[richandfleur]

As much as i hate saying it, i would swap Pentax/Ricoh with Olympus.... If Pentax does not do something then they will continue to lose what market they have.

I think that too, but didn't want to rock the boat

Honestly (and yeah this will sound negative) I basically can't buy Pentax in NZ (no offence intended to those camera stores that do stock it).
I can buy Olympus and everything else at Hardly Normal, and Noel Lemmings etc.
Also Pentax are stubbornly not developing in areas the bulk of consumers (outside of the Pentax faithful) are asking for, such as video, eye af, and dare I say it Mirrorless etc.
Keeping emotions out of it, that sounds like a shrinking customer base, which isn't good business long term.


Re cell phones, nah I do see these improving over time. Many cellphones now pack 3 cameras to cover the different field of view ranges, and are pretty good in favourable lighting situations.
They're not there yet, and on the fringes won't ever get there, but for many users requirements they're more than good enough.
Seriously considering for a travel camera; do I get a camera or get the kids cellphones with decent cellphone level cameras in them?
Am leaning towards a mirrorless with selfie screen, so I can pack an APS-C sensor into something with good video capabilities too.

[Kiwizinho]

As much as i hate saying it, i would swap Pentax/Ricoh with Olympus.... If Pentax does not do something then they will continue to lose what market they have.
Where as Olympus are out there still developing cameras, sure they are not major improvements to previous models for the most part, but their R&D listen to the market when developing new models. They are spending time and effort on continually developing lenses etc for the system AND they also have the Panasonic G lens catalogue that will fit and run with no issues .

Although I've recently acquired a new Pentax body, I dare say I'd agree.
Olympus has some interesting niche products.
I guess you could say Ricoh does too, but certainly not under the Pentax brand (or at least not any more).
Many of the good features of Pentax Olympus has as well.
Pentax does have larger sensors though which should help in low light.
I thought a bit about investing in more Pentax gear, but then I saw there are mount adaptors for Panasonic, so I'm not going to panic.

[NZ_Ross]

I thought a bit about investing in more Pentax gear, but then I saw there are mount adaptors for Panasonic, so I'm not going to panic.

I will let you know how Pentax lenses go on Panasonic with mount adaptors, when I get time to play. It is a bit nuts at work at the moment in terms of busyness, so it might be a while

The reason I put Olympus as a fail is they are a one trick pony in m4/3, the market is shrinking fast, their last camera missed the mark I think for m4/3 - too big and bulky, and camera phones are definitely encroaching into m4/3 territory. Panasonic are much better placed as they have highly regarded video in m4/3 and also now playing in FF. Plus they are a much larger company with wide and deep optics needs and products.

Pentax/Ricoh - are sitting in a specialist niche of rugged weather sealed outdoors (landscape) cameras (others have covered that well too), DSLRs are not going to disappear despite the progress that mirrorless is making, they have a small dedicated user base, the GR series is well regarded. So, I see them surviving for a while yet - but only in the niches, and probably struggling to retain relevance given the mirrorless and hybrid camera advances. So I am still maybe/maybe not in terms of longer term.

[MarkJerling]

Are you sure your tripod doesn't have a removable leg? A lot of them do have. I have been just checking out my options and the monopod leg from this tripod I bought seems good. But the ball head that comes with the tripod is not at all smooth. A ball head on the monopod is a real plus. RT40 Professional Travel tripod monopod Compact Aluminum camera stand for DSLR Camera Upgraded from E306 Better than Q999 Q999S-in Live Tripods from Consumer Electronics on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
I have a night time shoot coming up - we did it last year - "light up your bike" Here is the FB site Whanganui District Council - Photos | Facebook
A lot of the first images are mine (Basil Hooper) I chose not to use flash to maximise the led colors. I had my Revuenon 55mm f1.2 wide open and at 1/30 sec had to push up to about 5 - 6 stops in post (so about iso 6400). Hand held last year this year I hope to use my 85mm f1.8 on a monopod wide open @ say the same 1/30 sec. It is a procession so mobility is critical. How would you guys approach this?

Thanks for that link. I've been looking to get one of those. Sadly, my tripod does not offer a monopod option.

[zkarj]

Re cell phones, nah I do see these improving over time. Many cellphones now pack 3 cameras to cover the different field of view ranges, and are pretty good in favourable lighting situations.

As a long time iPhone user I am ogling the new models just announced, but the camera system is merely a curio for me. I can't believe they decided 26mm equivalent is "not wide enough" and added a 13mm one. It's not often what I want to snap with my phone won't fit in the standard wide I have on my current model. (And don't get me started on Apple calling 52mm a telephoto.)

But the biggest point of lag for me, in my 2-year-old iPhone camera, is that while a lot of photos come out looking pretty great on the phone, they don't stand up to much in the way of large scale viewing, and god forbid if you need to apply more than a modicum of adjustments. You can shoot RAW but not on the built in camera app so the "always with you" loses its lustre as you have to fiddle to find the right app (having learned how to use that) rather than just a swipe and a tap.

