[Craig66]

I was originally waiting for this K1-ll to be released before i was going to go FF. But i couldn't resist 20% off the K1 late last year. Plus i needed a good chrissy present for myself

Now the MK-ll is out. I'm not sorry I went with the MK1. For a great price. I'm very happy with what it offer's.

I will be happy to stick with my K1 and K3-ll for the foreseeable future.

[Pentax_WA]

I'm sorry you feel that way, and I believe you are incorrect.

At another photo discussion forum, a place where Pentax is usually ignored, a thread was started by someone not me, and has received considerable responses, about the new hand-held pixel shift. A Pentax innovation being noticed by people who often don't even admit that Pentax exists.

I believe the 'accelerator' has the potential to revolutionize how we use photography.


I don't see these as 'defensive' at all.

I agree with the original author and disagree with you.
If you name Pentax's move an innovation, then how would you describe all the amazing new upgrades by other manufacture? I'm a die hard pentax fan, but also own another brand and I can tell you with confidence that Pentax isn't at innovative as what we advertise. Innovation isn't just about producing something new. One should be able to measure its ourcome. Is pixelshift more crucial for a photographer or blazingly fast AF with larger buffer size? Look what sony has done with their AF system and eye tracking feature. This is more productive and appealing to photographers than what pentax has done.
People may have noticed what you describe as pentax innovation, but it's not appealing enough for them to switch brands or use Pentax as a second system.
I know this forum is so biased towards pentax including myself, but truth needs to be said and heard. PENTAX has taken a very poor marketing and business strategy over the past few years. Pentax needs more revenue generated by non-pentax shooters than by its own fans in order to survive and keep up with today's photographer needs. Ricoh can not and will not invest in newer technology as we just witnessed, rebadging its current inventory and switching the main citcuit board.

[Tesla]

Someone better tell TowerJazz that Sony is telling everyone that's its built by them

Where did you hear that? I've only seen TowerJazz. It was designed in-house, but I don't think anyone knows for sure who is manufacturing the sensor.

[beachgardener]

It will be months yet until the real world tests and general usage reports on the performance of said camera appear, the early adopters will tell us if the shutter problem for one has been fixed in this II version, does sound like a good camera though.

[lesmore49]

From what I understand, that's not how Sony works. Every customer, including Sony itself, is treated as a separate partition and information is not directly shared between products. That means if Nikon got a 40MP sensor, then Pentax can ask to develop a 40MP sensor but they can't say "I want the one in the Nikon with these tweaks..."
While existing technology means the guys at Sony can potentially short cut the process, it is of no guarantee if Nikon paid for the development of specific technologies. It's the only way that Sony, which also has a camera business, can keep the business from other camera vendors for its imaging chips and have the volume to pay for the cost of the fabs.

Keep in mind Pentax(Ricoh) does not have the volume to pay for new sensors (both imaging and autofocus units) at the rate that Nikon or Canon can. New chips are exceedingly expensive to tape out these days.

I think you may have misunderstood me.

For awhile now Pentax and Nikon have been using Sony sensors. Pentax and Nikon buy their sensors in bulk, from Sony.

I didn't say or imply that...to quote you...that ..."Pentax can ask to develop a 40MP sensor but they can't say "I want the one in the Nikon with these tweaks..."

.

[rcolman]

Without wishing to speculate on the voices of these days, Ricoh has finally unveiled in detail the real novelties of the Pentax K1 MkII.

Ricoh Pentax Mk II PENTAX K-1 Mark II 35mm full-frame digital SLR camera: The new flagship model of the PENTAX K series, providing exceptional image quality and unprecedented performance?RICOH IMAGING

The K-1 is a great camera. The Mark II version offers almost nothing new - as noted in the "upgrade service" a new board and some software enhancements. I would have hoped for an updated sensor, but no. Not much after nearly two years. I would have put more money into expanding the FF lens line - which really needs it.

[Sandy Hancock]

....and The ListTM gets longer.

[david94903]

Upgrade is $550 USD: https://us.ricoh-imaging.com/images/KI_KII_Upgrade_Service.pdf

Product page: PENTAX K-1 MARK II

Sample photos: The Pentax K-1 Mark II Has Arrived & We Have Sample Photos To Share

Interesting about the upgrade option. I'm not sure I'd invest and additional $550 into my current $1700 K-1 camera body just to bring it up to the Mark II specs.

[Davidparis]

Am I the only one here to think it's a non-event? Everyone's smug for a very minor advance of the K-1... I don't see anything fundamentally revolutionary in these few new developments. Just the impression that pentax remains on a defensive position, and stagnates more than it advances. Sorry, for me I only see here a rather disturbing sign, open to you to see a outstanding spirit of innovation....

Also think that an infinitesimal update of the FF is not what most Pentax buyers wanted. This is disturbing, worrisome and disappointing (except of course to 29 people who were hoping for this...)

---------- Post added 02-22-2018 at 12:08 AM ----------

I was originally waiting for this K1-ll to be released before i was going to go FF. But i couldn't resist 20% off the K1 late last year. Plus i needed a good chrissy present for myself

Now the MK-ll is out. I'm not sorry I went with the MK1. For a great price. I'm very happy with what it offer's.

I will be happy to stick with my K1 and K3-ll for the foreseeable future.

