[stevebrot]

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Good to know that electronics and photography equipment is now considered obsolete in California after only seven years.

Similar to computers, photography stuff fully depreciates at five year for tax purposes.

Maybe we all should pay more attention to reviews by Ifixit and Lensrentals in their breakdowns of items

FWIW, Roger Cicala at LensRentals shoots Pentax K-1.


Steve

[tvdtvdtvd]

To claim they can't get parts and Ricoh / Pentax is going down is both ignorant and deplorable...

Has it been made clear whether 'Going Down' was actually said, implied or inferred?

[BigMackCam]

Has it been made clear whether 'Going Down' was actually said, implied or inferred?

I'm only going by Tony's original post:

"As if that news in itself wasn't disturbing enough, the Center added that Ricoh/Pentax is going down"

Of course, we can all hear and interpret things slightly differently... so, whilst I don't question the veracity of Tony's report, it's possible that's not precisely what the service facility meant....

[c.a.m]

Hard to predict what words will come out of a retailer's mouth.

About five years ago, I popped into a camera store in a Canadian city I was visiting, just to poke around. While chatting about about various things, the chap behind the counter learned that I shot with Pentax. Unprovoked, he entered into a semi-ranting monologue about Pentax, Ricoh, how the store had been losing money with the brand, the terrible regional sales rep, and why would I even think about using Pentax. Yikes. I just sort of shrugged and said that I'm getting along well with my gear, have a good day.

- Craig

[bigdavephoto]

This thread is also bringing up another subject that nobody has said yet, and could be why Ricoh will not sell parts directly and the repair centers are not allowed too.

That's called right to repair.

A lot of companies are fighting and trying to stop congress from passing right to repair laws. Apple is one of the biggest ones that is fighting. If you would like to see what Apple is doing, look up Louis Rossmann on youtube.

If you don't know what right to repair is, in a nutshell, the law states that when a person buys an item (cell phone, camera, car, tractor, ect) the person has the right to obtain parts, diagrams, and whomever the person decides to repair the said item. If item is under warranty, then you send it to authorized repair centers. Where the right to repair comes in is when an item is out of warranty. If you have a cell phone with a broken screen, you should be able to take it to anybody that can fix broken screens. That person should also be able to get the parts to repair the broken screen easily.

This is why Ricoh should be looking carefully at how they are selling parts.

[BigMackCam]

This thread is also bringing up another subject that nobody has said yet, and could be why Ricoh will not sell parts directly and the repair centers are not allowed too.

That's called right to repair.

A lot of companies are fighting and trying to stop congress from passing right to repair laws. Apple is one of the biggest ones that is fighting. If you would like to see what Apple is doing, look up Louis Rossmann on youtube.

If you don't know what right to repair is, in a nutshell, the law states that when a person buys an item (cell phone, camera, car, tractor, ect) the person has the right to obtain parts, diagrams, and whomever the person decides to repair the said item. If item is under warranty, then you send it to authorized repair centers. Where the right to repair comes in is when an item is out of warranty. If you have a cell phone with a broken screen, you should be able to take it to anybody that can fix broken screens. That person should also be able to get the parts to repair the broken screen easily.

This is why Ricoh should be looking carefully at how they are selling parts.

I'm always wary when I see the word "right" or "rights", as discussions can veer towards politics - or, laws that are governed politically. So, let's stick to the commercial aspect.

We're going a bit off-topic here, but...

"Right to repair" is a nice theoretical concept for the individual who owns a piece of equipment that fails. But there's a cost to the manufacturer, the wider industry and us, the consumers (IMHO). If we force manufacturers to produce enough spares to satisfy all possible repairs over a given period, or - alternatively - to retain facilities (or third-party supplier agreements) to produce spares as required, and provide distribution and sales of spares to customers, that's going to cost a lot of money. Further, if more failed products are repaired as a result, fewer people will need to buy new replacement products - and that costs money too, in the form of reduced revenue. These costs will have to be recovered somehow if the manufacturer is to remain profitable, and that "somehow" will most likely be increased prices of new equipment - which, in itself, will probably reduce sales as fewer folks will be willing to buy more expensive products.

