OK, it's still FFing. That's disappointing.
Looks like you've done a good job with the testing.
Any hope for a return?

I've only ever owned one K20D and it's always focussed great in low light so I always assumed that was normal.

Weird indeed. But then is it anymore weird that my K-5 seems worse than some other copies regarding FF in low light

That's my next course of action.

Well, first I want to thank you smeggypants. You did your tests quite a while back, maintained your position that k-5 has a problem (even though it brought a lot of ridicule on you personally), but finally we saw some other people joining in, and some carefully measured tests by Falk. I have to believe that enough noise was created by users like you, so that Pentax HAD to listen and release a firmware fix. If everyone behaved like some experienced shooters here, and learned to 'work around' the limitations and worship Pentax for the great effort in producing the k-5, this fix would not have come.

Now, I believe we can agree that there is a sample variation in the amount of FF. Although the FF issue was accepted by most users, the amount of FF varied a lot - from grossly misfocused to very slight focus only in pure tungsten light. Any firmware could not have possible fixed all the scenarios. As many users have reported that their FF issue has been fixed, I am led to believe that this is a lapse of QC on Pentax side, and on some units (like yours), it may be a hardware issue.

But for other users like me, who quietly benefited by your strong stance (and others like you), this is the time to take a shot at owning a k-5. If the unit doesn't focus well with 1.03 , we can return in and exchange for another body. Because of the firmware fix, we can expect that a greater % of k-5 bodies out there in the wild (and the ones in production) will work.

So THANK YOU again. I am going to put an order within next 2 weeks.


cheers,

Abhi

Thanks

I'm waiting to buy a 2nd K-5 body, but I have to sell my K20D to get it and the K20D is the only body I have that focusses in low light at the moment. Which is ironic becuase the K-5 has the low loght ISO performance.

I may bite the bullet and buy a 2nd k-5 body ( hopefully without the FF issue ) and then send my original K05 back for replacement. At least that way I won't be without a K-5 at all.

Your were too quick on the quote for my edit.

Thank you for the illustration/clarifications and I understand the focus chart at a 45 but it does not look to me that the focus line is parallel in all the shots. I am still not convinced by your tests and that matters little.

I hope like many that this FF problem in both models can be solved through firmware and appreciate your efforts to validate one way or the other.

Well my K-5 front focusses at low light and my K20D doesn't. Slightly out of parallel focus lines make no difference in the real world as you can see the FF is far more than that. i.e they are easily accurate enough to show the fault. And I can repeat these tests ad infinitum. And as I'm not lying with these tests than there's nothing to be not convinced about in terms of the camera bodies I own.

Of course it's fair not to be convinced that all K-5s have the problem as severe as my copy. In fact I'm not convinced that is the case either and that's why I am now going to look into getting a replacement.

One thing we can say for certain is that 1.03 has NOT fixed the FF fault on all K-5s.

Yeah and that's what sucks...frustration misdirected.

It looks like the K20 is back focused on the daylight shots. About 5-10mm.

I know what your are trying to demonstrate, but I don't get it. The examples all look like a muddle to me. As hard as I try, you must be seeing something I can't. Honestly, after all of your hard work and sincere efforts, I just don't see a K-5 deal breaker in any of this.

BTW: I have a really nice Katz-eyed K20D sitting on my shelf. I've enjoyed using it to produce thousands of delightful images. I also have a K-5. It's advantages (from ergonomics to IQ) are so superior, I doubt I'll ever reach for the K20D, again.

my 2 cents...

As others have said, you need to send your unit in. If some of the K5s are fixed with the firmware adjustment, those that are not must have some defective hardware.

Well if you can't see the K-5's front focussing when the K20D isn't front focussing then it's not my place to claim otherwise. I did post some info on focussing charts and how to conduct them and read them above in answer to another poster. That might help.


I've also produced thousands of delightful images with my K-5 as well As my K20D. Apart from the focussing fault my K-5 is far superior to my K20D. So much so I want a 2nd k-5 body and eventually want to sell my K20D.

Are you sure you're not ballsing the whole thing up in the first place by 'recalibrating' your lenses.

Seems like a huge opportunity to bias your tests to me. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing and all that.

you could donate to me, yes? i'll be happy!

-raph

I was looking at this, and while it isn't clear to me that the daylight shots are totally perfect, the low light k5 shots are so far off that it doesn't really matter.

I think you should exchange both the k5 AND the k20 and try again