[kheldour]

and here is the answer from Pentax-Support, which arrived just a few hours after I sent the email to Pentax earlier today:

Sehr geehrter Herr ……,

vielen Dank für Ihre Anfrage.

Leider liegt uns momentan noch kein definitives Erscheinungsdatum der neuen Firmware vor. Sobald unsere Entwickler eine Serienreife Firmware fertiggestellt haben, wird dies über unsere Homepage publiziert.

Wir hoffen Ihnen mit unserer Antwort behilflich gewesen zu sein.

Bitte zögern Sie nicht, uns bei Rückfragen erneut zu kontaktieren.


Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Marco B******

Pentax Camera Support Team

Basically it says:

YES we acknowledge the problem and can confirm, that we are working on a new firmware.
BUT we don't have a release date yet.

[LIJ]

YES we acknowledge the problem and can confirm, that we are working on a new firmware.
BUT we don't have a release date yet.

That is, to my knowledge, the first confimation from Pentax that the problem will be solved by a firmware update. All I have heard this far is that "Pentax is working on the problem" (not what form the fix would take) and then there was the white balance workaround.

So if Pentax Germany has gotten the right information from Pentax Japan, hopefully we will se a firmware fix

[loco]

Thanks for the update, kheldour!

[BobDoLe]

and here is the answer from Pentax-Support, which arrived just a few hours after I sent the email to Pentax earlier today:




Basically it says:

YES we acknowledge the problem and can confirm, that we are working on a new firmware.
BUT we don't have a release date yet.

Thank you!

I just ran it through google translate for convenience (please correct me if it is inaccurate):

Thank you for your inquiry.

Unfortunately, there is currently no definitive release date for the new firmware. Once our engineers have completed a series production firmware, this will be published on our website.

We hope to have been helpful with our response.

Please do not hesitate to contact us again with any questions.

That sounds promising.

[SteveUK]

Pentax UK reply :

Thank you for your enquiry.
This issue has already been reported to our factory, and our engineers are investigating the case, in order to quickly fix it.

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,
Pentax Digital Camera Support Team

Well no, not answered to my satisfaction, but at least an acknowledgement of the issue and to some degree its severity.

[knishita]

I have not received any response from Pentax Japan, yet. Now Japan is in Golden Week which is shut down pretty much all businesses for two weeks, so if I will ever get any response from Pentax Japan, it will be after May 6th... I think Pentax Japan will not going to release anything until they come back from their vacation.

[robroy]

Focusing problem is a serious issue, but there are also other issues with K-r. For instance, has anyone else experienced unreliable auto white balance? Pictures taken indoors tend to be blueish. Camera uses wrong white balance setting too often compared to couple of other cameras I own.

I also have issues with the battery indicator. It seems to be "jumping around". I once wanted to clean the sensor, but camera complained that there isn't enough battery. Battery was full... There also seems to be lot of issues with external flash units.

Focusing with live view has issues. Sometimes camera cannot focus although target is very easy and other cameras have no problems of getting a proper focus.

[rbryant]

For instance, has anyone else experienced unreliable auto white balance?

Yes, most definitely. AWB doesn't work very well. I manually set it every time I turn the camera on for better results.

I also have issues with the battery indicator. It seems to be "jumping around".

I experience this as well. Battery indicator is yellow, shows about a third charge left; and then the next time the camera is turned on, the indicator is green and shows full.

[Metalwizards]

Yes, most definitely. AWB doesn't work very well. I manually set it every time I turn the camera on for better results.

Changing the WB doesn't effect my FF problem at all. I have pretty bad FF under tungsten with all WB settings. With the in camera adjust it makes the problem mostly go away, but it's still FFing even at -10.

This is great news though, everyone considering e-baying there k-r should hold off imo. Once this fix happens this camera will be golden god status.

[nandystam]

I just cannot see how Pentax would choose to ignore this. They've worked hard to expand their customer base over the last few years and I just can't see why they would intentionally choose to commit corporate suicide by ignoring it.

[kheldour]

Please bear in mind, that Japan is still suffering massive power outages and is still recovering from the devastating earthquake and allow Pentax some extra time to get it right.

[torpesco]

... For instance, has anyone else experienced unreliable auto white balance? Pictures taken indoors tend to be blueish. Camera uses wrong white balance setting too often compared to couple of other cameras I own.

Yes, most definitely. AWB doesn't work very well. I manually set it every time I turn the camera on for better results.

Really? Maybe I've just been lucky -- I've found the AWB to generally give me colour that's pretty accurate compared to what I see with my eyes. Warm inside under tungsten, warm and bright outside on a vacation in Hawaii, cool and bright outside here in Vancouver in March (low sun, silvery tinged daylight). Sometimes, (using DNG) I've changed the WB settings from "as shot" to "cloudy" in Lightroom, but sometimes the camera has given me a better result from AWB in cloudy conditions.

The thing I end up fiddling with most often is the exposure level...

[Nobbys Nuts]

Haven't touched the White Balance on my KR since the day I bought it.
Have none of the problems that some keep harping on about in every thread that they can.

I must have an exceptionally good KR if everyone elses is crap.
I would love to see some more pictures from HAPPY KR owners in the photo thread I have started.
There must be more than just me.

[Metalwizards]

Haven't touched the White Balance on my KR since the day I bought it.
Have none of the problems that some keep harping on about in every thread that they can.

I must have an exceptionally good KR if everyone elses is crap.
I would love to see some more pictures from HAPPY KR owners in the photo thread I have started.
There must be more than just me.

Mines not crap, it's just that it front focuses under tungsten, which is only mildly annoying because 90% I shoot using sun light.

[chiane]

Ok, anyone who doesn't just shoot in daylight?