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Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
04-26-2020, 11:38 AM
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Just wanted to update the thread to say that the D FA* 2.8 70-200 that I shipped in to Precision for recalibration on January 6th finally made it back into my hands on April 25th. Short version is that Precision shipped it to the factory where they replaced "Optical Parts" and "Lens Barrel". Since the Lens Barrel was replaced, the lens does have a different (and newer) serial number on it.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
01-30-2020, 10:18 AM
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So then you're saying there's likely nothing to worry about with the body, just time to buy a new battery or two? That's a load off my mind if that's what you're saying.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
01-30-2020, 07:42 AM
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Morning all,
I did some new self portraits the other day and experienced mirror flap for the first time...at least I'm calling it mirror flap (mirror actuated *loudly* but shutter didn't close and no image was captured).
Turns out the battery was just about dead and things went back to normal after I put in a fresh battery.
The question though, as I've run batteries completely down before with no issue, is this indicative of a different bigger problem?
I shoot with a K-1 mark 1 somewhere around 3.5 years old running on the most recent firmware.
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Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
01-23-2020, 01:33 PM
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I sent my 70-200 in to Precision to get it recalibrated - soft focus along the entire focal range. Shipped it on January 6th, received by them January 9th (able to look it up later that day). I just called them for an update since the website doesn't show they've looked at it yet, and turns out they shipped it off to Pentax in Japan back on the 13th. Prior to sending it in I was told to expect a two-week turn-around, apparently it's a 5-6 week turn-around to send something to Japan and get it back to Precision and then likely another few days for them to get it back to me. So all told, I'm looking late February/early March before I get the lens back in my hands.
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Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
01-01-2020, 07:43 AM
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I was actually wondering if the Ace Photo in Ashburn, VA (I'm down the road in Richmond) that you mentioned earlier might be able to do something in house. The body is out of warranty; I'll have to check on the lens but I think it is too
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Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
01-01-2020, 07:18 AM
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So you all have me a bit concerned now. Photography is my sole source of income at the moment and my K-1 and 70-200 both need calibration to address a back focusing issue. I called Precision yesterday and was told 3-5 day turn around time unless they need parts, with a base fee of $353 being charged for each. Anyone want to venture a guess if that's what it will really be? If it's going to be weeks/months I need to rethink some things.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
09-29-2019, 12:42 PM
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Steve, the repetition means I was not paying attention with my copy/paste :o I tested the zooms at both ends of their focal range and the second listing is the longer of the two. I've updated the original post - thanks for pointing that out
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
09-29-2019, 09:52 AM
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I get what you're saying Peter. It may be unrealistic, but I do kind of expect that for the prices we're paying for the bodies and lenses that the tolerances should be a bit tighter and that an AF adjustment beyond +/-5 should be the exception. But that's me with my high expectations.
I am going to look into shipping the body and a lens off for service. It's good to hear that they'll adjust to zero free of charge and I'm hopeful that recalibrating one camera/lens combo will have a positive impact on the rest since all my lenses are exhibiting back focusing right now.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
09-29-2019, 08:09 AM
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I haven't taken them out in to the real world yet, there's a group shoot later today I'll be attending specifically to test if the adjustments improve things.
It is good to know, albeit a bit disheartening, that I'm not the only one that is seeing this amount of adjustment needed for all of their lenses.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
09-29-2019, 07:32 AM
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Admins - please move if this would be better located in a different portion of the forum
Morning all,
I've been struggling lately with a higher percentage of soft photos than I'm used to, and refusing to believe that I'm just that bad of a photographer I dropped the money to get the latest FocusTune/LensAlign package and have started to check my lenses. I've tested 5 different setups now and the results are making me wonder if I need to send my K-1 body in for service. Thoughts and insights appreciated:
D FA 24-70 at 24mm: +1
D FA 24-70 at 70mm: +10
D FA* 50mm: +6
D FA WR 100mm: +6
D FA* 70-200 at 70mm: ~+12 (AF Fine Adjustment maxes out at +10)
D FA* 70-200 at 200mm: +10
FA* 200mm: +10
What I'm noticing is that the results for each lens say they are back focused by a decent amount which makes me wonder if there's something out of alignment in my body. I feel fairly comfortable in my testing setup (but I'm still open to it being human error) having watched the setup and alignment video a half dozen times now to make sure I understood it, and I've realigned the camera and test device for each of the above setups. Have others seen this much adjustment needed on their lenses?
Edit: Autofocus is set to use a single focus point and between 6-10 images were taken at each AF adjustment so the software can get some good averages.
Edit2: Added adjustment values for the 70-200 at 200mm as well as for the FA* 200 prime. That's all of the autofocus lenses that I have.
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Forum: Pentax Full Frame
05-28-2019, 04:54 AM
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In this case, it was more a lack of not knowing the camera well enough and not having things set appropriately for what I wanted it to do. Thanks everyone for helping to point out my failures! :D Seriously though, this is how we improve and get better.
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Forum: Pentax Full Frame
05-27-2019, 07:33 PM
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I looked it up in the manual just to confirm, but I did have it in Spot Metering mode as suspected and that is backed up by the EXIF data too. I'm going to bet that is what was causing the issue.
