In June, I sent my K10 D and an old FA 28-105 mm lens in for repair. I asked that the autofocus be repaired on the K10 as there was a backfocus problem big time, and it seemed unable to do any predictive autofocus at all. I asked that the eyecup be replaced, as the rubber part of it had been torn off with no more than rubbing against my belly when I carried the camera on a strap. I had been told by the person I spoke to on the phone to ask for that, as he said a replacement would cost me $24.95 plus shipping.
I asked that the lens be repaired, out of warranty, as it had been dropped, and would cinch as it approached 28 mm, and the focus could not be achieved at any focal length. I expected the body to be calibrated to a standard, and to get an estimate on the repair of the lens. What I got back was a K10 D with the firmware updated to 1.30 and focus that was much better, though still needing to be auto-focused twice to get a sharp photo, and still poor predictive AF. And no eyecup replacement, just the plastic base of it still in place. And i got back a lens that had been repaired so it worked fine in AF except at the extreme of 28 mm, where it still cinched slightly. And it focused at infinity at all focal lengths. And no charge at all. My repair notes read exactly the same as yours (no distinction between the lens or the camera, just one set of notes) But I had an additional line that told me I should not use lenses other than DA lenses with my digital camera, as the result were unpredictable and could be unsatisfactory. This led me to believe that they thought I wanted the camera to be calibrated to that lens! And of course, no one at Pentax repair could tell me if that was the case or not. I don't think they keep notes, just select lines on a menu to be printed on the repair order. I mentioned the eyecup replacement not being done. After a week I was called and told that I would be sent an eyecup free of charge. It arrived three weeks later. On all occasions that I spoke to someone in "repair" I discovered that they were either in Texas or on the east coast. The only records they have are what was put in the computer to be printed on your repair order. So yes, you can talk to Pentax "repair persons", but not to anyone who is anywhere near any technicians or has ever seen a workbench. At least it wasn't in India! :-) Now, I have to send my K100 in before it's extended warranty is up next month. I don't like it's focus abilities either. But I guess I'd better send in a couple of my lenses as well, so some matching can be done. I'd like to send in my K20 as well, as it's AF is abysmal, but they might just tell me I can use special functions and to do the calibration myself! And I would be without two camera bodies and my best lenses for 3 to 6 weeks. What to do? Joseph McAllister Pentaxian On Sep 17, 2008, at 10:29 , Charles Robinson wrote: > So, back in June I sent my 16-50 in for two things to be repaired: > > 1. The barrel was coming apart near the mount (really!) > 2. Cannot achieve focus out to infinity when in the 16-20mm zoom > range. > > I mentioned both of these on the repair information sheet when I > sent it in. > > When I got the lens back, the barrel was nice and solid (yay) but > the infinity focus problem remained. > > I have since tested the lens on 3 different bodies (even my ME Super > with the nice big viewfinder and the split-prism screen) and, sure > enough, vertical lines at infinity CANNOT be made to line up. They > never fixed this problem! > > So, I have just mailed the lens in again. Is there any hope that > they would, perhaps, expedite the issue as this is a return > engagement for a problem which should have been fixed the first time? > > Failing that - are there human beings who can be reached on the > other end of a phone line to make sure this problem is actually > addressed? Seems to me that the repair notes which came back with > the lens in July: > > "...All function have been returned to factory specifications" > > > "..adjust autofocus circuit and test with AF body" > > and > > "..Adjust focus and test for all proper operation" > > Should have done the trick, but it didn't. I'm wondering if I'm > wasting $20 on shipping to get the same (defective) lens back again > and I'm looking for any way to be more sure that something is > actually fixed this time. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
