[raphtze]

fantastic info about the FF. only 2 months left in 2013.....

[Mistral75]

fantastic info about the FF. only 2 months left in 2013.....

...and 14 till the end of 2014...

[Alizarine]

-Much more WR lenses in the coming year, updates to several current lenses (way to go!). Some new lenses models. Also definitely a full frame for 2014.

So far the WR 55-300 is out, and there are nice pics of the upcoming DA Limited 20-40 WR zoom.... Yeah probably the FA Limiteds would be updated to HD DFA WR DC lenses (wishful thinking).

...and demand will skyrocket..so will prices

[Fontan]

Hm.... The dude knew nothing about DA 20-40 ltd and said FF next year. Methinks he was full of poop.

[PePe]

Well after spending many years in product marketing, the LAST people we would tell about real products in development is our own salesforce. Their job is to sell what we have to sell, not futures. We don't want that guy to say, "pssst, don't buy that K-3. There's a full frame camera coming out in 9 months or so."

I talked with a major distributor here in Helsinki early this year, must have been February or so.
He told me specifically that there would be two new DSLRs coming this year. First an entry-level model to be followed by a high-spec model late in the year. This is exactly what has happened.
Pentax seems to keep their distributors - or the management there- informed about the foreseeable future. After all, it makes sense as they also need to plan and prepare their activities in advance.

[Clarkey]

To the OP: Any discussion about mirrorless other than the Q system?

[BobSU]

I just came back from the Quebec city Photo Expo. It's a nice show with most of the serious brands. Sony had an immense kiosk, Canon and Nikon pretty big ones, Pentax smaller but quite nice.

I had a chance to talk with the guys there, when they learned I was an optical designer they were all quite eager to discuss and show me stuff.

I'll have images comparing the size of the AF-540 flashes (old and new), The new one is impressively smaller, the zoom head is more silent, and everything seems to operate faster.

I had a lot of time to test the K-3. I love it, a serious improvement over my K20D. It's heavier than I would have thought, but smaller. My Nikon friend was amazed that it could be so small. Live view AF is a breeze, never seen anything like it. Regular AF is lightning fast, about twice as fast as my K20D in those conditions. The menus are super intuitive, the numerous new AF modes are great. In particular, you can select a 3x3 grid of AF points and move it around. All the buttons are super intuitive and functional, the top LCD has a HUGE amount of info on it, it's all good.

I was able to test the HD 21mm and compare it with my SMC, I'll upload pictures later. Hard to tell from my camera's screen. The rep said the coatings were "40% better at letting light through". Apart from that they were the same. I don't really like the new lettering, seems cheaper, but that's just me.

Here's where it gets interesting. I asked a few questions. Here's the verbatim as I remember it.

-I saw on a forum this morning a leak about a new 20-40 limited zoom. Can you comment on this?

-I don't know, sorry, where did you see this?

-Pentaxforums. There's such a lens on your roadmap.

-The client roadmap is not the same as our internal roadmap. I'll look it up.

-What's on your internal roadmap then?

-Much more WR lenses in the coming year, updates to several current lenses (way to go!). Some new lenses models. Also definitely a full frame for 2014.

-REALLY? That's pretty huge news. People will go wild if that ahppens.

-It happens in 2014 except if they change what they tell us.

(Later) -How do you feel about the Ricoh takeover?

-It's a blessing. Hoya was like crossing a desert. Now there's momentum, the sales forces are growing, it's pretty exciting. We see good things ahead.

SOOOO... there you go. The guy knew his stuff, the competition, the products. Lotsa fun.

There were other kiosks of course, I did a short tour of them all. People whining at Pentax's lack of response to SDM issue should look at the Nikon D600 uproar. People get oil on their sensors, Nikon won't acknowledge the problem, the reps said it didn't exist, that there was no such thing, and lied outright about the repair procedure for an eventual defect. My friend was there to contradict him firsthand. So everything isn't green on the other side of the fence.

Thanks for that. I can't wait...

[monochrome]

(Later) -How do you feel about the Ricoh takeover?

-It's a blessing. Hoya was like crossing a desert. Now there's momentum, the sales forces are growing, it's pretty exciting. We see good things ahead.

SOOOO... there you go. The guy knew his stuff, the competition, the products. Lotsa fun.

All is developing as has been foretold.

Trust me. You will be .

[gazonk]

Yeah probably the FA Limiteds would be updated to HD DFA WR DC lenses (wishful thinking).

Wishful perhaps, but not unrealistic, IMHO.

[noVICE]

I for one welcome this new "spill the beans" approach to marketing. It gives me confidence in the brand and it leads me to believe that Ricoh is responding to consumer feedback. This may not be true of course, but what is true is I am buying more Pentax gear very soon.

[bdery]

Hm.... The dude knew nothing about DA 20-40 ltd and said FF next year. Methinks he was full of poop.

Knew nothing or couldn't tell me anything. Who knows. He was very nice, well-informed about the various products, already a master of the K-3.

To the OP: Any discussion about mirrorless other than the Q system?

I didn't think to ask.

Yeah probably the FA Limiteds would be updated to HD DFA WR DC lenses (wishful thinking). Wishful perhaps, but not unrealistic, IMHO.

It would make a lot of sense. The DA limited were recently updated, without WR, the * are already WR, the 18-55, 18-135, 50-200, 5-300 are WR. That leaves little except for the Fa limited.

[bdery]

Here are a few shots, at last:

Flashes (sorry for the poor AF, didn't notice it before)



ISO 6400 shots with the K-3





ISO 12800 with the K-3

[bdery]

Here is the comparison between the HD and SMC 21 LTD. The focus was poor on some of those shots, sorry. The K20D is at its limit handheld in these situations.

HD 21



SMC 21



HD 21



SMC 21



What does it prove? Not much I'm afraid. The SMC limited are already amazing in their own right. There seems to be slightly less CA in the out of focus areas with the HD, but really I might be imagining it. As I wrote before, the build is the same, I prefer the lettering of the SMC (the font on the new one looks slightly cheap, to tell the truth). The red ring has the same look as the green one (shiny, metallic-looking, etc).

It may be that with a 24 MP sensor, the difference becomes more important, and my humble opinion si that this is the reason why Pentax released the new versions, in order to really take advantage of that sensor. It would make sense.

[bdery]

I forgot to mention that the new flash was excellent. Really quick recycle time, good ergonomics, not a big departure from the original version but a few nice improvements. The led felt a bit low power, but maybe the general lighting didn't do it justice.

[dngr]

To my very inexperienced eye, it seems the HD coating produces a slightly cooler image versus the SMC/the colours, especially the reds, seem more muted with the HD