kr being discontinued..

. Please forgive if some of my post is repetitive but as I am a pensioner on a strictly low and fixed income, this post is rather important to me.

As some of you may, or may not know, ten days or so ago I spent £400ish for my K-r. I did this after asking Pentax about the alleged discontinuing of said camera. I was advised that the K-r has not been discontinued and is in production.

After buying the K-r and perusing various websites forums I have now come across various 'inherent' faults associated with the K-r. For instance, a faulty e-dial, something known as tungsten lighting focusing and dampness affecting the camera as it is not weather proofed.

As I am not DSLR literate all of the above are of some considerable concern to me. Have I wasted my hard saved money without any chance of a return? I bought this camera on the information from Pentax. If I had known about the situation with the K-r I would not have bought it.

I have e-mailed Pentax with my problem on Wednesday last but as yet have not had a reply. I would certainly appreciate someone who might have definite and bonafide information of my problem to try to assist. Also, I am going to ring Pentax again tomorrow, Monday, in an attempt to get some honest answers. Kind regards.

Change your lights to energy saving fluorescent. I don't think anyone claimed the K-R was weatherproof.

Faulty dial, return under warranty?

Don't be put off by things you read on the web.

The K-r isn't weatherproof, no, so don't use it in pouring rain. Treat it with care and it will be fine. You cab buy a cheap rain cover for it such as the OpTech ones, to protect it if you are out in the rain.

Have you tried using the tungsten lighting focussing? Does it work for you?

Is the e-dial giving problems? If it is or does in the future return the camera under warranty.

Stop worrying about what might be and could go wrong and just enjoy it. It is too easy to be talked out of things by nay-sayers on the web.

You could try Daylight Bulbs if you have to take photos under
room lighting. I've never tried them, but craft shops sell them
as do Homebase. It won't be a problem if you use f/5.6 -f/11
because of depth of field. Personally I'd just use flash.

No problems about it being discontinued. I got load of
discontinued cameras going back to a Pentax Spotmatic.

Hi gedski,
The issues you worry about are pretty needless. The K-r is not a waterproof model that is the domain of the K-5 so it is advisable not to use it in heavy rain. There may have been one or two failures of the dial wheel but considering the millions sold worldwide it is a minor issue.
As for being discontinued, all model have a finite time span and this may be close to its end of life, however you should have years of use from the camera providing you look after it and you will have at least one years warranty in case it does inadvertently go wrong, two years if purchased from an official Pentax partner i.e. SRS.
Enjoy your camera and snap away to your hearts content. And don't forget to post some so we can enjoy them too.
As for focusing under tungsten lights, there is always manual focus.

Kind Regards
Steve

all pentax cameras are well build compare to other entry level slr
you shuld try canon 1000d or canon 1100d or nikon 3000 or 3100
they even not user proof

Two fellow toggers I spend time shooting with. One has a K-r and from the few times I've used it there is a huge improvement in the build quality and functionality over the others' Canon 500d.

I bought a K-x shortly before it was discontinued. Its still a great little camera and its discontinuation hasn't made it any less able.

Thanks for all of your reponses, gentlemen, they are appreciated. About the dampness fault. I was aware of the K-r not being weather proofed. I was concerned that perhaps on a dry day but with some dampness in the air there could be a problem.

I think that the e-dial is doing what it should on my K-r and until I read about the tungsten 'thingy', I wasn't aware of it. Apart from messing about in my back garden, trying to learn, I haven't taken a lot of photographs with it.

I have printed out the 347 pages of instructions and now have one huge manual that I am ploughing through with my K-r at my side. As soon as this wretched monsoon weather subsides I intend to launch myself, 'photographically that is', at the world around me.

Before I venture further, I shall await the answers from Pentax but you have each given me a confidence boost with my K-r. I really do want to keep it, as I know someone who has a Nikon D3100 and is sorry that he bought it. The Canon 1100D is about £70-£100 beyond my means and I'm not sure if it is better than the K-r anyway. Kind regards.

The downside of the web is that we read about all the faults with everything, virtually instantly. Some are faults, some are user error, who knows...it all comes out eventually.

The K-r is a splendid camera, so why worry if it's discontinued soon or not? You are lucky enough to have got one, so I'm sure it will suit you very well if you spend the time to get to know it. Hopefully one day you will be looking fondly at it as an old friend!

The price of the K20D went up after it was discontinued, partly because of the price difference to the next model up, the K-7. I expect the K-R price will also rise, because the only other alternative will be to stump up enough for the K-5

Muchly thankings John and all of you. You've all made me feel a lot better. In fact I feel like an eighteen year old again but my wife won't let me have one! Ah! They don't write 'em like that anymore.

And lady .

You may want to take care in cold weather that you don't get condensation on the camera. Before changing from cold to warm wrap the camera tightly in a plastic bag, before going back into the warm, so the condensation forms on the bag, not the camera. Allow the camera to warm up slowly too, to help reduce condensation.
You don't need to worry about going from warm to cold - cold air is generally a lot drier than warm.

But don't fret too much about all this - get out there and take photos, have fun and enjoy your new camera.

Sorry Gwyn, Please forgive my manners. By the way, on my first reading of your post, I thought that your advice was for me! I shall certainly heed your advice. Ha! Ha! lol!

Wether it's being discontinued or not I doubt you will ever get a brand new camera that is as good as the K-r for £400 again.


Lee