[Kenn100D]

Check the side of the K-7 or the protruding button on the dial. either that is the flash pop-up button

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[fejker]

The mode dial button is a safety button for enabling the mode dial to be turned. The other thing you've circled is the flash sync socket.

[ytterbium]

Now imagine turning the dial with that lock, while holding the camera to your eye...
And how about metering mode then? I bet you can turn it accidentally more easily since it is more outward.. then it locks both of them?

I have something similar for exp. comp on my Chinon film camera.. very uncomfortable. Basically you have to put the camera off your face, use one hand to push the button and the other to turn the dial (if your'e using neck strap.. if not then its even worse, holding the camera with button down).

P.S. I guess i've generated enough spam now.. will shut up for some time.

[falconeye]

The other thing you've circled is the flash sync socket.

And above is the flash pop up button, and below (not visible in the image) is the RAW button.

And below the RAW button (down the camera) is the AF mode selection dial (dial, not slider).

[mutedphotos]

So the thing i circled.. it has to be button.. too odd for a simple body curve. Logically it would be optical preview or something along these lines. Has this been already discussed some hundred posts ago ? If so.. we could add something new/different to on off button.. just digital preview...display AF point or something useful, unless it has just on/off positions?
What about that "Direct Controls Design" Rice mentioned some time ago. Sounds like a title for some complete, original control system/scheme implementation, similar the way EOS for Canon sounds . It could mean completely reworked UI.. although i doubt, current one is nice, clean and fast.
Still the dial top button bothers me. I see no real reason to add lock. Has anyone complained about it? I've red only of it being left between positions. I imagine some mode hint in viewfinder or mode shift as more useful.

A lock is quite common on higher end gear, and most old manual film SLRs had similar locks for the dials.

As for the DoF preview, you bring up RH's blog but you didn't seem to notice that the same post also lists "optical/digital preview" as being around the shutter button. Whatever the bump on the side of the lens mount is (if anything), I see no reason for it to be a DoF preview button. The current implementation is far superior, IMHO.

[KungPOW]

The "mystery button" over the lens release may just be a custom function button like Nikon has. It has no other job then to get a user function assigned to it.

You could set it to give you a digital preview and still use the on-off swith for the optical DOF.

[unkabin]

The dial looks just like the one on my Minolta Maxxum 7D. There is no need for two hands to operate it. Just press the locking button with your index finger, while turning the dial with your thumb and middle finger. After a bit of use, you won't even realize you're doing it; it'll be second nature.

[RuiC]

The "mystery button" over the lens release may just be a custom function button like Nikon has. It has no other job then to get a user function assigned to it.

You could set it to give you a digital preview and still use the on-off swith for the optical DOF.

There is no mystery button or knob of any possible kind on that place.

[RuiC]

No.

It is a shame that we have so many posts in this thread and not a single image of the K30D!

Yes, Wie, yes, maybe later. It happens that the K-7 came first. K-70 will have also a nice discussion when it shows up.

[RuiC]

Well not literary . I meant discussing anything about k-7. Like is that a push button in the middle of mode dial and what could it do?

The flash bracket and prism as whole looks weird in this picture (compared to announcement date teaser pic.). Because it is p.shopped?
As well you may ask why the left side strap connector isn't included in this picture or what is this:

Sorry for the joke. As for the circled items they have been discussed thoroughly, the lock in mode dial and room for mirror motor.

[KungPOW]

There is no mystery button or knob of any possible kind on that place.

so its just a bump to house a motor?

cool. Way to think about controls Pentax.

[jay]

Blah, so it sounds like business as usual. I really wish Pentax would take their own advice and be interesting. If this camera is made of magnesium then make a silver version (if its plastic don't bother), sue a square sensor or APS-H sensor. Something, anything to stand out a bit. I personally was really hoping for APS-H. I even started calculating some of the lens by 1.25. the 17-70mm would become a 22-87mm. Now to me that is interesting. A standard zoom that starts in the ultra wide territory.

omgomg aps-h would be srsly cool cuz then u no pentax could bring back all the fa lenses but put sdm in them and stuff... like make them telecentric and stuff u kno? that'd be freakin sweet.... and then so theyd have the da lenses for consumers, the da* lenses for advanced ammettures [sic] and then the d-fa* for pros and then the 645 mf lenses for the real pros!! itd be perfect and theyd have more lenses then like nikon and canon combined! whoo pentax!

Take a chance for Christs sake. be interesting.

