[monochrome]

I was kinda hoping that the president would take his jacket off, take one of the cameras down from the shelf and open a cupboard with his favourite lenses. He'd then tell the interviewing photographer to shut up and spend the next hour waxing lyrical about why he prefers the K50 over the M50, why his all time favourite lens is a SMC K35/3.5 on a K-1 in square crop mode and monochrome only. He also takes the K-P out street shooting with a 21 every lunch hour. After that, he will beg forgiveness for the mistakes his predecessors during the Hoya regime made in lowering the value of the Pentax brand. "Next week I'll get the engineers in and they will show you the circuit board of my K-1 Street Edition quadruple the bandwidth, takes the 500MB/s sd cards and I have a special user mode called HC. AF is disabled, monochrome only, lcd screen disabled, special dial only offers up ISO, & exposure bracketing".

• K50 of course
• K35/3.5 one the very bet PENTAX lenses I’ve owned.
• DA21 is the default KP lens right?

I think you’ve been mainlining the Pentax KOOL-AID again.

---

Last edited by monochrome; 07-16-2020 at 09:12 PM.

[monochrome]

Wouldn’t something that looks out of focus in the image look out of focus in the OVF?
I see in the OVF what the sensor records except for brightness and WB.

The PDAF auto focus sensor is a wholly separate component from the focusing screen and the mirror and screen,are also not necessarily perfectly linked to what falls on the image sensor. LiveVirew CDAF reads out what the sensor actually sees, using the actual image projected on the image sensor to determine focus accuracy.

[bibz]

It speaks to me, I value a company that actually has values over scrambling tech chasers. It's a plummeting industry, but won't be forever so doubling down on your core values and presenting the strength of your brand in times like these is sensible.

For those that wish they had a pentax option for whatever the scramblers are releasing...maybe there isn't one. Because it doesn't line up with what they wish to offer. A tiny camera with gigantic corner to corner sharp ultra fast lenses? Unbalanced, with poor battery life. The K1 is such a nice camera to use, and holds small or big glass at your choosing.

Seriously, Pentax and Fuji are the way. You can't be all things in such a diverse world. Be good at what you do instead. And buy more cameras and lenses! Nothing wrong with multiple systems.

[RobA_Oz]

Rob, focussing screen has been a misnomer for some time, it doesn't really play any part in focusing unless you replace it with a split prism screen. That's when accurate shimming is needed.

Yes, thanks for that. I was thinking more of manual focus, but the rest of the AF system could be similarly adjusted.

[alfa75ts]

I was thinking more of manual focus

Shimming the focus screen is to centre the diopter for the thickness of the screen, standard screen = standard shim, no need for adjustment unless using a different thickness screen.

but the rest of the AF system could be similarly adjusted.

It is already, PDAF sensor in a K-x (the spring loaded hex screws are the adjustments):

[RobA_Oz]

It is already, PDAF sensor in a K-x (the spring loaded hex screws are the adjustments):

With a number of points involved, I’d have assumed that’s a technician adjustment, presumably with some specialised equipment. If not, I stand corrected. I was envisaging something that could be easily user adjusted, or something self-calibrating, ideally.

On the focussing screen, I acknowledge that the greater requirement is for users who change their screens, but I guess that close enough is probably good enough not to justify adding anything more complex for manual focus adjustment.

[Ian Stuart Forsyth]

Shimming the focus screen is to centre the diopter for the thickness of the screen, standard screen = standard shim, no need for adjustment unless using a different thickness screen.

My 2 K10d had different size shims and they both came with the same focus screens and also the K20d had a different size shim.

Also the K7 and my K5 had different size shims and also the replacement K5 I received back had different size shims.

You could order a set of shims from Pentax for any one of the camera bodies, take the last camera i purchased shims for was the K5 even thou they only sold one size of focus screens

---------- Post added 07-16-2020 at 10:00 PM ----------

With a number of points involved, I’d have assumed that’s a technician adjustment, presumably with some specialised equipment. If not, I stand corrected. I was envisaging something that could be easily user adjusted, or something self-calibrating, ideally.

One of the problems is that a adjustment for the PDAF is not universal across lenses, Heck any adjustment done to the PDAF is really specific to the shooting distance and if its a zoom what FL you are using it at. There is also focus shift as you stop down with some lenses so if you are shooting wide open or stopped down you many need a different correction depending on how picky your are with AF alignment.

[clackers]

I watched it, and wondered, what did I learn that I didn't know before outside of them announcing that they will announce the new flagship APS-C on 7/22. Wonder why they made this.

I'm not sure you've followed the camera industry, Spodeworld, but in light of Olympus there's been speculation that Pentax will be similarly killed by Ricoh.

IMHO, this was a powerful video.

Not just some PR flunky, but the Ricoh Imaging president himself commits to developing cameras, that have a joy to them instead of just being electronic capture devices (Ricoh GR III owners, high five!). Take that, Tony Northrup!

Remember, he reports to the Ricoh board, so he is making the video with an assurance they'll bankroll survival through these black days for the consumer camera industry.

That Cameraville guy claimed that he had inside knowledge that this video was going to be about the end of Pentax, a goodbye message.

