Pentax 645Z and K-S2 Win TIPA 2015 Awards

Best Medium Format & Advanced DSLRs

By PF Staff in Photo Industry News on Apr 9, 2015

The Pentax 645Z and Pentax K-S2 have been selected as the Best Medium Format and Best Advanced DSLRs of 2015 by the editors of the Technical Image Press Association (TIPA).  TIPA is an organization consisting of 28 photography magazines from 15 different countries whose endorsement is claimed to be "the highest accolade for any photo and imaging product."  Each year, TIPA presents 40 awards in a wide variety of categories, from consumer accessories to professional photographic equipment.

TIPA's selection of these two cameras comes as no surprise, as their performance is without question class-leading.  Last summer, the 645Z revolutionized the medium format market segment by offering an impressive array of features at an incredibly low price.  Similarly, the Pentax K-S2 broke new ground by being the first Pentax to offer built-in wireless connectivity and an articulating LCD screen, all in a rugged weather-sealed package.  You can learn more in our 645Z in-depth review and, or see our first K-S2 first impressions.

Five other Pentax cameras have previously been recognized by TIPA:

This year's TIPA awards also named the Ricoh WG-M1 as Best ActionCam. 

With the exception of the Sigma 18-300mm "C" (not yet available in the K-mount), no Pentax-compatible lenses were part of this year's awards.

Other noteworthy cameras in the 2015 TIPA awards include the Sony a5100, Panasonic GM5, Olympus E-M5 II and Samsung NX1 in the Entry-Level, Advanced, Expert, and Professional mirrorless categories, and the Nikon D5500, Canon 7D II, and Nikon D810 in the Entry-Level, Expert, and Professional DSLR categories, respectively.  The Panasonic LX100 and Sony a7S were recognized as Expert and Professional Photo/Video cameras. The complete list of award winners is available on TIPA's web site.

Ricoh Theta Spherical Videos Now Sharable on YouTube

Enjoy and share 360-degree videos

By PF Staff in Photo Industry News on Mar 17, 2015

The new Ricoh Theta m15 is an innovative camera that captures 360-degree spherical images as well as videos. While spherical images could always be shared and viewed on a smartphone as well as on a PC, or converted to 360 degree panoramas like the one below, the spherical videos could only be viewed on your computer— until now.

Cropped Ricoh Theta 360-degree panorama

This has just changed with Ricoh's announcement that Youtube now supports 360-degree videos captured by the Theta m15. This is welcome news and we hope that it will not only make spherical videos more appealing to consumers, but also the Theta camera itself.

The fascinating aspect of the Theta's video files is that they allow you to relive experiences like never before, since spherical video files allow you to "look" all around the camera by panning and zooming. There is no better way to demonstrate this than to show a video of a Theta video file being played back in the desktop app:

Since the Ricoh press release (quoted below) is rather thin in terms of information on the new Youtube feature, we did some research on our own and found out that this same panning and zooming is now also possible on Youtube!  Youtube rolled out 360-degree video support back in January, coinciding with the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show.  The Giroptics 360cam was the first camera to support Youtube's 360-degree format.  Recently, that support has been extended to the Ricoh Theta's files thanks to an update to the Ricoh Theta desktop app.  Videos from the Theta must first be converted into .MP4 files via the Theta app, and then 360-degree metadata needs to be added via a special Youtube app/script. Once that's done, you can upload the resulting 360-degree video file straight to Youtube and it will be recognized as such.

Youtube's spherical video support is currently limited to the Google Chrome (desktop) web browser and the Youtube Android app.  If you get a chance to try out the Android app, you'll discover that tilting your phone actually pans the 360-degree video accordingly— an impressive feature.  If you're currently on either of those platforms, click here for a sample 360-degree Theta Video.

Given the two-step process for creating Youtube-compatible spherical videos, it's evident that this feature is still in its infancy.  We think that it's only a matter of time before the Theta will be able to upload its videos straight to Youtube, though!

Yellow Theta m15

We recently reviewed the new Theta, and found it to change the way users approach photography and in a very innovative way.  The camera is fun to use and at just $296, we don't hesitate to call it a good value.  If you have yet to try the Theta or overlooked it in the past, we encourage you to take it for a spin!  It also makes for a great gift idea.

Good News for Film Users from Kodak and Ilford

A promising development for the camera film industry

By K David in Photo Industry News on Feb 24, 2015

If you've ever seen my byline on a post before or read one of my entries on the Forums, you probably know that I'm an avid proponent of film photography. For those of you who enjoy film (even if it's just one or two rolls a year,) there is excellent industry news this month on film's future as a photographic, documentary, and artistic medium.

SanDisk Announces World's Largest SD Card

512Gb of storage at UHS-I speeds

By PF Staff in Photo Industry News on Sep 11, 2014

SanDisk is getting ready for the future with three new cards designed for high-performance still and 4K video recording without compromising on storage space.

The company announced today a new 512-gigabyte Extreme Pro SDXC memory card with a 90Mb/s write speed and 95Mb/s read speed, plus a U3 class rating and advanced error correction for unparalleled reliability.  This is the highest storage capacity currently available in an SDXC card, surpassing the previously-attained 256Gb mark and matching the capacity of Lexar's largest CompactFlash card.  What's the catch?  The $729.00 price tag, no doubt.

SanDisk is therefore also offering its new ultra high-speed card in both 256Gb and 128Gb versions, which will retail for $189 and $359, respectively.

We're slowly approaching the theoretical 2Tb limit for SDXC card despite the fact that considerably-smaller capacities are still more than adequate for a day's worth of shooting with most current-generation still cameras.

Reflecting on the Pentax K-S1 Launch

A fresh take or a misguided concept?

By PF Staff in Photo Industry News on Aug 29, 2014

Pentax/Ricoh's recent announcement of the Pentax K-S1 DSLR leaves us with plenty to talk about, and in this article, we will be talking a closer look at what's new and how we think it will fare.  Let's start with a disclaimer: if you are reading this, you are most likely a Pentax enthusiast, so this camera is not designed with your needs in mind.  But we can still discuss the idea behind it and draw our own conclusions, of course!

The launch of the K-S1 is a bold attempt to regain customers.  In its press release, Ricoh Imaging Americas acknowledges that this camera targets "next generation Pentax owners" accustomed to "mobile interfaces".  The company hopes to accomplish this through a redesigned user interface that has done away with the traditional mode dial.  The camera itself also looks different than your old-fashioned DSLR: its grip, which reminds us of a compact mirrorless camera, has been lined with attention-grabbing LED lights and multicolored accents.  Some of the available color schemes look rather stylish and modern, such as the metallic blue and the white/grey (let's just look the other way with the Midnight Black and Sunset Orange). Thus, at first sight, the K-S1 seems like a well thought-out way to attract photographers who may have ditched their DSLRs years ago, and especially those who are looking for something a bit more next-gen.


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