Begin forwarded message: > From: Charles Robinson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: December 6, 2007 16:52:34 CST > To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <pdml@pdml.net> > Subject: Why I buy locally (happy guy) > > I've come to praise my local camera store, not bury it. >
[snip!] > And even better: As he strolled back from the printer, he stopped at > the used camera cabinet, pulled out an istDL, and brought it back > with him. "It could take a couple of months for your camera to come > back, so you can use this in the meantime". > > Wow! > > So, the total time for me to stop, explain my case, and be out of > the store with a functioning (interim) camera was just over 10 > minutes. It is clear to me that if I am going to purchase a Pentax > someday to upgrade my DS, it's going to be at that store and I'll > probably cough up the extra $100 for the extended warranty again. I > carry this one camera (or its future replacement) around way too > much to want to risk it screwing it up. > So that was December. I got a call last week that the DS was back from the shop. They'd replaced a some sort of "switch" mechanism, and some sort of "slider". (scratches head, wondering what those could have to do with card write errors). So I swing by and swap all of my bits out of the "loaner" DL and happily look through my bright prism DS finder with the Katz-Eye split-prism and microprism collar.... man, I missed those! I was a little disappointed to see that tiny preview screen on the back, but oh well. Two nights later, I'm at a bar watching a band play. I pull out the camera to take some pictures, and about 15 minutes later..... boom. Write errors "the image is not stored" and the card is unusable. This is the same storage card I'd just used for about 2,000 shots on my trip to San Francisco. This is NOT a bad card. Back to the camera store, I try to duplicate the issue for the gentleman behind the counter. It takes about half an hour of standing there with my finger on the shutter button, and then we magically get the same error. So we write that down specifically on the repair sheet. At some point in the process, the man is looking at the paperwork for the camera. "Hmmm... I sold this camera to you!" (Yup, I thought he'd looked familiar) As he was processing all of the paperwork, I got to hold a K10D in my hands for about 20 minutes and I've got to say: I've got to work harder at convincing the wife that this is a good thing to upgrade to (unfortunately it would probably have to be second-hand by the time I build up the funds - bummer). Yes, the K20D has some amazing things going for it, but that's an amazing price, too. With the Tamron 28-75 hooked up to it, the autofocus was ZIPPY. Everything just worked so well. So, round #2 for the DS. With the camera store picking up the repair costs (again). And I have the same DL "loaner" back in my bag which I just used for most of December/January. As I was leaving, the guy told me something which unfortunately got my hopes up: "Who knows, maybe the repair cost will be so high that it's cheaper to just replace your camera". I responded: "but they don't make the DS anymore" "Then I guess you'd have to get something newer" "But all those newer ones don't have a Pentaprism" "Some of them do (smiles)" Man... it's like I'm hoping this DS is ultimately terminal. Not a good way to stay calm. -Charles -- Charles Robinson - [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minneapolis, MN http://charles.robinsontwins.org -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