Amazing isn't it, how ill-informed people have their own TV shows on YouTube and people who don't know better actually watch, listen and pay attention to them?

[Paul the Sunman]

IMHO, this was a powerful video.

I agree. Though short on detail and long on waffle, I found it reassuring.

That Cameraville guy claimed that he had inside knowledge that this video was going to be about the end of Pentax, a goodbye message.

Of course, they could turn around and close down tomorrow. However, now that they've gone so public with a long term vision, that would represent a monumental loss of face for Ricoh, and I don't think it's on the cards at all. If the DSLR market completely evaporates in a few years, there'll have to be a rethink.

I wonder how their books are looking at the moment?

[thibs]

Has Tamron ever made a MF lens?

Remember Bronica ?

[Kameraten]

With the great lens line-up (considering all K-lenses) and the good layouts of menus and screens I still think it's a pity Pentax will not advance into the mirrorless sector. That is just about the only one with growth potential. The reasons are many. Among them the decline of car travel, which makes it essential to shrink your luggage and also your photo equipment.
Another is the vast selection of lenses available with adapters when you go to thinner bodies. Point in case: I own both of the bodies below, they produce images of roughly the same quality, but the one on the left takes only Pentax lenses and is hard and slow to use in manual focus, the one on the right takes every Pentax, Konica, Minolta and Konika-Minolta lens I own and it's a breeze to focus manually. Weight and bulk difference almost 2:1.
The only situations that keep me using the K-1 II from time to time is outdoor daylight photography, where the Sony EVF is not bright enough, or when AF is essential (I happen not to have any Sony FE-lenses yet).
Pentax might consider what the buyers value in future cameras. What the producers value is, frankly, less interesting.

[clackers]

I wonder how their books are looking at the moment?

Certainly, pre-covid, Paul, the only camera manufacturer we know about that actually increased sales last year.

Shows they must have the right portfolio, with the release of the Ricoh GR III, that dual sensor Theta and the DSLRs.

And the board will have asked the president, show us your spreadsheet models of mirrorless vs mirrored, domestic vs foreign, what the rivals are doing, etc before agreeing. There will have even been (sometimes a standard procedure), a SWOT guy on the board, a devil's advocate, who asks, 'Why shouldn't we just bail from consumer cameras?'

So perhaps all these companies losing money should actually ask, "How can we be more like Pentax?"

And maybe they are. Charging more and more for cameras and lenses, seemingly ignoring the bottom end and newbies. Severing ties with the doomed bricks and mortar retailers. Selling off factories, laying off employees, realizing most marketing dollars are completely wasted, releasing lots of cameras and lenses that will take years to make a return on investment (how many of the new Olympus 100-400 will sell now?). They're doing now what Ricoh did before it got this bad!

Figures courtesy of the great Mistral75:

[luftfluss]

I still think it's a pity Pentax will not advance into the mirrorless sector. That is just about the only one with growth potential.

Growth potential in a market that is likely already over-saturated? With other camera makers abandoning or de-emphasizing DSLRs, there is a significant possibility that is the market for "growth potential" for Pentax in the future.

[luftfluss]

Certainly, pre-covid, Paul, the only camera manufacturer we know about that actually increased sales last year.

Shows they must have the right portfolio, with the release of the Ricoh GR III, that dual sensor Theta and the DSLRs.

And the board will have asked the president, show us your spreadsheet models of mirrorless vs mirrored, domestic vs foreign, what the rivals are doing, etc before agreeing. There will have even been (sometimes a standard procedure), a SWOT guy on the board, a devil's advocate, who asks, 'Why shouldn't we just bail from consumer cameras?'

So perhaps all these companies losing money should actually ask, "How can we be more like Pentax?"

And maybe they are. Charging more and more for cameras and lenses, seemingly ignoring the bottom end and newbies. Severing ties with the doomed bricks and mortar retailers. Selling off factories, laying off employees, realizing most marketing dollars are completely wasted, releasing lots of cameras and lenses that will take years to make a return on investment (how many of the new Olympus 100-400 will sell now?). They're doing now what Ricoh did before it got this bad!

Figures courtesy of the great Mistral75:

The thing is, we don't actually know what Pentax's standing in Ricoh's "Smart Vision" division is; it is possible that Pentax is in the red, Theta and GR and whatever else keeping things in the black.

[beholder3]

The video clearly sends the message that they are dedicated to a niche strategy. I think this is a smart approach given the market.

What internet writers need to understand is that any niche steategy by definition means that comparing products to others outside the niche is worthless and dumb. It is like comparing Lambhorghinis to a heavy truck. Lamborghini will never care for any kid who wants more payload.

In the case of Pentax it means that anyone crying for mirrorless, cheapo third party lenses etc can assume they will ignore these wishes and are fine with incompatible users going elsewhere.
We all have to ask ourselves if we fit into the same niche as this manufacturer.
Obviously most forum members do.

---------- Post added 17th Jul 2020 at 08:49 ----------

The thing is, we don't actually know what Pentax's standing in Ricoh's "Smart Vision" division is; it is possible that Pentax is in the red, Theta and GR and whatever else keeping things in the black.

Which would be normal. Certain products survive only because others support them.

I am convinced that Nikon neither on their niche D5 or D500 products ever made profits if they were profit centers.