As a matter of interest, just how does one upgrade the firmware?

I shall give it a try - I've tried everything else. However, I suspect the fault is in the camera. I do miss the flexibility of the ME Super, and still have 2 bodies. I may go back to film...

I do have the standard 18-55 Pentax lens, and use it frequently. I have used a Pentax camera since they first introduced the ME Super, and have never had a problem with manual settings until I bought the K7.

I have several lenses and the problem persists irrespective of which I use. All the lenses are set to 'A'. Thanks to your reply, it occurs to me that I could take it off A and set the aperture myself, but need to try this to see if this will allow manual setting of shutter speed. I will give this a try and let you know the result.

Thanks for your reply. The other modes do not seem to work as they should, apart from B, and do not provide me with the flexibility I need. Whichever priority I select, I am unable to choose a shutter speed or aperture that deviates from what the camera decides is correct. To be honest, when I first got the camera, I used the auto mode a lot. There were a few times when I tried manual but was not sure that it was the camera or me which was at fault and I just gave up trying. So it is likely that the camera was like this from day one.

I have been completely unable to use manual settings on my K7. Having set everything to manual, whatever I try to do with shutter speed and aperture, the camera imposes its own settings. I have tried returning to factory settings in case some of my own settings are the problem, but no change. This has meant that I cannot be creative and am forced to use automatic and make adjustments to pics as best I can in Photoshop.

I suspect that it might be a camera firmware problem, but I'm not sure, nor do I know how to replace the firmware.

Can anyone help?