Yes, please, Pentax. Shoot yourselves in the foot with a new sensor format. Yeah, your MF line isn't enough. You need to have at least three formats going at once before you're really a "pro" manufacturer. BE INTERESTING!

...Yeah. Right. Can we vote to outlaw requests for APS-H / full-frame / square sensors? Please?

Everyone is getting mixed up with field-of-view perspective and depth-of-field and image quality and all that jazz. I grow tired of explaining.

perspective is determined only by the lens-to-subject(s) distance, or, rather, the distance relationships between everything in the frame. If you're photographing a portrait with a 50mm lens, and switch to a 28mm lens, the PERSPECTIVE will be identical. The field-of-view will not be, BUT, if you crop the image, the perspective and field-of-view are identical.

A full-frame 50mm lens has the same perspective AND field-of-view as a 33mm lens does on a 1.5 crop camera. HOWEVER, it *is* true that the full-frame + 50 will have shallower depth-of-field than the 33mm + crop. (assuming they're used at the same aperture)

So, we need to pressure our camera makers to produce faster lenses. Oly has their f/2.0 zooms. Why? So their depth-of-field characteristics are similar to full-frame. And, theoretically, a 50mm f/1.4 lens should have the same field-of-view, perspective, and depth-of-field characteristics on a crop camera as a ~80mm f/2.0 lens does on full-frame. And, heck, the lenses are similar in size.

So there's not much sacrifice.

On to image quality.

There are so many things that we're experimenting with right now that will dramatically change and improve imaging. One of my professors has actually designed and tested a CMOS detector that is responsive to all wavelengths of light. In other words, screw the "red" "green" "blue" array -- just have ONE pixel that detects the actual COLOR of light hitting it (and not the percentage of red, percentage of blue, and percentage of green). It can just as easily detect inferred or ultraviolet, and toward the extremes of the electromagnetic spectrum. Think about it -- you could some day use your Pentax to detect if there's lead in your kid's toys by pointing your camera at it, and running it through a photoshop filter.

This technology will VASTLY improve IQ much more than the switch from crop camera to full-frame ever will.

And there's been several advances to CCD imaging technology that may make it come back for a second round of competition (although CMOS is winning out right now).

This APS-H stuff, to reiterate this for about the hundredth time, makes no sense...

Thank god there's someone else out there...

And square sensor? Huh?

We've discussed this all enough. If you think you need full-frame, go buy a Canon and STFU.

We do not know that the lens is the limiting factor, it could be so that the lens AF speed is PWM controlled to a speed that the AF module in the body can handle. A faster AF module in the body might make it possible to control the lenses in a different way.
Pure speculation, of course...

/Mats

They should just use higher-voltage batteries so the AF motor will spin faster.

I'm not sure why people are so impressed with metal, thermopastic compounds have exceeded metals in almost all physical performance aspects.

Now if it was bylateral PVC that would be cool.

I really hope it's a solid metal body.

Why? Because nothing is cooler than a big, heavy metal body that has prone to corrosion, has poor temperature resistance performance, and has less strength when compared to thermoplastics. Metal bodies are classic.

Bylateral PVC doesn't have the same imperfections that metal does -- metal bodies have more character.

If Pentax goes with a plastic body, the terrorists have already won.

[Jodokast96]

Jay, that is one seriously f****d up post, but I agree, lol.

[falconeye]

And, theoretically, a 50mm f/1.4 lens should have the same field-of-view, perspective, and depth-of-field characteristics on a crop camera as a ~80mm f/2.0 lens does on full-frame. And, heck, the lenses are similar in size.

So there's not much sacrifice.

This is true. And the fact that lenses yielding similiar DoF irrespective of sensor format are similar in size is universal.

But ...

For shorter focal lengths, it becomes harder (and at some point impossible) to build a lens of similiar size (i.e., sharp below f/2). And smaller sensor needs shorter focal length.

That's the only sacrifice. But it is there.

Otherwise speaking, it may be much more expensive ($ wise) to have a sharp Oly lens at f/2 than an FA lens at f/4 (both giving same DoF and FoV).

[zoltan1983snapper]

I agree with Jay, I have no problem with APS-C, and no real yearning for full frame. But I do very much want a metal body, because it feels good to hold. The Canon 40D, for instance, is a much more solid feeling camera than the K20D, in part because of its magnesium body. I like the K20D much better overall, but I miss that feeling.

If this new camera has a metal body, an LX-quality viewfinder, 1/8000 sec shutter speed, and improved high-ISO images, I will definitely find a way to get one.