[Bramela]

I own a K5 and have for about three months. I am totally over whelmed by this magnificent camera.
I find the many, many positive features, out weigh the negatives 100 fold.
This is an outstanding piece of equipment. Now improved further with Ver 1.03.

Come another 12 months, and, hypothetically speaking, Ver 1.1000000 has been issued, the detractors will still be singing the same song.

Ho hum, it gets so tedious.

[deadwolfbones]

Easily the best Pentax dSLR I've ever used, and the second best period behind the D700, which is a very high bar.

[dgaies]

What do you mean by "every single K-5 out there to be perfect? ", off-course, it has to be perfect, we are not talking about a consumer level camera, one do expect good amount of perfection at $1500 when $400 cam (k-x) focuses perfectly. Again I am not saying it will never, but it's too soon to say that 1.0.3 has fixed all the problem.

You clearly did not fully understand my last post. I agree that the K-5 should focus better than a K-x (or K20D). And I agree that there are potentially K-5 bodies out there right now that don't focus properly even with v1.03. That, however, does NOT mean that the new firmware didn't address the main FF issue that was an issue for the majority of bodies. It's quite possible that some bodies have other issues (hardware perhaps) continue to cause a problem for a small subset of bodies. If that is the case, Pentax should (an will) replace them.

IMO, if you expect literal perfection from a DSLR body, whether it costs $400, $1,400 or $4,000, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

[glanglois]

I'm looking forward to a discussion of how "perfect" a camera must be for any given retail price.

I'm also looking forward to a debate on whether "perfect" can come in degrees. Hint: it cannot.

So it should be a fun weekend at the old keyboard.

Warning: I have beers and I'm not afraid to drink them!

[dgaies]

I'm looking forward to a discussion of how "perfect" a camera must be for any given retail price.

I'm also looking forward to a debate on whether "perfect" can come in degrees. Hint: it cannot.

So it should be a fun weekend at the old keyboard.

Warning: I have beers and I'm not afraid to drink them!

Well, don't count on much participation from me as I've had about all I can take of the "is the K-5 a failure" discussion
(who am I kidding, I'm sure I'll be participating)

And while you're right that "perfect" doesn't come in degrees, there's a lot of room between "failure" and "perfection" and I'm pretty damn sure the K-5 falls somewhere in that extremely broad range.

[Ash]

The Perfect Camera? I've found the link! The Perfect Camera | PhotographyBLOG
Enjoy its perfection.

[deejjjaaaa]

was the post about the market success or not ? did anybody post cold, hard sales numbers showing what is the marketshare of K5, how it performed sales wise vs K10D, K20D, K7 ? vs the competition ?

how K5 performs sales wise vs the competion now in comparision how K10D performed back in its days, vs how K20D performed back in its days ans so on...

technical perfection is one thing, marketshare is another... take Oly 14-35/2.0 or 35-100/2.0 zooms... now those are near perfect, yet failure marketwise.

[Pentax Convert]

The K-5 recieve a higher reviewer rating on DPReview than the Nikon D7000, and that certainly can'[t be called a failure . I think the K-5 is a truly fantastic sounding product, and all the sample images I view seem to bearthis out. I just wish I had the money knocking around to buy one. Maybe in eighteen months or so, when the utterly incredible K-3 is released, and the K-5 drops to £600-£700, I'll bite the bullet and buy one. I certainly think it'll be an experience to relish!

[Wheatfield]

The people who are still borking up vomit about the K5 don't seem to have an understanding of manufacturing tolerances.
Every component in the camera and lens has an allowable degree of variance off spec.
Most of the time, they tend to either cancel each other out, or are so slight as to not cause problems.
Sometimes though, is is possible to get additive variances, and this is when bad things tend to happen.
This is why, for example, they out micro adjust onto the AF system. Now if your camera's AF isn't playing perfectly nicely with your lens, you have a way of bringing things back in line.
As an aside, with Pentax we are very much talking about consumer electronics.
$1500.00 is not a lot of money these days.

