[Christopher M.W.T]

Ok well for those who do or don't know I sent my FA50 (after owning it for only a couple of weeks) away to CR Kennedy Australia (Pentax distributor) to be serviced having effectively broken the lens, ie the body and lens came apart due to some stupidity on my part.

This was promptly sent back to Pentax Japan and repaired at a cost of $280, which all in all that plus what I paid was equal to what it would've cost me to purchase the lens locally, so I can't complain. The lens is like a brand new lens fresh out of the factory, the apperture blades are smoother and I find that even at F1.4 the image is considerably sharper than originally. The repair involved replacing the helicoid place and reassembling the lens, so my guess is that they must've taken the whole thing apart and realigned it all. All this took about 6weeks. So very happy.

Also sent off my K7 last week to be repaired, it's had an issue since day one in movie mode with a purple line visible on the left hand side of the frame under certain low light conditions, even to annoy me. So I sent it in, what should've taken nearly 2 weeks was done in a few days and I got it all back today, they replaced the PCB, upgraded to firmware 1.03 and viola seems like the problem is solved.

My K7 in the limited testing seems to produce a slightly better image, less noise in video mode and seems to meter better, either thats a placebo or I had something dodgy in mine.

Either way can't complain with CRK great work on their part.

[hcc]

Thank you for sharing your experience. Both good and not so good experience are very useful for all users, and a positive experience is definitely a worthwhile advice.

I have been in contact with CRK (but not for repairs) and I found them very helpful. It is good to know that we can get good technical support down under ....

[rawr]

Yay CRK!

I've never needed to deal with them yet, but this sort of post gives me confidence.

[Arjay Bee]

15 years ago I put my dad's spottie and three lenses in for service to the Brisbane branch of CRK - got them all back CLA'd no issues - good then -good now, clearly.

[mcjm78]

I'd issues with my K7 as well. Send it back to CRK twice. In the end they swap me a brand new body.

[flash1100]

CRK in Melbourne are excellent. Their face to face customer service is a bit oh go away you annoying person, but their techs are great.

Had an incident with the aperture actuator on the K10D. Had it repaired and two days before the World Superbikes last year it failed again. I rang them at 4:30, and a 5:15 a courier arrived with a new body that I used for the 3 days of the superbikes. Awesome! In the end I just kept the replacement body (shutter count was 7 when I got it) and left them with the old one. As I was in Melbourne for the bikes from Perth I just dropped the K10 in at Perth CRK no questions asked.

When my DA17-70 SDM died dropped it into Perth with a wait of two weeks. came back from Melbourne inside a week.

Have nothing but good things to say for CRK Melbourne.

Oh and they helped me source a Sigma 100-300/4. There was only one in Oz then and they found it for me.

[Christopher M.W.T]

I'd issues with my K7 as well. Send it back to CRK twice. In the end they swap me a brand new body.

What issues you have?

[Christopher M.W.T]

CRK in Melbourne are excellent. Their face to face customer service is a bit oh go away you annoying person, but their techs are great.

Had an incident with the aperture actuator on the K10D. Had it repaired and two days before the World Superbikes last year it failed again. I rang them at 4:30, and a 5:15 a courier arrived with a new body that I used for the 3 days of the superbikes. Awesome! In the end I just kept the replacement body (shutter count was 7 when I got it) and left them with the old one. As I was in Melbourne for the bikes from Perth I just dropped the K10 in at Perth CRK no questions asked.

When my DA17-70 SDM died dropped it into Perth with a wait of two weeks. came back from Melbourne inside a week.

Have nothing but good things to say for CRK Melbourne.

Oh and they helped me source a Sigma 100-300/4. There was only one in Oz then and they found it for me.

Excellent yer I've been dealing with CRK Melbourne and has been really happy with them, hopefully my company might be opening an account with them for Security CCTV gear, just got the pricelist today. Dellamier or something they sell, now if we can sell that

Only thing not going for them and im not sure if its them to blame is the Australian retail pricing for gear is so much higher, however if you can make a contact then going direct is good.

All in all very happy with CRK.

[mcjm78]

What issues you have?

1st time round, I send in for flash exposure adjustment, as I always get over-expose with flash. Tried on another K7, and it was better... so after the K7 done a round trip cross nullarbor, it came back with a persistent SR issue (which I suspected it since new)

I can get blur photo at 1/100 for a 24mm lens, which was impossible for my K20. Tripod tested the setup vs K20, and K7 shows the SR intro'ed blur. I can basically replicate it on the fly.... so there goes the 2nd trip cross nullarbor.

Then it came back... SR was sweet. Focus is also very spot on. More test shot in the CRK office.. and... what!? banding in the shadow areas. I think they must have stuff it up when operate on the body...

Then CRK did the right thing by giving me a brand new K7.


Ok.. I just send my K20 in today for other usage issues. Lets see how we go.