I'm not so sure that the cheap plastic levels are accurate enough anyway. The new electronic levels built into cameras are rather good though, and can be used hand held as they are superimposed over the image, at least in Live View.

There's too much of this sort of thing going on in retail outlets. There are some good, knowledgable people out there though. Unfortunately at one swoop Jessops made all their assistant managers redundant a few years ago, thus removing at a stroke quite a lot of expertise.

Thanks Gavros, but how big is a Giant Robot? Until we know that we don't know how big 1/100 of that is!

Maybe not paranoia but certainly pure conjecture. It's equally possible that Pentax (and maybe others) have become acutely aware that people are starting to delve into their maintenance menus on a larger scale and perhaps being disturbed that shutter counts were not zero. So maybe they reset them now. Who knows? Maybe it's only just become possible to reset them and it was something on the "to do" list that has now happened.

There's no evidence that there has ever been a QC problem at pentax any more than anywhere else, so why should there be one now? In fact, if we think about it, the latest K-5 problem might even have the opposite effect - a tightening up.

It's a personal choice, but if funds are limited I'd rather have two lenses than one. Any improvements (and there are improvements) in the K-r will not be missed as much as the means of shooting the images you want will.

Welcome to Pentax User!

The focusing screen is a critical component, so the DIY approach looks very flawed to me. It's the actual screen construction, the thickness, the size, all needs to be correct.

Why spoil a perfectly good camera with uncalibrated replacements?

The price of the 18-135mm is already dropping fast (see Leads to Deals section) and it's starting to look very interesting.

When I'm ready I'll just buy one. Pentax don't make bad lenses so I'm sure it will be very usable, especially with WR.

It's worth remembering that all marques have problems from time to time. This one seems to have been dealt with quite quickly and replacement cameras have been flowing through as well as repairs.

Canon have had to withdraw an entire lens production before now, Fuji had sensor problems with the S2, Canon had FF body IQ issues, and so on.

Things happen, it's how they are dealt with that counts.

As a judge, you declare how things were done at your own peril...

Welcome. It's an abbreviation for a full explanation. Basically aoperture is now controlled from the camera, so any lens needs an auto setting on the aperture ring, marked "A". If it has that, then full functionality for that lens.

If it does not have an "A" on the aperture ring then enable "using aperture ring" in the camera menus and use stop-down metering to release the shutter and get proper exposure. It's just a bit more time consuming.