[apexlunat]

Hello to all ,fellow co-forumers,my name is Yannis and i am a 3d artist from Greece.This is my story with the pentax kr ,some thoughts,some questions and a proposal.The story starts about 3 months ago when i firstly ordered a pentax kx from a dodgy internet site.I was lucky enough (with a lot of pression) to get a full refund of my money in a short time (while others more unfortunates maybe they are still struggling.After with this incident which was quite upsetting and <<soul-devoring >> i found a very good deal(for the european prices) in amazon.fr so i thought its better to go with the updated model and leave the <<cursed>> one (kx) behind.I use the net for all my purchases the last 3 years without having any problem whatsoever.The pentax kr (white one) came with the 18-55mm lens and i fell in love with it almost instantely.My previous camera was a canon S2IS which proved to be very fast,precise and ergonomicaly an extention of my hand shooting exclusively in manual mode.It was a real partner to my travels and proved to be a very solid camera.I hope kr will sometime make me feel the same for it.But for now ...the major complain for the kr is the ff issue.I didnt know what ff meaned before or out of focus (except of the users fault of course) and the fact that my first photos taken with the kr were not so good ,leaded me to this forum.Its been more than a month that i read the threads and wait for the firmware update ( i lost the 30 day retourn garranty from amazon).In direct communication with Pentax Greece,France and UK via telephone i must admit that i somehow lost faith in an upcomming firmware update that it will completely eliminate the problem of focus.They either deny that there is one and say to shoot with tugsten wb or belive that its a camera specific and advise to sent it calibrated to the pentax services.My kr shows front focusing problems with the 18-55mm kit lens in both daylight and artificial light with af adjustment to -10 .In manual mode its also ff with the focus indicator to be equaly wrong.The problem is more sever with the Asahi pentax smc 50mm 1.7 that i own.I really think that this camera has a lot of potential but the focusing problems are quite demoralising.Surely if you focus to the ear you will get a razor sharp image of the eye but is this the solution?What will be you next move if Pentax will not 1) admit the problem and pretend that its not exist ? 2) Try to corrected but not at the point of resolve it?Do you think a petition maybe necessery to make the problem more official from the part of consumers?Sorry for the long thread and thank you in advance for your responces.

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Last edited by apexlunat; 03-07-2011 at 03:09 PM. Reason: spelling correction

[vincechu]

Hi there,

I currently have the K5, and I've been very lucky to have a good one (fingers crossed), but I think it's unacceptable how pentax has responded to the Kr and K5 quality issues, they should have issued a statement or press release admitting the faults and offered replacement cameras or a definate fix earlier. If I had received a bad camera from them I would have certainly returned it for a full refund, in my opinion we should not need to adjust af to compensate for the ff problem.

Unfortunately I think even with a petition, pentax will not respond as they haven't responded properly to all the commotion on forums and to people contacting them directly. In my opinion a consumer protection group will be required to force a better response from Pentax.

Overall very disappointing, and I'm surprised because the quality issues have surely put off people from buying pentax equipment - one would think that surely it would be in their interest to resolve these issues quickly.

[apexlunat]

Thank you vincechu for your response.The thing is that i am not sure if i can have a refund from amazon because the 30 days have passed (although i communicated with them and they told me to address to pentax france and to let them know (amazon) pentax s response(which of course was to connect me to a 3rd party technician who told me to send my camera for adjustment).Thats why i wrote previously that pentax customer services doesnt really admit this issue ,deny to be aware of it and therefore maybe this long awaited firmware update will never come as we all hope to.As a consumer i am not in favorite for one or other brand thats why i decided to be a bit against the grain (already had a canon s2is) and buy a less <<popular>> brand as pentax.But despite the fact that i really like some things like the in body shake reduction and possibility to use old fast primes for video etc this focus problem is growing bigger and bigger all the time.

[gp1806]

Send it in and have it adjusted. Some report marked improvement.

[dmc]

So, I still am lost as what happened to your Kx. It is a fine camera, as are the Kr and the K5. How on earth did you end up with 2 dud cameras? Are you buying them on the black market?

[Matso]

I would test that 30 day return period. If there is a manufacturing defect at the time you purchased the item (which I would argue there is given how severe the FF is, and I say that having owned 2 K-r's myself), you may be able to force the retailer (Amazon.fr) to take the camera back. The EU has fairly generous consumer laws in this regard (although I can't remember them off the top of my head). Good luck.

[apexlunat]

Gp1806: By having the camera adjusted means that i will be without camera for 2 or more weeks (which is a minor problem) but what will happen to the warranty?And if eventually pentax will make a firmware in the near future should i return it back to the center to re- adjust it?

Dmc: The kx never came to my hands.The dodgy site i purchase it (claimed to be from uk ,with mailboxs in uk and telephone center in uk but actually operates from asia.You buy a product from them ,the say that they have it in stock ,they withdraw your money and by the time they have to dispatch the item some patterned coicidence happens (to many buyers like me was that the boxes from the product during the transfer to their dispatch center were destroyed so they cant dispatch the order and they dont know when the new stock will be available.They withdraw your money from the bank the moment that you place the order and they try to have your money to the their bank for a great period of time to benefit the deposit rate.Some unfortunate byuers waiting their money for 3 months after cancellation of the order.

Matso: The 30 day return period has passed.


