[Clavius]

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Pfff... Good luck trying to WR a swiveling tilting screen. Sure it can be done, but the WR with a swiveling screen will be lower then Pentax current WR.

Personally, I don't care for an LCD screen period. It's only used to review shots that were taken. What's the point having a DSLR if you use the LCD screen anyway?

[psychdoc]

If the K5 II had a swivel screen I would have upgraded in a heartbeat.

Or even if they do an entry level, non-wr slr. I would buy it as my back-up!

Its not only useful for low angle shots but also for candids.

I did not want to change brands so I got myself a point and shoot canon g12. I have taken plenty of shots of my camera-shy neices and nephews. ALso to take pics of people who freeze or have weird expressions when you point the camera at them. The screen is great but I need to use the swivel screen only some of the time. So the lack of OVF and slow start up and all the other things associated with p/s cameras means its not really what I want.

[woof]

Among the uses already pointed out, you can use the articulated screen while looking through the evf to choose your focus point with your finger. It's a touch screen (obviously) so it becomes a nice adjunct to the control buttons. And the camera has an eye sensor that will switch between EVF and LCD when you approach/withdraw from the vicinity of the evf.

The bar has been raised, and I think you'll see this technology increasingly make it into the DSLR segment (even as mirrorless eats away at the segment). Canon 60D has had an articulating screen for some time...

Of that dpreview said:

"However this increased reliance on the rear screen hints that the 60D is trying to stretch beyond the classic DSLR use pattern. And for video shooters the large, detailed and articulated LCD will more than outweigh the tweaks made to viewfinder shooting. Sadly the contrast detection autofocus is still slow enough to reduce the usefulness of the articulated screen for handheld stills shooting, but tripod users and shooters of static subjects should appreciate it."

The GH3 has extremely fast AF... a rumored Sony sensor... and a magnesium alloy body that promises to be quite a bit nicer than the build on the GH2...

At the end of the day this is just an example of where this is showing up. How the market has and will respond seems pretty clear...


woof!

[stormtech]

Panasonic has had these features in the GH2 for years less the weather sealing.

Articulating touch screen
viewfinder eye sensor etc.

I owned one for about a year. The features are exactly what I was looking for, and the lens selection was pretty good in that I am primarily a long lens shooter - the 100-300 lens performed very well for me and equaled 600mm on the crop sensor.

But, at the end of the day, I hated the "feel" and build quality of the body compared to my K-5. It just feels like a cheap plastic toy in my hands. While the other features should have offset that, I just couldn't get beyond it. And while the small sensor did very well for what it is, I just felt the images were kind of "flat" compared to Pentax plus the dynamic range was quite a bit less.

It was a tough decision to give up the GH2 and move forward with my lenses for the K-5, but I couldn't afford the LBA for 2 systems, and one had to go. The K-5 won out for me because of the feel of the camera/controls and the IQ. But oh how I miss the articulated touch screen!

Since I posted above, I took a good look at the Sony A77. It has the features I want, but the high ISO images were terrible in comparison to the K-5. Since I shoot a lot with long lenses in light that isn't the greatest, I end up shooting ISO 1600-3200 often enough to get the shot. I downloaded a Sony raw example image shot at ISO 3200 and couldn't believe the amount of noise - bad enough that even when I tried my various noise reduction programs, I couldn't clean it up to anywhere near how the K-5 images look. I was really hopeful about the A77, but because of the above, plus the price of the lenses I would need to replace what I have in Pentax I aborted that idea.

[stormtech]

I have recently rigged up a little 3 inch LCD TV which I connect to the video out port and put the camera in live view so I can see what I am shooting in such situations. It is actually more versatile than a tilting screen and opens up yet more possibilities but on the negative side it is much more cumbersome and often not that practical.

This sounds very interesting for my needs. Could you link to the product so I can take a look?

[lister6520]

This sounds very interesting for my needs. Could you link to the product so I can take a look?

It is one I had bought on eBay a few years ago to use as a reversing camera display in my car and later replaced with a larger one. I cannot find it on the net as it is unbranded and doesn't even have a model number so there's not much I can search for.

However a search for '3 inch lcd monitor' turns up several which should do the job. It seems most, if not all, of them are designed specifically as car rearview monitor but they will do the job just as well as the signal that reversing cameras produce is exactly the same as Pentax cameras produce (composite PAL or NTSC).
Something like this should do just fine:
3.5" TFT LCD Car Rearview Monitor Camera 3.5inch LCD Color Screen Overhead Roof | eBay

The cabling that came with it and that which came with the camera should suffice to connect them together but may be a bit clumsy to use. If you are handy with a soldering iron you could custom build a cable that is more manageable (correct length and no intermediate connectors).

