K5 - Electronic Level Adjustment??

Thought I'd try switching on the electronic level on my new K5 today. Alarmed to discover that my house appears to be heading downhill fast!!

Checked against a decent spirit level and the camera shows 8-9 bars to the left side when level in that direction. Level accurate fore & aft. Obvious slope to horizon in viewfinder when camera held to match "level" on the indicator.

Is there any way for the user to fine tune the level on this camera, or is it back to SRS 3 weeks after receiving it, with much whingeing about Pentax quality control?

Any advice from more experienced K5 users appreciated! Thanks.

It's a workshop job, not a user adjustment.

If you find it's important, then it should be returned under warranty. I haven't turned that feature on yet, so I have no idea whether or not our own levels are accurate. I'd rather trust my eye.

Interesting that...the level in my K5 seems to be reasonably accurate. Last week I needed to get the camera exactly level fore and aft, this was achieved using a large spirit level on the tripod camera mount, only to find that that the horizontals in my shots were wildly adrift.
Turns out that if one aligns the marks on the tripod collar of the DA*300 then the camera body assumes a distinct list to port when mounted on the lens.

Think about that -

Never take anything for granted!

Roger.

Thanks John,

that is what I feared!! I agree I would rather trust my eye which is why I hadn't switched the level on before, but curiosity got the better of me, alas. Even if I do not use the feature, I paid for it (huff puff) and I expect it would reflect badly on future resale price should I ever want to upgrade, so I am afraid it will be back to SRS to get it sorted out. Thank goodness I held on to my trusty K10D!

Ed

Roger,

Strange, you would expect the marks on the collar would have some relationship to squareness of body, unless the collar is moveable somehow!!

I checked my K5 with the base of the body sitting on a spirit level and I am quite sure that the base is parallel to the viewfinder, also my check on horizon shows electronic level out side to side matching the spirit level check, so I am sure there is a fault. I'll see if SRS have heard of this kind of problem before and report back in due course.

Thanks for your input.

Ed

They certainly have, since I spent quite some time discussing that very issue with both Chris@SRS, and the Pentax rep, during the Pentax open day back in November.

It's a sorry story, discussed at great length in numerous places, both here, and at PentaxForums.com.

Not only is the level not level in many cases, it also doesn't always stay level, even if it starts off level.

My K-5 was miles out (2 bars, so 3 showing) when it went back under warranty, and the one I first picked as a replacement was worse. The second one out of the box was perfectly level in the shop, and also after I got it home. However, after a week or so, it was off by one bar.

I'd lost the will to live by then, but I'll see about getting it sorted before the warranty runs out.

It's an extremely annoying fault, not least since there's no calibration function available, even though mobile phones with the feature do have such a function.

Completely inexcusable that it's still a problem with the K-5, since there were complaints about the same thing with the K-7.

Doubtless some people's are Ok, but a lot certainly are not.

By the way, you don't need a spirit level to check it. Put it on a flat surface (not necessarily a level one), and note how many bars off it is. Then turn it round - it should indicate the same number of bars off in the opposite direction.

Chris,

Thanks for the further info - I hadn't picked up that other K5 owners were getting this problem. It all sounds very depressing. My sensor is much further out than yours, I'm afraid to say. I really can't understand either why there is no calibration function. I don't know of any instrument fitted with a long level bubble that wouldn't be expected to require occasional adjustment - my background includes surveying, and regular checking and adjustment of level bubbles on theodolites etc is expected as bubbles often creep a little with use so of course a means of adjustment is always built in.

By the way, I went for a spirit level as my "make certain" check, rather than the 180 degree turn you might use for checking a bubble normally, as I know the laws governing the behaviour of a physical bubble, but not how a faulty Pentax electronic level sensor works or behaves, so I wanted to check the sensor's behaviour on a level surface for elimination of any doubt. It wouldn't have surprised me if it had behaved differently from one orientation to another at 180 degrees!

However, for my camera at least, I can confirm that the sensor appeared to mirror the behaviour of an out of level physical bubble, when placed on a random flat but not level surface, so my paranoia on this was perhaps unjustified.

For the record, the K5 has otherwise been excellent, just a shame to get such a seemingly unnecessary problem after only 3 weeks.

Ed

I just checked mine and it is about 3 bars out, however if I switch horizon correction on it appears to be spot on.

The electronic level on my K5, is reasonable accurate, but I find trying to keep the level exactly on the centre line almost impossible hand held, (ie) you need to concentrate that hard on the level, the important things like composition of the shot, goes out the door.

If the camera is tripod mounted, I use the built in bubble levels on the tripod, these I have checked against a very accurate engineering level. So in this case the electronic camera level is superfluous.


Take care.

Just realised with correction on the camera says it is level but it shifts the image on the final images so they are not level

Mine's consistent if not accurate...always 4 bars out to the left so I just remember this when composing,

simon

I'll bear that in mind I am not sure it is worth returning the camera for coincidentally my k7 is out by around the same amount

Update on my K5 -

Spoke to SRS and though a swap for a new camera is an option they recommended getting the sensor adjusted as a new camera could be just as out of adjustment as my current one.

Everything else is fine on my K5 so I am going for this. If I see any sign of it going out of adjustment after then I will be asking for camera replacement until I get one that is right/stays right.

They use Johnstones to carry out the adjustment. SRS pay for pick up & delivery as it is within a month of purchase (Pentax warranty is return to base so you are supposed to pay!) SRS say adjustment is very quick, normally about 1 week turnaround.

I found SRS exceptionally helpful, glad I bought from them, esp. for the 2 year warranty they give.

Will update FYI when I get camera back from adjustment.

My level has never worked, and it's so long since I switched it off that I had forgotten it had it until you mentioned it...

Take it there's no way of user adjusting level on a K10?

I bought it second hand a while back and it always seems to have had the sensor misaligned slightly, so horizon, buildings etc are contantly slightly off line.

Any recommended apps for adjusting pics etc?

Thanks in advance, very frustrating.