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Hi

I'm interested in purchasing the Kx, however I'm reading on certain websites that there is an issue with batteries.

As yet I've not found a definitive answer, it seems that many of the people are going out and testing all sorts of battery combinations, to see what will work and what batteries won't.

Does anyone know if this issue has been resolved by Pentax? Or does it only affect a certain batch of cameras.

The pity is that the more I read about this camera, the more it appeals to me.

Any info on this matter would be a great help.

Regards

Patrick

hello Patrick,

I have not heard anything about the Kx having battery issues. Pentax is unique in having the option of using AA batteries in their cameras. What they don't tell you is that you need a low discharge type battery if you are looking at some type of rechargeable batteries. Otherwise, they use Lithium ion AA's which you can pick up at any wal mart or department store. The Lithium Ion batteries such as Energizer seem to really hold up. I think I used my first set for a good two months. They are amazing.

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Hi Slick

Thanks for the reply, the reason why I'm concerned is based partly on an article here

http://ricehigh.blogspot.com/2009/11/k- ... utube.html

And there are numerous threads discussing this topic here
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... e=33592461

And this is a link I found pointing to Pentax's web site
http://support.pentaximaging.com/documents/906

As you can see, there seems to be some sort of issue involving the Kx.

Regards

Patrick

Well that is a problem isn't it. Pentax will more then likely update its firmware for the KX if that will fix the problem. I will e-mail Pentax Imaging to see if the issue has been resolved...

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From time to time camera designers try to be a little cleverer than they really are. After all... so called camera intelligence is put there by its designers so if that camera intelligence fails it's really the designers' intelligence that’s failing.

During last year I used my camera after its purchase with NiMH AA's and discovered that the Battery Low Indicator came on after perhaps only 1/4 or 1/3 of the charge had gone. So most of the time I had an unnecessary and slightly annoying indicator in view and when my camera eventually quit it was always a completely sudden death without any warning making this Low Battery Indicator utterly useless. Late November last year when I purchased two hard disks I noticed the web shop also sold sets of 4x2100mAh GP ReCyko AA's at a nice price (€12,50) so I ordered one set. Shortly after I got a second set. Fortunately with these batteries the BLI works as it should and only warns an adequate amount of time before the camera shuts off. Their low self discharge is definitely more convenient too. I'm very satisfied with these ReCyko cells.

This camera has no settings for type of battery at all. The way I would have liked it to be is that preset choices of battery types might/could have been implemented but what should have been implemented was an option for manual setting of the voltage at which the BLI comes on. From 0.9-1.4 V with 0.05 V increments for instance. I expect the camera powers off when the current the batteries are capable of delivering drops below a certain number of milliamps.

This way I can determine for myself which voltage will give an adequate warning time for every different set of batteries I use. OK so I have to find out what voltage that is and have to remember what they are for different sets of batteries but I'm actually quite capable of doing so thank you very much so it would be nice if camera designers would give their customers a little credit and would allow the user that level of control over these things.

I've never heard of a camera having such an option to set such a voltage level. If anyone knows of a camera that uses it I'd like to hear about it.

Ben
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When in doubt..... Press the shutter.

I recently bought a k-x. I have taken about 370 shots and the battery meter has not moved yet. I will update you as soon as they run out. (I am finishing my last 2 weeks of Engineering school so it might be a while before I get any free time at all)

Hi! I just got my white Pentax K-x fom B&H (www.bhphotovideo.com) and totally LOVE it! It beats the K20d in many ways and it runs cicrcles around my 2 beloved K100d bodies!
Batteries are not an issue!

Look at it this way:
Once I am out of the supplied Lithium batteries, I will be back on Eneloop rechargeables.
No biggy carrying spares.
Why do I not mind?
The K-x is 1/2 the price of a K-7 and less than any close competitor.
Swapping batteries is not big deal then!
What makes it so good?
Image quality, responsiveness, handling - the perfect camera for my hand!
This thing SNAPS a picture and is a real little rattler in fast multi-shot mode.
The K20d has some metering quirks, but the K-x has me thinking for the first time in YEARS that I can dispense with RAW capture.
I could could not believe the JPGs I got at iso 6400!
I really thought I was messed up with my night shiift and getting halucinations, until I fumbled for me reading glasses and started pixel peeping!
This thing is giving a full frame piece, like a Canon 5D MkII or a Nikon D700 an honest run for the money.
Sure, I can see SMALL differences, but at 1/5 the price, who cares?
Do yourself a favor and compare the Canon 5D, Nikon D700, and the Pentax K-x at www.imaging-review.com - they now have samples on all three.
Be fair and use the medium NR samples, as most people will use out of camera JPGs anyway, and the processing that Pentax has implemented is just plain neat!
Look at the shots with the nice wine and booze bottles (MMMMMMM - YUM!) and look at the neck labels. I stick to mostly center frame to eliminate looking at lens artifacts from the outer field of view.
This thing beats the old 80/20 law by giving better than 80% image quality for less than 20% of the money of full frame pieces - it's a no-brainer!
I am no fan boy either and have even bitten the hand of some employers that fed me well - it's my nature!
Search for "lapratho", "Pentax", and "bornlate" here and on the web, and you will find some brutally honest and well deserved Pentax bashing - but with the K-x they came through!
Here is another aspect about AA batteries:
I just spent 26 dollars on a special order, generic brand, rare to find Lithium-Ion battery for my "old" Panasonic LC40, - my first really nice digicam, and at the time I considered it a leap forward from my old film gear. Original Panasonic batteries for this one don't even seem to be on the market anymore!
Now - how long do you think those proprietary batteries will be around?
You guessed right - if you treat your gear well, they will die long before your camera. And what then? I was lucky to find a battery for a 6 year old camera - that is sadly a sore statement about our throw away world society.
AAs will be around much longer than any proprietary battery, and I tend to treat my gear well
Oh - have I mentioned? The K-x doesn't have the old Kit lens and it is a step for lack of the nice nice former manual focus override clutch, and yet it is good enough, that the light weight of it, together with the K-x's superb low iso IQ has bumped my heavier "fast" glass by Tamron and Sigma, which cost me a penny!
If you don't have legacy glass and are just starting out - go for it!
In conjunction with the new 50-300 tele it'll be a long time until you really need better glass, and then only for special needs!
Battery issues?
Bah Humbug!
Hey - I am even a "RiceHigh" forum member, and it's not an issue for me- what do you say NOW you ----, eh?
Ok, I need sleep getting off my night shift, and I better quit watching Scorsese movies, before I make you buy a K-x with an ice pick on your butt