Good point. Trouble is it is the worst of both worlds - the subjects are moving quite slowly - often walking beside their bikes. Not like your two little hoods here zooming along - great shot.
But it could be fun to use fill in flash and slow shutter speed and move the camera.

I remember the problem of shooting fast moving bikes at close quarters in a forest. My K10D just couldn't hack it, and a "fast" lens was only going to make things harder. The solution was the sensor in the K-5, where I didn't think twice about shooting ISO1600, gave only a little thought to 3200, and when needed pushed out to 6400.

[richandfleur]

As a long time iPhone user I am ogling the new models just announced




The solution was the sensor in the K-5, where I didn't think twice about shooting ISO1600, gave only a little thought to 3200, and when needed pushed out to 6400.

Ha, reminds me of this:
Android phones already have all the new iPhone 11 features

Re K-5 iso, that summary is exactly me on the K-3.

3200 is the normal limit. 6400 at an absolute pinch.

[GUB]

3200 is the normal limit. 6400 at an absolute pinch.

The darker areas probably ended up about iso 6400. This subject matter is where iso invariance has its uses. If I had just used a high iso the leds light points would have faded out to white or at least lost a lot of their colour. Having said that I almost invariably in post dragged the EV up 3 stops before I started with the histogram (holding the highlights back) so I might has well just wound the iso up 3evs to 800 and that would made the raw developing a bit simpler. Digikam shot is excamera f1.2 1/30 iso100. Darktable screenshot is the histo manipulation after applying EV+3. I can remember when taking the shot not being able to see her face in the dark. It just blows me away what the K1 can do.

Attached Images

   

[NZ_Ross]

It just blows me away what the K1 can do.

That is pretty impressive

[microlight]

Ha, reminds me of this:
Re K-5 iso, that summary is exactly me on the K-3.

3200 is the normal limit. 6400 at an absolute pinch.

Ditto. Although I had to go up to 10,000 at dusk to get a close-up of a moulting yellow-eyed penguin using the 55-300PLM in February 2018.

[Kiwizinho]

But the biggest point of lag for me, in my 2-year-old iPhone camera, is that while a lot of photos come out looking pretty great on the phone, they don't stand up to much in the way of large scale viewing, and god forbid if you need to apply more than a modicum of adjustments.

This.
I don't have an iPhone, but I was in at a local picture framing/printing shop for something, and I saw a photo that had just been printed on canvas that I thought I recognised. I talked with the shop owner, and sure enough it was from someone I knew, taken on an iPhone. It wasn't a particularly large print, but the noise was extremely obvious, and it was a landscape where the noise significantly detracted from the image.
For people whose photography mostly only even ends up on Facebook or Instagram, a camera phone may be fine, even a bit of a turd like my budget Vodafone branded one, but the moment you start scaling up or cropping, the limitations of tiny sensors start to become abundantly obvious.
Of course there's a big question about how many people do use their photos for anything other than social media, and even with the proliferation of affordable canvas and other printing, there's only so much wall space you have.
Resene offer a wallpaper printing service from your photos at $75 per square metre, which I guess is probably the ultimate sized enlargement on the market. They calculate suitability based on viewing from 1.8m, but of course the more detail, less noise you've got the better. I guess those 100Mpixel Fujifilm and Hasselblad medium formats might come in handy for interior redecoration.

[microlight]

Agreed. Even using a dedicated app like 645PRO on my iPhone 6+ saving TIFFs, there’s still the noise to contend with. It looks fine on the phone, but blow it up and it’s a different story. I tried stacking multiple images from the native camera app which does indeed average out the noise, but then you just see how unsharp the actual image is when you blow it up.

[zkarj]

Ha, reminds me of this:
Android phones already have all the new iPhone 11 features

I'll give them points for the headline, which saves me the bother of opening the page. All they compare are numbers. I mean, a DA50 and an FA50 are both the same, right?

[GUB]

I see 85civic just scored the Sigma 105mm 2.8 macro on TM. Good to know you are still around and still mucking around with Pentax gear !

[richandfleur]

Freaky looking thing. Turns out it's a Zebra Shark. Looks like it's out of a movie.

[Kiwizinho]

I see 85civic just scored the Sigma 105mm 2.8 macro on TM. Good to know you are still around and still mucking around with Pentax gear !

I saw that lens, but decided I'd better not bid given I've already got the Tamron 90 2.8 and the D FA 100 2.8. I think my wife would want to check me in to an institution if I get any more macro lenses.
Personally, I think I like the Tamron better for portraits, as the extra 10mm on the D FA makes it a wee bit long in most situations, but for actual macro the quick shift focusing is much nicer to work with.