[kevinschoenmakers]

The Short List - Limited to suggestions that are simple, popular and ideally both. Complete List below.

RAW
- 12bit RAW setting
- True RAW histogram

Movie Mode
- 1080p 24fps, 720p 24fps and 60fps
- AF during movie capture
- More manual control (ISO, shutter speed, sound options)
- Improved sound quality

Flash
- HSS Flash ability
- Allow full P-TTL with manual lenses by firing the metering flash after the lens was stop-down (it works with m42s!).
- second curtain synch with manual lenses
- Ability to do trailing curtain sync with any flash / wireless trigger.

Buttons
- Addition of SR on/off option to Fx button functionality.
- Addition of HDR Capture option to Fx button functionality.
- Addition of turn on/off catch in focus to Fx button functionality.
- When viewing images, the Fx button or green button temporarily shows dark/bright areas or histogram.
- Ability to assign the green button/fx button/preview dial to instantly record a movie.
- Top screen illumination activated by pressing the exposure compensation button (as on the K10D).
- In playback mode, holding the Exp.Comp. button shows detailed image information and a histogram.

Auto-Focus
- Allow Catch-In-Focus with all AF lenses when in MF mode by pressing the AF button (unused in MF)
- Option to enable that, in SEL AF mode, the four-way controller reverts to focus point selection on shutter half-press.
- AF-SR priority. Just like AF-S with focus priority, but only shoot when the shaking has reached a level where the camera thinks it can handle it.
- Add a new option to C14 : Superimpose AF Area: 1. On; 2. Off; 3. On selection only.
- Wider range of AF adjustment.

Menu's and the like
- Ability to save an initial setting for User modes. Eg: If the mode is Tv, an initial shutter speed can be saved.
- USER menu where one can assign frequently used menu items.
- Option to enable autorotation during playback (that is seperated from the option to record rotation data).
- Ability for the camera to count past 9999.
- An option to let the user pick 2 or 3 things that could be added to the Control panel.

Shooting options
- Option to set Continuous Shooting Lo speed
- Larger bracketing interval, ideally 9 shots instead of five
- Mirror lock-up for bracketing shots.
- Display a timer on the top LCD during Bulb mode
- Remove 30s limit in modes other than Bulb mode
- For manual lenses, use the focal length value for auto-iso handling.
- More then 999 interval shots.

Other
- Tethering.
- Add an option to turn raw-level NR off or, make it kick in at a configurable ISO level.




Original Post
With the K-5 Pentax has shown to listen to their users. So let's help them by making a list of suggested firmware updates. Hopefully we'll be getting at least one more update beyond the one that's going to released soon.

I personally have 3 things I wish my K-5 could do:

- Option to set Continuous Shooting Lo (to, for example, 4fps)
- When reviewing images, the RAW/Fx button or green button temporarily shows dark/bright areas or histogram.
- Top screen illumination activated by pressing the exposure compensation button (as on the K10D)

Please suggest your own, but keep it limited to things that are actually firmware related. If possible I will update this post with a complete list of suggestions.




The Complete List

RAW
- Ability to save a RAW file with less MP
- 12bit RAW setting (3x)
- true RAW histogram (4x)
- HDR images saved as RAW or TIFF (2x)

Movie Mode
- 1080p 24fps, 720p 24fps and 60fps (6x)
- AF during filming (5x)
- More manual control (8x)
- Allow the movie mode in the USER menu (2x)
- Allow movie recording in all modes (except X and B, of course), by a long press on LV. Controls could then be compliant with whatever mode you're in... (2x)
- In movie mode, memorize two (or more) focus distances and allow instant change by pushing the AF button. (3x)
- HDR Video Mode (2x)
- Improved sound quality. (3x)
- HDMI output to fill entire screen.
- Higher resolution HDMI output.

Flash
- HSS Flash ability (4x)
- Allow full P-TTL with manual lenses by firing the metering flash after the lens was stop-down (it works with m42s!). (2x)
- second curtain synch with manual lenses (2x)
- fine adjustment of synch time
- Ability to do trailing curtain sync with any flash / wireless trigger. (2x)
- Adapt the flash to the current ambient level in wireless controller mode.