Now keep having fun and make some pictures!

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Owen - born late and still not catching up

"Why is a big piece of glass for a camera called fast? I've never seen any of my lenses run away!"

K100d Super, K100d, lots of "fast" glassy stuff

Heres what I use and I have had no probs yet...love em.

http://www.horizonbattery.com/detail.aspx?ID=115

I'm not plugging the supplier there, just... the batteries.
I have never used the supplier they could be A1,I dunno.

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Pentax 18-55mm,Pentax 50-200mm,Sigma 17-70mm,Sigma 70-300mm, Sigma 50-500mm

I also use these rechargeables which were suggested by KPR when I bought my K200D. They really work great. Have a long life before needing a recharge and are the correct voltage for your cameras delicate needs.

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I have had battery problems for more than a year with my Pentax and have only just found your link to the firmware on the Pentax page. I have just downloaded it onto my camera and batteries that five minutes ago were fully charged and came up as low battery when I turned the camera on are now showing as fully charged. I've also successfully taken at least twenty pictures, which I couldn't do before I downloaded the 1.02 update of the firmware.

Am a happy bunny.

PS. my camera also starts with a 34...

I just did a random search via Google and thank goodness this thread came up!

I have yet to try the solutions posted, but I am very excited to find out there IS a battery problem!

I love my k-x, but I now have amassed a huge supply of reusable batteries! I just couldn't throw them away because I KNEW they had to be good.

For a while, I doubted the chargers, but then I started testing the batteries on other objects around the house and found they were working....only to put them BACK in my k-x to show they were showing up as dead or close to it!

This has been so frustrating over many vacation trips, and I actually just threw away 8 batteries! UGH!!!!!!

I hope the solutions in this thread work! Off to try them now!

Thank you guys for posting this!

Looks like previously "dead" batteries are now back alive! Yes, thanks for the info guys!

Sanyo eneloops are new generation AAs that seem to hold charge very well.

as for Rice High....well know pentax hater trawling the interweb looking for negativity to cut and paste

Pete

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Pentax K-5 several len

I realize this is an older thread, but thought I should take a moment to defend Rice High.

But First:
Eneloops are definately popular in the Pentaxforums. Excellent battery. I use Energizer Lithiums in my K200D and they last for AT LEAST 800 photos in normal use - many with flash. Great stuff!

Rice High:
Pentax folks tend to bash Rice High, but I don't think he's a hater - at least he didn't start out that way. Many of his critiques are valid and backed up by his photos and my own similar experiences. He has bashed Pentax for their development strategies, which often escape the most stalwart Pentax fanboys like myself, and he CAN take that too far. Where he occasionally goes wrong is to voice unsupported opinion or get overly critical about what are really relatively minor issues of Pentax gear.

Additionally, in the past he would sometimes take reply posts personally when he was trying to be constructive. Since then I think he's gotten accustomed to the constant battling, soured on the Pentax community because of it, and begun to find sport by taking shots at the pentaxforums gang in his blog. Personally, his contributions have been valuable to me as well as the community and much of what he posts has genuine merit. Pentax even went so far as to send him a camera or two for review as they found value in his efforts. I, in fact, purchased my first two K100D cameras based on his reviews and commentary. Take a look at his lens reviews and some of his older posts about the K100. If Rice High moved on from Pentax I'll be sad to see him go - not only for the entertainment value, but also for his insights that helped the community.

For the record, I have purchased a total of 6 Pentax DSLRs so far (including 2 KX models) and have been DELIGHTED with every one of them. I did expect better IQ from the 12MP KX - the pictures seemed just ever so slightly soft when compared to my 10MP K200D, but the KXs were soon handed down to family & friend who were even more thrilled with their capabilities and IQ. Still rocking the K200 and will upgrade to a K5 when I can find a used copy in my price range... (sucks bein' poor)

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