[derekkite]

Talked to Henrys this morning, Canadian retailer with good Pentax offerings. I have both the Flucard and TC on order. For the TC, they said end of March delivery. The Flucard Pentax Canada is saying May.

Other markets may see them sooner, but Henrys Canada was the first to ship the K3.

[DDoram]

Better late than ever if they work as advertised?

Dale

[Cannikin]

FLUCARD FOR PENTAX 16GB??O-FC1????????????RICOH IMAGING

This official notice says the Flucard is going to be available on February 27 (presumably in Japan). I don't see how it could take until May to reach North America.

[Uluru]

Talked to Henrys this morning, Canadian retailer with good Pentax offerings. I have both the Flucard and TC on order. For the TC, they said end of March delivery. The Flucard Pentax Canada is saying May.

....

Holly cow ... 7 months after the camera?
Well, they definitely don't rush to please anyone but themselves.

---

Last edited by Uluru; 02-13-2014 at 06:33 PM.

[jatrax]

Well, they definitely don't rush to please anyone but themselves.

I suspect it has more to do with something not working correctly or at least not up to standards, than it does Ricoh not rushing. It would not surprise me to see the FLUCard canceled. The company they are working with does not have a good track record as far as I can tell and maybe they promised Ricoh more than they could deliver. It might be they are unable to overcome heating issues, or maybe it just does not work reliably.

[Uluru]

I suspect it has more to do with something not working correctly or at least not up to standards, than it does Ricoh not rushing. It would not surprise me to see the FLUCard canceled. The company they are working with does not have a good track record as far as I can tell and maybe they promised Ricoh more than they could deliver. It might be they are unable to overcome heating issues, or maybe it just does not work reliably.

We presume too much and allow them all sorts of excuses. Users should not be doing that.

Any failure in delivery of the Flu-card means that anything next coming from other DSLR manufacturers will render K-3 inadequate. Pray hard Nikon does not come out with D7200 or Canon with 7DII anytime soon. Momentum will be instantaneously lost. Excitement gone. Mirrorless system cameras already do surpass K-3 in connectivity, as they readily come with WiFi built in. Even Nikon's entry level DSLRs. Flu-card is the only way a Pentax flagship can operate wirelessly.

If I were Ricoh, I'd do the very best: if they already won't invest any money in their own WiFi solution, then that thing they have outsourced for less $ must work, and delivered in time.

They cannot allow, nor afford, to screw up on this.

After all, isn't it about time they do just one thing as specified, and in time?

[derekkite]

I don't excuse anyone. It is a luxury for me, something I would have used 3-4 times last year, and the cheap wireless remotes would serve. So I'm willing to wait.

When it was made apparent that it would be delayed last fall, I suggested that someone at Ricoh arranged a demo, the engineer showed up with a camera, phone and card. The manager said, no, here is my K3, my phone, and here is a retail packaged flucard. Show me. 15 minutes later the engineer left with a little bit less hide, and the whole thing was rewritten from scratch.

When I talked to Henrys in the fall the sales guy muttered something rude when asked about the people they were dealing with at Flu. I wouldn't be surprised if Pentax Canada is taking it slow to not take on a support headache and return loss. We shall see. My expectations are not high; if I can focus and trigger remotely I'd be happy; I carry my phone all the time and my cheap wireless remote is always where I am not.

---------- Post added 02-13-14 at 06:30 PM ----------

FLUCARD FOR PENTAX 16GB??O-FC1????????????RICOH IMAGING

This official notice says the Flucard is going to be available on February 27 (presumably in Japan). I don't see how it could take until May to reach North America.

Only two months. It was highly unusual for us to see the K3 first, in almost everything we are laggards. That is why many of us purchase from the US just to get things in a timely way.

[LaurenOE]

I thought the "Ricoh Brain Trust" could fix/do anything!
I mean, they put "Ricoh" on the back of the K3, so they must be top-notch!?!

If I was Pentax/Ricoh, I'd make a tethering option work A.S.A.P.

[froeschle]

Report of a FLU-Card (preordered [local dealer in Germany] and delivered [2-22-2014]): FLU-Card / Pentax O-FC1

[Jenso]

Yeah, froeschle, that's been written by me.

I'm very happy having got one of the first cards, obviously - and it works great. Just the way I wanted. It's possible to tether my K-3 by iPhone, iPad and Mac.

To be precise:
it's not necessary to find an App (or to use a certain OS), you only have to enter the flucard's wireless LAN and on it goes: start your browser (Chrome or Safari) and there you are…

[devorama]

That's great news. The review doesn't seem to mention the resolution or refresh rate. But looks to be very functional.

[KevinE]

Interesting product. What other DSLR manufacturers offer something similar ?

[Jenso]

As to resolution (and some other impressions), I shot some examples via MacBook:

1. These are the optional resolutions shown:

2. LiveView on MacBook:

3. ImageView on MacBook:

4. Same Image, imported on that Mac and watched by Apple's Aperture:

[devorama]

Is there a way to magnify part of the image to fine tune focusing? Is that focus peaking there or just artifacts from the low resolution?

[Daedbird]

I sure hope that the FLU arrives in the US before May.....One of the reasons I bought the K3 was for this feature, and going five months after I bought my camera seems like not worth the wait