Re: "Ned's Ear Redux"

To John, who posted the above thread on dpreview about whether we were
going to upgrade the K10D FW to support AF adjustment, you've got my
ear, now can I have it back.

First, I'm going to address this as though you were sitting next to me
here at San Onofre, face to face, and not thru some guarded Corp
email. And as others pointed out, you probably won't find any other
exec (suit) in any camera company that would be so open in
conversation with a customer.

Since we never called the hidden de-bug mode a feature of the K10D a
product feature, there's really no obligation for us to later release
it. In fact our biggest mistake was being sloppy and letting this
"Easter egg" be discovered. Do our competitors have similar de-bug
modes in their cameras? You bet they do, as all mfgs need access to
these type of tools if you send in your camera for service.

Fact is the discussions about the de-bug mode actually allowed us to
convince our engineers to make this a feature in the K20D, so you see
how feedback and listening to the needs of our customers actually can
work.

We did have lengthy discussions about updating the K10D, but we really
did not have the time or resources so I lost that battle, but there is
a reasonable solution which all others mtgs offer as well, which is to
send in your camera and lens for calibration. And let me repeat so I'm
not confusing anyone, this applies to any camera by any mfg that does
not offer built in AF adj as a published spec.

Hope this helps put this in perspective to you John, and others that
have had issues with this matter.

Now I need to get wet and catch some waves. Cheers and hope all of you
are having a good weekend!