[J.Scott]

I doubt if it is difficult to repair. The painful part for me was paying to ship my K10D to a repair shop in Ontario. $20 to ship + $22 insurance + $5 fuel surcharge + PST + GST = $50.10 !! That sure killed any savings I made on the camera when I originally purchased it in September for $660.

Has anyone had any success in getting Pentax (Canada) to pay for the shipping of a camera on warranty?

I doubt if it is difficult to repair. The painful part for me was paying to ship my K10D to a repair shop in Ontario. $20 to ship + $22 insurance + $5 fuel surcharge + PST + GST = $50.10 !! That sure killed any savings I made on the camera when I originally purchased it in September for $660.

Has anyone had any success in getting Pentax (Canada) to pay for the shipping of a camera on warranty?

Hi J,

My K100D is at Pentax right now for the same issue. I shipped it to them and they said they would ship it back Purolator if i remember correctly. I would check the original warranty information, but it is common for the user to pay for shipping the product there, but the company will cover the cost coming back.

At least, that better be the case for me

Cheers,
Keebler

[Lowell Goudge]

Here comes a really dumb question but I have to ask!

As I understand it,, the issue is that when you line up a photo in the view finder, using hre marks on the viewing screne, the image when viewed / printed is tilted slightly.

Has any one checked to see if their viewing screne is installed perfectly?

Note the K10D has interchangeable viewing screnes. This means that there will inherently be some play in the mount because if there was not you would never get them in and out.

The geometry is very small hence even a little play could present itself as a leaning viewfinder.

[distudio]

Here comes a really dumb question but I have to ask!

As I understand it,, the issue is that when you line up a photo in the view finder, using hre marks on the viewing screne, the image when viewed / printed is tilted slightly.

Has any one checked to see if their viewing screne is installed perfectly?

Note the K10D has interchangeable viewing screnes. This means that there will inherently be some play in the mount because if there was not you would never get them in and out.

The geometry is very small hence even a little play could present itself as a leaning viewfinder.

If you read through the various threads here and elsewhere it's plain to see that few cases are related to focus screen installation. The vast majority of problematic bodies exhibit an actual rotation in the finder. Whether it be a function of mirror tilt or prism rotation it's a real tilt which tends to cause images to be framed such that they constantly require one degree or thereabouts CCW rotation to straighten.

It's also been acknowledged by Pentax to be a systematic problem though they are coy in confirming this and neither the source or the extent of the problem has been divulged as far as I'm aware.

I'm one of those people who will give a repair a go however this one wasn't so simple to tackle. Thus far my camera has been to the local authorized service agents three times for the problem leaving me minus camera for 105 days in total and it has cost me in the vicinity of AU$75 in shipping, suffice to say I'm not a happy camper. BTW I still don't have it back.

[kittykat46]

My viewfinder is slightly tilted vs. the body, too.

But the viewfinder matches the sensor quite accurately (so both are tilted vs. the body!), so I've learned to use my eyes to line up the photo instead of using the camera body.

Don't really want any repairman to fiddle with my otherwise perfectly OK unit, so I haven't bothered to send it back to Pentax.

[distudio]

My viewfinder is slightly tilted vs. the body, too.

But the viewfinder matches the sensor quite accurately (so both are tilted vs. the body!), so I've learned to use my eyes to line up the photo instead of using the camera body.

Don't really want any repairman to fiddle with my otherwise perfectly OK unit, so I haven't bothered to send it back to Pentax.

On my K10D second repair session the sensor was made to align with the finder which left it in a similar situation to your camera. Before that the sensor was in near perfect registration with the body which suited me as I the camera to shoot panos on a custom bracket. So I sent it back to have the problem properly rectified, what happens from here on I've no idea.

Just wanted to report back folks.

I haven't been able to catch the repair person live since my camera was returned.

I need to ask him what was wrong b/c they just took the serial numbers out of my old camera, put the old ones on a NEW camera body and shipped it back to me! wuhoo!

Cheers,
Keebler

[kingkongva]

fyi, got my k10d w/ same problem. just called pentax rep in co. the problem lies within the sensor, not the focus screen. according to him, pentax japan just sent them s/w to fix the problem electronically. only takes minutes to fix. there are nothing to fix mechanically. will send my back in a few weeks. hope this help

[distudio]

fyi, got my k10d w/ same problem. just called pentax rep in co. the problem lies within the sensor, not the focus screen. according to him, pentax japan just sent them s/w to fix the problem electronically. only takes minutes to fix. there are nothing to fix mechanically. will send my back in a few weeks. hope this help

If that's what he said this tech is a fool.

Without actually checking your camera there is no way he can make such a definite diagnosis. Problems exist with the sensor (infrequent) and finder alignment. The software fix he mentioned simply allows the techs to adjust the rotation of the sensor with reference to the finder and after this procedure is done you will likely find that the sensor is no longer parallel with the base of the camera.

[Jasvox]

I just returned from Istanbul and almost every single shot needed to be corrected as they were all leaning to the right (downhill right). The ones I took with my P&S (in holy sights) using live view, of course....needed NO adjustments. Imagine that.

[Rick Woodward]

And I thought it was just me! Absolutely! I noticed this tilted horizon from day one on my K10D but just could not believe it was the camera and assumed it was me! I often find myself correcting pictures in Photoshop - it isn't a crisis - but I wish I'd learned earlier when I was still in the warranty period!
Rick Woodward

[OhSnapped]

I've barely gotten to use my K10D since I've got it but when I have, I've noticed that as well. My warranty goes out in about a month. I'm not sure what to do with it. I mean I love the Camera, I just hate having to crop tilt and crop again to get a straight image.

[Canada_Rockies]

I've barely gotten to use my K10D since I've got it but when I have, I've noticed that as well. My warranty goes out in about a month. I'm not sure what to do with it. I mean I love the Camera, I just hate having to crop tilt and crop again to get a straight image.

If it is really off kilter, send it in for warranty and have it straightened up.

The problem is not unique to Pentax. I just read a review in Chasseurs d'Images on the Canon 1Ds Mk III - and the viewfinder was tilted a bit. The comment was that it is a common fault in dSLRs. I don't know that I find that comment a great commendation of dSLR camera bodies, but we're not alone.

Mine is close enough, luckily enough. I seem to have fluked in with the k10d as well as the DA* 16-50, of which my copy is fine.

[OhSnapped]

Only problem I have with sending it in is that I won't have a physical address as I'll be a passenger in a semi, no sense paying rent for a place I be at. That and shipping might be a bit of a stretch at the moment. It's never anything simple huh.

[federerexpress]

I sent mine in this week to repair this very issue (Pentax USA in CO). So I should expect it to be gone for about 3 to 4 weeks? Did anybody else get it returned earlier than that?