[SteveM]

oooh! no "rep". That hurts man.

Turning a blind eye to the faults of brand (which is what you are doing) is textbook fanboyhood, fanboy.

I own a K-5, which is currently somewhere in a Pentax "atelier" in France. I think the camera and system are great, which is why I committed to Pentax (I just sold some of my MF gear to pay for 15, 40 and 70 LTDs). It does not make any of what I said less true.

You're right, I misinterpreted your comment as flaming, so sorry about that. There have been a lot of threads/posts about the issue and sometimes the context is blown way out of proportion. In your case, it's unfortunate that the dealer and Pentax were confused.

I don't think anyone here is pretending there isn't a problem. There is an issue for sure, but beyond Pentax France getting their act together, I don't really think there is much more the company can do.

[Maxn]

Oh, but you see - I am waiting for my came

but for how long?!

(edited to include quote)

[creampuff]

And what exactly is wrong with the way Pentax is acting? They:
- provided a way to identify the issue
- provided clear instructions of what to do (contact the appropriate service department)
- are replacing/repairing the cameras as fast as they can.
By the way, our local Pentax dealer knows about this issue and was very helpful, constantly talking with Pentax Europe in order to find a solution.

Clear, logical and succinctly put.
It is a service issue, so send it for service to your local service center.
Merely exchanging for another copy from the vendor that sold the camera to you is no guarantee you'll get another camera that is stain free if the stock comes from an early batch. The vendor may be unaware of the issue or may not even bother to do a test.

[Kunzite]

but for how long?!

I'll know when I'll receive the brand new (and, hopefully, perfectly working) camera.
It was sent to Pentax Europe (France) yesterday.

[Maxn]

Clear, logical and succinctly put.
It is a service issue, so send it for service to your local service center.
Merely exchanging for another copy from the vendor that sold the camera to you is no guarantee you'll get another camera that is stain free if the stock comes from an early batch. The vendor may be unaware of the issue or may not even bother to do a test.

and that is one of the issues that I brought up above! The dealer should not be unaware, and it is in everyones (pentax, the dealer, and the customers) interest for the dealer to return all affected stock to Pentax. I understand that Pentax might not be able to tell you if a camera is affected based only on the serial number, but surely they can notify the dealer to have all potentially affected kits sent back. Once the camera is sold to a customer, everyone loses.

[Maxn]

I'll know when I'll receive the brand new (and, hopefully, perfectly working) camera.
It was sent to Pentax Europe (France) yesterday.

This is exactly what I meant by the "wrong place". Several people here were acting like the answer to the question of where to send the camera was clear. The apparently correct answer is to a Pentax service center, while pentax europe told me to send it to the dealer.

good luck getting yours back soon.

[raphtze]

I'm pretty surprised by how much slack is being given to Pentax on this issue. It reeks of fanboyism,

absolutely.

[Kunzite]

Insulting us, that surely helps...

[monochrome]

Here's a prediction.

The K-5 will not transition to a "hit" body - Pentax has completely lost control of the narrative on this wonderful camera and is in full reaction mode. Their lack of depth in the marketing ranks and lack of contingency planning is showing.

This industrial control error, coupled with the inept response, coming as it does just on the cusp of Pentax's re-emergence as a competitive brand, will rapidly kill Pentax as an ongoing entity. Parent company Hoya will abandon the camera division and distribute residual assets as discontinued-operations for the tax benefit. Hoya will sell rights to the K-mount, lens patents, tooling and related rights to an Asian generic manufacturer.

In three years an MBA. candidate at Hautes Etudes Commerciales - Paris will defend her thesis asserting that a small number of vocal members of an internet forum overstated the seriousness of a manufacturing error in early batches of the company's flagship turnaround product.

Vociferously contradicting every rational attempt to defend the manufacturer and give the product time to establish its identity, these anonymous posters swayed sentiment against the camera by instilling fear among followers of the early adopters that they would receive a defective camera.

The fact that the defect caused unusable images in only a tiny percentage of applications, would likely never affect images of advanced amateur camera buyers and was identified and corrected by the manufacturer seemed unimportant to the negative crowd.

It would eventually be claimed but could never be proven that this was a case of industrial sabotage, followed by a coordinated campaign of negative opinion-seeding on the internet forum.

[asdaroth]

Insulting us, that surely helps...

Kunzite, please stop it ! .... Nobody is attacking you or "us"; it's just your hyper inflated ego which plays for the public. Keep it on Softpedia forum (or it is not big enough for you ? )

[SteveM]

I'm pretty surprised by how much slack is being given to Pentax on this issue. It reeks of fanboyism,

absolutely.

Huh? Did you read all of the comments since that post raphtze? Kunzite just explained what Pentax is doing to address those issues. Precisely what additional "slack" is being given by members of the forum to Pentax?

Calling someone a "fanboy" just because their opinion is different than yours isn't particularly helpful and often results in a retort like my previous post. While I can understand his frustration, starting a post that way places the motive of the entire post in question.

Other than the original mixup with Pentax France, I think it is fairly clear that the company is responding to the 3 things he asked for. From what we see in the serial numbers of affected bodies, multiple batches of sensors went into multiple batches of cameras, so it isn't as easy as simply listing a range of serial numbers.

If there is something else that could be done, then great, let's hear it. Otherwise this thread has been degraded into a meaningless gripe session.

Asdaroth - telling Kunzite that no-one is attacking him, then insulting him all on one sentence?




.

[raphtze]

forgive me for posting on a forum then smc. on the one hand you don't allow me for voicing my opinion, and then you expect me to feel better about a situation that only recently has been rectified by pentax. seems to me you're taking it a bit more personal than should be. do you want to win? ok you win god some of y'all need to unclench, seriously.


-raph

[raphtze]

for US folks....

K-5 Sensor Stains | Pentax Support

the # to call is 1 800 877-0155 i guess i'll wait until after the lunar new year (2nd wk of february)....and then i will call for that UPS label. in the meantime, i'll continue to shoot

maybe when the K-5 is out.........i'll just grab my trusty ol' PZ-1p out and put a few rolls thru it.

-raph

[areidjr]

Here's a prediction.

The K-5 will not transition to a "hit" body - Pentax has completely lost control of the narrative on this wonderful camera and is in full reaction mode. Their lack of depth in the marketing ranks and lack of contingency planning is showing.

This industrial control error, coupled with the inept response, coming as it does just on the cusp of Pentax's re-emergence as a competitive brand, will rapidly kill Pentax as an ongoing entity. Parent company Hoya will abandon the camera division and distribute residual assets as discontinued-operations for the tax benefit. Hoya will sell rights to the K-mount, lens patents, tooling and related rights to an Asian generic manufacturer.

In three years an MBA. candidate at Hautes Etudes Commerciales - Paris will defend her thesis asserting that a small number of vocal members of an internet forum overstated the seriousness of a manufacturing error in early batches of the company's flagship turnaround product.

Vociferously contradicting every rational attempt to defend the manufacturer and give the product time to establish its identity, these anonymous posters swayed sentiment against the camera by instilling fear among followers of the early adopters that they would receive a defective camera.

The fact that the defect caused unusable images in only a tiny percentage of applications, would likely never affect images of advanced amateur camera buyers and was identified and corrected by the manufacturer seemed unimportant to the negative crowd.

It would eventually be claimed but could never be proven that this was a case of industrial sabotage, followed by a coordinated campaign of negative opinion-seeding on the internet forum.

I predict that your prediction will be wrong.

[raphtze]

oops when the "K-5 is out *for replacement*..."

-raph