I went to CP+ on Saturday, so here is a report my visit. You can already see pictures of what was exhibited on other threads and websites, so I won’t waste my time repeating that. I’ll focus on my impressions and things I was told personally at the booths.
CP+ 2016
The show was bigger than in previous years. It was still in the Pacifico Yokohama exhibition centre, but they separated the photo exhibitions into a hall at the end of the remarkable new ship terminal pier in Yokohama. The building has this really complex undulating wooden decking, and even when you are in the hall, the floor just rises up like the side of a valley to meet the ceiling. Even in the absence of any exhibition, it’s worth a visit if you're in Yokohama with an interest in modern architecture.
The Ricoh booth
It was very busy compared to previous years. Of course, there's good reason for that.
- There was very little focus on APS-C models, 645 or Q. The focus was all on the K-1 and Ricoh compacts (Theta, WG and GR).
- I tried the latest version of the VR app for the Theta. I was pretty impressed by the speed of the head tracking and the way that you could select images by looking at little photo spheres that appeared to be floating in front of you.
- They had a counter with the WG-M2. I don’t know much about this kind of camera, but it seemed a bit smaller and better made than the existing one.
- I complained last year about the lack of variety in the photography shown at Ricoh - there was too much landscape and not much else. This year there was a better variety, perhaps because the target for the K-1 is broader than the 645z. They had some large prints from the K-1 taken with the limited primes. Note that the incredibly vibrant and detailed image that Barney Britton is looking at 2:20 in this DPR video was taken with an FA43 f5.0 and showed no weakness in the corners close up. I was peering at it as closely as he was for a while.
CP+ 2016: Pentax K-1 past and present: Digital Photography Review
There was another print of similar size taken with an FA31 at f4.0 which was also very good. I think people are worrying too much about the performance of old lenses.
- They have finally made a new lens catalogue, and I picked one up. The FA 31/35/43/50/77 are still in the catalogue. It’s available from their website.
(Direct link to a 15mb file)
http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/japan/support/catalog/pdf/lenses_accessories.pdf K-1
I had to wait in line to get to see the K-1, but fortunately, I was free to look at the camera for a while with the help of a very enthusiastic Ricoh rep. The DFA 28-105 was attached. Basically, it is a very impressive camera.
- Everything about the handling of the camera feels just as you’d expect from a Pentax. The new dial system on top is very easy to use. The screen may be complicated behind, but that isn't a concern for the user. It is really easy to just pull out and position it as you want, and it feels more natural than the swing-out type. The lighting is also cool. Actually, the camera didn’t feel much bigger than a K-3 to me. The shutter sound was perhaps a bit louder than a K-3, but not a horrible clattery sound.
- Pixel shift is really good. I was able to take pictures of the exhibition floor handheld, with the camera applying the pixel shift resolution enhancement to the parts that weren’t moving, while detecting the people and using the image from a single shot for those parts of the image. The rep confirmed that the SR is still active while the pixel shift is working. He said that it should be good for handheld shooting in a lot of situations as long as you keep to a relatively high shutter speed.
- I asked about the sensor and ISO performance. According to the rep, the K-1 is at ISO 12,800 like the K-5 IIs is at 3200. The base ISO is 100 and Ricoh does not offer ISO expansion. It is exactly the same part as in the D810, but Nikon uses the sensor outside the manufacturer’s recommended ISO range, while Ricoh won’t do that. The reason why the K-1 is about one stop cleaner (he had images to show this) than the D810 is Ricoh’s improved “engine”.
Third-party lenses
- I had renewed interest in the Tamron stand, because there is a chance that the lenses they have could be released as Pentax lenses. I thought the 85mm f1.8 was a nice product. It seems to have plenty of subject isolation while still being small and light. I asked whether Tamron would make these in Pentax mount and the response what they are “calculating”, which I interpret to mean they are considering whether they could make money on it.
- At Sigma, I tried to ask how they decide whether to release lenses in K-mount, and pointed out that they had released the 35mm f1.4 in K-mount while Pentax had a number of 35mm lenses, but they haven’t released the wide angles that are missing in the Pentax line-up. The rep I spoke to just said that there were no immediate plans to release the new lenses in K-mount. On the subject of the 50-100 f1.8, I tried that out on a Sigma SD1 DSLR. It is huge, but not quite as heavy as I’d feared. The focusing was horrible, but I’m not sure if that’s a lens thing or the body. I was left rather unimpressed with the fast zooms. They don’t actually zoom much, so they seem to me like an awkward compromise between the convenience of a zoom and the quality of a prime.
- I asked Cosina and Kenko-Tokina about K-mount, but unfortunately they seem to have no interest at the moment.
Other Brands
I had a quick look at the other booths, but I have limited interest in the big cameras. I’m considering other brands for a small camera to take with me on business trips.
- Sigma Quattro - I looked at this, because it is somewhat similar in concept to the K-01. It looks like a very serious camera. It’s bigger than I thought, but that is probably for the best given how huge Sigma lenses are. As usual, the prints from Foveon looked excellent.
- Nikon DL compacts - I wanted to try these but I would have had to queue for a long time, so I gave up. I’m quite interested in the wide one. I was able to see some large prints from the cameras that satisfied me that they are very capable. I’d be even more interested if I could get one that handled like a GR.
- Canon G7X Mark II - Something about the way this feels was a lot nicer than the mark one. It’s really dense and has nice controls. It’s on my shortlist when the price comes down.