So, whilst I'd love to be able to buy all necessary spares for my out-of-warranty camera or lens and repair it at home, I'd be doing so at the expense of everyone buying new gear, and potentially at the expense of manufacturers who are already having a tough enough time in today's photography market

[Sandy Hancock]

I wonder if Tony is planning to return to this thread, or did he just have a fit of FUD he wanted to share?

[Tonytee]

Hi Tony

Firstly, let's get the issue of "Ricoh/Pentax is going down" out of the way. That's not happening, and it's a black mark against your favourite camera sales and service center for saying so. Shame on them. They wouldn't get my business, that's for sure.

Secondly, regarding the issue of parts... Is this service center an authorised Pentax repair facility? If not, I can understand why they don't have access to parts, even if they once did. Personally, I think all camera manufacturers should make parts for their cameras easily available, but sadly this often isn't the case - and it's not just a Pentax thing. If you approach your regional authorised Pentax service facility, they will be able to repair your camera if parts are still available... at a cost, of course, and that cost may or may not be economical.

Lastly, your K-7 was released in 2009, and - whilst a fine camera - is considered old now. It's quite likely that certain parts are no longer in stock. Hence, even if your regional authorised service facility is technically capable of repairing the camera, it may not be able to get certain parts.

Hello Mike and thanks for your encouraging words. The camera center was not specific in regards to receiving parts for older bodies such as the K-7 and many others. They did state that they cannot get any parts at all. As far as I know, the center is not on Ricoh's Warranty List, however they are on Pentax's Warranty List. What I find most interesting is that Ricoh/Pentax manufactures some mighty fine equipment intended to last up to more than 100,000 shutter actuations. Therefore, given that the majority of these bodies will no doubt require some type of repair/service, how can the company expect the bodies to go beyond the 100,000+ shutter actuations without having to
eventually need part replacement? Another perspective to consider is that with every new release from Ricoh/Pentax, there is an older release being shelved for a few years and that will not require service/repair. Again, a nebulus situation that the company must contend with. The focus screen in my K-7 did not malfunction at all. Yours truly rubbed up against it while trying to do some serious cleaning and created a bunch of ugly smudges. Fortunately they do not appear in any of my images.

Thanks again Mike, always appreciate your comprehensive and helpful feedback. Cheers,

Tonytee

---------- Post added 01-27-20 at 06:01 PM ----------

Tony, you never really said which focusing screen you were replacing the one in your K-7 with. If its the standard screen why are you replacing it with the standard OEM screen? As for availability of the standard screen and several others they are readily available, as everyone has said, on many online sites.

Sounds to me like your favorite sales and repair center has some ulterior motive in telling you what they told you. Perhaps you should go set them straight as to the availability of the focusing screen. As members have said your K-7 is several generations old and many replacement parts just aren't available from anyone now.

Please go set them straight regarding the "Pentax is going down" statement. This is exactly how many unfounded rumors spread and they are virtually impossible to tamp down once out in the "wild".

Larry

Hello Larry, you are correct I did not indicate the part number. I did not indicate the part number because I am ignorant when it comes to these things. All I did was call the center, spoke to a technician and explained to him what I needed. All I said was, "I need a new focus screen for my Pentax K-7. That was when I was informed that Pentax will not ship any parts at all. You raise a very valid point, so in the future I will know to look up the part number in the manual. Thanks very much for your assistance.

Tonytee

---------- Post added 01-27-20 at 06:02 PM ----------

I wonder if Tony is planning to return to this thread, or did he just have a fit of FUD he wanted to share?

Hello Sandy and thanks very much for your comment. That is funny.

Cheers,

TT

---------- Post added 01-27-20 at 06:04 PM ----------

This thread is also bringing up another subject that nobody has said yet, and could be why Ricoh will not sell parts directly and the repair centers are not allowed too.

That's called right to repair.

A lot of companies are fighting and trying to stop congress from passing right to repair laws. Apple is one of the biggest ones that is fighting. If you would like to see what Apple is doing, look up Louis Rossmann on youtube.

If you don't know what right to repair is, in a nutshell, the law states that when a person buys an item (cell phone, camera, car, tractor, ect) the person has the right to obtain parts, diagrams, and whomever the person decides to repair the said item. If item is under warranty, then you send it to authorized repair centers. Where the right to repair comes in is when an item is out of warranty. If you have a cell phone with a broken screen, you should be able to take it to anybody that can fix broken screens. That person should also be able to get the parts to repair the broken screen easily.