You will need to add is a battery as the monitors do not have one built in (and neither does the TV I am using). I use one very similar to this:
Mini DC 12V 1800mah Rechargeable Li-ion Lithium Battery for CCTV camera | eBay


Looking for these things on eBay I stumbled upon this device made specifically for this purpose. Maybe a little more costly but being purpose made they are probably better suited for the job and I'm actually considering replacing my home made version. with one of them
For DSLR Use LCD Remote Viewfinder Aputure GT3C High-Quality Brand NEW | eBay

[stormtech]

Wow - thank you so much lister - this is exactly what I need!

I did a quick search on ebay US, and found a couple very similar to the one you posted a link for - seems like a reasonable price. But, of course, then show that it works with Canon or Nikon........After doing some digging in the descriptions, there are no specs on the camera end plugs so I can't be sure if it will work with a Pentax camera or not.

Going to dig into this some more this evening - this is exactly what I am looking for. I hope I can somehow figure out if any of them are Pentax compatible.

Aputure Gigtube, Digital Screen Remote Viewfinder for Canon 5D Mark II Camera | eBay

gigtube lcd | eBay

[SpecialK]

What's the point having a DSLR if you use the LCD screen anyway?

It has been pointed out many times. It's not a mystery. For some people it would be handy, as is any other bell or whistle.

[DanWeso]

Wow - thank you so much lister - this is exactly what I need!

There are other options out there.

I don't own one, but I always liked this option.

Amazon.com: Lilliput 665gl-70np/ho/y 7" On-Camera HD LCD Field Monitor w/HDMI In HDMI Out Component in Video in Video Out by Camgeeker: Camera & Photo

[Fastback67]

The heck with the swivel screen, why not go all the way... A removable screen with a plug in extension cord would be much more useful.

[stormtech]

The heck with the swivel screen, why not go all the way... A removable screen with a plug in extension cord would be much more useful.

That is exactly what I am looking at now. Best of both worlds for me is to keep and use my K-5's plus have the option of the wired remote screen.

This would mostly be used for near ground level shooting, so one with a shutter trigger would me a must - would also find it handy for tripod work which I do a lot of.

[Fastback67]

That is exactly what I am looking at now. Best of both worlds for me is to keep and use my K-5's plus have the option of the wired remote screen.

This would mostly be used for near ground level shooting, so one with a shutter trigger would me a must - would also find it handy for tripod work which I do a lot of.

It would be very handy for nature photography as well, or any other instance where you might wish to have some form of covert operability.

[stormtech]

Digging into this some more, the only reference I can find about any of these remote viewfinders working with Pentax is here:

Aputure Gigtube Wireless ? DSLR Wireless View and Remote | photo X gear

In the questions section on that page, this is the only post that refers to Pentax:

The Gigtube as it is in the box does not have the AV connection to work with the video out port of the Pentax cameras. However the Pentax cameras use the same remote connection as the Canon Rebel series (the 1C Gigtube; GW1C or GT1C). If you use the video cable that comes supplied with your Pentax camera as an adapter, the 1C Gigtube should work

While that looks like a nice wireless unit, it gets kind of expensive especially if the Pentax compatibility is unknown for sure. Now it mentions that the connection is the same as the Canon Rebel series. I would rather not spend the money on a wireless unit - a wired unit would be fine like one of these:

Amazon.com: Adorama Aputure Gigtube, Digital Screen Remote Viewfinder for Canon Rebel & Rebel XS/XSi/XT/XTi/Cameras: Camera & Photo

The description for this one states that it will work with any DSLR that has a live view option. But again, not sure about the connections to the camera. I am kind of glad to find this on Amazon - but since it is sold and shipped by a third party seller (fotodiox), I don't know if their return policy would be as good as if Amazon sold it directly.

Edit to add: found them at Adorama now - I think I might try one with them as I know I can return it if I can't get it to work:

http://www.adorama.com/searchsite/default.aspx?searchinfo=remote+viewfinder

[Hoggy]

Stormtech:

Keep us posted if you find one that works. This could be very handy for ground-level shots - as it's very hard on me to get down and up from the ground... Like for playing with perspective shots and whatnot..

Thanks.

[Fastback67]

I didn't even know they existed, so yes, please keep us posted... I'll do a little digging myself in the meantime.

Thanks
Mike