[repaap]

That is a very long way off. The refreshed FA Limiteds attest to that. Especially with the smaller lenses, I have no gripe with screw-drive.

There is a lot of grip with screwdrive lenses

[texandrews]

Thank you, as said above. Wish they had said something about the video, which is the part of the camera that interests me. With 2 great Pentax stills camera in my possession, it's the video angle I need. Don't really want to have a separate system for video...

[reh321]

There is a lot of grip with screwdrive lenses

But there may be "play" in the mechanism - do we have any evidence that they will focus as quickly and precisely as the ones with in-lens motors do???

[repaap]

But there may be "play" in the mechanism - do we have any evidence that they will focus as quickly and precisely as the ones with in-lens motors do???

What is this now. You know that they will not be. Atleast not all of them. Main thing is that whole AF system is working even better than before and this will be beneficial for everything. The thing is. You want the best out of this and most tech involved? Buy PLM lenses.

One thing always involved with screwdrive lenses is the mechanics.

Plain good old mechanics.

PLM and DC will be different.

---------- Post added 02-28-21 at 00:35 ----------

Thank you, as said above. Wish they had said something about the video, which is the part of the camera that interests me. With 2 great Pentax stills camera in my possession, it's the video angle I need. Don't really want to have a separate system for video...

It is not that bad to have separate system. Looking back now. An actual modern videocam with lens attached and 4K and good enough connectivity and stuff even with 3K€ would have been a smart move. Regardless of many things going around. Sure. I think this new thing will get job done.

[Kiddo70]

At least, lenses having in-lens AF motors.
Hopefully, remaining screw-drive lenses will be upgraded to appropriate in-lens motors.

I just bought the DFA 70-210mm for my K-70s. The SDM focus motor is significantly faster than my screw drive lenses. I think it maybe faster than the SDM motor in my DA* 200mm. It will definitely be better for sports and birding.

[Kunzite]

kwb, do you also plan to watch the "Is there a future for SLR cameras: Koichi Akagi x Hideto Sasaki" talk?

[JPT]

kwb - Thanks for the digest of the talk. I was going to do something like this, but you’ve saved me the effort and done it better than I could.

There are just a few more comments that I thought were interesting. Fine Sharpness II is now on by default and apparently this makes improved the image detail significantly without any downsides. This is the reason why they decided not to include handheld pixel shift. It was never as good as pixel shift on a tripod and now the single shot performance has improved enough to make it redundant.

Tanaka-san asked about the kind of multi-shot pixel shift resolution enhancement that increases the image size, like some competitors do. Wakashiro-san said they did not necessarily need to follow what other companies are doing. However, their engineers have some ideas about this for the future. It doesn’t sound like something that will be added by firmware - probably something for a future model.

Wakashiro-san mentioned that Pentax is committed to moving a head with both APS-C and full frame lines. It just happens that this major release is an APS-C one. Part of the reason for their continued commitment to APS-C is the range of high quality lenses they have brought out over the years.

I was interested with the explanation of how they managed to increase the brightness of the viewfinder despite the size increase. This is related to the change in putting the LCD viewfinder overlay under the prism rather than have it projected through the semi-transparent fro wall of the prism. That semi-transparent front wall also allowed some light to escape, reducing the brightness.

Regarding lens motors, I think the improvements in AF will be visible in current lenses. The ability to measure at more points and predict are not specifically related to the speed of the motor. The Japanese magazine review seemed to also imply that AF.C worked better with old SDM lenses too. So of course there will be limitations, but there should improvements across the board.

And I like the compactness and reliability of screwdrive lenses. As long as they find focus, I’m happy wth the mechanical noice. I quite like it actually.

[reh321]

What is this now. You know that they will not be. Atleast not all of them. Main thing is that whole AF system is working even better than before and this will be beneficial for everything. The thing is. You want the best out of this and most tech involved? Buy PLM lenses.

One thing always involved with screwdrive lenses is the mechanics.

Plain good old mechanics.

PLM and DC will be different.

PLM is limited because the motor can move only so much glass. Sometimes the design requires another motor - 'SDM' or 'PC' - or a complete re-design.
But, apart from that, we completely agree.

[The Squirrel Mafia]

All this sounds very good!

[kwb]

Hi JPT, thanks for your additions, very nice! Reading your comments I remembered another thing (funny how brain works ).

When Tanaka-san said that some other makes produce larger picture with more pixels from pixel shift style tech and asked if Pentax can do the same, Wakashiro-san looked as if he didn't like the idea at first and even said something like "Really? Isn't it just like inflating by water?" (水増し, literally inflate by water, means inflating things without adding real substance), didn't he? And didn't Tanaka-san say "regardless of whatever they do, these images do look to have finer resolution" or something like that? This kind of honest exchange was one of the reasons why this particular talk was interesting to me.

Thanks again, now I'm off to Akagi-Sasaki talk.

kwb - Thanks for the digest of the talk. I was going to do something like this, but you’ve saved me the effort and done it better than I could.
There are just a few more comments that I thought were interesting. Fine Sharpness II is now on by default and apparently this makes improved the image detail significantly without any downsides. This is the reason why they decided not to include handheld pixel shift. It was never as good as pixel shift on a tripod and now the single shot performance has improved enough to make it redundant.

Tanaka-san asked about the kind of multi-shot pixel shift resolution enhancement that increases the image size, like some competitors do. Wakashiro-san said they did not necessarily need to follow what other companies are doing. However, their engineers have some ideas about this for the future. It doesn’t sound like something that will be added by firmware - probably something for a future model.

