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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
12-18-2012, 02:46 PM
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Hi,
Having a little lens trouble. Got a few of my lens's wet and now having some trouble (not surprising I guess). My aperture blades are sluggish now and it would be great to fix those....
But my main question is about the lens contacts. I was not getting good communication between the camera and the lens. I opened it up to see what might be happening. And unfortunately there is some rust/corrosion on the gold spring contacts in the lens. I tried to clean them but it wasn't totally successful. One of the contact springs broke (they are quite fragile). I cleaned them with a water/vinegar mixture. Was that a bad idea?
Basically I wanted to see if anyone knows where we can buy some additional gold spring contacts for a Pentax SMC DA lens? I think if I could put in a new spring the lens might be back in action (except for the slow aperture blades I guess).
thanks much!
-Peter
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
12-01-2012, 01:27 AM
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I just got my K5 today. Took a little longer.. but I'm way out in California. So far all I've done is charged the battery and hold the camera. Time to play with it this weekend. From what I can tell it looks new to me. It came with the serial number card, and I also ordered the Pentax warranty at the same time.
So it looks very good to me. Seems like a nice upgrade from my K-r.
-Peter
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
11-22-2012, 12:28 AM
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I just saw that the K-5 is now down to $748 on Adorama. Seems like a pretty good price... right? I have been thinking about upgrading to it.. and I just placed my order. I currently have the K-r but just feel the quality is not as high as I would like. Hope the K-5 will improve on that and will last me a good long time!
Just wanted to let everyone know.
-Peter
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Forum: Pentax K-r
11-20-2012, 11:56 AM
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I wanted to report my e-dial problems as well. I will say I'm a bit disappointed with Pentax.
The issue came up a few months after I bought the camera. Then went away, then came back. So I sent it in to Pentax to get fixed under warranty. They sent it back and said they repaired the e-dial. Sweet. Mistakes do happen, but they made it right so I am happy.
So maybe 6 months go by and the problem comes back! Then it went away, and now it's back for good. If I move the dial to the left the camera will think I am moving it to the right. Of course the camera warranty is over, and the previous repair is only warrantied for 90 days.
Is it too much to think Pentax would have fixed this pretty simple problem for me? I contacted them to see if they would make it right, and they said I can send it in, pay for the repair and they will try to fix it. Not the response I was hoping for. It's a pretty expensive camera and not some simple point and shoot throwaway.
I owned a DS2 for many years and didn't have any problems like this. Did the quality go down under Hoya? Or just recent cost cutting measures? Anybody know if the situation is better now under Ricoh? Would anyone say if the build quality is better with any of the newer models? I like to keep my camera for a good long time.
I guess it's time to crack it open and see if I can fix it...
thanks,
Peter
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Forum: Pentax K-r
11-15-2010, 04:37 PM
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I agree with these..but I thought you could buy an AC adapter for the camera. (I thought I saw it in the manual). I also recommend getting a SD card reader and using that as it saves battery life.
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Forum: Pentax K-r
11-15-2010, 01:57 PM
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Hi. Everybody will have different opinions for you. The best is always to try it for yourself.
I've had the camera for only about a week so far, and I'm not 100% satisfied. It's a good camera, and I think a great value but I'm still having some small issues with it. My issues are not huge and I'm not sure they are factory defects or just the way the camera is. I am comparing it to my older Pentax (the DS2). I guess I had hoped it would be alot better than my older one.. and it doesn't seem that much better. Maybe I am being too picky?
My issues are mostly regarding exposure. It just seems to me, that I have to do alot more work to get perfect exposure. I think my old camera was as good or maybe better when it comes to exposure. Maybe the new CMOS sensors are more sensitive to exposure than the older CCD sensors?
I do find the Pentax cameras to be very reliable and sturdy. My previous one was working great for many years, until I got it wet on a kayaking trip.
My advice.. if you can afford the K-5, get it. From what I've read, I think I would be happier with it.. but the price was a little high for me.
-Peter
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Forum: Pentax K-r
11-14-2010, 07:39 PM
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Hi,
Just curious if anyone has had this problem. The K-r has froze on me twice. Both times I was just playing back a video clip and it stopped mid way. I had to remove the battery to get it to shut down. Worked fine after I re-started it. I am using a Sandisk 2GB Ultra II memory card. I've only had the camera for about a week.
thanks,
Peter
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Forum: Pentax K-r
11-12-2010, 11:37 AM
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Anyone else having this problem?