Buttons
- Addition of SR on/off option to Fx button functionality. (6x)
- Addition of HDR Capture option to Fx button functionality. (4x)
- When viewing images, the RAW/Fx button or green button temporarily shows dark/bright areas or histogram. (4x)
- Two options for the Fx button for exposure bracketing. (2x)
- Addition of turn on/off catch in focus to Fx button functionality.
- Ability to swap RAW/Fx and AF button functionality. (2x)
- Ability to assign the green button/fx button/preview dial to instantly record a movie (3x)
- Top screen illumination activated by pressing the exposure compensation button (as on the K10D) (5x)
- In playback mode, holding the EC buttons shows detailed image information and a histogram. (2x)
- Custom button mappings should revert back to what it was prior to entering a user mode

Auto-Focus
- Allow Catch-In-Focus with all AF lenses when in MF mode by pressing the AF button (unused in MF!) (2x)
- Selectable af points with manual focus lenses
- in SEL AF mode, revert to focus point selection on half-press (3x)
- Do an automatic lens AF setting by comparing Contrast and Phase detect AF results. If the camera moved during the process, ditch the results... (2x)
- AF-SR priority. Just like AF-S with focus priority, but only shoot when the shaking has reached a level where the camera thinks it can handle it. (3x)
- Add a new option to C14 : Superimpose AF Area: 1. On; 2. Off; 3. On selection only. (2x)
- Wider range of AF adjustment. (2x)

Menu's and the like
- Ability to save an initial setting for User modes. Eg: If the mode is Tv, an initial shutter speed can be saved. (3x)
- USER menu where one can assign frequently used menu items. (4x)
- Option to enable autorotation during playback (that is seperated from the option to record rotation data) (4x)
- Ability for the camera to count past 9999. (2x)
- Addition of white balance to the control panel (2x)-
- An option to let the user pick 2 or 3 things that could be added to the Control panel. (2x)
- Improved file naming options.
- Info Screen color scheme saved with USER modes to aid recognition of which USER mode the camera is in.

Shooting options
- Option to set Continuous Shooting Lo speed (4x)
- Lower ISO (25, 50) (3x)
- Larger bracketing interval, ideally 9 shots instead of five (3x)
- Exposure bracketing with bigger EV steps (~4EV)
- Option to avoid the '0' shot during bracketing (Eg, ability to photograph -2 and +2 only)
- the possibility of bracketing only the shutter speed when in M mode, leaving the aperture untouched. This is only possible at the moment with non-DA lenses that have aperture rings. (2x)
- Mirror lock-up for bracketing shots. (2x)
- Provide metering-line options to control the behavior of multi-segment metering (average, preserve-highlights, maximize-shadow-details). (2x)
- When shooting long exposures in Bulb Mode display a timer (counter) on the LCD screen to let you know how many seconds have passed (5x)
- Remove 30s limit in modes other than Bulb. (4x)
- For manual lenses, use the focal length value for auto-iso handling. (3x)
- More then 999 interval shots. (2x)
- ISO 80 as part of default ISO range instead of extended (particularly because of the amazing DR at this setting!)

Other
- Tethering (7x)
- Allow reset values to be specified for parameters reset at power-off.
- Additional option to turn off the status screen automatically after 3 or 10 seconds.
- Eye-Fi SD card compatibility. (2x)
- Add an option to turn raw-level NR off or, make it kick in at a configurable ISO level. (3x)
- In liveview, stop the SR when reviewing the shot Currently, you can hear the SR still whirring while you review the shot just taken (auto-review, not Play). (2x)
- The option to develop the JPG to the right, whatever be the degree of underexposure, with highlight compression as applied in D-Range mode.
- low-battery freeze-up fixed
- ability to create and save a Dark Frame (shutter closed), which can then be used to do subtraction in PP.

