Why am I holding out ?

The K5 seems such a good upgrade to my K20.
I have the cash available for 1 major photographic purchase this year.
Currently have a good range of lenses and a K20.
The improved af and high iso quality of the K5 are what I need, but still i hesitate.
Why?
Everytime I get close to ordering another issue seems to come up;
sensor stain, low light af, mirror slap, the list seems to go on and on.
One issue gets fixed then another crops up (pardon the pun)
Perhaps I should just get on with it, i know I want one, I can afford one, but I still hesitate.
Why?

Davex.

Just get on with it.

Whenever something goes wrong, people post on a forum. When things go right they say nothing, usually at least. So we hear about every problem going.

To redress the balance, we have two K-5s here that have so far experienced no problems whatsoever.

Same reason many of us hesitate, I guess. I'm in much the same position - gagging for better AF and high iso performance.

I've been saving for a while and I'm a few hundred quid short of having enough, but all the bad press has put me off a bit too.

It's natural - who wants to spend a grand on something that doesn't work properly.

I suspect there's something of a sidetone that makes things all the worse - Pentax owners have been the poor relation to N/C for a long time, and the K-5 held out great hope that the balance might be redressed a bit.

It may yet fulfil that hope, but if, as one might infer from the chorus of problems, it's all been something of a QC fiasco, it makes it all the more of a let-down.

Had this post been made at the end of last year I might have understood the hesitation.

However now the issues are in the past. Although I do believe that some are having problems with overexposure with bounced flash. however I rarely use flash now as I much prefer to use higher ISO and not kill the mood.

Like John I have two K-5s and they both work fine.

Go for it!!! I'm glad I did!!!

might as well be askin addicts if you should shoot up.....


DO IT!! DO IT!!! DO IT!!!!!!!

NO!! DON'T DO IT.... JUST GIVE IT TO ME!!!!!!

I'm with you Davex. I'll have a go with an acquaintance's "similar" camera from another well known camera manufacturer to see if the alternatives are better, and probably make do with what I have until the "next big thing" appears on the horizon.

Underwhelming sensor in the K-7 and undocumented features with the K-5 (at a price), hardly inspire confidence when the K10/GX10 and K20/GX20 were so good.

I agree!...I was going to update to the K7 when it came out!...glad I didn't,it was a bit of a damp squib!...still looking at the K5 though

There is a simple reason you are hesitating Dave and that is because there has been poor quality control with both the K-7 & K-5, there is no arguing here. Recently (last 2 years or so) I have returned / replaced the following:-

2x K-7s (control dial faults)

1x K-5 (Sensor)

1x DA* 16-50 (bad copy)

1x DA* 50-135 (SDM fault - replaced after 2.5 years!)

3x Metz 58 AF-1 flashguns (zoom error)

4x MacBook Pros (faulty nVidia graphics cards)

Sounds a bit of a nightmare and to be fair, it has been a bumpy ride. But. Now I'm the proud owner of a K-7, K-5, 16-50, 2x Metz 58s and a MacBook Pro! That might sound all a bit corny but then I'm getting the advantages of the K-5, loving the high ISO performance etc.etc. and you're not.

There is a 95% chance that you will have no problems at all so stop bloody dithering and pick up the phone to SRS in the morning!

Looks like a dry joint.

Hey things break and go wrong. taking things to extreme planes crash, trains derail but people still use them. Pentax have addressed the sensor issues and fixed other issues in firmware updates and I am sure Pentax will continue to improve the K5 further via software updates. Sometimes you have to take chances and risks in life and I think the K5 will make you glad you did, if you do buy one!

Very happy with mine (after a few weeks only, admittedly) Dave.

My first GX10 had a mirror alignment problem that caused leaning pictures (apparently quite common) and was replaced by the dealer. Although not apparent at the time the optical focussing screen on the second one is not at the correct distance to focus wide-aperture lenses - I've shimmed it with several layers of post-it paper until correct. The red channel pattern noise makes certain black and white conversion steps awkward even at ISO 200, and the noise in general is tedious.

My K-5 on the other hand is a three-generation leap in performance and as far as I can tell has no problems whatsoever in the uses to which I put it. There's no comparison.

Buy it from SRS and you'll be looked after.

It's your cash Dave and if you're not 100% confident in the K5 then it's probably the right decision for you not to buy.

One thing to remember though, just to add some perspective, negative experiences always seem to get reported whilst positive ones don't - this seems to apply to most things these days not just cameras!!

Simon

Had one freeze-up in 400 shots which was a slight annoyance but easily enough resolved. I'm sure firmware fixes will put the glitches right

No other problems.

The AF seems much better than my K10D (with no leaning pictures) and although I have not seen it mentioned much, I think the metering is much better than K10D both with digital lenses and stopped-down manual lenses.

And, I guess it is natural to hesitate sometimes before a big spend even when you can afford it!

Have just seen an image supplied by Unlocker of a heron at a ridiculously high ISO,
Am definitely set on the K5 now.
It will be mine in 8 weeks, when my bonus gets paid.
If for some reason the bonus is delayed I will buy one anyway.
Thanks Danny, i think.
Davex.