[eddie1960]

unfortunately in a lot of areas the canon t2i still out-specs this (currently at the same street price in Toronto as pre-orders on the Kr body only, but with the 18-55 is kit lens to get me started 869.99 cdn), I've been trying to decide whether to stay with Pentax or start moving to Canon. Canon has more Megapixel, better HD though admittedly less FPS and less AF points (though apparently fast in almost all scenarios) but realistically i don't shoot motorsports so 6 fps is no dealbreaker
on the other hand i do get called on for video and 24 frame 1080p is a lot more attractive than 720 p and a spiffy red body. if the extended iso is good then that is a wash, but the t2i is pretty formidable on it's low light performance. the one thing that's held me back so far is the lenses i already have, but that is getting harder to justify. hopefully the k5 wows me enough to spend the extra bucks (though then i have to take a hard look vs the competing Nikon and Canon- Pentax has great backward lens compatibility but the used market for nice lenses from Nikon and Canon dwarfs what is out there from Pentax)
meantime I'll use what i have, continue to shoot film for my fine art projects and rent a t2i and lens when i need the 1080p video for a shoot

[knoxploration]

IR transfer is already out of date.. because there's bluetooth. why didn't they implemented that? is it that much more expensive?

You might be surprised how much it can cost. You can either design your product using somebody else's Bluetooth device which has already been certified as an end product (in which case they pay all the costs, and then pass them along to their customers), or you can use a bluetooth module that's not an end product -- in which case you can pay thousands or tens of thousands of dollars on SIG membership, required testing and certification, licensing fees, etc. There are free SIG memberships with increased licensing fees, or paid memberships with cost based on your company revenues, potentially meaning you pay tens of thousands just for the membership, but with lower licensing fees.

Don't know how IrSimple works in terms of IrDA membership / fee structure, but I believe it to be at least somewhat lower cost, hence why it's still around.

[shadmanaj]

I have many Pentax cameras, the latest being the K-x, which I love.

There were a few upgrades I would have liked, but no big deal .. then came the K-r

Well I think Pentax has a winner here !

1) an updated or new sensor of the same MP, I love the 25,600 ISO, and I hope DR is great too !
2) an improved AF layout with SAFOX 1X
3) Illuminated AF points
4) 6FPS
5) Both AA's and LiOn batteries (Yahoo)
6) 921k dot screen (very nice)
7) Images transferred thru infrared
8) HDR in camera alignment (what a great feature)
9) Faster AF
10) No more pre flash, infrared light for flash (it is about time)
11) And more features I forgot :- )

With this intro, I'm taking a serious look at what to get rid of in my Pentax arsonal, I first though want to see the quality of the camera !

Do I get rid of my K200D's although they are weather sealed, they are slow as molasses and the sensor is does not hold a candle to my K20D's, and they are not on the same planet as my K-x.


Hummmmmm ... what to do ?


wll

Don't forget the K-5! Just wait 11 more days before you start selling stuff. B-)
AJ

[Mystic]

There is some improvements with IR transmision protocol.

Infrared Data Association - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Welcome to IrDA

thanks for enlightement

[sjwaldron]

It's funny how people manage to find some feature that they must have to prevent them from picking up a seemingly solid well featured camera. Especially features that would add cost or make the camera physically larger.

I think the k-r has been nicely targeted for:
- Urban photography. Try walking on the street or in buildings with a 7D or FF camera and then try with a new K-r and 35mm DA-L in the color of your choice besides black. I think there would be a noticeable difference with how people would perceiving you there.


- Fun casual photography with a pretty portable tool.

My color choices so far for something like that PENTAX K-r site:
Silver K-r/35mm + dark brown grip
Navy K-r/35mm + teal grip
dark brown K-r/35mm + tan ("pale orange?")

Considering I have a K-7, if I were buying a camera it would most likely be the upgrade from that class though. The only two colors I would buy in that would be black or silver metal.


I do think Pentax would be smart to get the full color range outside of Japan and also try their hardest to get the K-r into retail stores.

[Mystic]

You might be surprised how much it can cost. You can either design your product using somebody else's Bluetooth device which has already been certified as an end product (in which case they pay all the costs, and then pass them along to their customers), or you can use a bluetooth module that's not an end product -- in which case you can pay thousands or tens of thousands of dollars on SIG membership, required testing and certification, licensing fees, etc. There are free SIG memberships with increased licensing fees, or paid memberships with cost based on your company revenues, potentially meaning you pay tens of thousands just for the membership, but with lower licensing fees.

Don't know how IrSimple works in terms of IrDA membership / fee structure, but I believe it to be at least somewhat lower cost, hence why it's still around.

well I did not have all that process in my my mind. Anyhow.. only time will tell if this move of pentax will be justified or even these money that pentax spent on the IRsimple were spent not wiselly.

thanks for the explanation though..

[Kunzite]

What KR lacks for a mid-range camera
[...]
(2) Tilted LCD

What are you talking about? The K-r has a tilted LCD! Here, let me show (image originating from DPReview; for Adam&moderators: please remove/delete if uploading it instead of linking it's not appropriate. But I think they won't mind...).

