[Class A]

Pentax's past history would suggest that they continue to support their cameras long after they've been discontinued.

Pentax's what?

You mean the past history of never fixing the K100D Auto-ISO bug or the K20D HyperProgram bug? Or the continued lack of support for tethered shooting for the K-7 (I'd lose that ability if I were to upgrade from a K100D to a K-7)?

Yes, there have been some nice firmware updates but on the whole I don't think it is anything to rave about, on the contrary, many little things that would be easy to fix (see above or the K-7's top panel illumination problem) are left as they are.

[knoxploration]

And, in my case, you would have been wrong.

Don't try to read my mind, you can't.

So you'd have completely changed your mind for no reason in the space of 18 days? I rather doubt that.

Or are you saying that the fact Pentax has just put out firmware is proof of the fact that the camera is now unsupported, and no new firmware could possibly be on the way?

Either way, there's no real logic to the assumptions made.

Pentax's what?

You mean the past history of never fixing the K100D Auto-ISO bug or the K20D HyperProgram bug? Or the continued lack of support for tethered shooting for the K-7 (I'd lose that ability if I were to upgrade from a K100D to a K-7)?

Yes, there have been some nice firmware updates but on the whole I don't think it is anything to rave about, on the contrary, many little things that would be easy to fix (see above or the K-7's top panel illumination problem) are left as they are.

You call them bugs -- Pentax might well feel they're intended behaviors. They may well also have a reason tethering wasn't included -- while I personally would love to have it, it's quite possible they couldn't justify the cost of including it without dropping something else I'd have wanted more. Note that even the 645D lacks tethering, although they've said they're considering adding it. (If they do so, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if it filters back down to the K-7 as well.).

[Class A]

You call them bugs -- Pentax might well feel they're intended behaviors.

Do you know what the K100D Auto ISO problem is?
I think if you did, you would agree that this cannot be be "intended behaviour".
FYI, Auto ISO stops working as soon as exposure compensation is not zero. Pentax never replicated that "intended behaviour" on any camera after the K100D.

The HyperProgram bug on the K20D was partially fixed for the K-7. Again, I find it hard to believe that Pentax "intend" one behaviour on the K20D, another one on the K-7 while the most logical one (no surprises for the user) is implemented on neither of them.

(If they do so, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if it filters back down to the K-7 as well.).

And I wouldn't be surprised if tethered shooting would be kept a privilege for the K-5, as an incentive to upgrade.

[jpzk]

Firmaware update for the K7 should include two or three "User" choices, instead of the sole option we have.
Until that happens, if ever there is a further firmware update, we can always hope that those you are wishing for will be native to the "K5".

JP

[arm_jstp]

Now the v1.11 turned out to be only support SDXC card...so sad..

[Wheatfield]

Recognition of lenses below 10mm, such as the Sigma 8-16mm, and the Sigma 4.5mm. It would also be nice if they applied shake reduction as it should be on such wide lenses.

Sigma doesn't exist. Don't get your hopes up.

[penties rider]

how to roll back?

have a question chums:

what if i upload the (any) new firmware to my Pentax K-7 (or any other model) and then i decide to roll back to the previous state?

it can be done with most firmwares / drivers / applications on computers, via a back up or whatever of the previous version of the firmware, but i'm not sure how to find v1.0 of my Pentax K-7's firmware?

any clues?

[LFLee]

how to roll back?

what if i upload the (any) new firmware to my Pentax K-7 (or any other model) and then i decide to roll back to the previous state?

any clues?

Not sure but when I upgrade the firmware to 1.03 I remember reading something like if you screw up during the installation process (e.g. battery dies), you will have to sent it back to Pentax to fix it, and they charge you.

.... with this.... I am not dare to do anything (like put the old firmware on disk and try to install/roll back it again) beside following instructions exactly...

[JeffJS]

There were hacks available to roll back the firmware in the K10d after it was discovered that one could go into the service menu to adjust the auto focus (global for all lenses). More recently, similar hacks have been introduced to open the service menu for basically the same purpose but actually rolling back the FW has not been an option. I could be wrong but I don't remember being able to backdate the FW on the K7. I know it cannot be done on the K5. I tried it and as soon as it sees the version number, it stops the attempt. I wanted to go back to 1.02 to compare a feature to that on 1.03. Couldn't do it.

[penties rider]

Not sure but when I upgrade the firmware to 1.03 I remember reading something like if you screw up during the installation process (e.g. battery dies), you will have to sent it back to Pentax to fix it, and they charge you.

.... with this.... I am not dare to do anything (like put the old firmware on disk and try to install/roll back it again) beside following instructions exactly...

thanks for the great reply LFLee.

now, you say: " (like put the old firmware on disk and try to install/roll back it again) " ...

ok, is that possible to copy the original v1.0 FW of K-7 (or K-5 etc) on an SD drive? if so, then that's exactly what i need, only, there's no mention of it anywhere in the instruction manual.

[penties rider]

There were hacks available to roll back the firmware in the K10d after it was discovered that one could go into the service menu to adjust the auto focus (global for all lenses). More recently, similar hacks have been introduced to open the service menu for basically the same purpose but actually rolling back the FW has not been an option. I could be wrong but I don't remember being able to backdate the FW on the K7. I know it cannot be done on the K5. I tried it and as soon as it sees the version number, it stops the attempt. I wanted to go back to 1.02 to compare a feature to that on 1.03. Couldn't do it.

thanks JeffJS for your reply.

[jamarley]

Sigma doesn't exist. Don't get your hopes up.

You're probably right. I'm in the process of choosing my WPD submissions and noticed that the EXIF for my Sigma 17-70 DC shows up as "Tamron or Sigma lens", at least in Aperture 3. I don't usually find this a big deal. But, what if the date taken said "6/17/11 or 6/18/11" - I might get rejected by the newly implemented EXIF overlord!