[i_trax]

Dear All,

My first Pentax battery grip came with K-5 , AA battery tray was included , I love AA's , particularly while traveling.
I hardly ever used the grip , I just loved K-5 superb ergonomics.
K-5IIs arrived , very fine camera indeed.
K-5 moved onto my Family member , grip was , and still is , permanently settled in the cupboard.
I purchased K-3 Silver limited kit , the grip was included , with incorporated AA tray.
Again , the grip was , and still is , permanently settled in the cupboard.
The silver KP arrived , it came with just one , very small hand grip.
We Australians are obviously not capable of dealing with too many choices , undeniably that would be bad for our sanity and it would just confused us.
I purchased 1671 and 1672 hand grips and yes, it totally confused me.
So I decided to purchase black ( why not , after all I do have some choice ) battery grip to make my life easier.
Yes , I loved it , KP + battery grip + large / 1672 hand grip very enjoyable indeed.
Hang on! No AA tray. That must be the new Pentax policy , they are not going to encourage users to use AA any more.
Fair enough......
One day I bumped onto irresistible online deal , the following day ( gosh , the AU Pentax is so efficient ! ) the Silver Limited K-1II kit arrived.
The grip was included , with ( surprise surprise ! ) AA tray.
So after all it wasn't the new Pentax policy , KP was just a little mishap in Pentax evolution.
Another surprise , K-1II came with a CD/DVD data disk , my last MacBook Pro with an optical drive was purchased in 2010 , what do , people at Pentax , think?
To be Pentaxian could be a bit puzzling but also very rewarding.....

[garywakeling]

lol , one bonus I found last month was the joy of the protective ability of the battery grip on my K1, my camera bag slipped off my shoulder and the battery grip Lithium Tray too a hit, it broke the plastic moulding exposing the locking mechanism, I couldn't help thinking how luck y I was to still have the AA tray to replace it. But temptation got the better of me and I purchased another new grip and now have 1 lithium and 2 AA trays to choose from.
Maybe the fun of being a Pentaxian is the joy of tray choices as well as CD-Roms and reflex mirrors

[UncleVanya]

Yes , I loved it , KP + battery grip + large / 1672 hand grip very enjoyable indeed.
Hang on! No AA tray. That must be the new Pentax policy , they are not going to encourage users to use AA any more.
Fair enough......
One day I bumped onto irresistible online deal , the following day ( gosh , the AU Pentax is so efficient ! ) the Silver Limited K-1II kit arrived.
The grip was included , with ( surprise surprise ! ) AA tray.
So after all it wasn't the new Pentax policy , KP was just a little mishap in Pentax evolution.

Perhaps... but the KP is the newer camera. K-3ii released in 2015, KP released in 2017. The AA tray is a nice feature of the grips that I wish the KP retained.

[DonV]

I have not "measured" , but perhaps there is not enough space in the KP grip? IIRC the overall size of the KP is smaller; I know it is only 3 or 5mm- but two AA's length wise take up way more space than the Li 90 or 109.
Pentax did have the foresight to include a "tray" for the 109 that can be removed and the li90 used for more "power".

[stevejo]

Another surprise , K-1II came with a CD/DVD data disk , my last MacBook Pro with an optical drive was purchased in 2010 , what do

This post suggests renaming a usb stick or memory card to S-SW140 and installing the update which can be downloaded from the Ricoh site.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/32-digital-processing-software-printing/...-cd-drive.html

Just tried it and appears to have worked.

Thanks to user narual (post from 2015).

---------- Post added 20-03-21 at 09:32 AM ----------

Just tried it and appears to have worked.
Thanks to user narual (post from 2015).

Well it did work, but if that is all that is on the cd, I am glad I didn't spend any money to get it. Think I may delete it now.

[stevebrot]

That must be the new Pentax policy , they are not going to encourage users to use AA any more.
Fair enough......

Given the number of help request threads I have participated in over the last 14 years or so where power issues with alkaline AA cells or brand-X NiMH were a factor, I would say that is a reasonable idea. That aside, the question remains whether there is room in the BG7 grip or KP body for the number of AA cells (six for the K-3II) required to power the camera. I suspect that is why the four AA battery holder has been a missing option on all bodies since the K-50/K-500.

As for use of a DVD for software...I suppose they could have just gifted us a pre-loaded SD card of sufficient capacity that we might stupidly overwrite, but that would be support headache. Much better might be to follow Nikon's lead and not include any software.


Steve

[ramseybuckeye]

Another surprise , K-1II came with a CD/DVD data disk , my last MacBook Pro with an optical drive was purchased in 2010 , what do , people at Pentax , think?
To be Pentaxian could be a bit puzzling but also very rewarding.....

A USB thumb drive would be better for them to include, or just make the whole thing downloadable. I actually bought a portable CD/DVD drive that I can plug into a USB port on our computers. Not just for this but there are other disks I may want to read. $28 USD.

[stevebrot]

my last MacBook Pro with an optical drive was purchased in 2010 , what do , people at Pentax , think?

They think that you might stumble upon this comment on Pentax Forums pertaining to Mac!

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/32-digital-processing-software-printing/...ml#post4520557


Steve

[i_trax]

yes , many years ago i purchased Dell GP61NB60 , it was cheap , very small and works well with all my Macs hardware but I do not have slightest desire to install any Pentax software on my Mac's.

[stevebrot]

yes , many years ago i purchased Dell GP61NB60 , it was cheap , very small and works well with all my Macs hardware but I do not have slightest desire to install any Pentax software on my Mac's.

OK, so that part of the rant was more an observation and not a matter of personal inconvenience or insult. How about the AA battery adapter complaint? Do you actually use them on your K-1 and K-3?


Steve

[i_trax]

Well K-1II just arrived so obviously not.
On some European "city" ( no dirty trekking / hiking ) trips I used the "Q" set up , so no AA.
K-5 and K-5IIs did some traveling with the battery gip.
The most used for hiking / trekking was my beloved K-30 , it did get some abuse but it did survive till the recently.
Now is 'shooting blanks' , producing useless dark images.
I just love to have a set of AA lithium Energizer batteries with me all the time and be able to use them in an emergency.
It makes me feel very secured , they could be stored for years and they last , while being used , forever.
I know they are not cheap but they are just irresistible.

kind regards
jack

[Not a Number]

Looking at several Japanese computer webstores it looks like many of the systems still come equipped with optical drives. So why shouldn't they include optical discs?