[BarneyL]

What happened to the old rumor that Pentax would get new sensor and image processor from Samsung?

[alfa75ts]

with focus peaking displayed in the EVF

One nice thing with a hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder is that you could overlay focus peaking on the OVF

Or you could have focus points that turn green when they are in focus.

So, so many things that could be done.

[Pikselisiirto]

Staying with DSLR or releasing a hybrid is probably the best bet for Pentax. Many other brands have so much resources and reputation that Pentax can't compete with everything. Basically K-1 and K-3 II / KP raised Pentax from the ditch because they have many good features with bargain price. Pixel shift as a leading feature for Pentax had it moment, now Panasonic S1R/S1 doing it better. I can see why K-1 has bargain price because it has quite old sensor, but tuned to compete with newer sensors. Video recording is below mediocre, slow SD-card writing and shared with two slots. Tricky AF and not great continuous shooting speed, shutter shock problems. They had to cut from somewhere to reduce price. Hopefully Pentax does similar things in the future and compete with value. They should focus more on firmware features because phone cameras are leading there and other camera brands not doing much either. I would wish to have scripts as custom functions. You could chain low level commands and the camera execute them as fast as possible. It would solve many problems for me. Pentax really doesn't have same professional camera equipment line as major brands, so no real reason to make artificial software blocks.

[biz-engineer]

They had to cut from somewhere to reduce price.

Price isn't based on cost. Price is something defined based on optimum sales volumes vs payback for the whole project. Evidence is Leica, they don't price cameras based on what they are made of, otherwise Leica cameras would be much much cheaper.

---------- Post added 15-06-19 at 14:58 ----------

I would wish to have scripts as custom functions. You could chain low level commands and the camera execute them as fast as possible

You would wish, but how about other users?

[BugsDogsAndSunsets]

You would wish, but how about other users?

Id be really excited about that, or even better: open sourcing firmware. Definitely not going to happen though.

[normhead]

I don't know why everyone is stressing about 4k video. Pentax execs said the hold up was they didn't have the sensor for it. Sounds like if they have a sensor it will be implemented. Maybe not to everyone's standards but implemented none-the less. They went to K-AF4 to implement aperture control while shooting. They never abandoned video. But they aren't about to push the price up with a premium sensor just to implement 4k. It will be available when I can afford it.

[monochrome]

What would be nice with a hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder combined with on sensor PDAF is the possibility of using EVF with manual focus lenses with focus peaking displayed in the EVF. Would make manual lens focussing so much more certain of where focus falls. Especially good for longer focal lengths/heavier lenses where using live view at arms length is a pain, especially when magnifying the image.

Never use LiveView at arms length. Hold the camera at chest level, arms in at sides, traditional grip left hand supporting lens and screen slightly flipped out.

More stable than traditional eye-to-OVF actually.

[normhead]

Id be really excited about that, or even better: open sourcing firmware. Definitely not going to happen though.

There should be a Radioshack build your own camera for you guys so you can futz around.

---------- Post added 06-15-19 at 09:13 AM ----------

Never use LiveView at arms length. Hold the camera at chest level, arms in at sides, traditional grip left hand supporting lens and screen slightly flipped out.

More stable than traditional eye-to-OVF actually.

And just like the Ricohflex 120 I learned on.

[Rondec]

Staying with DSLR or releasing a hybrid is probably the best bet for Pentax. Many other brands have so much resources and reputation that Pentax can't compete with everything. Basically K-1 and K-3 II / KP raised Pentax from the ditch because they have many good features with bargain price. Pixel shift as a leading feature for Pentax had it moment, now Panasonic S1R/S1 doing it better. I can see why K-1 has bargain price because it has quite old sensor, but tuned to compete with newer sensors. Video recording is below mediocre, slow SD-card writing and shared with two slots. Tricky AF and not great continuous shooting speed, shutter shock problems. They had to cut from somewhere to reduce price. Hopefully Pentax does similar things in the future and compete with value. They should focus more on firmware features because phone cameras are leading there and other camera brands not doing much either. I would wish to have scripts as custom functions. You could chain low level commands and the camera execute them as fast as possible. It would solve many problems for me. Pentax really doesn't have same professional camera equipment line as major brands, so no real reason to make artificial software blocks.

You are right that Pentax uses an older sensor. That certainly limits certain things like video performance and frame rate, but I think the biggest impediment to Pentax moving forward is actually their image processing engine. PRIME III is getting pretty old and they will need to update that in order to move forward. I think this is a bigger deal than the exact sensor that they choose to use as an awful lot of the sensors out there are more than capable with regard to both video and frame rate specs.

As far as adding additional frames to pixel shift, I suppose it is fine if they have an additional mode that shoots eight frames rather than four, but honestly, I don't need 180 megapixel images. I use pixel shift because it gives me clean 36 megapixel images with excellent color depth, not because I want humongous files cluttering up my hard drives. I'm sure as time goes by pixel shift will proceed in the same way that a lot of features do with companies one upping each other -- "We combine 64!! images into an amazing image that rivals the Hubble Telescope for performance!" But I do think there is diminishing returns after a certain point. Just because you can do something doesn't mean that it will be beneficial to most photography.

[monochrome]

And just like the Ricohflex 120 I learned on.

Yep. I do the same with K-01, just looking slightly down instead of partially flipped screen.

I’m surprised no one else has figured this out.

[BugsDogsAndSunsets]

There should be a Radioshack build your own camera for you guys so you can futz around.

I like Pentax cameras though; some folks just like to tinker. They wouldn't even really have to release their own firmware, but if they provided low level interface descriptions hackers would have a field day. I don't think MagicLantern is hurting Cannon - being mod-friendly might help expand the Pentax niche a bit, while costing nothing and not getting in the way of their core business, unlike some of the speculative features discussed here.

They're conservative and somewhat private though, so I don't see such a move being consistent with their company culture. I'll still happily buy their cameras

[reh321]

An OVF still requires a mirror. What would be the point of a 'mirrorless' camera with a mirror.

The point of a hybrid viewfinder on a DSLR is not to offer a mirrorless option to those wishing for one.
For those people, there is only one way to appease them: making a mirrorless. Yes, that means a new mount with a large diameter and short registration distance (as some Ricoh Imaging official said in a past interview).

A hybrid viewfinder is a way to help DSLRs keep up with the information display capabilities of MILCs, and perhaps to use the viewfinder in movie mode.
It doesn't do much for me (but I reserve further judgement for when I see particular implementations) but others might be delighted. For MILC fans, it would not be enough.

This all depends on your point of view. People who want, perhaps even value, MILC talk about specific benefits of EVF that have nothing to do with "information display" in the sense that you mean it, although it does have to do with information, such as WYSIWYG. Of course, other aspects, such as focus on eyes and high fps also are a factor.

[reh321]

Never use LiveView at arms length. Hold the camera at chest level, arms in at sides, traditional grip left hand supporting lens and screen slightly flipped out.

More stable than traditional eye-to-OVF actually.

With both Q-7 and K-30 I use LV exactly as you describe, but my experience is that viewfinder is still more stable than LV, no matter how I use LV.

added:
I came as close to perfecting viewfinder use as was physically possible for me, considering my physical limitations.
In the Age Of Film, I was taking photographs with shutter speed around 1/8 second; I would take several "just to be sure" but most of them had no visible camera motion.

[reh321]

What happened to the old rumor that Pentax would get new sensor and image processor from Samsung?

Nothing has changed.
It is still an old rumor.

[TwoUptons]

Nothing has changed.
It is still an old rumor.

But we don’t have any good new ones

-Eric