Or, even worse, White Noise??

But... but... maybe they are the dreaded cold pixels??

Pentax SMC-FA 31mm? Would love to have one of these, but it's a budget issue... does WTA mean you want to sell one?

I really don't know what's going on, but my new Kx suddenly shows massive noise in virtually all pictures I am taking, even at ISO200. Here's an example, it can be seen best on the brick structure of the church tower:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2735/4250213003_dfd9a1f19e_o.jpg

What can I do???

There's also a good documentation out for using the K-x debug mode. (Haven't yet tried it myself though...) I know this might be different from the K20D, BUT in this documentation

http://deejjjaaaa.blogspot.com/2009/12/pentax-kx-debug-menu-to-do-focus.html

I would highly recommend to read point 14 - just in case that's the same on other Pentax models. So, if you try this at home, better make sure to document all subsequent changes to the AF adjustment

I was pondering myself about this issue the other day, wondering whether the Kx is "faking it" somehow with the low noise at high ISO. So I decided compared it to the K100D Super, in a shootout with the same subject and both cameras set to F1.7, 1/125s and ISO1600 (an indoor shot under low incandescent light). The Kx image was actually a little brighter than the K100D image, and I had to adjust the white balance in the K100D image to be as close to the Kx as possible, which got it right from the outset. The Kx image was about 1/2 EV brighter, as least that was what I had to increase the K100D image by to get the same exposure. The Kx image also showed considerably less noise - and the K100D already is a good performer under low light and at high ISO. Thumbs up here for the Kx...

I shot some buildings the other day in bright sunlight, which were well exposed at ISO100, F/8 and 1/500 or 1/640 secs. At ISO 500, that would equal, I guess, somewhere between 1/2000 and 1/3000 secs? All in all, it seems fairly normal to me - but I only have the K100D to compare.

That I don't know. I only once bought a Hoya filter from this company via their occasional ebay auctions.

Argos, of all places, has the lens for £379, btw.

OK, it's actually £345

Here:

http://www.simplyelectronics.net/mainproduct.php?pid=1744

Maybe not the greatest price, but from what I see it is a relatively low offer for a UK-delivered.

Thanks guys for all your help and support. BTW, my sample pictures were all taken with signle focus point (centre) and did have a good contrast. The K100D did not show such issues.

Anyway, I went to the shop today, showed them my samples. They took a few images themselves and the jury was still out, but then they attempted to try my K-x with a Pentax DA60-250mm, and it refused to work with it completely. After that, they just gave me a new one from the shelf. Just did a few test shots of my usual test scenes as the light was fading, and it looks much better - shooting the radio tower I got three out of three with very decent focus. So fingers crossed, the issue might be sorted now

Will let you know how it pans out. Apart from the focus issues I had, the IQ of the K-x is wonderful. Particularly ISO1600 results are quite something, and when I shoot RAW+JPEG, I have to work ACR hard to get a significantly better result than the in-camera JPEG (of course, there are a few options to improve the overall balance). Fantastic little beast - well done, Pentax!

Oh, and a Happy New Year to Everyone

Wolf