Pentax Japan issues Press Release on sensor issue

[creampuff]

Pentax Japan issues Press Release on the issue today.
(in Japanese, so use Google Translate or Babelfish to convert)

PENTAX K-5??????????PENTAX

Hopefully none of you K-5 users will get hysterical like at other forums, but if you do have an issue, just contact Emjay directly and bring your camera in.

 

[detritus]

thanks Denis for posting this.

agree with u that the situation seems to have been blown out of all proportions.

not to be an apologist for hoya / pentax, but in mass production, sh*t happens. what's important is that the local distributor is able to service the problem to the satisfaction of customers and from the testaments of many happy pentax users, this seems to be the case.

no need to suffer in silence or whine incessantly. just send it in and get the innards replaced within the warranty period.

who shoots at F16, F22 all the time anyway?

 

[pinholecam]

Thanks Dennis for sharing this.

Applause to Pentax for coming out with a official statement.

Put something in the mouth for the naysayers (esp. on PF)

 

[zoom3]

thanks Denis for posting this.

agree with u that the situation seems to have been blown out of all proportions.

not to be an apologist for hoya / pentax, but in mass production, sh*t happens. what's important is that the local distributor is able to service the problem to the satisfaction of customers and from the testaments of many happy pentax users, this seems to be the case.

no need to suffer in silence or whine incessantly. just send it in and get the innards replaced within the warranty period.

who shoots at F16, F22 all the time anyway?

Nice to see the official announcement (& public apology) from Pentax. Mine has already been fixed with minimal pain, so I am a happy man.

Re at what aperture the stains are visible. On mine, it is already visible at F8.0, so it is a real concern. Just wanted to correct a common misconception....

 

[detritus]

Nice to see the official announcement (& public apology) from Pentax. Mine has already been fixed with minimal pain, so I am a happy man.

Re at what aperture the stains are visible. On mine, it is already visible at F8.0, so it is a real concern. Just wanted to correct a common misconception....

:bsmilie: noted. i'm not dismissing the fact that it is a real problem that has varying levels of severity.

quite impossible to live with it in your case. hope you're enjoying your stain-free K5

 

[CorneliusK]

It would be nice if they acknowledge the other K-5 issues - inaccurate AF in low light/tungsten light and hilariously unreliable P-TTL exposure in bounced mode.

 

[Ahren]

There is an english version of the annoucement on the same site

http://www.pentax.jp/english/news/announce/20110126.html

Maybe it is the way it is phrase. But the way the annoucement is made. seems like they are not 100% sure how the stains come about.

It is in Pentax's best interest to come out with a public statement as it will help restore consumer's confidence. Then to have this going around on the net unabated.

Glad to know the local pentaxians have their stain-issues resolved quickly. Just surprise that it seems many were impacted.

 

[detritus]

There is an english version of the annoucement on the same site

http://www.pentax.jp/english/news/announce/20110126.html

Maybe it is the way it is phrase. But the way the annoucement is made. seems like they are not 100% sure how the stains come about.
It is in Pentax's best interest to come out with a public statement as it will help restore consumer's confidence. Then to have this going around on the net unabated.

Glad to know the local pentaxians have their stain-issues resolved quickly. Just surprise that it seems many were impacted.

its been some months. they've had time to look into the production process and i'm sure they know how it happened.

personally, i don't care how it happened as long as they fix it and make sure that it doesn't happen again.

i find pentax's approach and response to be sensible and dignified.

contrast this with something else...

 

[aklryan]

By the way, how exactly we should do to test whether our K5's sensor got the mentioned issue? Any experts here can write down some steps for us to follow?

 

[figo007]

If the stains sensor are come from the third party vendor, I don't think they will set up additional screening process on this issue. I believed they already reflected this issue to the vendor and likely the CA already been taken place from the vendor side.

Sometimes if certain components from your product are from vendor, it is hard to control the quality of the components, this is because vendor will still shipped those "marginally tested pass" items to you caused of the cost savings. :cry:

 

[detritus]

If the stains sensor are come from the third party vendor, I don't think they will set up additional screening process on this issue. I believed they already reflected this issue to the vendor and likely the CA already been taken place from the vendor side.

Sometimes if certain components from your product are from vendor, it is hard to control the quality of the components, this is because vendor will still shipped those "marginally tested pass" items to you caused of the cost savings. :cry:

that would be between Hoya and Sony to resolve then :sticktong

 

[creampuff]

By the way, how exactly we should do to test whether our K5's sensor got the mentioned issue? Any experts here can write down some steps for us to follow?

Open a blank white page on your computer internet browser. Use a lens that will fill up the entire screen in your camera's viewfinder. Set to manual focus and focus to infinity to make sure you won't be focusing an an defined subject. Adjust exposure to get a decent image, making sure photo isn't underexposed. Try at different apertures at f/8 and smaller. Zoom in to view the image.

 

[aklryan]

Open a blank white page on your computer internet browser. Use a lens that will fill up the entire screen in your camera's viewfinder. Set to manual focus and focus to infinity to make sure you won't be focusing an an defined subject. Adjust exposure to get a decent image, making sure photo isn't underexposed. Try at different apertures at f/8 and smaller. Zoom in to view the image.

I will try that tonight.

 

[kayster]

Pentax releases service notice for K-5

Pentax is offering a free service to users of K-5 DSLRs that have been affected by the widely reported 'stained image sensor' issue. The company believes the problem occurred during the manufacturing process of the first batch of K-5's and cannot be resolved by ordinary sensor cleaning methods. Affected camera owners can contact the company's customer service center to send their cameras for the repair.

 

[kayster]

Wonder which batch mine belongs to....

 

[Reportage]

wait for Emjay to release the serial numbers of possibly affected units.

 

[detritus]

wait for Emjay to release the serial numbers of possibly affected units.

why not just check yourself the usual way? :dunno: just take a pic of a light coloured surface - like the wall, or the sky using a small aperture. its either there, or not there.

what would a serial number tell us?

 

[fengwei]

There is no way that EMjay or Pentax would know which camera is affected until tested out.

 

[creampuff]

wait for Emjay to release the serial numbers of possibly affected units.

This is actually pretty counterproductive as it is not clear whether all cameras from the earliest production batch experienced the issue. I doubt Emjay nor Pentax itself would be able to determine which cameras experience the issue. Also the stains differ in the affected cameras, so the onus is on individual K-5 owners to check if their cameras are affected. If the problem arises, then send it back to Emjay to ship it to Pentax Japan for service.

 

[CorneliusK]

Wow the service notice for the K-5 is a good move, this will certainly give me more confidence to buy and recommend Pentax in the future.

If only they could deal with the other niggling issues with such decisiveness...