[wlachan]

1. Pentax have been continously present in the professional market for over 42 years with their MF outfits. It had one of the highest professional share in the industry; more than 50% of the buyers were pros
2. I have never heard about loose screws on Limited lenses. Mine are routinely banged about in a vibrating boat and loose screws have never been an issue.
3. No more misalignment and quality control issue than what you find with the competition. I have a book by four nature photographers who says that the main experience with shooting Canon is all the lenses you'll have to go through before you find a good sample.
4. My Pentax AF in one second in a room lit with one 25W bulb.
5. All Pentax I've tried can track a bird in flight. Many photographers can't hoverer and blame the camera...

1) I thought we were talking the K mount system only. How well the 645/67 were doing have zero benefit to the K mount users.
2) The focus rings of typical Pentax prime lenses are held in place by 3 tiny screws which have the tendency to come loose. There have been Limited lens owners asking what happened to their loose focus ring or the lack of infinity focus suddenly pretty much every 2 months or so on different forums, and some even with the entire front group separating. This happened to my own FA43 & FA77 too and they were MIJ. Luckily I can repair my own lenses, but would be an frustration to average owners.
3) I am aware C/N have their share of misalignment too, but this shouldn't be an excuse for Pentax loose QC. Other than the DA*16-50, the FA31, DA14/15 have been reported to suffer from misalignment too. I can imagine the zoom could be difficult to manufacture, but the Limited primes should be made better.
4) 1sec can be a long time for AF, but the death blow is inconsistency once EV drops to 5 or below.
5) It's always about the skill + the gears. Bird photography can vary widely. Chasing a bird flying erratically with 600mm can be totally different from shooting hummingbirds with a 200mm. The subject magnification is also very vital. Pentax simply lack the speed and predictive AF when the situation gets tough.

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Last edited by wlachan; 01-21-2011 at 03:08 PM.

[johnmflores]

So how'd the shoot turn out, Ben? Where you able to recover from the misfortune?

[benjikan]

I think he meant immediate as the shoot was still happening. Pro's (particularly at Ben's level)have a need for a different level of service than us mere mortals. a dead lens holding up a shoot like this is very expensive indeed (that and the fact it was just back from service so this should not have happened at all)

Than You...Exactly!!!

Still haven't heard from THEM!

[benjikan]

I hope this doesn't further strain your relationship with pentax or cause you to jump ship entirely. We sure would hate to lose you. I think its well understood amongst us pentaxians that the 16-50 is a gamble; and the odds aren't stacked well in the users favor. Hopefully the new DC motor replaces the SDM as the standard and is much more reliable.

They just put in the new series motor...at least that is what they claimed.

[benjikan]

LMAO

though at least you have a (not very efficient ) pro point of contact

a less respected user would be lucky to have an email address

I hope they sort it out (and can't believe they shipped it back still broken twats)

The fact that I left them several messages, called the tech department and they did not respond is very telling. They left me stranded!!! That WOULD NOT HAPPEN WITH CANON!!! I know, as I was sponsored by Canon before changing to Pentax.

The least they could have done was get back to me!

[benjikan]

Why the 'No response!!!" from Pentax? Was it out of warranty?

Motor was change a few months ago and used the camera on three occasions since it was repaired.

[benjikan]

I'm not sure if even Canon and Nikon pro service is good enough to deal with a problem like this that happens the day of the shoot -- at least, not without some delay. This said, this is exactly the scenario where I don't blame anyone who is a working professional for choosing those two brands.

Oh yes they are. I was sponsored by them for almost three years before I jumped ship to Pentax. They would have had a messenger deliver a replacement within an hour of my all. That I am sure of. I know Pascal Briard at Canon and I know their service.

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Last edited by benjikan; 01-24-2011 at 02:28 AM.

[benjikan]

Sorry to hear it, Ben. My advice is to get a Tamron 17-50/2.8 (known-good copy) and wait for them to fix the SDM issues before re-investing in first-party pro zooms. :/

I'm going to use my trusty old DA 16-45 f/f4.0 and see what Pentax do in the mean time...I am NOT paying to repair this lens. Being that they just put in a new motor!!!

[benjikan]

If you shoot so much, not having a backup is just unproffesional man. I would never ever play a show with only one guitar! Especially if the guitar had a known problem (but since it sounded so good, I'd still use it).

I have a friend whose a pro car shooter, he shoots canon generally and they don't rush to your aid unless you spend 10's of thousands. And it costs per year iirc.

I say embrace the situation and let it play out more creatively with the 12-24! But then you may need to sell it to the editor

I used the DA 12-24 and the Ltd 4O Pancake all day.

[benjikan]

So how'd the shoot turn out, Ben? Where you able to recover from the misfortune?

Used the DA 12-24 and Ltd 40 for the whole shoot.

[wtlwdwgn]

Sorry to hear that your 16-50 had to give up the ghost at such an inopportune time. When I had my troubles I first posted here and got an email from Ned the next day. I'd go directly to the CEO/MD of Pentax France. Maybe he'll want another paperweight on his desk.

[Loren E]

interested to hear what Ned said?

Sorry to hear that your 16-50 had to give up the ghost at such an inopportune time. When I had my troubles I first posted here and got an email from Ned the next day. I'd go directly to the CEO/MD of Pentax France. Maybe he'll want another paperweight on his desk.

[wtlwdwgn]

He asked me to be specific about the problems with the lens and I had an exchange in less than a week.

[benjikan]

interested to hear what Ned said?

So will I...

[PentaxPoke]

They just put in the new series motor...at least that is what they claimed.

I seem to recall you posting when the "new series" motor was replaced. Didn't Pentax service tell you something like: "the early failures of the SDM lenses have been resolved using new motors" or something like that? I suspected they were feeding you a line then, based on my experience with SDM problems. Seems like my suspicions were correct.

SDM just seems fundamentally flawed, and Hoya seems to just be crossing thier fingers and covering thier eyes hoping that they can sell the division before people notice the flaw...