[pingflood]

Well, some of them really are fanatical about Apple, kinda like photographers. They're not all bad. Some of them have good reason to stick to Apple. I know I would've wanted to use Final Cut Pro (it's pretty darn good - tried it on a classmate's unit) in film school back in the day, only I don't have the money (nor does the school) for that, along with a machine capable of running it.

I have disdain for those people so fanatical that they refer to the iPhone as JesusPhone (I mean, really, it's THAT perfect?) and think that Apple-does-no-wrong, but I'm cool with other sensible Apple product users.

You are right, I should have said "some" Apple users are like that. It just cracks me up that there are some hardcore fanatics who think using an iPod makes you special, when it's by far the most common mp3 player on the market...

And yes, they make some great gear. I wouldn't mind the new unibody Macbook, but got a Toshiba that has similar specs for less than half the price.

[cateto]

Marketing *is* the biggest thing they're doing now.

Wrong: the biggest thing they are doing (and for a longtime already) is putting an extremely solid OS (OS X) as the foundation for all their efforts, from Macs to iPhones. And to put the huge capabilites of such a system with the best interface out there. THAT is what they are doing, and on top of it, impressive marketing. But without the foundation, the marketing would fail. All the mutibillion Microsoft dollars supporting Vista didn't prevent it from being perceived by many consumers as a catastrophic OS.

I may not own a Canon or Nikon, but I still respect them for the work they do, be it green mode or not. The final outputs are the pictures, and not the shooting mode used to take that photo. Isn't it also bad that you take potshots at a group of photographers who for the most part, doesn't even know you're taking shots at them (aside from some forum members, and one moderator, I believe, who use Canon and Nikon here)?

Once more I would like to stress that I did not say anything offensive to anybody. Using the green button all the time is nothing bad: is just one way of doing photography. I am fully aware that there are many talented photographers using other brands, including Canon and Nikon for sure. I stated above that I respect a lot Nikon offerings, and the D700 in particular looks mighty impressive to me. Nothing wrong with them (or maybe, something wrong, but I won't digress further). My ONLY point is that, in my very humble opinion, if you analyze the dSLR market today and you forget about prejudices, in the entry-to-mid range, the proposals of Olympus and Pentax make much more sense than those of Canon or Nikon. And moreso, if you look at the price-per-feature figures. But obviously Canon and Nikon make very capable cameras, and obviously their users are not moron.

I have clear opinions on what users are behind every brand, but that does not mean that I think that only those that agree with me are good photographers while the rest are stupid.

[m8o]

...I took benthic invertebrate samples form the sea bottom all along the southern coast of Finland and was appalled at the state of the sea. Especially towards the east (St Petersburgh waste water) the sea bottom became completely inoxic with nothing living down there, just black slime that looked like oil and smelled of sulphure (indicating decomposition in inoxic conditions). I have images of the stuff, but they're not with me right now. Same thing even in some parts towards the west, especially near fish farming sites. Was a real eye opener for me and I only buy wild fish nowadays. I don't want to support the fish farming industry anymore.
But it does look nice and photographic on the surface

Well that's extremely depressing to hear! Sort of like the problem pig & cow farming causes us on land from animal waste. Thanx very much for your insight.

[*isteve]

Personally, they don't have to match or exceed what Canon does, but they could at least show improvement on key marketing points like AF speed and FPS. For example, I think a lot of Pentax users will upgrade their DSLRs should Pentax release a KxxD with 4-5 FPS and improved AF. It doesn't have to be class-leading, but it should at least show improvement. Coupled with unique features Pentax already has (SR and sealing), and you can get a good portion of those people still holding on to their K10Ds and earlier DSLRs to upgrade, and even get some others interested.

Pentax are aware of that and I think they know whats required. When the K20D came out, they had a relatively short time to get the new sensor and IP engine to work, add lots of new firmware featres, but had no time to upgrade the mechanical aspects of the body in more than cosmetic ways (though this is no different from Canon with the 10D, 20D......50D series). If they can reuse the sensor then there is scope to develop other things.

Evolution not revolution. I doubt we are talking about 1D performance though. Pentax are not primarily a sports cam maker.

[*isteve]

Ladies and gentleman, I do apologise to the Party for my insulting dissidence.

First we are all fanboys (because we disagree with YOU) and when we accuse YOU of being a fanboy we are all nazis.

What a waste of time.

[lithos]

Hey, *isteve you started it with your insinuations that you thought were insulting, implying I'm a Canon user incognito on the Pentax forum - pretty vague insult, at the least. (Besides, how am I a fanboy for suggesting that Canon and Nikon might have some good ideas?)

