[mee]

If you have a pre-conceived positive idea of a camera brand, you are going to get the most out of it, and you tell yourself that Pentax is not good you are never going to make the most out of any Pentax setup. It all starts in the mind, only a very small part is true if true at all. Some people are going to have talent and take amazing photographs with poor equipment, much less equipment than what Pentax has in catalog. Other people will know all the specifications, will have read all the reviews, will own the camera from the award winning camera brand, but their photographs will not trigger a single emotion, mostly boring without any interest. My point was, in all of your comments, sadness transpire, this is not going to get you any happy photo shooting, no matter how many times you switch brands, never, ever.

I have heard very similar notions on music production forums. It isn't the tools it's the artist (that matters). After years and years of making due with freeware and low cost products, and being frustrated with the outcome, I discovered this type of thinking to be... nonsense. Once I got into commercial products, my art improved several times over easily. Because the commercial products were designed with features that aided commercial production. Sure, if you don't know how to use the gear, it doesn't matter what you use... ones output will likely still be poor (relatively speaking).

But if you do know what you're doing, the better gear will improve your workflow and output. I know this first hand and I wish I hadn't listened to people spouting what you're spouting here as I did for so long, because it damaged my work for very long. While it is true the artist's vision and abilities do indeed matter, the tools significantly matter too.

On the photo side, everytime I've upgraded gear, my output has improved as well. New gear with new abilities give me new opportunities as well as the ability to capture what I could already even easier.



We should be collectively pushing Ricoh to give us higher competitive products. Yet it seems more often we've resorted to shaming and dismissing the dissenting views here on the forum and apologizing for the weakness in the product lineup. While I can understand reading those can be tiresome, those that rage against them are not helping either..

[LightBug]

I have heard very similar notions on music production forums. It isn't the tools it's the artist (that matters). After years and years of making due with freeware and low cost products, and being frustrated with the outcome, I discovered this type of thinking to be... nonsense. Once I got into commercial products, my art improved several times over easily. Because the commercial products were designed with features that aided commercial production. Sure, if you don't know how to use the gear, it doesn't matter what you use... ones output will likely still be poor (relatively speaking).

But if you do know what you're doing, the better gear will improve your workflow and output. I know this first hand and I wish I hadn't listened to people spouting what you're spouting here as I did for so long, because it damaged my work for very long. While it is true the artist's vision and abilities do indeed matter, the tools significantly matter too.

On the photo side, everytime I've upgraded gear, my output has improved as well. New gear with new abilities give me new opportunities as well as the ability to capture what I could already even easier.



We should be collectively pushing Ricoh to give us higher competitive products. Yet it seems more often we've resorted to shaming and dismissing the dissenting views here on the forum and apologizing for the weakness in the product lineup. While I can understand reading those can be tiresome, those that rage against them are not helping either..

My question would be what can’t you do with Pentax that can be done with others? And why haven’t you switched if you need the feature offered by the other brand? It seems simpler to switch or run two systems than getting Ricoh to do more than what they are willing to do currently. They are still sorting out their finances and don’t have cash cows to subsidize the camera division unlike Olympus or Fuji.

[mee]

My question would be what can’t you do with Pentax that can be done with others? And why haven’t you switched if you need the feature offered by the other brand? It seems simpler to switch or run two systems than getting Ricoh to do more than what they are willing to do currently. They are still sorting out their finances and don’t have cash cows to subsidize the camera division unlike Olympus or Fuji.

Again it isn't wrong to expect continually improved products from a company at a fairly even release schedule. And if everyone did as you said, there wouldn't be enough people on the Pentax ship to make it worthwhile to operate. We can't just say "find another camera system" to all requests for improved gear (out of Pentax) and steer them away from Pentax. No, Ricoh need to step up to the plate a bit more.. and we need to make our requests known to them specifically.


