[m8o]

It's not you.. it's not me... it's that dang "leaning viewfinder" problem many of us have. Have you read this thread?

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/11857-leaning-viewfinder-k10d.html

I was sure I was being meticulous in lining up the horizon on the bottom tick marks, yet all my landscape pics where leaning. I thought, "what am I doing, moving the camera when I depress?" However, it was leaning in the opposite direction to how I depress the shutter. That thread above proves unequivocally what's behind the problem.

[mattdm]

Hmmm, well, my K10D arrived today (yay) and (ugh) it very obviously exhibits this problem. That kinda sucks.

I suppose I'll plan to send it in for warranty service in a few months; have them map out any hot pixels at the same time.

[PC_pentax]

.....

Two ways to solve it if it is the VF, one release the Focus screen latch and then close it, the adjustment should realign the screen, other wise check to make sure all the mask edges are parallel with the focus lines and what you know to be a level and geometrically correct scene.

Two, return the camera to pentax and tell them that you need the VF realigned.

This may seem like a dumb question - but is there any documentation anywhere that shows a user how to release said focus screen latch?

I guess I'm a little chicken that I might do more harm than good - and I really don't like the idea of having to send my camera to Colorado for Christams vacation at least without my trying to fix this myself first.

TIA!

[RiceHigh]

I have a K10D and have noticed that no matter how carefully i compose the image using the edges of the viewfinder as a reference, my resulting photos come out slightly rotated. Curiously, the same rotation percentage in Lightroom is all it takes to correct for this. At first I thought maybe i was slightly rotating the camera when pressing the shutter, since the right side of the photo always comes out a little lower than the left, but i've confirmed that it's not me by placing the camera on a flat, level surface, making sure my vertical and horizontal lines in the photo were correct and then taking a photo that's slight off kilter.

So, could this be something in the viewfinder? it seems highly unlikely to me that the sensor is askew, but i could imagine a viewfinder problem. I don't think it's the focusing screen, because i'm using the edges of the viewfinder frame and not the etched lines in the screen itself as my reference.

any thoughts?

Finally, an official answer to your question and experienced problem has been announced / published. Full story below:-

RiceHigh's Pentax Blog: Pentax Admits The "Tilted Viewfinder" Problem, Finally.

Hope this helps.

[cucciolo]

I have the same problem and i noticed that the mirror is not correct. The frame that holds the mirror is lower on the under left side then on the under right side.(looking from the front) It looks a bit twisted.
I think this causes the problem. I wonder if al the problems with the rotation are in the same direction. If the mirror is the problem it must be. The mirror is only supported on the under right side. My foto,s are all rotated a bit clockwise. In my opinion this is correct if the mirror is lower on the leftside(when taking a picture).

Please check this on your camera and maybe it is something tell to pentax for some improvement.

Johan