Just rotate the camera through 180 degrees.

It should indicate the same amount of tilt in the opposite direction if the surface is not horizontal, or zero both times if it is.

Come on, John, keep up

Yes, some do report that theirs were Ok.

A lot weren't though. I have no idea how representative my experience was, but out of four I tried (probably from the same batch, admittedly), all were out enough to make the auto-horizon leveller useless.

Such a shame, it's a really clever use of the SR mechanism.

Well yes. People refer to it as 1/3 because it's closer to 1/3 than 1/2.
Yes. No one disputes the theory.

The question is whether it's important enough, often enough, in practice to justify Pentax redesigning the shutter and the electronics, adding yet more delay and cost.

I say it isn't, at least to me. The D7100 has 1/250 flash sync, but I definitely wouldn't change just for that.

Yes I wondered if I should have posted it, sorry.

Maybe they did up the screws a bit tighter with the K-3 and you'll be Ok.

Please let us know in a week or two!!

It's not that. There are two reasons AIUI for wanting a faster sync speed.

One is that when you're balancing ambient with flash on a moving subject, you run the risk of seeing the movement if the shutter is open for any longer than necessary. The flash is extremely short, of course, but when you're also exposing for ambient light, you'll see the movement trail if there is any. The faster the sync speed, the less of that there will be.

The other is that for whatever exposure you choose for the ambient, there will be an aperture that goes with the selected shutter speed. The slower the sync speed, the longer you're capturing ambient light for, so the smaller the aperture needs to be. With a smaller aperture, you therefore need more flash power to get the same amount of light in through the smaller hole. If you're already short of flash power (sports, for instance, where the players are some distance away), then a slow sync speed is going to be more limiting still.

You also lose a bit of DoF control if you're forced to use a smaller aperture than you'd have access to with a faster sync speed.

All that said, I still think that the 1/3 stop difference is so small that it will make no difference for the vast majority of practical purposes.

It would me too - let's hope it stays level.

My first K-5 went back because of the level, and its replacement was the third one straight out of the box I checked in the store (the first two were worse than the one I returned).

So I took it home, all chuffed to bits, tried it at home, still fine.

Three days later, it wasn't fine any more.

My language wasn't the most refined, I have to say.

Good plan. A bit of drilling, and I could poke a wire through, and probably sort out the sensor horizon correction too.

Bargain. I didn't need to sign up at Nikonforums after all.

Indeed. No doubt some will be along shortly to say that they never use the feature, so it's not important.

I don't myself, but I would if it bloody well worked.

I know it's not the most important feature in the world but somehow it encapsulates the whole feeling of "almost but not quite" that I've had about Pentax ever since I got the K10D.

Yes, and this one...

I simply cannot believe that they've ****** that up AGAIN.

___

Edit: actually I can believe it all too easily.

Well said.

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