Otherwise, just telling people to go away, that is how you form an echo chamber. Growth comes from trial.. and right now the market is advancing at a fast rate. It isn't wrong to expect Ricoh to keep up, even if they aren't battling on the cutting edge.

[Rondec]

My question would be what can’t you do with Pentax that can be done with others? And why haven’t you switched if you need the feature offered by the other brand? It seems simpler to switch or run two systems than getting Ricoh to do more than what they are willing to do currently. They are still sorting out their finances and don’t have cash cows to subsidize the camera division unlike Olympus or Fuji.

He has switched. He shoots with a D750 and is selling his Pentax gear.

[mee]

He has switched. He shoots with a D750 and is selling his Pentax gear.

I can speak for myself, thank you. And even if this is true, it doesn't dismiss or discount what I've said. Quite frankly, I wouldn't be here if I wasn't interested in Pentax equipment. Once again you're focusing on the person and not the person's view (in order to try to dismiss my views).

[reh321]

He has switched. He shoots with a D750 and is selling his Pentax gear.

That is interesting - looking at recent discussion here about a K-3 followup. The D750 is a 24mp FF camera, valued by Nikon users for its low noise {in fact, they keep asking Nikon for a followup for it}. I was thinking of it in particular when I suggested that if Asahiman's words are accurate, Pentax might have a 24mp FF camera, plus appropriate lenses, in the works, as a different way to provide a low noise higher fps system.

[mee]

That is interesting - looking at recent discussion here about a K-3 followup. The D750 is a 24mp FF camera, valued by Nikon users for its low noise {in fact, they keep asking Nikon for a followup for it}. I was thinking of it in particular when I suggested that if Asahiman's words are accurate, Pentax might have a 24mp FF camera, plus appropriate lenses, in the works, as a different way to provide a low noise higher fps system.

You know, since we're now on that topic, that would make a lot of sense to me. For Pentax to have a 24MP FF camera. Burst rate and shutter speed should be improved over the K-1 (which solves some of the complaints of it) and the roadmapped lenses would pair nicely with it.


But I think we get a new crop body first and those D-FAs still have to arrive.. Actually, I'd rather those arrive before a 24 MP FF body than in reverse if I had my pick... esp considering the amount of time it is taking. D750 sensor, much like the D810 sensor that Ricoh seemingly tweaked for the K-1, should be pretty cheap these days to acquire... it has loads of DR but I suspect Ricoh could improve on noise behavior at higher ISO like they did with the K-1 (over D810). Well at least from my fancy armchair.

[reh321]

You know, since we're now on that topic, that would make a lot of sense to me. For Pentax to have a 24MP FF camera. Burst rate and shutter speed should be improved over the K-1 (which solves some of the complaints of it) and the roadmapped lenses would pair nicely with it.

Even with no improvement in processor, fps should be roughly same as K-3ii - size of pixels wouldn't affect processing

But I think we get a new crop body first and those D-FAs still have to arrive.. Actually, I'd rather those arrive before a 24 MP FF body than in reverse if I had my pick...

Asahiman reported new lenses along with new bodies - I was hoping they'd be less perfect than most recent DFA lenses - more "manageable" and hopefully slightly more affordable.

[awscreo]

Selfishly I want another year or two before a new ff camera from Pentax) less temptation and more time for my bank account to recover for future purposes

[mee]

Even with no improvement in processor, fps should be roughly same as K-3ii - size of pixels wouldn't affect processing

Asahiman reported new lenses along with new bodies - I was hoping they'd be less perfect than most recent DFA lenses - more "manageable" and hopefully slightly more affordable.

Oh I haven't seen him around in a long time!

There is a 70-200 f/4 (on the roadmap) that would pair nicely. As would the 70-300mm type lens (that is also on there). I'm assuming it is similar to the newer Canon/Nikon/Tamron 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 FF lenses. Light weight, (relatively) small, and affordable.

