In order to better reflect the outdoor nature of Pentax digital cameras and DSLRs, we would like to announce that effective immediately, PentaxForums.com will be adapting a new "umbrella" logo, pictured above.  This is in part to celebrate the fact that all current Pentax DSLRs, namely the Pentax K-5 II, K-30, and 645D, are fully weather-sealed and thus ready to shoot anywhere, rain or shine!

Together with the new logo will also be adopding a new slogan, which reads "we've got you covered". This phrase fully embodies the spirit of our forum.  Since we launched the site in 2006, our mission has been to provide the ultimate community for Pentax beginners and old-timers alike.

Pentax K-30 owners: try this at home!

In 2011, in order to offer extra help to beginners, we launched our Pentax Camera Help Central, which includes the Beginner's Corner Q&A and General Technical Troubleshooting sub-forums.  Virtually no questions are ever ignored in these two forums, and of the 7,500 threads that have been posted, less than 1.5% are left unanswered. Furthermore, each question gets an average of ten replies.

That same year we also launched dedicated sub-forums for current Pentax camera models, and these sub-forums are now among the busiest sections of the forum, with hundreds of new posts being submitted each day.  We currently feature sub-forums for the Pentax K-5/II/IIs, Pentax K-30, Pentax K-r, Pentax Q, and Pentax K-01.

While we think we're already doing a very good job of being accomodating for just about any type of photographer, if there's anything we can change to do an even better job of "having you covered", we welcome any suggestions in our site suggestions forum!

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As 2012 comes to a close, let's take a look at the highlights of this year in the Pentax world and on our web site! 

Products

We'll start by looking at Pentax's camera systems. While Pentax hasn't delivered the breakthrough products that many enthusiasts have been hoping for (i.e. a full-frame DSLR or new high-end APS-C camera), overall, it has been a great year, and Pentax is doing better than ever.  Most notably, the Pentax K-30, launched this June, has proved to be a very successful upper entry level DSLR.

In addition to becoming popular thanks to its intuitive user interface, superb image quality, and weather sealing, the K-30 ended up winning the iF Product Design Award just last week!  If you're a beginner that has a budget of around $650-800, we can highly recommend the K-30 as a first DSLR or as an upgrade over older Pentax cameras.  The K-30 competes primarily with the Nikon D5100/5200 and the Canon 650D, and we've recently posted an in-depth comparative review of these three cameras in case you're still trying to decide on what to get.

Another noteworthy camera is the mirrorless Pentax K-01, launched in February.  Thanks to its K-mount, the K-01 was the first mirrorless camera to natively support DSLR lenses.  At first, the K-01 didn't get too much attention among photographers due to it's bold design and $749 price tag, but after being reduced to just $316 in November, it's been selling like crazy!  At this price it truly is a steal, considering that its image quality is almost on par with that of the Pentax K-5 and Nikon D7000 at a fraction of the price.

Finally, Pentax should also be commended for the expansion of the Q system: now that the 15-45mm (~80-250mm eqv.) telephoto zoom and the K-mount adapter have been launched, the Q has become a much more versatile camera, allowing photographers to use it for much more than everyday snapshots.  Pentax will be stressing that one should look at the entire system, and not just the Q camera body, when deciding to get a compact mirrorless.  On top of that, now that the Q has fallen in price by up to 75% (from a launch price of $799 to approximately $250), it has become a much more attractive option for many Pentax fans outside of Japan.

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Your hard-working PentaxForums site owner and administrator was spotted on Christmas Day in the Salt River Canyon in Arizona.

He was on a somewhat dubious mission trying to shed light on the often made claim by our Pentax Q users that the Q + K-mount adapter + K-mount telephoto lens betters an APS-C or even a full-frame DSLR for high-magnification telephotos!

Besides the rig from the dark side we also spotted a Pentax K-5 in the arsenal. 

Now we're anxiously awaiting the results! Does the $600 Q outfit buy you more than a $6,000 outfit from the dark side?

Stay tuned for Adam's findings when he reemerges from the Canyon!

- Ole

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Today we'd like to wish everyone who's celebrating a very Merry Christmas!  We'd also like to thank everyone for a very fun and successful year on the site, and we look forward to continue bringing you quality content and many new features in 2013!  We will be kicking off the new year with live coverage of the CP+ trade show in Japan (which is bound to bring exciting new Pentax announcements), so stay tuned!

One of our forum members has already started a thread in which you can share what you got or gave for Christmas, so after you've opened up all the goodies, we'd like to invite you to post about what you received and what you gave.

Happy Holidays!

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This Black Friday, there will be endless Pentax deals, so stay tuned to our homepage for everything you need to know about savings on Pentax cameras and lenses in the US!