[Tommot1965]

The people who are still borking up vomit about the K5 don't seem to have an understanding of manufacturing tolerances.
Every component in the camera and lens has an allowable degree of variance off spec.
Most of the time, they tend to either cancel each other out, or are so slight as to not cause problems.
Sometimes though, is is possible to get additive variances, and this is when bad things tend to happen.
This is why, for example, they out micro adjust onto the AF system. Now if your camera's AF isn't playing perfectly nicely with your lens, you have a way of bringing things back in line.
As an aside, with Pentax we are very much talking about consumer electronics.
$1500.00 is not a lot of money these days.

Id agree with that..in fact I reckon $1500 now buys a lot more in terms of eletronics than it did a few years ago..I paid $1500 for a canon G5

now we get great DSLRs for the same money....my K5 shits on the G5 from a height ...

[geezer52]

I'm leery about adding to the general clutter surrounding this topic but I am (a bit morbidly) curious and want to know

1. Where do people who don't even own this camera find the desire, the will, and THE TIME, to blog endlessly about problems that don't affect them?

2. Where do people who do own this camera and like it find the desire, the will, and THE TIME to blog endlessly in defense of it instead of using it to take pictures while awaiting Pentax actions to fix what is to them small problems?

3. Where do people who do own the camera and have problems and are PO'd find the rational and THE TIME to blog in constant complaint in the odd hope that will actually solve something.

I know if I don't like it, I don't have to read it, and for the most part I don't. But I'm occasionally awed by what seems like an incredible amount of energy being expended towards no particular end point that might otherwise be directed towards creative photography.

[Fontan]

I'm leery about adding to the general clutter surrounding this topic but I am (a bit morbidly) curious and want to know

1. Where do people who don't even own this camera find the desire, the will, and THE TIME, to blog endlessly about problems that don't affect them?

2. Where do people who do own this camera and like it find the desire, the will, and THE TIME to blog endlessly in defense of it instead of using it to take pictures while awaiting Pentax actions to fix what is to them small problems?

3. Where do people who do own the camera and have problems and are PO'd find the rational and THE TIME to blog in constant complaint in the odd hope that will actually solve something.

I know if I don't like it, I don't have to read it, and for the most part I don't. But I'm occasionally awed by what seems like an incredible amount of energy being expended towards no particular end point that might otherwise be directed towards creative photography.

Very simple. Human nature.

To some people like myself (or maybe it's just me), who don't own or have no plans to buy K-5, think this is pretty funny. On the other hand, people who do own it, even though they don't need to, perhaps try want to justify owning it. A defense mechanism of some sort. Maybe their wives were against the purchase to begin with. I dunno.

And yes, if my camera sensor had stains, I will be livid too. Yes, it is then no longer funny.

[Ash]

I'm leery about adding to the general clutter surrounding this topic but I am (a bit morbidly) curious and want to know

1. Where do people who don't even own this camera find the desire, the will, and THE TIME, to blog endlessly about problems that don't affect them?

Can't speak for others, but IMO they know they want it, and want it to be perfect before they spend that order of money (that to them is a huge amount).

2. Where do people who do own this camera and like it find the desire, the will, and THE TIME to blog endlessly in defense of it instead of using it to take pictures while awaiting Pentax actions to fix what is to them small problems?

The forum is a good place to bounce ideas off, and post images. On the side there are these threads on the same forum that trash a product that's excelled in more ways than one, and there's this desire to dispel myths and tell it like it is.

3. Where do people who do own the camera and have problems and are PO'd find the rational and THE TIME to blog in constant complaint in the odd hope that will actually solve something.

Not a bad question - probably better off informing those concerns to Pentax Imaging themselves - Pentax Support

I know if I don't like it, I don't have to read it, and for the most part I don't. But I'm occasionally awed by what seems like an incredible amount of energy being expended towards no particular end point that might otherwise be directed towards creative photography.

A never ending marvel, but hey, just let it be. Some will never be pleased.

[Ex Finn.]

So it should be a fun weekend at the old keyboard.

Warning: I have beers and I'm not afraid to drink them!

OK. lets see how this goes.. I am with you.!

[Wheatfield]

2. Where do people who do own this camera and like it find the desire, the will, and THE TIME to blog endlessly in defense of it instead of using it to take pictures while awaiting Pentax actions to fix what is to them small problems?

For myself, it's winter, it's cold and drab and I don't like taking pictures when it's cold and drab.
I suck at snow pictures.