Web Analytics RiceHigh's Pentax Blog: K10D Dust Proof?

Saturday, June 30, 2007

K10D Dust Proof?

As we all know, the K10D is designed to be dust and weather proof, as the official information always shows us:- http://www.digital.pentax.co.jp/en/35mm/k10d/feature_04.html

Look at the sealing diagram and it is not difficult to discover that all critical but vulnerable parts and positions are sealed, this includes the colour LCD panel at the back.

However, there have been different reports of dust are getting into the inside of the LCD panel, here are two reports that I have seen recently:-

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/8746-k10d-problems.html

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=23819567

The latter has also clear photos of the affected LCD posted by the K10D user, which looks indeed rather terrible.

Whilst the sealing has actually imposed some kind of stiffness and "stickiness" to the knob, switches and buttons (particularly try the AF mode switch), which is in fact highly undesirable, the trade-off seems not to have been rewarded. The dust sealing capability of the K10D is now in question for the reported cases. Again, still just "bad copies from the factory" or "unlucky user" or alike to be argued (with)? :-)

Update (Sept 15):

Below is another recent user report on the same issue, with an even more clear image of a dusty-inside K10D LCD panel shown:-

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=24832941

The common thing as seen in both photos is that dust particles go inside the LCD from the right hand side, and more close to the top. So, where is the loophole and path? In the last DPR thread, someone suggested that the path might be through the SD card slot. Some others suspected that it might be certain place(s) at the LCD cover where the sealing had not been made well and might be even less tight than typical non-dust sealed Pentax DSLRs. However, no matter where the loophole actually is located, its existence is for sure for those affected K10D units and there is a path for letting the dust to go inside.

12 comments:

  1. How many K10Ds have been sold ?
    How many people have been complaining about that problem ?

    GET A LIFE. You should be taking pictures, at this time of the day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So, as I have already predicted, they are just "unlucky users" who have got "bad copies" of the K10D from the factory.. Good point!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous30/6/07 20:55

    See - here's your problem: You publish articles on your blog, and the first 90% of each article goes on to point out the flaws of whatever feature you're examining in said article.

    You take two reports of people having bad experiences with their cameras, and make it seem as if this is the norm.

    How can you keep a straight face when saying you're not fighting against pentax every step of the way? Your previous article was entitled "The Update is Useless and Helpless - K100D Super" -

    but no, you're just innocently pointing out every little flaw you can find in anything Pentax. Claiming your posts are neutral is like Fox News claiming they're "Fair and Balanced".

    ReplyDelete
  4. So, how many user reports do you think is enough for me to create a new blog entry?

    Besides, do you actually know what is a Blog?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous1/7/07 04:49

    Is that the best rebuke you can come up with? Do I know what a blog is?

    You obviously missed my point: You claim to be fair, yet you simply can't stop bashing Pentax at every turn.

    And you don't even post photos? Show us some examples of your "experiences" Show us how you missed shots with Pentax camera's woefully slow autofocus, show us the dust getting under your LCD,

    Then when you're done, show us a comparably priced camera that can match up with the K10D... (and no, the EOS-5D, at 3.5x the price, ISN'T in the same category)

    ReplyDelete
  6. What bashing? I always report true cases as feedbacked by real Pentax users, what's wrong with that? You (or any other readers as well) have an independent thinking to judge the shared information, have you?

    You've also forgot that's one of the two themes of my blog. You can't stop the freedom of speech on the net. What you can do if you disagree, you can always write your own blog!

    As for my photos, it's NOT the theme of my blog to post my photos. And you forget one important thing too, measurbators don't take photos, and even they attempt to take some, their photos always suck. So, afterall, why bother to see *my* photos? (I at least have my own rights to share or not share my own photos publicly, right?)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous1/7/07 17:11

    Well, I've used my K10D in the rain for 45 minutes at a time, had it in a camera bag strapped to my belt going down a snowy mountain slop on a toboggan, not realising it filled up with snow while scrapping the mountain slops. In either instances, the camera has not sustained any water/condensation damage. Sure, the lens no longer looks healthy now....

    The seals do work guys, I can't say how well, but quite clearly my camera would be almost certainly dead months ago, judging how I treat it...

    ReplyDelete
  8. I just wonder why you killed your lens in this way :-( It's not weather proof nor sealed afterall!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous1/7/07 22:42

    Quite right... until the new wheather sealed lenses come out I have little choice... But I am still impressed with how much bashing my Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 DI will sustain, and particularily that it can still take sharp and balanced pics...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous3/7/07 14:24

    hi ricehigh,

    i appreciate your blog. thanks for an different view.

    greetings from germany

    ReplyDelete
  11. You're welcome and I'm glad that you like my blog.

    I believe that it is always beneficial to share those "negative" information instead of repeating the reports of the "good news".

    In fact, those "negative" info can help people who are still deciding (to let them consider if these are real problems to them or not), and can help those existing users who are facing the same or similar problems. As for those users who are happy with their existing gear for their shooting habits and usage, I think what I say won't affect their gear in any way, will it?

    As for the manufacturer, I think the customers should make feedbacks on the products, especially for problems found or certain inferior performance aspects which are lagging behind the competition. I think we should let Pentax know for our aspirations for a better *system* and in what ways their DSLR products should be improved/debugged.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous7/7/07 22:09

    If I "blogged" like Mr. Ricehigh I'd have to start a comment like "Canon EOS-1D Mark III can't focus on moving subjects. Gloom and doom". All based on 1 report of AF tracking errors...
    http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-8740-9006
    Rice your style is still tabloid journalism........

    ReplyDelete