---

Last edited by kevinschoenmakers; 11-22-2010 at 12:46 AM.

[Raybo]

New firmware gives Raybo a K-5 for free?

[Col]

With the Buffer increase being taken as given. (How ridiculous does it feel to be able to say that!)

When creating user modes an initial exposure can also be saved (relevant to the exposure mode) eg. if Tv is the mode a starting Shutter speed may be saved.

I think the K5 could make an nice night sky camera, to that end I would love to buffer a single dark frame that would then be used against the sessions' images.

Auto Hyperfocal setting.

Oh when using the RAW button to switch between RAW & JPEG I would like that to actually change the menu setting. I had intended to shoot RAW and then to select JPEG occasionally to use the lens corrections etc. but using INFO to get into the control menu that very action deselected the JPEG setting.

[Priyantha Bleeker]

Some suggestions:

- mRAW/sRAW like option, like on the higher-end Canon's, still havig a 'RAW' image but with lower MP for smaller sizes
- 12bit RAW option
- Lower ISO options, ISO 25 and ISO 50 would be great
- 1080 HD filming mode frame rates of 24, 25(like we have now) and 30, and for 720p also 60fps for great slow motion filming
- AutoFocus during filming, just like te AutoFocus during Live View.

[RonHendriks1966]

- More control over the movie function if possible manual control and some AF-function.
- In continu-Lo shooting with a e-dial changing the fps from a top of 7 fps to a slow 0,1 fps.

[AntY]

Auto rotating of the pictures during playback depending on how the camera is oriented. Just like the information normally visible on the LCD is rotated.

[kevinschoenmakers]

I've updated the first post.

Also, entries can be suggested again so we'll be able to see what's most wanted.

Keep 'm coming

[bobmaxja]

The problem some of them are not firmware related like the very low ISO
Keep dreaming

[panoguy]

- Mirror lock-up separate from the 2 sec. timer! (Been asking for this since the K10D!)
**The 645D has a nice method for this: set MLU, 1st shutter button press raises mirror, 2nd trips shutter, then mirror drops. If you use AEB, all brackets are shot before mirror drops. But $10k for the option?

- Quick-review zoom that centers on the AF point used. Combined with the setting for initial zoom amount, this would be a quick way to know if you nailed focus at the AF point by flipping the rear dial during insta-chimp! (Not sure, this may already be in the K-5 as that LV AF video had something like this...)

[kevinschoenmakers]

The problem some of them are not firmware related like the very low ISO
Keep dreaming

'Real' ISO is a question of hardware. Extended ISOs can be done by firmware though. After all it's just an underexposed image, right?

[kenyee]

My top wishes are tethering and 1080p/24.
I love the temporary blinkies idea...I usually turn them on, but models hate seeing that so I have to leave it off for most of a session only to find out that some photos have blown highlights :-P

I'd also like to be able to invert the focus selection mode...i.e., use the ok button to get to the functions instead of using the ok button to get to the focus point selector.

[kevinschoenmakers]

My top wishes are tethering and 1080p/24.
I love the temporary blinkies idea...I usually turn them on, but models hate seeing that so I have to leave it off for most of a session only to find out that some photos have blown highlights :-P

I can't really judge a photo when the blinkies are distracting me all the time, so I leave them off. But when I want to check for blown highlights it's a bit cumbersome to dive into the menu twice (on and then off again).

As far as I know, tethering involves hardware, so I'm leaving that one out.

[kittykat46]

I just want to make sure they get the reported Flash problems fixed....
I'm a frequent Bounce flash user.......super-duper High-ISO performance notwithstanding.....the camera is no good to me with a buggy flash...

[JackBak]

I'm still having a hard time with the "hardware doesn't allow tethering" they've got USB via the mini-USB connector, they even allow for different packet protocols (MSC or PTP). They had almost total control via tethering in the K10D -- they know what the circuit should be. It should be an extremely small amount of board real estate and parts count. I really would like to know why this is hardware problem.

[WerTicus]

more megapixels.