The big question on the K-3 III is "when will the forseeable future occur" ?

[robjmitchell]

Also think that an infinitesimal update of the FF is not what most Pentax buyers wanted. This is disturbing, worrisome and diasppointing (except of course to 29 people who were hoping for this...)

Well my K3 now gives up two stops of ISO performance minimum to the K1ii, plus all the latest things found on the K3ii, KP and now hand held Pixel shift.
You do realise a huge number of people still use K5/3s and are drooling at the even better K1ii.

Meanwhile Nikon has not released an innovation in about ten years while Canon has sucky sensors because of their use of Contrast AF pixel to make the cameras more video friendly. The fact people now look to sigma (and formally Ziess) for high quality primes shows you how much Canon and Nikon have rested on their former laurels. The Mirroless guy need to keep innovating because their new tech was not competive until recently. Pentax just needs to get the new glass on the ground and they have a killer high IQ system. If they catch up with AF then all canon and Nikon have left is their exotic lens systems and marketing.

---------- Post added 02-22-2018 at 06:32 PM ----------

The K-1 is a great camera. The Mark II version offers almost nothing new - as noted in the "upgrade service" a new board and some software enhancements. I would have hoped for an updated sensor, but no. Not much after nearly two years. I would have put more money into expanding the FF lens line - which really needs it.

A new sensor wouldn’t deliver 1 stop of ISO improvement, while the Accelerator chip does. The fact that Ricoh has performed such a minor upgrade means that little R&D resources were spent while the Line kept running efficiently making cameras while we wait for other models to be ready. Sony is yet to release the next generation of aps-c chip and they are not suppling the 42mp chip to others at this point. It was a very smart move to improve their strength for minimal cost.

As a K3 owner I advoided the temptation of the K1, but this is testing my limits.

[kenspo]

Improved AF algorithms (all improvements helps)
Better ISO (crucial for me)
Better color reproduction (for me working in extreme LED lights its lovely)
Pixel Shift Resolution System II – you can use high-res mode without a tripod (nothing I use, but good stuff)

The first K-1 was good enough for me shooting the biggest rockstars in the world, both at stage with smoke, difficult lights and in studio...So I'm pretty sure K-1ii will do even a better job.

So to all you complainers, you really dont need a D5 to shoot your neighbors cat or flowers.

[RobA_Oz]

Ricoh runs its own race, which is obviously difficult for some people to accommodate. They don't do it in isolation, though it might appear so to some. We haven't seen a K01 or Q under their watch, which means they understand their main market better than previous owners of the Pentax brand. Having said that, I don't really understand who the new pixel-shift technology is aimed at, but I do recall a fair number of people here deriding the original version as being only good for static subjects and tripod mounts.

[ffking]

It would seem to me that Pentax are doing this because they can - and that's great - the mark ii offers new technology that will be the standard offering at no higher price than the original K-1 and therefore replace it by a slightly enhanced product rather than wait until they've improved everything and launch a new camera. What's not to like - especially as you can upgrade your existing K=1 - we often hear about Fuji offering ongoing software upgrades, hardware (even if paid for) is a step beyond that. And with Pentax cameras each incremental improvement slowly becomes the norm throughout most of the range, so it's a cumulative process. From previous examples, I would expect tis tech to bein the next high end APS-C, which will have more advanced features that will then be on the next FF - in a coup,e of years at the end of the normal FF model life-span.

[skierd]

I think this is the third Pentax DSLR to get a Mark II version, so it must be working for them better than the internet MBA commentators think it should. Major resigns can get pushed to every 5-ish years with solid hardware updates mid cycle so the cameras stays fresh... unlike the Canon 6D and 5D which linger or the Nikon D610 and D750 and D4 and Df and etc or the Fuji Xpro1 and XT-1 that lingered forever without any updates beyond firmware, if that.

Improved AF algorithms (all improvements helps)
Better ISO (crucial for me)
Better color reproduction (for me working in extreme LED lights its lovely)
Pixel Shift Resolution System II – you can use high-res mode without a tripod (nothing I use, but good stuff)

The first K-1 was good enough for me shooting the biggest rockstars in the world, both at stage with smoke, difficult lights and in studio...So I'm pretty sure K-1ii will do even a better job.

So to all you complainers, you really dont need a D5 to shoot your neighbors cat or flowers.

I’ll add that not that long ago a 1+ stop improvement in low light shooting, better autofocus, and better colors was worthy of a completely new camera as they were major achievements. In the past we assumed a lot of it came from newer sensors; therefore my assumption is we’ve reached a plateau in sensor tech and now it’s the rest of the hardware that’s the bottleneck. This update makes sense to me and offering the upgrade service to existing users is going above and beyond.

Something not mentioned yet... doesn’t this update make the K1ii the best low light camera currently available, bar none?

[LilithBaerchen]

So to all you complainers, you really dont need a D5 to shoot your neighbors cat or flowers.

Aaaah Kenspo - the bigger the rockstars the older (and slower) they are So you can´t compare them to the neighbor’s cat

/ironie


I hope to get my hands on a K1-II for concert shots, the changes sound promising (and yet I hoped they will pack in just a tiny bit more new stuff but hey, let’s hope for the next APS-C to get the fancy new things ^^)