Even though I'm fairly confident the spot metering is the issue, I am attaching the two images I referenced in the original post with intact EXIF info. The images themselves are not great visually, but they illustrate the issue nicely, so don't judge me too harshly.
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Forum: Pentax Full Frame
05-27-2019, 03:28 PM
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Hi All,
I used aperture priority (Av mode) for the first time yesterday in the hopes of getting some reasonably consistent exposures while there were some spotty rain showers in the area. The model and I found a nice shaded area to shoot in with the hopes that'd further stabilize the ambient light, but for some reason I got quite a few under and overexposed captures during the shoot. For example, two captures taken a second apart: the first was at 1/250 (a touch under exposed) and the second at 1/30 (blown out so bad it can't be salvaged). I'm trying to get a handle on what happened as the amount of ambient light stayed fairly steady for the entirety of the shoot and there were no drastic changes that would've required slowing the shutter that much.
For those of you that use Aperture Priority, has it worked pretty reliably for you? Any thoughts on what caused the over and under exposed captures I got? Does anyone know if the calculation for shutter speed is based off ambient light in frame or just the brightness of the focus point?
Here's the setup I had:
K-1 on firmware v1.50
DA* 200mm at F2.8 and ISO 100
Spot focus
Single frame shooting
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Forum: Product Suggestions and Feedback
05-27-2017, 09:25 PM
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Thanks Steve, I had forgotten all about that site. :)
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
03-04-2017, 03:47 PM
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Has anyone heard any rumors about a refresh of the D FA 100mm lens coming anytime soon? Looks like the current model has been around for ~8 years.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
12-29-2016, 01:12 AM
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thanks everyone. I searched the pdf version of the manual before praying but couldn't find where it said to use AWB. For the workshop I ended up using multi-AWB which seemed to be ok but still not as true as I remember my K50 with the white balance set to Flash being. Time to test i guess. Thanks again everyone.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
12-28-2016, 05:20 PM
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I'm coming from a K-50 that had a "Flash" White Balance mode that the K-1 seems to be lacking. Is there a "Flash" white balance mode hiding somewhere or a way to approximate it? I'm actually in a workshop right now and with the settings from the light meter (confirmed with multiple meters) the images are coming out way over exposed. Thoughts?
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Forum: Product Suggestions and Feedback
12-21-2016, 10:05 PM
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Not sure if it's possible to do this via a firmware upgrade, but I would love a split-screen focusing overlay for the optical viewfinder on the K-1. When using a manual focus lens (love my 50mm 1.2!) I find the split-screen focusing screens from the film era (see attachment) easier to use than the focusing points designed for auto-focus lenses. Any possibility of this happening?
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
09-06-2015, 01:30 AM
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The glow from Glasglow on the the morning of August 13th (morning of the Perseid meteor shower).
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
01-17-2015, 02:52 PM
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-04-2013, 09:22 PM
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Wow! I've belonged to a lot of forums in the past but I have never seen this kind of support and willingness to help before. Thank you all for your suggestions and advice so far.
I'd especially like to thank those of you that gave me some tips on what to learn first before I take my trip; I'm sure focusing on those areas will help me out quite a bit. Even though I've only had my K-50 for a couple of days now, I've already gotten some shots out of it with the kit lenses (DA-L 18-55 and DA 50-200) that are far better than anything I ever taken with a point and shoot. Studying the areas you pointed out are sure to a positive impact on my pictures as I spend more time learning how to use my camera.
Thanks to everyone's input I've decided to get the Sigma 18-250. The WR of the DA18-135 would be a great feature to have, but I don't want to sacrifice that much range and pay more for the privilege of doing so when I can't realistically see myself trying to take pictures at a time when WR would really be useful. What finally tipped the scale is that the Sigma is rated higher in the Lens Database than the DA18-135, DA18-250 or the DA18-270.
Since there were so many recommendations of picking up a 50mm prime, I'll be getting one of those as well. There's a local camera shop with a variety of used ones to pick from, most of which are under $50.
Thanks again everyone!
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-03-2013, 08:23 PM
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Hi all,
In anticipation of a big trip overseas I splurged and got a K-50, my first DSLR. Since I'm new to all this and hopping on a plane in 2-1/2 weeks, I'm not sure I'll have the time to do all the research that I really want to do and still have a chosen lens arrive on-time. With that said, I would greatly appreciate any advice, wisdom and experiences with good all-around lenses.
While I'm traveling I expect to be in the city looking at architecture and statues, out in the country shooting some landscapes and taking some pictures of new (and old) friends I meet along the way. I realize finding a single lens that excels in all those areas may be a pipe-dream, but if I can find one that is "pretty good" I'll be happy.
The Sigma 18-250mm DC Macro HSM has caught my eye as Sigma seems well respected, this lens seems to cover most anything I might want to do and it's decently priced. Anyone have any thoughts on this lens as a one-stop shop to use while traveling? Any other lenses you'd suggest I look at instead?
Thanks!
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
10-03-2013, 06:15 PM
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The PC Download version is available again. Thanks for the code, really looking forward to trying this out.
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