The main reason that i wrote this thread is that i have the feeling (because i spoke with 3 different pentax customer services) that pentax does not concider the ff issue as a major problem for the kr (i hope i am wrong) and ask you what can we do in case that the new firmware update will not resolve anything(still hope to be wrong)? Thank you.

[apexlunat]

New news from the front (focus).I have just spoke again with PENTAX GREECE and PENTAX FRANCE and they both confirmed that they deny (i wish that they only had confirmed) that there is a <<global>> problem with the kr s focus ,and kindly suggest me to sent it to their labors in France with my expenses to have it adjusted.

[apexlunat]

New update (sorry about that i have just received t in my mailbox).I think it came from pentax france (i send them an email i think friday). Firstly is my mail and then the response i got.


hello,i have the kr less than a month and i experience
heavy front focus problems in artifiacial light and lighter front focus problems in daylight.Many internet photographic forums declares that this is a common problem of the kr series and hopping a firmware update to
resolve the problem.I have adjusted my camera with the af adjustment
to -10 and use tugsten white balance but the problem in still present.Many co forumers from The Largest Pentax Camera & Photography Forum and Review Site - PentaxForums.com Home are awaiting a fix for this issue and we are at the point of returning the cameras back to the sellers and change them with other brands(canon -nikon).Is pentax know this
problem?confirm it and working on a firmware update to fix this issue?If yes whats the approximative time that the new (correction) firmware will be out?We really love the kr but this problem is very severe to deal with thank you in advance for your reponses.



Technical Hotline: 0870 7368299




Now the response:

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your enquiry.


We are aware of the issue of not being able to focus with tungsten light.

This sometimes occurs in situations that have little contrast.

Pentax is working on a firmware-update that will solve this issue.

Unfortunately I can not tell you when this firmware will be ready.

When it is it will first be published on our international support-website:

Software Downloads : Support & Service : PENTAX


I hope that your question has been answered to your satisfaction.
Should you have further questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

When replying, please make sure this email is included.

With kind regards,

(NAME OF THE SENDER)

Pentax Digital Camera Support Team

[gp1806]

If your K-R has focus problems in daylight, then it will need adjustment at the service center under warranty. Your warranty does not change or expire just because you got service. Sorry, but I don't know any other way. The firmware update will not change the focus adjust from the service center. You can apply the new firmware at home, you do not need to send it in for that.

[Matso]

What I meant was that under EU law, you should have more than 30 days if the goods (in this case the K-r) do not meet the required standard (I believe it is up to 2 years guarantee. During the first 6 months, the seller has to show that the problem was caused by the customer, and then after 6 months, the customer has to show that he did not cause the problem). It's an EU directive, so will have been implemented differently in different jurisdictions. I'm also not sure if it can get you a refund or just a replacement. See here.

But the email which you received from Pentax support is very encouraging (although I'm not sure it's correct that it only happens when there is little contrast - in all my tests using 2 K-r's, I used high contrast objects to focus on).

[geru2000]

New update (sorry about that i have just received t in my mailbox).I think it came from pentax france (i send them an email i think friday). Firstly is my mail and then the response i got.


hello,i have the kr less than a month and i experience
heavy front focus problems in artifiacial light and lighter front focus problems in daylight.Many internet photographic forums declares that this is a common problem of the kr series and hopping a firmware update to
resolve the problem.I have adjusted my camera with the af adjustment
to -10 and use tugsten white balance but the problem in still present.Many co forumers from The Largest Pentax Camera & Photography Forum and Review Site - PentaxForums.com Home are awaiting a fix for this issue and we are at the point of returning the cameras back to the sellers and change them with other brands(canon -nikon).Is pentax know this
problem?confirm it and working on a firmware update to fix this issue?If yes whats the approximative time that the new (correction) firmware will be out?We really love the kr but this problem is very severe to deal with thank you in advance for your reponses.



Technical Hotline: 0870 7368299




Now the response:

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your enquiry.


We are aware of the issue of not being able to focus with tungsten light.

This sometimes occurs in situations that have little contrast.

Pentax is working on a firmware-update that will solve this issue.

Unfortunately I can not tell you when this firmware will be ready.

When it is it will first be published on our international support-website:

Software Downloads : Support & Service : PENTAX


I hope that your question has been answered to your satisfaction.
Should you have further questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

When replying, please make sure this email is included.

With kind regards,

(NAME OF THE SENDER)

Pentax Digital Camera Support Team

There is a new post in the K5 forum that a firmware update to correct this problem will be released in the next 2 or 3 days.

If this is the case I suspect that the firmware update for the Kr will be released at the same time.

[Brydzo]

There is a new post in the K5 forum that a firmware update to correct this problem will be released in the next 2 or 3 days. If this is the case I suspect that the firmware update for the Kr will be released at the same time.

This is a information from someone who received a call from Pentax.
So now Pentax is calling ppl telling the new FW is going public?

[geru2000]

This is a information from someone who received a call from Pentax.
So now Pentax is calling ppl telling the new FW is going public?

Ever had a wait on a tech line? I've had them take my number and call me back on several occasions.

In fact in the last 2 weeks I've had one tech call and one from NY State Employment office returned after my initial call.

So it is possible.

[Shellinaya]

DO you have the FF problem outdoors too?
I have a new K-r and I'm not sure if it has this FF issue. Could it be that only a few "batches" of K-rs have this problem? Mine does not have focus problems outdoors at all, (so far). I have other focusing problems but in my case I was sure it's because I'm new to DSLRs.

If a FW fix is on its way that is great news though.