You implied that I was a troll, and also implied that the worse thing you can do on this forum is mention another camera brand.

[thibs]

Boucicaut, Samsung showed a handgrip last year with embedded GPS. Is that what you are referring to? I'm curious if Pentax is planning on releasing that under their name, or supporting a Samsung grip with this capability in the K20D thru firmware. .

I remeber it was Wifi but then I might be wrong...

[StephenG]

Well, I study stream ecology for a living and, therefore, take loads of pictures of stream riffles and rapids, i.e. the locations where I do the sampling, measurements and other research activity. Documentation types of photos are always quite similar to each other, they kind of have to be, as there isn't much room for creativity there. After a couple hundred sampling sites it becomes rather difficult to remember which photos were from which stream. You have to either look at time stamps and compare with your field notes or use a separate gps unit that is always on and is synchronized with the camera clock. There's software for extracting the coordinate data from the GPS file and uploading it into the EXIF data of the relevant images. Both solutions work but I don't like the complexity. I'd much prefer to have a single unit that is weatherproof and has built-in GPS support (in grip or otherwise).

Same benefits for shooting nature, although it is generally much easier to remember where the photos were taken, because of the creative approach. But even with these, it will certainly be nice to open the files a few years from now and instantly and reliably be able to put them on the map.

so you outside photographing streams and landscapes for a living????

sounds like you have the perfect job !!!!

i can see how GPS could be of great use to you in what you.

would you want it recorded only in the EXIF data or the ability to have it "stamped' on the photo like the old date and time stamps ?

what about the ability toactually record the GPS coordinates at the focal point???
I can see that being quite a nice feature... the camera notes the position you are standing in, then calculates via the local length, the gps coordinates of the point you are focusing on, then records that as well.?

so if u tracking the changes in a rivers flow pattern,the first coordinates will tell you exactlywhere u stood last time, and if u had originally focused on the opposite bank of the river,then the next time it will show you how much it changed?

or am i misunderstanding things here?

[StephenG]

I'll bite. I'd love to be able to specifically pinpoint where I stood when I took my photos. Partly for romantic purposes (memories and all that), and partly so I could share with other people that same vantage point. If ever I got a keeper of, say, a beautiful and relatively unique view of a rolling hillside, I would want to share that same vista to my friends and other photographers willing to listen.

Well, that's the allure of GPS-tagging for me. To have it in-camera is a tremendous boost as opposed to carrying another piece of equipment to record it.

hey Vinzer, see my post above??

how about the ability to record the GPS coordinates of not only where you are standing, but also of the coordinates of the point you are focusing on..??

u could go year after year and repeat the exact same shot, point for point and compare how it changes!

[RuiC]

Could you please point to the patent application? Much interested in reading these.

Sorry for the delay. I got lost here

United States Patent Application: 0080075454

RuiC

[RuiC]

new mount? Why? There were compelling reasons to leave
the screw mount behind, mostly related to communications.

Now the only issues I see are the burden of backwards compatibilityi. ....

United States Patent Application: 0080075454

Where we can read:

" [0056]Since the packing-incorporated interchangeable lens 10 can make full use of the capabilities thereof as per specifications, not only when the packing-incorporated interchangeable lens 10 is mounted to the packing-compatible camera body 20A to be used therewith but also when the packing-incorporated interchangeable lens 10 is mounted to the packing-incompatible camera body 20B to be used therewith as described above, a user whose possesses only the packing-incorporated interchangeable lens 10 and the packing-compatible camera body 20A does not have to purchase a new interchangeable lens (with no packing) designed specifically for the packing-incompatible camera body 20B when the user newly purchases the packing-incompatible camera body 20B. ..."

If that is not new, then what do they mean by " an incompatible camera body ".


RuiC

[falconeye]

There's software for extracting the coordinate data from the GPS file and uploading it into the EXIF data of the relevant images. Both solutions work but I don't like the complexity. I'd much prefer to have a single unit that is weatherproof and has built-in GPS support

Boucicaut, I see your point and feel like you.
But as much as I hate to say it, you miss two points:

1. A gps chip adds nothing to todays electronics. It's a square mm, maybe and 1 gramm. And a one digit dollar amount of money. So, you get this feature for free. And it is sure you'll get it...

2. It won't work. Even with GPS-A, it will never be accurate enough to replace the external synchronized gps logger solution. Take the iPhone and open Google maps. The fix comes always too late. And w/o cellphone/WiFi, a camera would be bad in network triangulation...