Here on the site, we're launching our special deal a little early: you can get unlimited forum attachment space, Marketplace access, and much more gallery & album space for the fraction of what it normally takes! This means that you'll be able to upload as many photos as you'd like, and sell as much of your old gear as you want for free, without any listing-based fees.

Click here to get unlimited attachment space & extended marketplace access!
(Make sure you are logged in before clicking the link)

Once you're on the above page, select the first option and the duration of the upgrade you would like (1 or 2 years).  You can then proceed to complete your account upgrade securely using either PayPal or 2Checkout (credit card).  Account upgrades will be applied instantly and automatically.

In addition to this, we will be offering 1 year of free Marketplace access (but not unlimited attachment space) to anyone who supports us by shopping at B&H or Adorama during Black Friday.  Click here for details!  Normally, such upgrades only last for 1 month, so be sure to take advantage of this if you plan on getting some new gear this weekend!  If you take advantage of the unlimited attachment space offer, we will extend your account upgrade by an additional year if you shop at our affiliates during the Black Friday weekend.

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Did you know that many modern Pentax lenses have been sold under the Samsung brand? We have now eneterd all Samsung and Schneider-Kreuznach K-mount lenses in our Third-party Pentax Lens Database. This database is not only for technical specifications, it is also is open for member lens reviews.

Samsung had a brief stint marketing K-mount DSLR cameras based on Pentax models. The last one was the GX-20 introduced in 2008, and shown in the illustration above. It was based on the Pentax K20D, which, as a part of this cooperation, had a Samsung-manufactured sensor.

Back to the lenses marketed by Samsung: they ended up having a total of eight rebadged Pentax lenses for their Pentax clone DSLRs. Initially the lenses were branded as Schneider-Kreuznach lenses under an agreement with that German lens manufacturer. These lenses would have the Schneider-Kreuznach name engraved around the front lens or at the lens barrel and be called D-Xenon (DA clone) or D-Xenogon (D FA/FA clone). The accessories (lens hood and lens cases), however, all had the Samsung name, and the Pentax-DA lens derivatives would also sport the Samsung name on the name plate on the left side near the lens mount. Somewhat of a branding mess.

Over time the Schneider-Kreuznach name got replaced with Samsung, and in some cases the D-Xenon/D-Xenogon label vanished, too, and was replaced with Samsung.

It has not been possible these many years later to find out with certainty which lenses were introduced initially under the Schneider-Kreuznach name and if they all made the transition to the Samsung name. We are also short on photos of the lenses; if you own any of these please forward photos to one of the administrators for inclusion in the database. Of particular interest are photos that show the engraved name on the front and near the lens mount.

Here is what we've learned after doing a little bit of research:

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Did you know that we're currently hosting a giveaway featuring the great Pentax K-30 as a grand prize?  By entering, you'll also be eligible to win a Pentax Optio WG-2 or one of six premium forum accounts, but hurry, because the giveaway ends on November 14th!  This giveaway celebrates the 2,000,000-post milestone on our forum, which we hit a couple of months ago.

Currently, only 26 contest submissions have been made by other members, meaning that you will have a very high chance of winning if you enter today.

In a nutshell, this is a blog post competition which will be judged by fellow forum readers.  You can submit a post describing what piece of equipment has been the most influential on your photography, or a post describing the making of one of your favorite photographs.  You can also choose to submit both to double your chances of winning!

Click here to submit, or read the full giveaway details.  Good luck!

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Today we are very happy to announce the addition of a new section to our web site: the Pentax Sample Photo Search Engine.  In a nutshell, this system allows you to search all of the photos found on our forum and in our photo gallery based on their EXIF information.  You can initiate a search using the dropdowns at the top of the page.  When you first open the page, you will also see a list of the most popular photos and recent searches.

Searches are primarily based on a camera and/or lens selection, but once those results are displayed, you can choose to filter them based on EXIF fields such as:

• ISO
• Shutter Speed
• Aperture
• Focal Length
• Flash
• Lens Name (if searching by camera only)
• Camera Name (if searching by lens only)

You can also sort your results based on criteria such as popularity, date uploaded, number of likes, and more.  Click on the "thumbs up" icon if you like a photo, or click on the "thumbs down" icon if you think the photo isn't a worthwhile sample!  To view the photo where the author original posted, click on the link as highlighted below.

Whenever you make a lens or a camera selection using one of the dropdowns, the other dropdown will automatically be filtered to show only lenses that match your camera selection, or vice-versa.  You can reset the contents of the dropdown by clicking on the "reset dropdowns / filters" button, or simply by selecting the "All" option in the dropdown.  Note that the dropdowns are searchable, and if you start typing, the contents of the dropdown will be filtered!

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