Problems

Anyone else experienced problems with the flash on the Kr? Just a month out of warranty mine stopped working, still jumps up when required but freezes the camera. Pentax don't seem worried - been quoted over £200 to put right whatever the problem is which is roughly half the camera price.

Not seen anything about that one before ... where did you purchase the camera from?

(Welcome to the forum btw)

Bought new from well known camera shop - has worked perfectly for 2 years - but not now.

Unfortunately failure of the pop-up flash is far from being an unknown problem, but it's not restricted to the K-r nor Pentax.

What lens were you using? Apparently (and I don't know why) using a manual lens with the camera left in AF mode can cause this glitch, but if not try the usual's just in case (but don't hold your breath)- batteries, reset camera to default settings, latest firmware, but if all else fails buy an external flashgun and use it in the hot-shoe.

An external flash will invariably give better performance than the on-board, but is less convenient. Lots of people here go with Yongnuo as a cost effective brand, or Metz, and either will offer a range of products and prices.

You might ask the retailer to get it repaired. If you bought from a Pro-centre your warranty will be two years. If not, you could try to rely on the Sale of Goods Act -- ie, essentially, an item costing what yours cost shouldn't have one of its features pack up after 13 months. There is plenty of guidance on the Internet to the rights you have under this legislation. It is not always easy to enforce, though, particularly if you bought from a retailer such as Amazon.

If you read his second post it has been working for 2 years.

Ah, you had a two-year warranty. I think for an item like a flash, it's trickier to make an argument under SOGA.

Thanks fo the suggestions - as it happens I have bought an external flash which is fine when I know it is needed, however not as convenient and certainly not what I bought the camera for. I wrote complaining to Ricoh in August and am still waiting for a response! Not overly impressed with their customer care. Had various cameras over the years and this is the only one which has developed this problem. Using Auto mode is almost impossible in all but exceedingly good light as the moment the camera decides the flash is needed the camera freezes.

As a temporary measure you could set the appropriate custom function to release the shutter while charging. This means that even if the camera doesn't register that the flash is charged you can still release the shutter.

Or are you possibly not waiting long enough to allow the flash to charge, so during that time the shutter won't release? If that's the case I'd look at faulty batteries as a possible cause. Two years for a battery might see it past its best, depending on usage.

Thanks for the suggestion but I would have hoped that if the problem was as simple as that Johnsons would not have quoted well over £200 to sort it.

Not much consolation but if you join PU (£10) you get 20% reduction on any repairs.

Johnsons don't know what the problem is until they look at the camera, they can surmise only. So it is worth checking the simple things first.

It has been to Johnsons which is where the estimate came from. I have by the way tried all your suggestions none of which work but thanks anyway.

Did they say what was wrong?

No - gave me a verbal estimate over the phone and when I gibbed said they would have to speak to "someone", Came back saying as the warranty had expired there was nothing they could do so I asked them to return the camera as I had no wish to spend more than half the amount it cost in repairs so soon after purchase being more inclined to put that money towards a decent camera. Sadly have lost confidence in the camera and company - wouldn't be confident I wouldn't have to shell out more in the future and given that I seem to be the only one complaining about this problem I suspect I have a "friday afternoon" camera which could have all sorts of other hidden problems. Anyway thanks for all your suggestions. I have chased the company for a response to my letter of complaint - lets see if they can be bothered.