[Kunzite]

Canon maintained the same registration distance though. EF mount lenses will therefore mount on EF-S bodies without a problem.

But people are proposing going to a different mount while reducing the registration distance for a more compact body. That would require an adapter to use K mount lenses, and the adapter would add in the same thickness you just managed to remove...

Yes, that was the idea, to keep the same registration distance thus allowing the use of all current lenses without an adapter. But looking at the 15mm size, I doubt even this would be necessary.
I can't understand why some people desperately wants Pentax to change mounts. On a certain other forum, they've gone mad about it - even bashing Pentax for what will happen only in their imagination

[*isteve]

he's proven to be a nasty piece of work. Just click on the little red flag down on the lower left side of his insulting smart-*** posts like I just did and report him. No sense you getting into trouble for him being an *******. He seems to like doing that to people.

It's too bad, because he's quite an intelligent guy otherwise, and has some interesting things to say...

Cheers,
Cameron

Thanks Cameron,

I find its easier to ignore him. I dont find him offensive, I'm far too old and he's too silly to be taken seriously. I just find him pointless.

He's on my ignore list. I dont share your opinion that he's quite intelligent and if he ever says anything useful or interesting I doubt it would be deliberate.

Either way I guess I will never find out.

[Jonson PL]

Hey, *isteve you started it with your insinuations that you thought were insulting, implying I'm a Canon user incognito on the Pentax forum - pretty vague insult, at the least. (Besides, how am I a fanboy for suggesting that Canon and Nikon might have some good ideas?)

You implied that I was a troll, and also implied that the worse thing you can do on this forum is mention another camera brand.

I didn't read Steve reply, how this part was meant on you, just a general notion. I've been very happy with all the help that you've provided in the film forum. And I enjoy reading posts from both of you and Steve. Lets get the discussion back on track, this is still just the Rumors section.


On the subject, and earlier posts of yours in the thread :
There will always be niche products. Canon and Nikon cater to the Pro market, and the consumers pay for the ‘me too’ effort. Much of their entry stuff, really aren’t that interesting. Only Eos 1 series are sealed, and most Nikon models below D90 / D80, are not worth writing home about.

There are large segments of people that want something different, than what the neighbours have, making a conscious choice instead of just what the guy in the store is suggesting.

This is true for every market. One of the reasons people weren’t all driving Ford T cars, in the beginning of the automobile history.

Olympus have been tried stated doomed with 4/3, but people still buy, and Oly do okay, and continue bringing out good products.

Pentax and Oly should not do the same as Nikon & Canon, then people might as well buy those products. They should continue to carve out their niche, with shake reduction, weathersealing, great and light primes, and so far continue with cropped sensor and get the most out of it.
Pentax has generally been a conservative company, so innovation are more in line with their historic products, like Laurent writes here :
"Pentax side-stepping"!!
Pentax is preparing for its famous move!: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

What could be a likely new cam, would be a limited edition model, low weight, with great built quality. A Km, built like the MZ-S. Who knows, but we’ll see this summer.

K10 was a revolution, and put Pentax firmly on the map again. Who cares that most stores don’t know Pentax. This is exactly what draws the special crowd. Every Joe Schmuck has heard of C&N, I buy Pentax to go for the refined choice. It has never been the point of Pentax to battle it out on top with C&N. They should instead lie in the slipstream, and pick up the users that doesn’t quite fit into the big boxes of C&N. The ones that hate how Canon deliberately cripples their smaller models, or Nikon bringing out cams that can’t take a majority of Nikon lenses.

Touchscreen or 1/4" thick, are P&S cams. The latest moves by Pentax have been pretty distinguished. K10, which was a bomb, and captured big market segments, K20 which brought Samsung and Pentax right on cutting edge sensor wise, in their first try, Km – the smallest camera with Shake Reduction. These are cameras that fall just outside the scope of C&N offerings. Continue this, and you have a market sorted out.

A comrade of mine knows nothing about photography, and just bought what the guy in the store talked about. He had no idea what accessories that he had gotten; where for his sony video cam, or for his rebel DSLR. Pentax are more for the people really doing their homework, and who thinks it is fun to try something different. Something that not everybody has. All markets have niche, find one and continue to carve it out, and you can live well.

We can’t touch C&N in their top series, their Pro models are very good. But the big money is made in entry and middle segment.

I think it is a smart move to only release 645D in Japan. Most studio Pros will know of Pentax medium format. So one comes across a guy who has the digital Pentax medium format, "where on earth did you get that ?", and then the ball starts rolling. All about distinguishing yourself and allowing people to make the conscious choice.