[fsge]

I guess I am excluded then.

My KP provides all I want, for both action and landscape-type scenes.
At my current age of 72, I have no expectations of purchasing another camera.

I am a proud owner of a KP too but you can not exclude buying another body just based on your age!

[luftfluss]

Yes, Times are changing a little bit.

In the past I just bought everything, APSc and FF. Even before COVID, though, I realized I’m not using this stuff enough. I had decided to sell ALL my APSc gear - I’ve sold a lot already - and only consider FF lenses and K-1next whenever it arrives, so I wasn’t going to buy the K-new. BUT - if the specs of the new camera actually pans out the way the talk seems to be flowing there will be enough value to go ahead and order it and just use AF FF lenses on it. I think everyone, wherever they started from, will be a bit more conservative and consider the value proposition harder relative to the past. I didn’t buy the new 70-210/4 because I have a FA*80-200/2.8, where in the past I probably would have

FWIW I’ll also probably buy the 20 Limited when it comes out, but that’s 2021.

Of course we all suffer from Ooooh!. Shiney! Me Want!! syndrome.

I've always been someone who is relatively conservative with my spending, but when I buy something big I get what I want. I've had three cars as daily drivers since 1995. But they were all good cars that I researched a lot, weren't the cheapest cars, and got exactly what I wanted. My house was not cheap, and it was built according to plans we hand-picked and then modified to our liking, but I plan on living here for 50 years.

I bought a K-30 in 2012 when I started to get into photography. If not for aperture block failure that might still be my regular camera. But I bought a K-3ii to replace it and it's now five years old. I know what I want, the K-new appears to check those blocks, and I'm willing to spend what it costs.

Yes, I think all of us have a little bit of the lust for shiny new things. Buying cool things releases dopamine. We're hard wired for it!

Usually, a glance at the price tag is a cold shower for me... although I did come perilously close to pulling the trigger on an A* 600/5.6 last summer. Given how things are now, I'm very glad I didn't.

My Happy Shiny People Lenses, though...

[luftfluss]

Well, yes, but I didn't dispute the fact that there have been hundreds of posts all over the forum demanding better AF. I simply pointed out that the majority of those posts have come from a handful of people who keep banging on about it at every opportunity they get.

In fact, the vast majority of posts demanding that Pentax should do this-or-that come from about half a dozen names that turn up again and again. It's very easy on a forum like this for a small but highly active number of people to create an illusion that a particular point of view is more widely held than it really is.

However, if you add in the number of "likes" some of these (improved AF needed) posts have received, you might understand that there is a potentially much larger number of forum members that are in agreement, but don't feel the need to add to threads that have already expressed their opinions. Count me among those.

Plus, a signficant number of folks who were yearning for improved AF eventually migrated to another brand - at least for sports/wildlife stuff.

People who wanted the experience of having a larger OVF on an APS-C camera could move to a Nikon D500 or Canon 7D II for a small improvement, but it could be argued that those cameras are not as good - certainly no better - for all-around work as current Pentaxes. So there was generally no frame of reference, no aspirational competition, for Pentax from an OVF standpoint. But for years we've certainly heard enough about other brands having better AF, probably to the point where Pentax's AF performance is underestimated a bit.

Whatever the case, in my dozen years as a Pentax DSLR user, the biggest complaints about the brand were no FF and AF performance. We got the former, and we might be getting the latter.

edit: looks like the Canon's OVF isn't larger.

[Dartmoor Dave]

However, if you add in the number of "likes" some of these (improved AF needed) posts have received, you might understand that there is a potentially much larger number of forum members that are in agreement, but don't feel the need to add to threads that have already expressed their opinions. Count me among those.

Although if six people believe the same thing, and each time one of them posts he gets five likes. . .

(Actually, that would be the K10D Club.)

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Last edited by Dartmoor Dave; 05-22-2020 at 02:01 PM.

[luftfluss]

Here you go: Pentax O-ME53 Magnifying Eyecup 30150 B&H Photo Video Order one today you won't regret it. No charge for the consultation!

