Anyone seen this K10D defect?

The symptom is that it persistently back-focuses.

<p>

No, it's not <em>that</em> problem. The autofocus sensors and my eye looking through the viewfinder

actually agree on focus. Whenever it beeps and makes a red light flash, the light is always over something

that appears tack-sharp in the finder.

<p>

Then I take the picture and the actual plane of focus ends up being behind where both I and the AF sensor

thought it was.

<p>

If I take a normal or wide lens, manually set the focus to infinity, open the aperture up to f/2.8 or wider,

and shoot an outdoor scene, the finder shows distant objects to be sharp. The AF sensor is beeping and

flashing red lights over distant objects. In the shot, everything is blurry and off. It certainly can't be

camera share, because when I do that I end up with shutter speeds of 1/750 or faster at ASA100.

<p>

All these symptoms happen regardless of the lens I use (I've tried three) and the shake reduction setting.

<p>

It's apparently a manufacturing defect: the digital sensor is too close to the lens mount. Given how the

sensor isn't simply affixed to the camera frame but mounted on a complex mechanical shake-reduction

mechanism, I wonder how common a defect this is. A quick google search turns up plenty of matches for

"k10d focus problems" but they all seem to be strictly AF-related.

<p>

Anyhow, it's getting sent back to the vendor for exchange. Glad I have my trusty old MX to rely on as a

backup body in the interim.

No, but please let us know if you learn anything more.

<i>It's apparently a manufacturing defect: the digital sensor is too close to the lens mount.</i><P>Or, could it be that the prism/focus screen is out of alignment? That's what was wrong with every film camera I had that has had a back-focus issue.

If it is the focus screen/prism that is causing this, then you should have difficulty getting infinity to focus in the view finder on manual focus.

I am unable to fathom how it could be a focusing screen issue. If it were, distant objects

wouldn't look sharp in the finder when I manually set the lens to infinity focus.

David, when you "manually set the lens to infinity focus" you may actually be setting it PAST infinity focus.

 

Most AF lenses can focus a little bit past infinity, since it makes the manufacturing tolerances sloppier and thus cheaper.

 

Try a good quality manual-focus-only lens to be sure. The infinity focus points are usually quite precise on those. If you can still focus to infinity with an MF-only lens, then I agree, it's not the finder/focusing screen.

One of the three lenses I used in my tests was my old manual focus SMC-A 50/1.7 normal lens. So, yes, it does appear to be an incorrectly-mounted sensor.

David, I've got that same lens and the infinity focus is spot-on... darn it. Sounds like it is the sensor indeed. Is it under warranty?

Indeed it is under warranty... Just bought it new in box this month because it was a good

deal at a close-out price.

<p>

Here's two examples, of the back focusing. I was careful to focus on the viburnum flower

in the center of the picture below:

<p>

<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/n5jrn/photo_net/viburnum.jpg" border="1">

<p>

Looks pretty good when down-sampled like that. But a full-size crop shows the flower to

be out of focus and the focus to be on the leaf just below it:

<p>

<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/n5jrn/photo_net/viburnum-crop.jpg" border="1">

<p>

That's taken with the old manual focus SMC-A 50/2.7 lens. Here's an example taken

indoors this evening with the DA* 16-50 zoom. Focused on the front of the medicine box:

<p>

<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/n5jrn/photo_net/ruler.jpg" border="1">

<p>

Yes, yes, I know: white balance. Sue me, I'm being lazy. Anyhow, here's a full-size crop

that shows while the box is pretty sharp, the true focus is about an inch behind it:

<p>

<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/n5jrn/photo_net/ruler-crop.jpg" border="1">

<p>

Interestingly, it doesn't seem to <em>always</em> happen, just <em>usually.</em> I'll

wager a guess that the shake reduction mount has something to do with it, and is letting

the sensor drift to the front a little at times.

<p>

I'm 99.44% sure it's not me at fault; I've used manual-focus film bodies for years and have

never had this kind of difficulty controlling the focus.

I have and use the same lens as David SMC-A 50/1.7 and photos are very sharp. I'd be checking warranty

There was a post months ago about fiddling with the firmware to correct for slight focussing variations in each camera as they are made. Maybe your camera didn't get the right variation set at the factory.

 

Send it back for an exchange or factory repair etc. Good luck

 

Or is it this issue that was out last month

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00OhwO.

 

Be very careful with firmware upgrades - You will be aware of the chance of totally stuffing up your camera etc etc. - Although it seems fairly stuffed now! ;-}

I bought a K10 over a year ago and had the same issue I posted on this forum and on the DP forum and found several other people had similar problems.

 

I took the camera back and switched to the Nikon D80. My personal thoughts on what was wrong with the camera is that it had to do with the shake reduction not locking in place causing the sensor to move slightly.

 

I also noticed that the K10 had problems locking the focus on the subject often it would beep like you said as if the subject was in focus and looking thru the view finder it was way out of focus.

 

Good luck!