[Larrymc]

So no new K-mount stuff this year (probably).

The custom KP puzzles me. It's nice to cut open a Lexus and smash an expensive watch to it. Put in a different color body and a cap to prevent people from miss-using the build in flash.......but then does the price of this (still a KP) double?

But Ron, don't you understand its fashionable!! And with that really nifty custom programming too!! It has to be worth an extra $1000 USD.

[Larrymc]

This year I was again able to attend cp+ on its last day (Sunday). As I knew for me there were no exciting announcements this year I could enjoy it more casually and relaxed.





I queued to try the GR III but thats no camera for me so cannot comment on that much. The touch screen is a welcome addition because it tickles down to other cameras even though focus via touch feels laggy atm.
Then I was caught by a staff member which was presenting a new 2.5D printing technique by Ricoh. They use a 3D-printer technique to give depth to a picture, even make it look like a real painting. They said their biggest picture, which they printed yet, took about 4 hours to print. The actual printer is industrial size (3 meters) atm, it is still a prototype and no price for an actual print decided yet. The actual depth for printing the 2D photo is calculated partly by algorithm and partly manually adjusted.

There are other companies using a similar technique but Ricoh is better in providing a smoother surface on the printing. The pictures looked very good, I can imagine many people buying these kind of pictures.

I got to try the new 11-18mm DA* Zoom and surprisingly it nicely covers the FF circle at 18mm. On lower focal length the black edges start to occur and you need to crop that out, at 11mm it is pretty severe. I also tried the new 35mm, it is a nice lens but comes with all the drawbacks such old lenses have, longitudinal CA, hexagonal bokeh balls, AF not so fast, no WR.





Here the zoom at 18mm FF @F9:

Here on 11mm FF @F9:

Then like JPT I stumbled over the guys with the factory custom made KP. They really enjoyed there time there and we talked and laughed a lot (so I greatly enjoyed it too). So they are enhancing several points on the KP. They have a special black coating on the lens mount which is harder and smoother than the original coating and is used originally by a famous Japanese watchmaker (I think it was Seiko). They havedifferent body colors and a flash top which is attached via the hot shoe. If you want to use a flash on the hot shoe you have to remove it therefore. Then there are the custom grips. They showed me one which was walnut and said its the same material Lexus uses for their steering wheels.
They have also a collaboration with a famous Japanese photographer and will preprogram the user-settings on the camera with that photographers preferred settings. They can use Ricoh’sresources which helps them a lot , so you might also be able to order it from the official website later I guess.
No words on pricing yet because its still in development. They will over it first in Japan and later on overseas (I complained a little that overseas people are eager to get these options too and always are second in line ).
Interesting fact, there were two people presenting the custom KP, one is an engineer and the other a designer.The designer told me that he designed the K-30 and the custom flash cover for the KP also inherits this long shape of the flash housing of the K-30.
Here the two guys, the left one is the designer and the one on the right the engineer. They were very commited to their customizations and gladly discussing any comments I made.

Also I saw a new Pentax baseball cap (black with big grey stitched Pentax) at the booth, these were design samples and will be probably available later this year.
At 2pm there was a presentation on the future development on Pentax products hosted in an interview style. They said the 85mm will be available next year. In fact they said that on all lenses on the roadmap xD (the 70-200F4, the large aperture wide DA*, the DA wide zoom and DFA superzoom). The interview guy also noted that the release date of the 70-200mm F4 changed from “spring 2019” to “2019 or later“. It was confirmed there were issues delaying the release of this lens.
I think they also hinted on a new camera for the 100th year release which might be the K-3 successor.

Just to increase the painful wait on the 85mm:

Is that a custom Lens hood on the KP the engineer is holding in the 5th photo down? It looks a bit carbon fiber-ish or possibly faux carbon fiber. I'm surprised they aren't presenting it too!

[Mistral75]

The variety of branded ballcaps on display at Ricoh Imaging's booth are the result of a partnership with the hat company New Era.





Source : CP+ Tradeshow Tidbits: Japan-only swag, a quirky OM-D concept, a 40ft selfie stick and more!

[normhead]

But Ron, don't you understand its fashionable!! And with that really nifty custom programming too!! It has to be worth an extra $1000 USD.

No kidding, I know so many people happy to pay for stuff like that, I dismissed the question without answering. There is no end to the insanity. I use an iPhone because friend with too much money bought one, an older one on sale decided to upgrade almost immediately, and gave me her old one. I feel I need to apologize to people looking at my phone, "ya, it's an iPhone, but i didn't pay for it." They might mistake my personality type.

[reh321]

So no new K-mount stuff this year (probably).

I believe there will be at least one "FF" camera in 2019 - but we have ten months to go, and predicting anything that far in advance is taking a big chance.

[reh321]

No kidding, I know so many people happy to pay for stuff like that, I dismissed the question without answering. There is no end to the insanity. I use an iPhone because friend with too much money bought one, an older one on sale decided to upgrade almost immediately, and gave me her old one. I feel I need to apologize to people looking at my phone, "ya, it's an iPhone, but i didn't pay for it." They might mistake my personality type.

I have a smart phone because I can do so much with it - but no evidence that this camera has any extra value other than what it is {consists of}.

[normhead]

I have a smart phone because I can do so much with it - but no evidence that this camera has any extra value other than what it is {consists of}.

I believe they said they are pre-programming a pro-photgrapehrs settings. Possibly an advantage right here. And personally, I just like wood, as a journeyman cabinetmaker it was my chosen medium. One person's "no extra value" is another, "wow, they should have done that before".

[Larrymc]

The variety of branded ballcaps on display at Ricoh Imaging's booth are the result of a partnership with the hat company New Era.





Source : CP+ Tradeshow Tidbits: Japan-only swag, a quirky OM-D concept, a 40ft selfie stick and more!

OK now, this is something I would buy, a PENTAX ball cap!

[Kunzite]

So... Adam, how's the interview going?

[Larrymc]

I believe there will be at least one "FF" camera in 2019 - but we have ten months to go, and predicting anything that far in advance is taking a big chance.

Yeah, and they need to finish the APS-C high spec camera well before any full frame K-1 replacement or low spec full frame is introduced.

[Larrymc]

So... Adam, how's the interview going?

He got a lot of info but he had to sign an NDA.

[acoufap]

Same here, I had to go to Chrome to see the images.

That severe overhang means you're never going to use this camera with a tilt shift lens. Not that that's a thing for many Pentax users.

Pentax will show up with an APSC MILC with added tilt shift adapter that will fill the registration gap for DA and DFA lenses.

We will be able to use lenses with wide image circle like the DA*11-18 tilted and shifted. Tilt-shift will become common standard in Pentax land and for landscape, table top and architecture photographers.

[zazism_rx]

The variety of branded ballcaps on display at Ricoh Imaging's booth are the result of a partnership with the hat company New Era.





Source : CP+ Tradeshow Tidbits: Japan-only swag, a quirky OM-D concept, a 40ft selfie stick and more!

How does one acquire one of these hats?

[Larrymc]

How does one acquire one of these hats?

If you buy $10,000 USD or more at one time I'm sure they might give you one free......you just have to pay shipping! Otherwise, it would be nice if they did offer them on the Pentax Portal.

[RonHendriks1966]

How does one acquire one of these hats?

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