[twitch]

What about video? Any one know if we're getting Full HD on the K-5 II?

no change from K-5 which already had HD (1080/25p)

[mee]

Wouldn't it be nice if Pentax had the same 3rd party support as the big guys?

yes!

[les3547]

I'm thinking that perhaps the Pentax/Ricoh team sat down and worked really hard to come-up with a product strategy that would meet the available resources and deadline for the show.

To me, that's the only explanation that makes sense. Ricoh has been in business long enough to understand customer expectations . . . they just didn't want to have nothing at all to offer for Photokina. To develop a camera that is destined to be Pentax's flagship—whether APS-C, FF, or both—takes time. I think most would agree that it's better to have it done right than fast.

[7samurai]

Do yourself a favor...look up Nikon prices for their full frame lenses and look up Pentax DA* lens prices. I think you will see that you can get a full frame Nikon Kit for not much more than a High End Pentax kit. Especially if you go third party.
Nikon full frame glass being a lot more expensive than Pentax is a myth.

The thing is Nikon has a lot more choices so you just have to know what you want and do research.

I think that's more true now since the Pentax price increases and Nikon offering some less expensive glass.

[ENicolas]

Do yourself a favor...look up Nikon prices for their full frame lenses and look up Pentax DA* lens prices. I think you will see that you can get a full frame Nikon Kit for not much more than a High End Pentax kit. Especially if you go third party.
Nikon full frame glass being a lot more expensive than Pentax is a myth.

The thing is Nikon has a lot more choices so you just have to know what you want and do research.

I can't afford the DA* line, either! The main reason for going with Pentax is the quality of the camera body at the lower price point. But it is frustrating seeing newer third party lenses and accessories being made for Nikon, Canon, and Sony and not for Pentax. The lower-end Pentax lenses are serviceable and fairly good quality for the price point. The lower-end Nikkor stuff doesn't seem to review well, and Canon's stuff is all over the map!

No, the FF 800E is a "dream machine" only unless one is wealthy or making a living at photography - and I'm neither. I appreciate Pentax for their commitment to a quality product at a lower price. I guess this kind of slow, incremental upgrade is the way they maintain that. They do seem to be more into refinement than chasing the bleeding edge.

The only real reason I have an itch for FF is I mainly shoot wide-angle landscapes, so I'm always chasing resolution and sharpness. In the APS-C world the K-5 is about the best one can get for that.

[7samurai]

no change from K-5 which already had HD (1080/25p)

I was hoping for 1080p/30. I just don't like the 25 frame rate when everything else i shoot is 30 frames per sec.

[Ex Finn.]

I was hoping for 1080p/30. I just don't like the 25 frame rate when everything else i shoot is 30 frames per sec.

Rest of the world / most, has 50 hertz electrics so 25p is ok to them. We are the oddballs.

[rvannatta]

The description of the 560mm sounds like music to my ears but not the price.

You should be able to hand focus the A series 600 several times for the price differential. Indeed I spent much of the year wondering
if I had bought a pig in a poke for getting the FA 600 /f4, but I don't feel so nervous now.

[rvannatta]

I think that's more true now since the Pentax price increases and Nikon offering some less expensive glass.

You have captured precisely why I bet my money on Pentax over 40 years ago and haven'et waivered. They have good glass at good prices. It's no wonder that the 3rd party makers stay away from Pentax for the most part. the 3rd party stuff only sells if it can
substanitally undersell the name brand. It's a lot easier to undersell an over priced canikon than it is a more value priced Pentax.

I've owned a few 3rd party lenses over time and have learned my lesson with them.... cheaper to buy, ok to use, trash barrel when
done with them. Conversely, the name brand ---as pentax has managed the screw mount and K mount family has never required
dumping the lenes in a barrel, and have maintained enough compatibility that I've always been able to get reasonable prices
for the older generation, as i've updated my lens family from screw mount to K mount, to K-A mount, to FA mount to (in some instances DA mounts.)

Pentax is even considerate enough to include corrections for Chromatic abberations for the often long out of production FA series lenses even though the possiblity of correcting for that was unknown and not done during the era when those lenses were manufactured.
to me, that is class act.

[pentaxinator]

I would say the K-5 II is not the succesor of the K-5, its an updated version. They needed to release something at this photokina, but did not have the time to make a proper new flagship. Expect big announcements (24mp APC-S) at C+ next year, and full frame(and the lenses to go with it) at next photokina.

[littledrawe]

You should be able to hand focus the A series 600 several times for the price differential. Indeed I spent much of the year wondering
if I had bought a pig in a poke for getting the FA 600 /f4, but I don't feel so nervous now.

Yes I am happy with the 600mm. I just like the way that write up reads. I know this isn't the fastest lens out there but at least we have something to offer in that range now (or when it actually is available) retail. f5.6 is the new f2.8 with the high ISO capabilities so it really isn't that big of a deal that it doesn't have the same exact specs as a canikon. I just hope it performs as good as it sounds so people will stop talking about what it looks like on paper and start talking about what it can produce.
Good that you are happy with the FA 600, post some photos from it when you can.

[rvannatta]

So the $7,000 lens gets DC, and the consumer super zoom gets SDM, even though whe it was introduced DC was meant to be for the cheap lenses. I guess Pentax figured out what has been known on this forum for a while

But notice that neither one appears to support the now obsolete 'screw drive. One can suspect that Pentax is done introducing screw drive lenses. I'm proud of them for apparently adding chromatic abberation correction support for ALL FA lenses as compred to just the FA ltd. in the original K-5.

on edit: Changed from 'screw mount to screw drive---what I should have said.

[Clinton]

$7000 is the MSRP? So we can count on this being around $6k?

Yeah it's spendy, Nikkor 600/4? $9,300 on amazon, Cannon? $13,000.

Hot damn is our glass cheap, and weather sealed to boot.

Mostly, what this offers is a way for a serious Pentax shooter who wants one day to go super-telephoto, or ends up going on a safari, the ability to procure one of these lenses. They wont sell a lot, but they haven't priced it to sell a lot.

[ironlionzion]

Clinton: "I own a 250-600, 600/4, 1200/8. New 560? I'll take it!"

[ElJamoquio]

I would say the K-5 II is not the succesor of the K-5, its an updated version. They needed to release something at this photokina, but did not have the time to make a proper new flagship. Expect big announcements (24mp APC-S) at C+ next year, and full frame(and the lenses to go with it) at next photokina.

I agree until the last point. Next photokina is in 2014.