[EdwardConde]

Update - Got the K-r today from my sis, and it is actually the dual lens kit (Yahoo!) but it is missing the charger.. going back to see if they can find a charger or give me a 3rd party charger.. what was shady is that they threw in a battery that clearly does not fit the camera...


owell... see what i can get out of them

[Drom]

Hmm. If they have a demo or another one left they should give you the battery from that one. I am guessing the chargers may not cost that much or perhaps there is a universal one.

[mpmetro]

seems the deal is over, and is no longer showing on frys website. The K-r prices have gone back to normal. But it still shows some in stock at my local frys in houston. What's strange is that one store that didnt have any when the $299 deal was going on, now has one in stock. I guess someone must have returned theirs.

[EdwardConde]

Hmm. If they have a demo or another one left they should give you the battery from that one. I am guessing the chargers may not cost that much or perhaps there is a universal one.

I went to the store and they gave me the charger from the demo unit. So I got a complete set and I am very happy.

Now the question is what to do with the K-x. Keep it? The kit lenses I will not need those, so they will be going on the sale block soon...

anyhow... I think I am set until frys has a blowout sale on the K-5

[madbrain]

seems the deal is over, and is no longer showing on frys website. The K-r prices have gone back to normal. But it still shows some in stock at my local frys in houston. What's strange is that one store that didnt have any when the $299 deal was going on, now has one in stock. I guess someone must have returned theirs.

Yes, Fry's sales change every week. They run from friday through thursday. The next sale is published on their website on thursday night. I just looked and there is very little in the camera section for this coming week, no Pentax but not much of anything else either.

[EdwardConde]

Awesome... i never thought about looking the night before for the sales... nice find!

[royden]

I have a K-x and happy as a pig in you know what. Wish I had seen this post earlier but my thanks to madbrain for his info. I love this forum.
I would buy one, even body only for three bills. I am glad some of you were able to secure one. I am gonna keep checking their site. There are 2 stores in the Atlanta area.

[EdwardConde]

i think the next big sale will be on the k-5 once it goes in discontinued status... right now they have it on sale for $1499 body only.. Way over priced... not sure if the rebate is included on that price or not... but if i remember correctly the k-r's were like 600 before the blowout.. if they had the same sale for the k-5, we could see it for $750 or so...

my plan right now is to use the k-r as much as I used my k-x (about 17,000 on the shutter count in less than 2yrs of ownership) and just wait till the next wave of blowout sales come on the k-5.... i don't mind being a generation behind... if it means i save some mula $$$...

cheers!

[madbrain]

i think the next big sale will be on the k-5 once it goes in discontinued status... right now they have it on sale for $1499 body only.. Way over priced... not sure if the rebate is included on that price or not... but if i remember correctly the k-r's were like 600 before the blowout.. if they had the same sale for the k-5, we could see it for $750 or so...

my plan right now is to use the k-r as much as I used my k-x (about 17,000 on the shutter count in less than 2yrs of ownership) and just wait till the next wave of blowout sales come on the k-5.... i don't mind being a generation behind... if it means i save some mula $$$...

cheers!

Fry's will match online prices if you ask them.
In particular they will always match Amazon.com .
You would still have to pay the sales tax, though.

It seems this was about 50% off on the K-r which were mostly demos. The Fry's salesmen I asked said they didn't sell a lot of Pentax. So perhaps they were just trying to free up retail space since the model was discontinued, and 50% off is what it took to move them.

[madbrain]

I got my two 2 AA battery holders from China yesterday, just under 2 weeks, for $11 shipped, not too bad. The camera is 2.5 ounces heavier with it and the 4 eneloops vs the Li-on.
That's really insignificant compared to the weight of the lenses I have.

I think I will return the $30 Li-on charger to Fry's. And maybe sell the original Pentax Li-on battery.

Does anyone know of an affordable AC adapter / DC coupler for the K-r ?

[ccd333]

I think I will return the $30 Li-on charger to Fry's. And maybe sell the original Pentax Li-on battery.

This is puzzling to me because I don't understand why someone would want to compromise a unique feature of this camera. You don't often see owners talk about how nice it is to have this redundancy.....but it's already paid dividends for me while on a long photo trip.

[dhorvath]

@Madbrain: where did you order the battery holder? I have a real Pentax one and am looking for a second.

[EdwardConde]

there are used pentax branded ones from B&H... i got one for $22...... plus didn't want to wait 2 weeks for the one from ebay... but the quantity is limited...

[madbrain]

This is puzzling to me because I don't understand why someone would want to compromise a unique feature of this camera. You don't often see owners talk about how nice it is to have this redundancy.....but it's already paid dividends for me while on a long photo trip.

I have a lot of eneloops, way more than 4, which provides as much redundancy as I need.
The eneloops stay charged much longer than the Lion batteries, and I have never had one die yet in 4 years, whereas all my Lion batteries older than 2 years have died, whether for cell phones, camcorders, etc.

It appears people can get more shots with the K-r off the eneloops than the Li-on battery, too. The Lion battery takes longer to charge than the Eneloops with my MAHA charger as well.

The 3rd party Lenmar charger I got is not very good, aligning the contacts with the battery takes some time.

Given all this, I don't see a good reason to keep the charger and Lion battery. I know I would never choose to use them over eneloops.

[ccd333]

I have a lot of eneloops, way more than 4, which provides as much redundancy as I need.
The eneloops stay charged much longer than the Lion batteries, and I have never had one die yet in 4 years, whereas all my Lion batteries older than 2 years have died, whether for cell phones, camcorders, etc.

It appears people can get more shots with the K-r off the eneloops than the Li-on battery, too. The Lion battery takes longer to charge than the Eneloops with my MAHA charger as well.

The 3rd party Lenmar charger I got is not very good, aligning the contacts with the battery takes some time.

Given all this, I don't see a good reason to keep the charger and Lion battery. I know I would never choose to use them over eneloops.

All good points, but here's why I think you should consider having both:

- Li-ion have superior cold weather performance. Even with the advancements of the low self discharge Ni-MH's, they still can have problems in very cold weather. I guess if you never use your camera in cold conditions, it wouldn't matter......but I am always in the mountains here in Colorado and I have had issues with the Ni-MH's (including LSD's) in the cold environments.

- Li-ion are more consistent with the display on the battery gauge (though hardly perfect with the K-r I will admit).

- Some have mentioned they noticed that the higher voltage of the lithium chemistry can make a difference with auto focus, shutter, and write speeds (I would think even more of an issue the colder it gets).

- Even if you have plenty of easily charged Eneloops.....in case you have a problem with your AA adapter you would always have the lithium block to use. I have not had any trouble with my adapter, but I have seen problems with similar adapters for AA's (they are not exactly built like a tank).

I guess my overriding point is why not just keep the lithium? Here you have a unique concept for redundancy in the camera you own and it seems a shame not to take advantage of that specialty feature. Redundancy is more than just having extra batteries of the same type. The advantages of having both might come into play at some point.

Finally, whatever advantage is gained by having batteries that store longer would be mitigated by using the lithium battery as your every day battery. This would effectually negate the need for long term storage because (theoretically at least) you would be charging it often because you would be using it, true? That way you can have your long term storage champions, the Eneloops, as a true reliable backup......and in the meantime garner all of the benefits of the standard issue lithium ion block.