This is why Ricoh should be looking carefully at how they are selling parts.

Excellent advice and thanks very much for your contribution.

TT

[jpzk]

In addition to BigMackCam's comments (which are spot on) - a focus screen for the K7 is probably available second hand on either this forum, many camera shops or even some well known auction site. If I remember correctly it is user changeable???

Hope that helps

Absolutely. In fact, the screen itself is probably available on eBay (it's the same screen as used in the K-5 and K-3) - and it's an easy swap-out installation. Whilst many users are happy to do it themselves, any repair shop should be able to do it in five minutes...

EDIT: I believe the screen you need is the MF-60 (but please check in the manual if you're going to order one yourself). Here's an eBay link for several sellers:

pentax mf-60 screen | eBay

Hi guys.
I have a focusing screen which was ordered from Focusingscreen. com "way back when" to install on my K7.
Never installed it ... still in its original package ... is this what you are talking about? (see picture(s)) ...

[Larrymc]

Pretty shameful behavior by the camera shop.

No wonder online sales are causing the closure of a lot of these places. If I'm going to an actual camera shop instead of online, I'd at least expect courteous and truthful answers to my questions and/or requests. If the human interaction aspect of service is confrontational like that, why even bother? If you like your K-7 it would be easy to replace the screen with one of the options that was already mentioned - I think this K-r video applies to the K-7 as well - Pentax-kr change Split focus screen - YouTube (I haven't done this so someone who's done it to the K-7/K-5/K-3 style body can confirm perhaps?)

Its basically an easy task. You just have to be clean and not damage the focusing screen as its inserted into its slot. I've changed them in my K-50 as well as my K-3. As a matter of fact I have a brand new ML-60 that I'm not using as I went back to the MF-60 original screen on my K-3.

[Tonytee]

Nor does your camera repair shop.

It is not unusual for manufacturers to restrict the supply of spares to their own approved repair centres.

Now exactly why would that be? It doesn't make any sense to intentionally negate any potential to make money.

Thnx,

TT

---------- Post added 01-27-20 at 07:01 PM ----------

Hi guys.
I have a focusing screen which was ordered from Focusingscreen. com "way back when" to install on my K7.
Never installed it ... still in its original package ... is this what you are talking about? (see picture(s)) ...

Is this the same part but with a different part number? thnx,

TT

[Larrymc]

Hello Larry, you are correct I did not indicate the part number. I did not indicate the part number because I am ignorant when it comes to these things. All I did was call the center, spoke to a technician and explained to him what I needed. All I said was, "I need a new focus screen for my Pentax K-7. That was when I was informed that Pentax will not ship any parts at all. You raise a very valid point, so in the future I will know to look up the part number in the manual. Thanks very much for your assistance.

Hi Tony,

The focus screen is very easy to change, just study it thoroughly on you tube and several other sites and order a genuine Pentax one from a reputable dealer like B&H. Oh and any smudge you have rubbed on the focus screen is not going to affect your images in any way but it will affect your ability to see your subject properly and to manually focus properly.

Larry

[RGlasel]

Hard to predict what words will come out of a retailer's mouth.

Words to live by, and you can substitute "repair shop", "rental agency", "public official" and just about any other noun that describes a form of personal interaction between strangers. I have been heavily involved with professional automotive service providers in some way or another for 35 years and 99.999% of unsolvable problems are a result of poor listening skills. People don't listen because they want to demonstrate their expertise without putting any effort into understanding what you need. In my experience, when the first thing someone says is "how can I help you," it means that they are already thinking of reasons why they can't or won't. YMMV

[bobmaxja]

Nikon who is a lot bigger is doing the same thing
Nikon Shuttering Its Authorized Repair Program

[VSTAR]

Tony, Let's see....the camera repair centre could not get the part...but Amazon can, from 6 different vendors

amazon.com: pentax k7 focusing screen?tag=pentaxforums-20&

Ricoh going out of business...lets see...new camera GRiii, new DSLR lenses, new camera still coming out....

Maybe they just don't want to be an authorized parts centre????