I think with any serviced based organisation there will be cock ups, however in the service industry we tend to only hear the bad stories. Most of the replies here tend to be of a positive nature with regards to JPS.

In you case and same with mine with Nikon after a certain period of time say two weeks a loaner should be sent out. To be honest though speaking as a pro if a piece of my kit failed and needed repair and I was on a shoot I would just hire or make do, I have enough back ups, I think most pros rely on back up rather than brand service as a first resort too.

Due to my kit ownership I do have NPS as standard and saw no benefit to it so maybe pro services are overrated to begin with.

If you have lots of primes why not get a used k-01 all the qualities of the k-5 in a smaller package.

I've had some very good service from JPS in the past. Can I relate my recent Nikon support story to show other marquee have similar issues.

Bought a Nikon refurbished 85mm 1.8 at the photography show this year early April.

Used lens to try and it was ok, used it on a job a week later and wouldn't focus on either of my bodies
Was told it will be returned to nikon for service three weeks later lens returned tried it on both bodies again same fault
Returned again didn't hear anything until last week when nikon said they could find no fault but replaced all the af mechanism as a precaution
Finally got lens back yesterday and it finally works the whole debacle has taken nearly two months to rectify and this is nikon not a third party repairer.

So I guess this level of service is not just limited to Pentax..

Hmmm I just went from iPad 2 to iPad mini retina so iPad pro no use for me, found the iPad 2 just too heavy for browsing...

Yes I remember the thread when the k-3 was announced and I think even then a couple of members jumped to full frame. It's a huge gap in the Pentax line up. Consumers like to upgrade and whilst the yearning for a Pentax ff continues then more Pentax shooters will go with other brands ff models.

as for the expense of changing systems I replaced all my kit and gained an extra lens the 85mm which I didn't have before for a net cost of £100. I didn't buy the latest and greatest but then my Pentax kit was quiet old tech the da* zooms for example are very old tech now.

Rather than list my kit here you can see it on my flick stream

I only went to my local camera a few times and stopped going because the judges where so negatively critical. Some of the shots presented I liked be clause they where imperfect or had faults that gave them carachter but where well and truly slagged off and yet the judges never said what they did like about the shot. Maybe it's because I went to art school and was taught how to critique or analyse imagery that makes me see the good and bad, when I do offer criticism it's along the lnes of this will make it better etc...

Theres an auto button? Never realised that...

Like them is number 9 a little cooler in the white balance?

[quote:3496ace15f="johnriley"]Well, it just means that the more you put in the more you get out.

Wandering around with camera hoping something will leap out at us may work a couple of times in a lifetime.

Planning works almost all the time. It is unfortunate that the best images are often to be found at the top of the tallest mountains, at the furthest points from the car park and at the oddest times of day.
/quote]

Exactly, the views that get seen from the highest mountain, or at 4.00am in the morning are seldom seen by the mass population which is what makes those shots so special.