Do you just put up with it not working quite right?

I've been following the various 'gear not working right' threads with a bit more interest recently, since I'm now quite close to taking the plunge and getting a K-5.

Many of them make for quite depressing reading, and have put me off lashing out the grand or a bit more for the body and something to stick on the front of it (I'm thinking of the 18-135).

Is it just my imagination, or are there really quite a lot of people out there that have a camera that has one feature or other simply not working right, but just put up with it?

Hence the poll... how do people feel about niggles in their new kit?

I realise that people's answers will depend a lot on the perceived seriousness of the issue (sensor stains for instance, vs electronic level)

They'll also depend on the nature of the things we shoot. At one end of the spectrum, just to pick one example that comes to mind, it seems to me that JR rarely shoots anything moving, and never has any complaint whatsoever about the performance of Pentax kit. At the other end, Mike-P who (like me) likes photographing aircraft, sometimes (like me!!) seems driven to distraction.

Even so, I'd be interested in the results of this admittedly non-scientific survey.

The K5 went back when the stains came to light. I think I would put things like the electronic level down to engineering tolerance variation. I think maybe the example you give (JR v Mike-P) is a wrong one. In that you'r not talking about an equipment fault but what some people perceive as a flaw in the design.

Yes, I take your point.

The idea in my mind was to distinguish between those that don't push their equipment to the limits of what it can do, and hence don't encounter its problems, and those that do.

Even the sensor stain problem could be argued (not by me, mind you) to be relatively minor, since just like sensor dust, it's often not visible, and when it is, it's easily cloned out. Without the service of those that look closely for such things, and the publicity from internet forums, would many that returned their K-5s have found the sensor stain problem for themselves?

With the K10D, I put up with the exposure system simply not working right with pre-A lenses, for the sake of all the other things I liked about it. I found workarounds, and I got rid of all my M-series lenses. I'd argue that was both a design flaw, and also a fault - something not working right (or even as described).

I accept I'm blurring the distinction between a fault and an intrinsic limitation, but the two are often not that easily separated.

Replaced my K5 once with sensor staining, second one is good though level slightly out but hardly a major function.
Mostly long exposure low light photography here.

Given the choice again I would still buy the Pentax K5 ...just love this camera & the versatility of the Pentax system as a whole.

Mike

I haven't voted I'm afraid.

My K-5 went back for stains. It was very obvious on mine.

I don't have any other niggles with the new one. If I did it would depend on the problem. I can live without the level, I couldn't live with a sticky shutter. I can live with a dust bunny or two, I can't live with a dust magnet.

I'm glad a paid full whack for mine when it was introduced, even with the stains problem.

You can sit and wait for prices to drop/problems, which may or may not be serious, to be cured and before you know it there is another new model out there which is even more attractive, but at an even higher introductory price and because it is even more advance technologically it has an even greater chance of niggles, big or small. So you decide to wait a bit longer until the price on that model drops in price/all the teething troubles are solved and so it goes on.

What I think is that if you pay £1000 for anything,it should work properly!...

It doesn't matter what price you pay for something of course it should work properly.
The K-5 works properly, and if it doesn't it is replaced without any argument. Which is more than can be said for some expensive white goods for instance.

Me too, largely because if I shelled out a grand on a camera I would expect it to be perfect and I just don't want the hassle of having to keep changing it.

I once bought a new VW Golf that had rattles and squeaks. Asked the garage if they were in the specification when I bought it - answer 'No', so it kept going back until it was to specification. It's principle.

If I want a camera with an unlevel level, or a stained sensor I'll order one, if not, a level should be level; a sensor should have no stains, etc.

My first K-5 went back because of the low light AF fault.

The level in my K5 is way off and utterly useless which is a major disappointment especially as the one on the K7 was spot on. However, living in Doha means I would be without a camera for a long time if I send it back so I live with it. It is extremely annoying though to have such a useful feature in an expensive camera that does not work as it should. If I was in the UK I would probably send it back. I am hoping someone comes up with a fix for it.

Spending £800 on a camera focusses the mind and I am much less tolerant of problems as I have "stepped up" from the Kx, I expect it to work as described. I know £800 is 'entry' in Canon or Nikon terms, but discounting the 645, this is supposed to be the Pentax pinnacle and to me, it is a lot of cash. The first K5 sensor stain I had was clearly visible, the second was not so bad. This third camera is was fine for sensor, but the level is 3 bars off in the viewfinder. A minor niggle was that the Kx body was a bit plasticky and the silver band did not line up so well with the top and bottom. I am still within the return window but you feel a bit of an idiot telling the sales people you want to buy a Pentax, and that these are the list of things that could be wrong with it. I feel I am making excuses and it is no longer a rational choice.

If I'd spent £1000 on a new body I'd want it to work right.

There's always a little give and take, I can't get straight horizons on my(now old) K200, that's down to the sensor floating around and me not standing straight, but if that had been a setup/production problem the body would have gone back.

Sometimes I do put up with big niggles, but hey! if I buy used from e-bay...

It really depends on what's wrong.
If it's something small i rarely or not at all used should i then be bothered?

NO STEFAN!!! The issue is simple. If you, the manufacturer, offer a product with a collection of functions, they should ALL work properly and be 100% in operation, regardless of whether you, the owner, choose to use them or not.

We are in the 21st century now after all, and if manufacturers can't make things that work, then they (a) shouldn't make them, or (b) stick to things they can do properly.

Keep it simple; make it properly. Happy users/more sales.

Over complicate it; make it poorly. Unhappy users/lost sales.

How difficult can it be?

Keep it as simple as possible. Make it perfectly.

Seems to me that Pentax in the K5 has tried to keep up with Canikon but hasn't asked Pentax users what they want. Video? Buy a video camera. Level? Buy a level.

I've owned and used professionally eleven Pentaxes, I think, since 1975 or thereabouts. The only time antyhing went wrong was a 645 which eventually needed a new cicuit board after about 15 years, incidentally the shutter was still within tolerances. Lately my K20d started to back focus but Smeggy told me how to fix it in de-bug mode.

I tend not to find things wrong.

However I shoot weddings, portraits, architecture, and editorial but not speeding cars or aircraft.

In a lot of cases where people complain about the deficiencies of kit they should be first addressing their own deficiencies as photgraphers.