Pentax K100DS Firmware Update problems

[ivortripod]

Pentax K100DS are on the face of it a very good buy at just under £250 with a well reviewed kit lens.
But: If you use an SDHC card in it you could have a real problem, as I discovered to my cost recently.
Pentax has a firmware update [Version 1.02] for 'improved support for SDHC memory cards', but this proved impossible to apply, despite following the instructions precisely.
I was using a 4GB Toshiba SDHC card, and to cut a long story short, Pentax admitted to me that 'there was a problem'.
Although I have now returned the camera kit to the dealer for a full refund, I am still some £60 out of pocket for cards I don't need and premium rate phone calls etc..
A great pity as on the face of it, it's a good piece of kit.
Of course the new model is the K200DS, as to whether this works with all SDHC cards, I'll let someone else find that out

 

[photon]

That's a shame. I had no problem updating my old(ish) *ist DS. My first 2GB Extreme III card (off fleabay) turned out to be a fake, but caused no problems. The next one was genuine and my card reader at the time wouldn't recognise it. It was at that time I updated the firmware, and the camera is fine with 4GB SDHC cards.

If you're now in the CF card using camp, you can get an adpater for your SD cards. Dunno whether they work with the high capacity types.

Read around and assess the risks before attempting something potentially dangerous. Someone's most probably encountered the problem before. Thank you for the heads-up on this one.

 

[ivortripod]

That's a shame. I had no problem updating my old(ish) *ist DS. My first 2GB Extreme III card (off fleabay) turned out to be a fake, but caused no problems. The next one was genuine and my card reader at the time wouldn't recognise it. It was at that time I updated the firmware, and the camera is fine with 4GB SDHC cards.

If you're now in the CF card using camp, you can get an adpater for your SD cards. Dunno whether they work with the high capacity types.

Read around and assess the risks before attempting something potentially dangerous. Someone's most probably encountered the problem before. Thank you for the heads-up on this one.

* I didn't know that you could get an SD to CF adapter, many thanks!!