I recorded a few HD video clips on my K-r. When I play them back on my computer the audio and video seem to be out of sync. Seems like the audio is a little bit ahead of the video. Has anyone else seen this at all? Anything I can do about it? I assume is probably doesn't have anything to do with the 25fps frame rate?
thanks,
Peter
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
11-10-2010, 11:45 AM
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Hello,
I have been reading the forums and looking at pictures. I am trying to decide between the K5 and the KR. Can anyone help me figure out the IQ differences between the 2 cameras.
I understand the different features and build quality. I also get that the K5 is probably a little better at high ISO pictures (less, cleaner noise). My main concern is low ISO pictures. I want sharpness and clarity. Some of the images from the KR feel a little soft and the highlights seem more blown out.
I am trying to see if this could be partially because of the camera. If both cameras had the same lens, and shot the same picture (at ISO 100-800), would there be any real differences between the pictures? Has anyone done a side-by-side with the K5 and KR?
thank you very much,
Peter
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Forum: Pentax K-r
11-09-2010, 12:42 AM
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I just got my K-r from the newegg.com sale. It's an upgrade from my non-working DS2.
First impressions... it feels small. I could swear it's got smaller dimensions than my DS2.. but I looked up the specs and it's actually slightly bigger. I guess they redesigned the layout a bit and I have to get used to it. But it does feel a little too small in my hands (I guess I have big hands). I wonder if the K5 would fit better in my hands....
I will say that I do miss the top LCD screen.. but I'm sure I will get used to it. The video mode is pretty cool. Some really great looking video. I wish they had 30 and 24 frame mode. But without auto-focus, it will be hard to use it in normal cases (or I'll just have to use a wide angle lens).
I've taken a few quick shots with it, and so far I'm a little disappointed. But I need to do further testing. So far it seems that the dynamic range is not improved from my old camera. I took a picture of a flower and the shadow area was losing a little detail and the highlights were also a bit blown out. I might need to play with the metering a bit. The other thing, was that the images looked a little soft. I was using the 55-300 lens. I tried to take images around the 200mm area in full sun. I also tried to stay around f8. Guess I have to increase the jpeg sharpening and/or do more sharpening in Lightroom.
I guess I was hoping for images that were much improved from the DS2.. but I'm not sure if I see it yet.
-Peter
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
09-22-2010, 04:34 AM
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I think you are right. MJPEG is older and has larger files, but can deliver higher quality than H.264 (it's not as highly compressed as H.264). We just have to buy a bigger memory card... but I am happy with MJPEG. The frame rate is the problem. Any computer can play these new 25fps video files, but if you try to edit them it could be a big problem.
I see the situation where I want to edit some of the videos together, or even add them to some other video that I have. All my other video (and my editing software) is 24fps (actually 23.98) or 30fps (actually 29.97). So I will have to convert the 25fps video if I want to do anything with it other than just view it on a computer. It would be really nice if they give us the choice. Or send the correct frame rate to the correct country. They obviously have different language versions. Why not include the correct video frame rate with the appropriate language firmware. The K-7 has 30fps and the K-X has 24fps so I would hope these new cameras (K-5 and K-R) could have those added on as well.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
09-22-2010, 03:11 AM
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I really agree with you! Would make the camera more usuabe in more areas of the world. They have 24fps on the kx so I would think this would be easy. I would also think they would have 30fps (especially since the k7 has it).
come on Pentax.. help us out here.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
09-14-2010, 10:32 PM
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I have to agree with Jeff here. Nothing against the photographer here.. but that image with 12,800 ISO. I would not use that setting either. Unless the K-R is much cleaner... I'm not a fan of that high ISO. If it had a more film like grain maybe.. but it just looks noisy to me.
I do like the B&W version much better.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
09-11-2010, 12:03 PM
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Hi,
I am glad to see Pentax coming out with 2 new cameras. My DS2 got wet and died 2 months ago and I need a new camera. Might pickup the k-r or k-5.
People seem really excited about this possible K-5. It doesn't seem that different than the K-7. What spec really makes it that amazing? Is the new sensor going to be alot cleaner and have more dynamic range?
Just curious.
-Peter
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
08-28-2010, 04:04 PM
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Any idea of the size of the new K-R? Will it be the exact same size as the k-x? The k-x is just too small for me. In my hands it is just a little hard to reach all the controls and I don't feel like I get a good solid grip on it.
-Peter
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