Pentax adopts Oly's mentality...

leadbelly · 03-27-2009, 01:44 AM

Pentax to step out of the megapixel war ? New Tech Gadgets & Electronic Devices | Geek.com

Quite old news (a few days), though just thought to share... find it funny just as Pentax announced the upcoming 30 (40-50?) MP 645D...

But great news nonetheless, which means my K20D will last a loooong time...

Bophoto · 03-27-2009, 07:24 AM

Originally Posted by leadbelly

Pentax to step out of the megapixel war ? New Tech Gadgets & Electronic Devices | Geek.com

Quite old news (a few days), though just thought to share... find it funny just as Pentax announced the upcoming 30 (40-50?) MP 645D... But great news nonetheless, which means my K20D will last a loooong time...

But 645 has a bigger sensor than K20D, 14Mp at APS can be 60-70Mp on 645....
What she say more or less is that Pentax and Samsung don´t want more pixels/area.

ProppaT · 03-27-2009, 07:27 AM

Yeah, but there's a difference there too. 30MP is not only unneeded in the DSLR market, it's a hindrance for most people. I think that most companies at this point understand that more MP isn't important at this stage, we just need larger/better sensors for added sharpness to what we already have. Medium format is a different beast entirely, where you want and need the most resolution possible for large prints, etc. What use do most people have for larger than poster size prints?

I'd like to see some more innovations in sensor technology, personally. Take the Fuji DSLRs, for example. I think the honeycomb pattern sensor is brilliant and adds a whole lot of sharpness for the lowly 6MPs it has.

leadbelly · 03-27-2009, 07:39 AM

mmm... whatever the MP count of the 645D will be, I hope they make just like the K20D sensor. Just right, with awesome IQ. So that finally we can stop saving for new bodies, but rather spend our hard earned money for ALL the lenses! LBA will be cured! not CBA tho...

Gooshin · 03-27-2009, 07:43 AM

i thought this was going to be news of a pentax made "NX"

*Wheatfield* · 03-27-2009, 08:05 AM

Originally Posted by leadbelly

Pentax to step out of the megapixel war ? New Tech Gadgets & Electronic Devices | Geek.com

Quite old news (a few days), though just thought to share... find it funny just as Pentax announced the upcoming 30 (40-50?) MP 645D... But great news nonetheless, which means my K20D will last a loooong time...

Hopefully not. While the megapixel count is more than adequate, there are a lot of performance issues with the K20 that Pentax should take the opportunity to address.
Hopefully they will not see the pentaprism viewfinder as one of those things that can be improved though. I was playing with a Lumix the other day, and thought it's EVF was quite awful, and apparently it is one of the better EVF finders.

Kunzite · 03-27-2009, 08:31 AM

Hopefully they will see the pentaprism viewfinder as one of those things that can be improved. By a better pentaprism viewfinder

I'm expecting a camera using a new version of the Samsung sensor (which will be also used in the Samsung NX - it makes sense to share sensors). Tweak the noise, the performance, better live view and movie mode (not that I need/want it, but it's inevitable) - and voila!

TaoMaas · 03-27-2009, 05:15 PM

I'm curious to see where the 645D lands price-wise. I can't help but feel that it's going to undercut most of the current digital medium format offerings.

**roentarre** · 03-27-2009, 05:31 PM

Pixel count still works for consumers. So this will be a hard decision to make.

jct us101 · 03-27-2009, 10:50 PM

Originally Posted by TaoMaas

I'm curious to see where the 645D lands price-wise. I can't help but feel that it's going to undercut most of the current digital medium format offerings.

I've heard just around $10,000.

TaoMaas · 03-28-2009, 06:11 AM

Originally Posted by jct us101

I've heard just around $10,000.

Thanks! It just seems to me that it would be typical Pentax to have it eventually land at a price point where it becomes an alternative to a FF Nikon or Canon, especially for professional shooters who can write off the expense as a business investment. I could see it easily becoming THE camera for professional wedding, fashion, portrait, landscape, or product photography. Someone had said in another thread that Pentax used to view their 35mm cameras as more of an amateur format and their 645 & 6X7 cameras as their professional format. It sounds to me like they're getting ready to position themselves much the same way in the digital market. It makes a lot of sense when you think about it. Trying to go toe-to-toe with Nikon and Canon in the FF arena would mean a LOT of research and development to even begin to become competitive. And even then it wouldn't be a given that Pentax would have success. It would be much better to continue to tweak the K20D, leap frog over FF and go into medium format where the competition isn't as established, and offer a camera that takes advantage of the legacy lenses that are already all over the market.

*benjikan* · 03-28-2009, 06:23 AM

What about that 90MP K40D that everyone was talking about in the Insane Asylum last week. Is that not coming out?

TaoMaas · 03-28-2009, 08:46 AM

Yes and no....they still have plans for the 90mp sensor, but now it's going to be in an Optio.

Cambo · 03-28-2009, 10:28 AM

Originally Posted by TaoMaas

Yes and no....they still have plans for the 90mp sensor, but now it's going to be in an Optio.

I've heard it's noisy at iso 400...

Cameron

Robert S Donovan · 03-28-2009, 09:03 PM

The new Fuji F200EXR may provide a good test bed to see if photographers really care more about pixel count than image quality. I've been playing with one and I'd easily trade 12MP for 6 to get the ISO1600 quality it delivers!