[Gimbal]

How soon people forget, the K-5 pretty much blew away every other APS-c on the planet in DR and some other features. At that point Pentax engineers came up with a camera that was simply the best at what it did. There is simply no reason to say Pentax engineers can't do that again, especially since they already did it once.

Yes, and I believe we all expect the image quality to be top notch in the new models as well. Innovative usage of the SR system is also something we have come to expect.

But first class AF system? Not likely.
First class flash system? Probably not.

We don’t know what the K1 will be capable of but it is highly unlikely that they all of a sudden leapfrogs everyone and become masters in fields they have never excelled in before. It COULD happen, but I don't expect it.

[derekkite]

I forgot about AF-C on Pentax DSLRs, I so rarely use it. In that case the AF tracking abilities of the D5* will smoke just about everything on the market for years to come. As things stand the D4 and 400mm f/2.8G lock on moving subjects with with uncanny accuracy, even with a 2X extender and the max aperture limited to f/5.6. The 1DX With the EF 200mm f/1.8L is also very fast. This isn't just about AF speed, it is also about customization of the AF module parameters, type of AF points used in the AF array and being able to configure different AF patters to suit the subject. Have none of you ever heard of the circle of fire AF configuration?



There is little point in comparing Canon/Nikon to Pentax - both have very different design philosophies and corporate goals.

*Except for perhaps the D500 which has an inherently wider AF field to work with, and thus will undoubtedly be a favorite among wildlife and BIF photographers.

My theory about the delays are that a Ricoh top manager called the Pentax FF development folks and told them to bring one over. They showed up with the 70-200 and a production ready version. The manager had a Canon and Nikon and Sony body in the same target price range, his kids and dogs. Nice day, lets go run around.

After a few hours the kids were tired, the dogs sleeping and the engineers looking for a tanto. The production resources were reallocated to 645 and k3ii, and orders to wring out another generation of improvements over the next few months. Six months is an eternity when applied to finishing and optimizing. Put a smart developer on an almost ready firmware codebase and lots of corner cases get sorted out, bottlenecks smoothed out.

Call it a realignment within the corporate culture. Pentax being called upon to up their game and given resources to do it. The k3ii issues and the effects on sales results probably caused some vigorous umm verbal exchanges.

[normhead]

These two cameras are quite specialist cameras...

I have to say, when I look through the thousands of images I take each year, and look at how many of them needed faster than Pentax AF, it's a very small percentage, for BiF shooters, maybe it's different, but no camera made today has fast enough AF to track my Jays and Chickaees, I can't even track them in my viewfinder, so even that is limited to shooters with wide open spaces and birds in predictable flight patterns, big enough to have a predictable glide path. How much more you can accomplish with the best Nikon AF compared to what you can accomplish with Pentax AF tends to be greatly exaggerated.

And for BiFs, I wondering about taking single frames from 4k video as the next big thing.

[bertwert]

but no camera made today has fast enough AF to track my Jays and Chickaees,

It's hard to track them with just your eyes!

[Digitalis]

for BiFs, I wondering about taking single frames from 4k video as the next big thing.

Remember, most cameras are restricted to 30/60FPS with 4k, good luck finding a frame without blur, or rolling shutter effects. Global shutters should be the next big thing, as it is a technology that has tangible benefits for video and stills*

*because it eliminates rolling shutter effects and the need for synchronizing flash with physical shutter curtains.

[Kunzite]

Ricoh Imaging is a small stand alone company within the bigger Ricoh organisation. They have limited resources on R&D. They have to fund it within their own organisation.

As part of the Ricoh Group, Ricoh Imaging can benefit from R&D done in another division; one example (given in an interview) being the "clarity enhancement technology".

[pathdoc]

How soon people forget, the K-5 pretty much blew away every other APS-c on the planet in DR and some other features. At that point Pentax engineers came up with a camera that was simply the best at what it did. There is simply no reason to say Pentax engineers can't do that again, especially since they already did it once.

This is, I think, what we're all hoping for, the D5's magnificent specs notwithstanding. Most people will never go to the places the D5 is capable of taking them; why should they cough up the money for it? I've heard $6500 quoted, and I'm not even sure that includes glass. Right now we're expecting the worst case sticker price for the K-1 as $3000 US body-only, so add $1300 for the DFA 24-70 and $2300 for the D-FA*70-200 (both prices from B&H) and you are only just over. Which do YOU think a first-time full-framer will buy?

Pentax has never produced one camera that was better at everything than every other camera, but then, neither has anyone else. However, it's almost a given, Pentax is going to produce a camera that's better than any other camera a few things even if it's just a better compromise in the feature set for some applications, without being top dog in any one of those features.... and that's all you can ask of any camera.

I don't ask for the best at anything or everything. I ask for good enough to be the best at something, and Pentax has always given us that.

This is why, back in the days when it was still competitive, the F-4 Phantom sold so well - not best at anything, but good enough at everything. And those who needed one airplane to do everything naturally bought it.

Also, by the time you are dropping $6500 on a full-frame camera, if you don't need the whizbang speed and stupid-high ISO, the lowest level of medium format starts to feel approachable. Say hello to the Pentax 645 series...

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Last edited by pathdoc; 01-08-2016 at 09:44 AM.

[bertwert]

I've heard $6500 quoted, and I'm not even sure that includes glass.

No glass at that price.

[reh321]

And for BiFs, I wondering about taking single frames from 4k video as the next big thing.

A couple of years ago, I was at a big box store when a saleskid in a blue shirt told me that all cameras get their burst mode pictures by plucking frames out of the video stream. When I asked him about my 2008 Canon Rebel, which did burst but not video, I got an even stranger answer.

[bertwert]

A couple of years ago, I was at a big box store when a saleskid in a blue shirt told me that all cameras get their burst mode pictures by plucking frames out of the video stream.

Kids these days they don't know anything, hey wait a moment...

When I asked him about my 2008 Canon Rebel, which did burst but not video, I got an even stranger answer.

What was the answer?

[normhead]

Kids these days they don't know anything, hey wait a moment...

I'm going to be nice this time Berty, but don't push it.

[Imp]

Kids these days they don't know anything, hey wait a moment...

You and me both, clueless

[reh321]

What was the answer?

To my ears it was gibberish, and I'm not good at memorizing what are random noises to me.

[D1N0]

So we had 4k all along

[Parallax]

I'm going to be nice this time Berty, but don't push it.

Noooooooooo, Norm. Say it aint so!