[luftfluss]

Wow!! Another flippy storm. I'm still waiting for the fat lady to sing. When the final form is guaranteed. The camera shown has NO flippy screen.

People flippin' out?

[Riggomatic]

That is where the body contours. It is the transition between the dead flat touch screen and the curved body. The body curves up to the next level where the controls are.
Check out the rear windscreen on cars. They often do the same.

I'm not convinced. Maybe that's a hatchback..

[BROO]

Can you imagine this camera with its 1.05 magnification viewfinder plus the D FA* 50mm f1.4. Quite a nice combination for portraiture?
Add the D FA*85mm f1.4 and you have a 127.5 mm fast lens equivalent with bright viewfinder and improved AF points.
Really quite an exciting prospect!

[StiffLegged]

If Ricoh include all the cool features available to the GRIII via the mobile app, the lack of a flipping screen wouldn’t matter to me. I usually have a phone with me to explain to t’missus why I wasn’t home 2 hours ago anyway. A bigger, brighter viewfinder sounds good to me and I’ll wait to hear the rest. It’s got to be better than my K-7!

[BROO]

I'm not convinced. Maybe that's a hatchback..

I guess the boot (trunk) does flip open. haha

[c.a.m]

Don't all cameras have at least one shortcoming that makes people think, "Why didn't they..."?

I think you're right.

New cameras are often compared to all of the other existing cameras, each of which has certain key features and strengths, but none of which has all of the key features. So, collectively, prospective consumers and users tend to desire their favourite functions to be implemented in the new camera. Collectively, there's disappointment.

However, I would guess that the clever designers at Ricoh probably have implemented some sneaky new features or functions that we would not have predicted or desired. They've done this before, and the resulting cameras have been marvelous.

I would think that most of us were surprised at the revelation of the 1.05x magnification for the viewfinder -- who would have thought of that? What else have they built into the new camera? We'll have to wait and see.

- Craig

[bertwert]

Maybe the touchscreen will allow the user to delineate the size and shape of the AF area by tracing it on the screen.

Now that would be neat - but could also be done with a joystick...

[MarkJerling]

It never ceases to amuse me how, in any thread discussing any new Pentax camera, the same few posters will appear, make the same few statements about its failings and omissions, the same regular posters will make the same rebuttal arguments, and somebody will get in a (*&)%^ match with Norm. It has been this way for a decade.

Pentax is Pentax. Deal with it. Accept it. Embrace it. Or get a camera that meets your needs and makes you happy..

Post of the week.

[bertwert]

Hah, I forgot about the battery indicator, true.

I feel like such an idiot. I was just taking photos and had to come here to say how stupid I've been for the last few years.

I was in liveview taking some flower shots up close - there's a bloody battery indicator there! No need to go to the hassle of turning the screen on and then back off...

[monochrome]

No articulating screen. Sigh. Why cripple the usability of a "flagship" in such a capricious way? It baffles me that a feature that many photographers need, me too, is absent for no good reason.

I dunno - I think Ricoh thinks K-1ll is the flagship. I think we imputed the flagship standard on K-new. I think they think it is something else, apart from K-1 and KP and K-70. We’ll have to wait and see, but if it actually turns out not to have an articulated LCD I bet they have a good reason for not adding it.

[RobA_Oz]

If Ricoh include all the cool features available to the GRIII via the mobile app, the lack of a flipping screen wouldn’t matter to me. I usually have a phone with me to explain to t’missus why I wasn’t home 2 hours ago anyway. A bigger, brighter viewfinder sounds good to me and I’ll wait to hear the rest. It’s got to be better than my K-7!

Bigger does not mean brighter – the same amount of light (from the same APS-C sized screen) spread over a larger image means it will be duller than if it would be over a smaller one.

That said, the viewfinder magnification for the K-3 and KP is 0.95x, whereas the new body’s is 1.05x. That’s an increase of about 11%, so the eyepiece illumination will drop a corresponding amount (12%, if my recollection of magnification being based on angular FoV is correct). The K-5’s was 0.92x.

By way of comparison, the K-1’s eyepiece magnification is 0.7x, but it’s looking at a screen that’s 1.5x larger. On the surface of things, that means the new body’s eyepiece will be about as bright as the K-1’s, although the K-1 has an additional screen overlay that will reduce the brightness by a small amount.

K-1 users who have installed a Canon S focussing screen report that it improves focussing ability with MF lenses, so I assume that means the Canon screen has lower light loss than the OEM Pentax one. Perhaps Ricoh has brought the screen for the new body up to the same standard. If they haven’t, that means it will be slightly duller than the K-3’s.

[luftfluss]

Bigger does not mean brighter – the same amount of light (from the same APS-C sized screen) spread over a larger image means it will be duller than if it would be over a smaller one.

That said, the viewfinder magnification for the K-3 and KP is 0.95x, whereas the new body’s is 1.05x. That’s an increase of about 11%, so the eyepiece illumination will drop a corresponding amount (12%, if my recollection of magnification being based on angular FoV is correct). The K-5’s was 0.92x.

By way of comparison, the K-1’s eyepiece magnification is 0.7x, but it’s looking at a screen that’s 1.5x larger. On the surface of things, that means the new body’s eyepiece will be about as bright as the K-1’s, although the K-1 has an additional screen overlay that will reduce the brightness by a small amount.

K-1 users who have installed a Canon S focussing screen report that it improves focussing ability with MF lenses, so I assume that means the Canon screen has lower light loss than the OEM Pentax one. Perhaps Ricoh has brought the screen for the new body up to the same standard. If they haven’t, that means it will be slightly duller than the K-3’s.

According to the video, a "special glass material that excels in refraction, but is harder to process" will be used, so presumably that will at least partially mitigate the light-loss penalty of the increased magnification.

[ThorSanchez]

I dunno - I think Ricoh thinks K-1ll is the flagship. I think we imputed the flagship standard on K-new. I think they think it is something else, apart from K-1 and KP and K-70. We’ll have to wait and see, but if it actually turns out not to have an articulated LCD I bet they have a good reason for not adding it.

I think the video specifically referred to the K-new as the APS-C flagship.

[luftfluss]

I think the video specifically referred to the K-new as the APS-C flagship.

Yes, the phrase used is, "the highly anticipated flagship model of the APS-C format".

I think, though, that until the decision to develop the K-New, the K-1 was (and still is, really) considered the "flagship K-mount" and it is possible that they adjusted their thinking slightly based on consumer reaction, and thus developed a "flagship APS-C".

[monochrome]

I think the video specifically referred to the K-new as the APS-C flagship.

Yes, I heard that. In my interpretation Flagship APSc means top of the APSc range. I take it to be a word they use in response to consumer pressure. Unfortunately that can set up unreasonable;e expections. How can the Flagship not have GPS. And a tilting LCD? The dissonance might cause some acceptance issues.

Yes, the phrase used is, "the highly anticipated flagship model of the APS-C format".

I think, though, that until the decision to develop the K-New, the K-1 was (and still is, really) considered the "flagship K-mount" and it is possible that they adjusted their thinking slightly based on consumer reaction, and thus developed a "flagship APS-C".

Yes - Flagship K-mount body distinct from Flagship APSc body. I still think it is an unfortunate choice of word.