Attached Images

 

[Ash]

Cool! Now that's a feature the others don't have !

[Kunzite]

I must say, that picture may have been slightly altered

[wll]

The more I read and see on its ISO performance the more I like it, this thing could be an awesome low light machine !

I love the new in camera HDR feature (without a tripod, very cool for those of us who do architecture or landscapes and don't want to carry a tripod around all day, fantastic).

Also, if you notice it is a little bigger than the Kx and may be more rugged to boot ?


wll

[pinholecam]

It's funny how people manage to find some feature that they must have to prevent them from picking up a seemingly solid well featured camera. Especially features that would add cost or make the camera physically larger.

I think the k-r has been nicely targeted for:
- Urban photography. Try walking on the street or in buildings with a 7D or FF camera and then try with a new K-r and 35mm DA-L in the color of your choice besides black. I think there would be a noticeable difference with how people would perceiving you there.


- Fun casual photography with a pretty portable tool.

My color choices so far for something like that PENTAX K-r site:
Silver K-r/35mm + dark brown grip
Navy K-r/35mm + teal grip
dark brown K-r/35mm + tan ("pale orange?")

Considering I have a K-7, if I were buying a camera it would most likely be the upgrade from that class though. The only two colors I would buy in that would be black or silver metal.


I do think Pentax would be smart to get the full color range outside of Japan and also try their hardest to get the K-r into retail stores.

Well said! Can't agree more on this.
Its a great camera by itself. Furthermore, its covers all the ground that Kx (already a fantastic performer) left out. So what is there to do when you have just improved on an already great performing camera??

I'd certainly wait for the info on the K5 if I wanted a K20, K7 type camera, which the Kr is not supposed to be replacements of

[aleonx3]

Well said! Can't agree more on this.
Its a great camera by itself. Furthermore, its covers all the ground that Kx (already a fantastic performer) left out. So what is there to do when you have just improved on an already great performing camera??

I'd certainly wait for the info on the K5 if I wanted a K20, K7 type camera, which the Kr is not supposed to be replacements of

If I would have to start all over again, the K-5 and K-r would be an awesome combo as primary and backup camera along with my FA limited lenses and a few DA limited primes.

[Eruditass]

unfortunately in a lot of areas the canon t2i still out-specs this (currently at the same street price in Toronto as pre-orders on the Kr body only, but with the 18-55 is kit lens to get me started 869.99 cdn), I've been trying to decide whether to stay with Pentax or start moving to Canon. Canon has more Megapixel, better HD though admittedly less FPS and less AF points (though apparently fast in almost all scenarios) but realistically i don't shoot motorsports so 6 fps is no dealbreaker
on the other hand i do get called on for video and 24 frame 1080p is a lot more attractive than 720 p and a spiffy red body. if the extended iso is good then that is a wash, but the t2i is pretty formidable on it's low light performance. the one thing that's held me back so far is the lenses i already have, but that is getting harder to justify. hopefully the k5 wows me enough to spend the extra bucks (though then i have to take a hard look vs the competing Nikon and Canon- Pentax has great backward lens compatibility but the used market for nice lenses from Nikon and Canon dwarfs what is out there from Pentax)
meantime I'll use what i have, continue to shoot film for my fine art projects and rent a t2i and lens when i need the 1080p video for a shoot

Choose based on the system. Do you want maximum features with older vintage lenses like IS, metering, focus confirm and trap-af? Smaller lighter current lenses?

Or do you want a wider array of current lenses, better flash / accessories system? Canon can also adapt many more mount types than Pentax due to its flange distance, but doesn't have as many features with them.

Unless you're printing at very large poster sizes, the better DR and noise performance of even the K-x will probably be better for your prints.

My friend has a T2i, mostly for video, while I have a K-x. If you absolutely need 1080P now, sure, go for the T2i, but every system will have 1080p soon enough (and I mean 720p is often more than enough).

He says that when (not if) Pentax throws in manual video and no AGC, Pentax will be killer for video simply due to its in-body IS. Even with older MF primes (he loves these for video), you will get IS which will be like a steadycam at your leisure.

[er1kksen]

The only major advantage I see to the T2i is the superior video, followed by the slightly higher resolution and perhaps slightly better AF. The K-r sensor should be superior in everything but resolution, and aside from the AF (maybe) the K-r outperforms it in every measure, with 6 fps being the notable highlight. The video on the T2i is impressive, but I'd rather have the K-r for taking pictures, which is generally what I do. Seems like a no-brainer to me unless you really need something in EF mount.

[JoepLX3]

I don't care too much about video (next to Full HD also higher frame rate on lower resolutions would be nice).

I am happy it doesn't have tiltable LCD - breakable...

The metering is a little outdated compared to competitor
- My main concern is stabilization effeciency (compared to K-5/7 addressing rotation and Nikon/Canon in lens stabilization)