again. I was probably about two hours out from the motel before it got light and some of the fog burned off. I took maybe a half-dozen intermittent pictures at various points as I traveled west. An hour or so later, doing some of the same (again with the 18-135 mm, AFS, single exposure mode) after taking maybe a half-dozen more, the K5 completely froze, as in mirror locked up and battery removal / reinsertion did nothing. The on-camera indicators were lit and the battery meter read full. Over the course of the day, I tried leaving the battery out for longer and longer periods but nothing helped over the the next two days while I traveled back home.
Once back home on Tuesday (in between preparing for a big meeting on Thursday) I continued to try it periodically to no avail. At one point, I set the camera to TAv and moved the focus point switching dial from select to auto. At that point, all indicators on the camera went blank and none of the features (picture review, info settings, etc.) work. The camera seems dead.
This week was busy for me and I did not have the attention / time to deal with it, but now I do. Having read this thread and many others, I am disappointed in what is otherwise a fantastic camera. I realize it's hard to tell from online forums whether a problem is "common" or whether there are far more people who DON'T report that they are having no problems. Still, like several others have stated, it's an expensive computer / shutter and while systemic errors can be expected from electronics, that doesn't provide much comfort for me, for a camera with less than 10,000 shutter actuations on it. For a camera that I'd rather not be without. I feel for those who derive their income from cameras who find themselves in this situation.
So, now, I'm looking for a backup body since I've invested in some nice Pentax lenses but I find myself hesitant. Instead of looking forward, I'm looking backward to earlier models. Why get another K5 or a K30 if this problem is "commonly" out there? As with anything, all previous versions have their ups and downs. I'm hoping whatever I get is a decent used body that I can count on but now I'm much less confident than I was a week ago...
Last Saturday while on vacation in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan after getting some sunrise / reflection pictures in the early morning (cold), I noticed the battery indicator dropping to 3, then 2, then back to 3 bars. My experience has been once the indicator starts to show that, battery life drops quickly. I thought I had read that Li batteries actually do best not being fully charged / discharged so even though I was an hour out from the motel and headed west further away from it, I decided to return to the motel and throw the battery (the original battery that came with the camera) on the charger for a couple hours. I did so, but the charging light on the charger was still lit when I took the battery off 2-3 hours later. Nonethess the on-camera indicator showed a full charge so I was off and running. I used it the rest of the day with no problem.
Saturday night I was out on a point with the sunset to my back and the full moon rising in front of me. I took about a dozen pictures from the tripod using the 18-135 mm (AFS, single exposure mode) before tripping the shutter sounded "stuck". As I recall, I could still see through the viewfinder but couldn't get any shutter activation. After a couple attempts, I realized there was a "Battery Depleted" error message showing on the LCD. I tried removing the battery for several minutes and reinserting--nothing. After a few tries of that, I wasn't having any luck. After driving two hours back to the motel, I researched that error message and saw a few work-arounds posted. I inserted the battery back in the camera to attempt the "push LV twice" workaround, and the camera was working again, without the workaround. I put the battery on the charger overnight (it was already late and I was tired by this time).
Sunday morning, the battery light on the charger was off. I was up early, off and running again. I was probably about two hours out from the motel before it got light and some of the fog burned off. I took maybe a half-dozen intermittent pictures at various points as I traveled west. An hour or so later, doing some of the same (again with the 18-135 mm, AFS, single exposure mode) after taking maybe a half-dozen more, the K5 completely froze, as in mirror locked up and battery removal / reinsertion did nothing. The on-camera indicators were lit and the battery meter read full. Over the course of the day, I tried leaving the battery out for longer and longer periods but nothing helped over the the next two days while I traveled back home.
Once back home on Tuesday (in between preparing for a big meeting on Thursday) I continued to try it periodically to no avail. At one point, I set the camera to TAv and moved the focus point switching dial from select to auto. At that point, all indicators on the camera went blank and none of the features (picture review, info settings, etc.) work. The camera seems dead.
This week was busy for me and I did not have the attention / time to deal with it, but now I do. Having read this thread and many others, I am disappointed in what is otherwise a fantastic camera. I realize it's hard to tell from online forums whether a problem is "common" or whether there are far more people who DON'T report that they are having no problems. Still, like several others have stated, it's an expensive computer / shutter and while systemic errors can be expected from electronics, that doesn't provide much comfort for me, for a camera with less than 10,000 shutter actuations on it. For a camera that I'd rather not be without. I feel for those who derive their income from cameras who find themselves in this situation.
So, now, I'm looking for a backup body since I've invested in some nice Pentax lenses but I find myself hesitant. Instead of looking forward, I'm looking backward to earlier models. Why get another K5 or a K30 if this problem is "commonly" out there? As with anything, all previous versions have their ups and downs. I'm hoping whatever I get is a decent used body that I can count on but now I'm much less confident than I was a week ago...
