Multiple Pentax k-5 owners have reported stains on their sensors. Pentax Imaging USA have acknowledged the issue and an investigation is currently ongoing:
"I can confirm that Pentax Japan is fully aware of this situation and is diligently investigating the cause of these stains. I’d like to remind our US customers that their K-5 is covered under the 1-year warranty and that we’ll of course honor that. However, until we find out which batch(es) are affected by the stains, we recommend that photographers keep their cameras and refrain from exchanging them for another unit if purchased from an online retailer. Once we fully understand the origin of the stains and how to deal with them we will encourage affected K-5 owners to send in their cameras for warranty repair."
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21 Comments
This looks like dirt on the microlenses or sensor cover glass. The Chinese forum translation says it’s visible at f/8 and bad at f/11.
Most sensor testing is carried out at smaller f-numbers, so that could be why they are missing it at production test.
Advertising a known troll’s – Ricehigh – is not really tasteful. His website should get zero exposure outside of the limits of his pages.
There is lots of about this on Pentaxforums, including measurements and calculations by Falk Lumo about the position of the problem – surely a more reliable source than RH.
I am not advertising anyone, it’s a common courtesy in the blogosphere to mention where I saw the news and in that case it happen to be ricehigh. I do follow the pentaxforum and have used them as a source in the past, it just wasn’t the case this time.
What makes you think that he/she is a troll? To me he/she is just another blogger who is free to share his/her opinion.
Instead of he/she you could use they/their.
seems less awkward. 
+/- 1
“Instead of he/she you could use they/their. seems less awkward. “
Even more awkward is the non correct usage of their/they’re, when trying to correct someone yourself.
Or ‘their’ is meant as a replacement for ‘his/her’. Know-it-all…
“…we recommend that photographers keep their cameras and refrain from exchanging them for another unit if purchased from an online retailer.”
What kind of crap request is that? If I buy a camera, I want to use it now, otherwise I would have bought later.
Pentax is saying that whoever bought the K5 is screwed and stuck until they figure out what happened…
‘Screwed’ is putting it slightly too strongly. The camera doesn’t stop working because some spots show up when you take a picture of a blank sheet of paper. I have a K-5 with one relatively big spot, that is still somewhat visible at f4, but it hasn’t affected the thousands of real photos I’ve taken with it. Only when I saw it on a forum did I check and notice I had a spot too.
It’s a great camera, pretty much flawless for my needs, regardless of this issue.
why isn’t this cleanable by normal sensor cleaning methods?!
the fade, in the last few year, has been self-cleaning-sensor just like cats after they defecate they clean themselves without even using a single toilet paper or any water/soap?
You can’t clean it yourself becaus it is apparently between the sensor and the AA filter which covers the sensor – at least that is what I recall reading.
If the retailer allows exchange due to a factory defect then why not accept that option and try to get a body which does not have that factory defect? It is something that the buyer supposedly did not cause.
Thank’s god, my K5 is clear.
BTW, i totaly agree with Anu, richehigh is a gigantic troll, no need to advertising his poor blog.
don’t like/believe conspiracy theories most of the time. in this case however. i can’t help but suspecting something malicious (somebody or some-entity doing this in purpose to hurt Pentax’s best camera sales).
“we recommend that photographers keep their cameras and refrain from exchanging them for another unit if purchased from an online retailer.”
So am I to assume that Pentax Imaging USA has no problem with photographers exchanging their cameras for another unit if purchased from a Brick and Mortar camera retailer????
If you purchased your camera from a brick & mortar store you can go in and ask them to take a look at the camera they’re going to give you as a replacement and make sure there are no stains on its sensor. This is unlikely to happen if you get a replacement from an online store–you might just end up getting a new camera that also has stains.
The sales volume of a Brick and Mortar store I suspect is tiny compare to online retailers. Therefore the online retailers are more likely to receive batches of cameras from multiple production runs. The cameras the online retailer sells this week might very well be from a totally different production run of those sold next week. The Brick and Mortar store will be more likely to receive their dozen cameras from the same production run and possibly even have consecutive serial numbers.
Would the odds of getting a defect free camera from a different production batch not be far greater when swapping cameras with an online retailer than at a local Brick and Mortar store ??
To help understand Pentax’s statement re waiting, I think what they mean is this: Until they know which production batches have the problem, they can’t guarantee that switchers wouldn’t just be getting another problem camera. So waiting means only having to change a single time for a guaranteed fix, while trying to return right away might well have no benefit at all, and churn another camera through a retailer, raising everyone’s costs. Once they identify the bad camera production runs, _then_ they can pull the rest from the retail chain, and after that, swapping is also a probable fix.
“Until they know which production batches have the problem”
Until photographers return the cameras with said defect, how is Pentax supposed to find out which production batches have the problem?
Until photographers return the cameras with said symptom, how is Pentax supposed to find out if it is only one type of defect? Different cameras might have different defects even though displaying one type of symptom – for example humans can have different cancers while displaying a similar symptom.
Who is willing to bet that the D7000 is not affected by this issue too?
That is kinda what I was wondering. . .
It is after all pretty much the same sensor no?