[Larrymc]

We should be collectively pushing Ricoh to give us higher competitive products. Yet it seems more often we've resorted to shaming and dismissing the dissenting views here on the forum and apologizing for the weakness in the product lineup. While I can understand reading those can be tiresome, those that rage against them are not helping either..

Please explain exactly how we should collectively Push Ricoh/Pentax to give us higher competitive products, particularly here on Pentax Forums since its been said several times that none of the decision makers at Ricoh/Pentax frequent Pentax Forums?

[mee]

Please explain exactly how we should collectively Push Ricoh/Pentax to give us higher competitive products, particularly here on Pentax Forums since its been said several times that none of the decision makers at Ricoh/Pentax frequent Pentax Forums?

Try contacting them.


A few years ago I was having issues with a DA* 16-50mm f/2.8 lens that refused to focus at infinity (even manually). After going to the company authorized repair facility in the USA several times, I contacted them through their then-available web forum. I had a response from Ricoh US support, the repair facility sr. tech and the manager, and even the VP of Operations Ricoh North America in touch with me (most of them phone calls to me) in trying to get my issue resolved and ensure I was satisfied with the outcome (which in the end was in the lens being replaced with a brand new one).


Of course, that was before they shutdown the US HQ in Colorado.. but they were rather open to discussing and listening to me. I owned a lot of Pentax lenses back then. Maybe I'm naive in thinking they are still that way.. but enough emails and/or phone calls to Ricoh HQ in your country might convince them a lot more than the forum here.

[Mark Ransom]

Even with no improvement in processor, fps should be roughly same as K-3ii - size of pixels wouldn't affect processing

Asahiman reported new lenses along with new bodies - I was hoping they'd be less perfect than most recent DFA lenses - more "manageable" and hopefully slightly more affordable.

The sensor itself may be the limiting factor in frame rate regardless of the pixel count. We simply don't know.

More lenses on the affordable and carryable end would be welcome. A complete system really needs lenses on both ends of the spectrum if it wants the widest possible appeal. I wonder how the 28-105 sells in comparison to all the other FF lenses?

[Rush2112]

For those who have been waiting with bated breath for YEARS for a K-3 II replacement, the GR is not a big thing. It is a no-thing.

Hard to speak for all K3II owners with that statement . Lots of shooters love a good compact to have with them along with having a DSLR system. But, I get your point. For those really wanting a K3II replacement, I'm sure they would love one announced at PK before all else.

[Mark Ransom]

If you have a pre-conceived positive idea of a camera brand, you are going to get the most out of it, and you tell yourself that Pentax is not good you are never going to make the most out of any Pentax setup. It all starts in the mind, only a very small part is true if true at all. Some people are going to have talent and take amazing photographs with poor equipment, much less equipment than what Pentax has in catalog. Other people will know all the specifications, will have read all the reviews, will own the camera from the award winning camera brand, but their photographs will not trigger a single emotion, mostly boring without any interest. My point was, in all of your comments, sadness transpire, this is not going to get you any happy photo shooting, no matter how many times you switch brands, never, ever.

OK, I see where you're coming from now. I suppose my posts in a few of these threads have been showing a negative attitude overall.

Some of it is simply due to frustration. I don't upgrade every time a new camera comes out, I wait for the benefit to be worth the money. Kind of like the sentiment you expressed above about making do with lesser equipment. I had skipped the K-5 and K-3 series, because I thought that while the benefits were significant they weren't quite significant enough to drop serious amounts of cash. Then the KP came out, and the improvements over the K-3 II were exactly what I was looking for! But it was a case of one step forward and one step back, and again I found myself unwilling to spend top dollar for what I viewed as a compromise. This is all quite personal and I don't expect anyone to agree.

Some of it is due to concern for the brand itself. I've never seen any of the recent Pentax cameras, because the local dealer stopped carrying them about 10 years ago. The rate of new product introduction lags every other manufacturer out there.

None of that stops me from going out, taking pictures and having fun, but that's a smaller part of why I hang out on forums.