[newmikey]

I recently acquired the Irix 30mm/f1.4 lens and noticed the resulting EXIF out of my KP was missing the focal length and a few other EXIF fields. I reported this to IRIX Benelux together with a few sample KP pefs and jpegs. They responded today:

Translated:
Hi Mike,
This is a known issue, as it turns out after communication with Irix and Pentax which will be resolved in a firmware update.

---

Last edited by newmikey; 12-22-2021 at 03:23 PM.

[cdw2000]

Yes, but which firmware? The camera's or the lens'?

If the lens, then how can it be upgraded?

If the camera, which Pentax cameras will get the update?

Their response gives us more questions than answers.

[biz-engineer]

Their response gives us more questions than answers.

If you read carefully the answer, the answer means it's the communication between IRIS and Ricoh (Petax) that will be fixed via firm-ware (company-ware, or business-ware) update.

[Adam]

The answer would suggest a firmware update for the camera (presumably to be released by Ricoh), as there is no USB dock or other method for updating the lens firmware (unless there's an approach I'm missing).


This would imply prior collaboration between Irix and the Pentax team, which is interesting. Not sure I buy it though The response could just be referring to patched firmware in future copies of the lens...clarification would be nice.

Adam
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[stevebrot]

Yes, but which firmware? The camera's or the lens'?

This would be a lens firmware change (presumably in manufacturing) since the camera just stores EXIF for what the lens sends it. When such fails, it is because the lens is not "talking Pentax" through the data contact on the mount.


Steve

[wadge22]

Does the camera ask for focal length on startup with this lens attached?


Also, does anyone know if this is an issue only with the new 30mm, or with all/others of these IRIX MF lenses?

[biz-engineer]

This would be a lens firmware change (presumably in manufacturing) since the camera just stores EXIF for what the lens sends it. When such fails, it is because the lens is not "talking Pentax" through the data contact on the mount.

This makes sense to me. I guess the IRIX for Pentax isn't fully compliant with the Pentax protocol, it wouldn't make sense to have to update the firmware of all Pentax camera to cope with a mistake on IRIX lens side. That said, I don't believe there is much "firmware" running in a manual lens as it would require some kind of processor, I believe the lens chipset is composed of some kind of serial bus chip (e.g SPI bus + state machine) with an eeprom behind it to store a serial number and lens information. So the IRIX lens could be updated by IRIX via a recall. Otherwise the camera could update the lens, but only if the communication between lens and camera would already work.

[newmikey]

removed

Since Irix doesn't have those USB plug-compatible sockets like Sigma and Tamron for changing things in the lens via computer (as @Adam observed), it would seem that a firmware update for the Irix lens would entail shipment to some fix-it place. I know from personal experience that Irix had been having trouble finding someone in the U.S. who'd be able to fix their lenses, and I don't know whether they've solved that problem. Anyway I doubt that they're talking about firmware in the lens, and if they are, it means the new lenses will be better than the old ones.

[newmikey]

I have no idea what the situation in the US is but, judging the speed of response of Irix Benelux, I am hoping that even if this turns out to be a lens thing, sending it in to fix it would be relatively smooth. Also, as they seem to deal with multiple EU countries and the EU is basically a Customs union without borders, there would be no issues shipping back and forth either.

@NewMikey - terrific picture, thanks!

I am a big fan of Irix, though I only have their 11 and 15mm versions, because it's easy to do manual focus with a superwide lens, and my eyesight is going, so I rely pretty heavily on autofocus now (though when it first came out, I thought it was something from the Devil and got nasty with people who relied on it). But it's not just their lenses - I'd bought a used one from another PF member and the post office destroyed it (and refused to pay up on the insurance claim) - I tried to get it fixed by going through the U.S. Irix people, but that was when they were having trouble with facilities for that. But those Irix people were wonderful, customer service was great, over the top, in fact. They bent over backwards to make sure I got happy with that Irix lens. Suffice it to say I'm thrilled. Dealing with Ricoh and dealing with Irix is a night-and-day distinction.

[stevebrot]

First thing I checked of course and no, SR is active and does not prompt for focal length which is why I think the issue may be on the Pentax side rather than on the lens.

???? The Pentax protocols are well-established and are negotiated without issue by multiple third-party vendors, including Irix. If they are failing for this lens, it is highly unlikely that that problem is on the Pentax side.


Steve

[Not a Number]

Has Pentax/Ricoh/Hoya ever updated firmware to support third party lenses? Just a quick glance through the K-3 firmware update the only lenses listed are Pentax lenses. Unless they are covered under the catch-all "stability" changes.

If there is some sort of "official" program or licensing for third party manufacturers to follow and a company isn't playing ball then why should Pentax support them?

[newmikey]

???? The Pentax protocols are well-established and are negotiated without issue by multiple third-party vendors, including Irix. If they are failing for this lens, it is highly unlikely that that problem is on the Pentax side.
Steve

Has Pentax/Ricoh/Hoya ever updated firmware to support third party lenses? Just a quick glance through the K-3 firmware update the only lenses listed are Pentax lenses. Unless they are covered under the catch-all "stability" changes.
If there is some sort of "official" program or licensing for third party manufacturers to follow and a company isn't playing ball then why should Pentax support them?

Steve, on second thought you may very well be right about that. For now, I'll fix the behavior with exiftool in post while downloading and tagging the images. There are no Lensfun, NeatImage profiles or Darktable settings for this lens anyway. Both the exif as well as exiv2 libraries are still oblivious of such a new lens. I'll check again in a few months and if needed, I'll profile the lens myself but as there are virtually no aberrations and no distortion, it is not high on my list of priorities.

As to third part support, I have no idea really and I'm not quite sure my post warrants the somewhat passive-aggressive tone of some the posts here. I'm not attacking Pentax, not challenging anyone, just posting a small issue I detected with a nice new lens wwhich fills a gap in the lineup that Pentax has yet to fill.

I have removed any reference to Pentax FW updates relating to Irix lenses and just leave the matter altogether.

[stevebrot]

Both the exif as well as exiv2 libraries are still oblivious of such a new lens.

I am not surprised that those two utilities* come up empty.

Ditto for ExifTool...

https://exiftool.org/TagNames/Pentax.html#LensRec


Steve

* Both are C libraries that function similar to ExifTool.