[Rusty Rat]

My first K-7 didn't last two weeks. It wouldn't continuous shoot more than three shots before stalling out. I could hear the focusing screw churning back 'n' forth, before it would take another shot about five seconds later. Even when set down to 2 mp, no change.

It then developed a host of other issues (eventually wouldn't fire at all) so I sent it back and received a new one.

The replacement K-7 is doing the same thing.

Regardless of the lens used (screw focus or SDM), regardless of memory card used, regardless of the mp or format, same behaviour. Shoots three or four frames on continuous high, then stalls and only shoots one frame every four or five seconds. A mechanical churning sound can be heard internally during the delay between shots. The focus red squares are flickering on and off.

Doesn't matter if the focus is AFS, C, or M -- same behaviour. Lens with AF-M switches, same thing.

Same lenses and memory cards on a K20D or K10D have no such problems.

Any ideas or do I have another crap K-7?

[hcc]

I am sorry for your trouble.

I have a K-7 since late November and I do a fair amount of Hi continuous shooting, with sequences of 15 to 100 shots each time.

I use typicaly 6Mp JPEG (only) with a Sandisk Extreme III, and I can easily do 10 to 20 s in Hi continuous shooting mode. I just need to remember to kill off all PP everytime. In 2 Mp JPEG, I can do easly 30 s or more in Hi continuous shooting.

First a few points for all Pentaxians: in Hi continuous shooting, you need to disconnect/switch off all in-camera PP incl. lens distortion correction. Beware that the default settings (eg with the K-7) do include some PP.

You must also have a good/fast SD card like a Sandisk Extreme III. You also need to be in MF or AF-S. (Do not use AF-C.)

With RAW or RAW+, you should be able to shoot at least 3 s in Hi continuous shooting, before the buffer is full and the camera slow down.

From your description, you did some thorough testing, and your camera need to send back to Pentax.

Hope that the comments will assist...

[Rusty Rat]

Thanks for the tips.

I meant to turn off the PP and totally forgot. The performance was definitely better with PP off. It was still not up to a full 5 fps, but that could be that my cards aren't quite up to snuff for the K-7. It fires a few frames, stalls for a second, then fires a few more. That sounds like a card issue. They're OK for the other cameras, but not this one.

Progress. I'm happy with that. At least it doesn't seem that I have another dud.

Thanks again.

[Wheatfield]

Go into the menus and turn off the lens correction features.

[Rusty Rat]

See my previous post, already done.

Thanks

[hcc]

Rusty Rat,
Glad that the initial comments help. Obviously the card was one type of pb: get a good one. I can recommend the Extreme III (30 Mb/s) for Hi continuous shooting, based upon my own experience, and I would love a faster card.

But... do not forget some defaults settings that use a lot of PP. For example, I found (by mistake) that the High ISO noise correction adds up a lot of PP in the K-7, and needs to be killed off if I work in darker lights, unless I work in full manual control.

Cheers ....

[Timichango]

I've got a K-7 and a Sandisk 15mb/sec card, and can blast away on burst with no stalling. YMMV.

The 'internal churning' you describe is likely the image stabilization system - you can easily hear this with the camera in live-view in a quiet environment.

[Shashinki]

If you are using AF-C, the K-7 doesn't go as fast, but I see youve already tried that... How about copyright function.. do you have it on or off..

[hcc]

If you are using AF-C, the K-7 doesn't go as fast, but I see youve already tried that... How about copyright function.. do you have it on or off..

Pentax Instructions specifically mentioned not to use AF-C in Hi continuous shooting.

For the copyright function, I use it and I noticed no effect in Hi continous shooting with the K-7.

Hope that the comment will help.

[Rusty Rat]

All sorted out. Thanks. AF-C, post processing distortion and CA correction were the guilty parties. I never use AF-C as I have no need for it, but It did impact one batch of tests when I didn't realize it was still on. The copyright notice has no affect as far as I can tell. I don't need any high noise filters either.

I get a laugh out of the manual when it says, "the shooting may be slower". How about "dragged down to a wretched crawl"?