Autofocus Issues with K-X

Since I got a Pentax 55-300mm DAL for my K-X, I have had some concerns with the softness of the pictures. This wasn't so noticeable with the 18-55 kit lens and also I shoot a lot with manual focus so hadn't really thought about it previously. I stumbled across a previous post relating to a hidden debug menu on the K-X and proceeded to do some calibration tests for the autofocus. To my surprise, the adjustments have made a huge difference to the sharpness of my autofocus pictures (the camera was set to +20 focus correction out of the box, I now have it at -50).

Have many others had issues with this? The instructions for calibrating your autofocus are at: http://ricehigh.blogspot.com/2010/01/k-x-debug-mode-tutorial-af-adjustment.html

Hope this of use to others.

Thanks David, I'm just about to buy this extra lens for my K-x and this is very usual information. cheers Trixie

Just another thought, why do Pentax hide the Debug menu on the K-X (also on K-M) so you can't see it? This is the only place where you can calibrate the autofocus correctly, so surely this should be visible in the normal user menus?

I could be cynical here and suggest that they want you to take it to an approved service centre for calibration, but this is such a basic requirement that it should be visible and also explained in the User Manual.

I would appreciate a view from Pentax on this point. Also is it the same on the K-R?

Does John Riley have any thoughts / comments on this?