Wakashiro-san mentioned that Pentax is committed to moving a head with both APS-C and full frame lines. It just happens that this major release is an APS-C one. Part of the reason for their continued commitment to APS-C is the range of high quality lenses they have brought out over the years.

I was interested with the explanation of how they managed to increase the brightness of the viewfinder despite the size increase. This is related to the change in putting the LCD viewfinder overlay under the prism rather than have it projected through the semi-transparent fro wall of the prism. That semi-transparent front wall also allowed some light to escape, reducing the brightness.

Regarding lens motors, I think the improvements in AF will be visible in current lenses. The ability to measure at more points and predict are not specifically related to the speed of the motor. The Japanese magazine review seemed to also imply that AF.C worked better with old SDM lenses too. So of course there will be limitations, but there should improvements across the board.

And I like the compactness and reliability of screwdrive lenses. As long as they find focus, I’m happy wth the mechanical noice. I quite like it actually.

[kwb]

... and I'm back from the seminar. It wasn't that informative, it was more for entertainment (and entertaining, it was!). I don't think it's worth making a new thread just for that.

Akagi-san is a pro photographer and Sasaki-san is editor in chief of Nippon Camera magazine. Sasaki-san would ask Akagi-san questions about DSLR or K-3III or Pentax or Akagi-san's work or whatever, that was the rough structure of the talk. But they didn't really discuss if there's a future for DSLR, it was more like two guys in a bar talking about random things, rooting for (D)SLR, K-3 III and things (w/o beer, though they often used alcohol references). Akagi san uses mostly mirrorless but also DSLR and film SLR for his job, but prefers the latter two for private use.

Things that were interesting to me:

• Akagi-san put Fisheye Takumar F/11 on K-3III, looked into VF and said that it was a dark lens, and that he cannot tell if a lens is bright or dark using EVF.
• Akagi-san used the phrase "不変のKマウント" (Immutable K mount) when discussing how seamlessly he can use old K mount lenses on K-3III, which was a serious jab to Nikon's once long-standing "Immutable F mount" sales pitch. He said it in a joking manner, but he said that!!!
• Akagi-san said that under COVID restriction he's been looking at LCDs of cellphones and tablets and things from the morning till night. Looking into OVF in private as opposed to EVF feels good to him.
• Sasaki-san likes that PENTAX logo on the prism cover of K-3 III is not overhanging, said that it's a beautiful design. Probably he didn't like K-30 and J Limiteds.
• Many pros send their work to Nippon Camera magazine in a hope that it will be featured as a frontispiece. Sasaki-san said that it was almost all DSLR 10 years ago, then ~5 years ago pros started submitting pictures shot with mirrorless. However, as of now, vast majority of submissions are film. (I'm surprised!!)

[ffking]

(from the earlier seminar) -the comment of feeding new subject-specific algorithms to the recognition system got me thinking about whether they could produce optional subject specific packs for different types of photography in future, and wondering if that would be a good idea - any thoughts?

[repaap]

PLM is limited because the motor can move only so much glass. Sometimes the design requires another motor - 'SDM' or 'PC' - or a complete re-design.
But, apart from that, we completely agree.

Agreed to agree. Good to have options too.

[JPT]

I watched three more presentations today, all about the K-3 III. They were by Sho Niiro, Yu Yamauchi and Yoshiaki Kobayashi. They didn't reveal much extra about the camera. Pretty much everything has been disclosed by now anyway and we just have to wait for more independent reviews.

Kobayashi-san's was the one that went into most detail about the camera's new functions. He is a landscape and wildlife photographer and he showed a large number of winter scenes shot with various lenses, including the 560mm, the 150-450mm and most of the star series.

A few things he said:
- He is happy that the detection of intentional panning is better in the K-3 III. He was talking about situations where the panning is quite slow, such as tracking birds walking. I think he was saying that previous models used to have trouble making their mind up about whether that kind of movement was intentional panning or accidental movement. He hasn't been having trouble with that on the K-3 III.
- He has been using the AF.C for animals (mostly birds and small wildlife) and he sets this to one of the user modes, while having another set of settings for landscape on another user mode. He showed a number of shots of birds in flight, including one coming towards the camera with the 560mm. Note that he is a very experienced wildlife photographer, so there is probably a good deal of skill involved as well as the camera's assistance. He said that the design and responsiveness of the camera helps the photographer react when birds suddenly move and take flight.
- For burst shooting, he echoed what Tanaka said about the importance of UHS II for buffer clearing. It fills up, but the fact that it clears much faster makes it much easier to deal with.
- He mentioned that everything just feels faster in the user interface. He also likes the customization available in the camera, but some adjustment was required with the new menus. He likes them now.
- He usually limits the ISO to 6400, but he also showed a shot at 12800 that met his standards for trueness of colors. I think he has a low tolerance for noise, but he is happy with the expanded shooting envelope with the K-3 III.

Anyway, that's it for the seminars from me. I hope some of them make it onto the official Ricoh Imaging Youtube channel with subtitles. Even if they aren't translated, it will enable everyone to skip through to the photos, which are the best advertisement for the camera. Or just an advertisement for getting better at photography, which is probably what I should take from this!

[NZ_Ross]

Anyway, that's it for the seminars from me. I hope some of them make it onto the official Ricoh Imaging Youtube channel with subtitles. Even if they aren't translated, it will enable everyone to skip through to the photos, which are the best advertisement for the camera. Or just an advertisement for getting better at photography, which is probably what I should take from this!

Thanks JPT, for adding more good information - really helpful.

I am looking forward to independent reviews, final spec's, price and availability of the K3 III now - all in good time it seems

Ross