I've been using 'em for years. I want an LX-sized OVF, dammit!

[BigMackCam]

Plus, a signficant number of folks who were yearning for improved AF eventually migrated to another brand - at least for sports/wildlife stuff.

I'm sure some folks switched, whether for AF or other reasons... But how do we know whether that number's significant or not? Is there data to support the notion? I mean, aside from the posts of a vocal minority that switched, while staying on as active contributors and beneficiaries of these forums...

[gatorguy]

I've been using 'em ( Pentax O-ME53 Magnifying Eyecup 30150 B&H Photo Video) for years. I want an LX-sized OVF, dammit!

For whatever reason I tend to mis-compose my shots using that magnifying eyepiece. I have it on one of my K-70's but not the other. Gotta be the way I look thru the viewfinder.

[luftfluss]

I'm sure some folks switched, whether for AF or other reasons... But how do we know whether that number's significant or not? Is there data to support the notion? I mean, aside from the posts of a vocal minority that switched, while staying on as active contributors and beneficiaries of these forums...

Significant relative to the overall number of Pentax users, or significant relative to the number of folks who felt they needed top-flight AF? Insignificant for the former, significant for the latter, IMO. Sorry if I was vague.

Personally, I know of a least a dozen individuals who left Pentax for better wildlife options - I've even kept in touch with a few on other forums.

Of course, moving to another brand for wildlife/sports shooting isn't solely a matter of AF performance. There's lens selection, too... but that's a different topic.

[reh321]

I am a proud owner of a KP too but you can not exclude buying another body just based on your age!

Its not my age - but how much longer it will be worthwhile for me to use a new camera.

Also, for fifty years now, I have followed a standard. Over that fifty years, I have had only two cameras that served as my primary camera for less than 40 months {cameras that were "failures" because they did not meet my needs or just broke}; I choose to also spend my money in other ways, and I have no intention of changing that standard now - not with all those starving people in the world. Incidentally, I have never spent more than $700 on the new body - and the KP came down to that level just when I was thinking of raising that 'rule' when my K-50 reached the 40 month point.

[mee]

Plus, a signficant number of folks who were yearning for improved AF eventually migrated to another brand - at least for sports/wildlife stuff.

People who wanted the experience of having a larger OVF on an APS-C camera could move to a Nikon D500 or Canon 7D II for a small improvement, but it could be argued that those cameras are not as good - certainly no better - for all-around work as current Pentaxes. So there was generally no frame of reference, no aspirational competition, for Pentax from an OVF standpoint. But for years we've certainly heard enough about other brands having better AF, probably to the point where Pentax's AF performance is underestimated a bit.

Whatever the case, in my dozen years as a Pentax DSLR user, the biggest complaints about the brand were no FF and AF performance. We got the former, and we might be getting the latter.

7dII:


D500:



KP:

[luftfluss]

For whatever reason I tend to mis-compose my shots using that magnifying eyepiece. I have it on one of my K-70's but not the other. Gotta be the way I look thru the viewfinder.

My K-3 II is almost exclusively for wildlife, where more often than not I'm simply trying to square-up my target, maybe go off-center a little. My K-70 is for everything else, and yeah I find composing with the O-ME53 attached is a bit fraught.

[gatorguy]

Usually, a glance at the price tag is a cold shower for me... although I did come perilously close to pulling the trigger on an A* 600/5.6 last summer. Given how things are now, I'm very glad I didn't.

My Happy Shiny People Lenses, though...

What case is that?

[luftfluss]

What case is that?

Pentax Limited Case #2 (85230) reviews - Pentax Camera Accessory Review Database

[luftfluss]

7dII:


D500:



KP:

Cool diagrams, but not to scale.

Look at all those AF points from the Nikon and Canon. That's what we're (hopefully) going to get with the K-New!

[mattt]

Usually, a glance at the price tag is a cold shower for me... although I did come perilously close to pulling the trigger on an A* 600/5.6 last summer. Given how things are now, I'm very glad I didn't.

My Happy Shiny People Lenses, though...

I wish they'd make that case available again...