Originally posted by falconeye Ray,
thanks for the link but I beg to disagree.
The layout seems to be the standard for metering stuff. Pentax, in their patent, describes a way around an earlier 2003 Canon patent (
US 7595475 B2). IMHO, Pentax does it the Canon way. The Canon patent even describes a 7x9 metering sensor with 21 embedded colorimetric sensors while, I believe, Pentax uses 7x11 metering sensors with 11 embedded colorimetric sensors. They patented another way to do it (separating both sensors) in order to avoid Canon claims but I think they didn't use it in the SAFOX+ system. Heck, they may just use their own patent to lower any license fee to Canon
In their patent, Pentax honors the necessity to measure color at every AF point. The Samsung device may or may not be able to do this: It could create a rainbow image of the scene which may be good enough to determine AF point color. Therefore the Samsung patent may be a way around the Canon patent which remains the most obvious way to do it. But the K-5 lacks the diffractor plate which is at the heart of the Samsung patent (I only see an IR cut filter which is normally used to replicate the AF module IR cut filter's behaviour). So no, I think Pentax does it the Canon way rather than the Samsung way (and does it matter, really?).
As a side note. I notice the Canon patent uses much simpler graphics. The work spent into preparing those patent documents probably is overblown.
Thanks for the comments.
Camera and autofocus apparatus
It looks like Oly pre-dates the Canon and Pentax work with a color sensor feeding back color temp infor to the AF system to correct the wavelength focus error issue.
Maybe they are all working around (and catching up to) Oly in this area? Either way, the issue is the same and the solution of applying a correction basd upon sensing color temp seems also to be consistent, so there really should be no reason this
design concept cannot be made to work properly by Pentax.
One wonders why the long delay on a K5 fix given that?
I look forward to comparing a K-7 that is on its way to me to my K20 and the K5.
Edited to add: None of this matters, including all of the testing. The design is what it is, and Pentax will agree that there is a problem and fix it or not no matter what theories we dream up or discuss. The only thing that matters is sales revenue numbers. If Pentax perceives that the K5 revenue is being hurt enough by this, then they
might address it. I am fast running out of faith on that point, however.
Ray