[Zafar Iqbal]

1. When I first got the camera, it front focused in low light. The front focus was too severe to be corrected by AF Micro Adjustment, so the camera was sent for repairs.

Before sending the cam in for repairs, I used it at a wedding workshop. I took about 750 photos during that day day with the k-5. No problem (all shot during a sunny day) - AF.S was not set to Release Priority back then.

2. After the repairs, the camera now back focused in daylight or even in shaded areas. How much it back focused depended on how much or little light there was.

The camera had all settings reset - I know this because when I turned it on, it asked me to set the time, date etc. This means it should default to Focus-Priority.

but - lets just pretend we had Release Priority set:

The guy from the shop who also took photos with bad focus. He too would have to been doing it wrong then.

Furthermore - even if it indeed was set to Release Priority, I'd hardly believe that was the issue. I've had my K-x for 1½ years and shot about 45000 photos - sure, the K-x doesn't have a similar feature for AF, but I've learned to take it easy when photographing.

I can be open minded regarding the idea of *some* of the photos being bad because of user error, but I shot about 200 pics during the time I had my K-5 again. Most of them with sufficient amount of light, and I'd dare to say that more than 95% of the outdoor daylight pics had bad focusing.

I may not yet be a good photographer, but I'm not *that* bad either.

[frstep]

Zafar,

What was the final outcome of this focus problem? I bought a K5 in December and soon spotted a similar problem. I returned the camera to the shop who sent it to Pentax repair in the UK. They and Ricoh-Pentax Europe have denied there is a problem and that the camera is in spec. The shop tested the camera twice (before and after the first trip to the repairer) with a new lens and both times saw the Front Focus problem I did. Now, after it has come back from Pentax again with a report that the camera performs to spec, the shop tried a different lens and declared it to be in spec. I suspect that in anything other than bright sunlight the AF is just not performing and am inclined to demand a full refund. Trouble is, I like the K5 - I don't want to jump to Nikon, but I really don't want a camera that, long term, never focuses accurately in anything other than bright sunlight.

[brunet]

Hi,

With the K5, I have noticed focus issue under AF-S mode, and unique central sensor.
Instead, under LiveView mode, focusing is razor sharp.
I tried menu #26 on precise focusing, without success.
Then, I retried the AF-S mode, with the 11 sensors activated. And then, I have noticed that the focus is far better. And it compares favourably with the LiveView results.

Sincerely,

Pierre
France

[Zafar Iqbal]

Zafar,

What was the final outcome of this focus problem? I bought a K5 in December and soon spotted a similar problem. I returned the camera to the shop who sent it to Pentax repair in the UK. They and Ricoh-Pentax Europe have denied there is a problem and that the camera is in spec. The shop tested the camera twice (before and after the first trip to the repairer) with a new lens and both times saw the Front Focus problem I did. Now, after it has come back from Pentax again with a report that the camera performs to spec, the shop tried a different lens and declared it to be in spec. I suspect that in anything other than bright sunlight the AF is just not performing and am inclined to demand a full refund. Trouble is, I like the K5 - I don't want to jump to Nikon, but I really don't want a camera that, long term, never focuses accurately in anything other than bright sunlight.

Sorry, I didn't notice your reply till now.

After 2 repair attempts and trying multiple K-5 samples, also showing same/similar problems, the shop agreed to a full refund. I then purchased a K-30 (or two, rather) and have been very happy with it.

Brunet, can't say exactly what that is about. Ultimately the focus should be where your point is at.