Lateral thinking on a new Pro K body

mr.voigtlander · 02-17-2008, 04:31 AM

Hi,

It seems there are lots of wish lists going on about the features of a future pro-K body for Pentax. A lot of features of the point & shoot brigade also seem to turn up in the DSLR that are coming out. Live view, for example.

I notice that a lot of compacts have "face recognition" technology, and even a "smile recognition" button. (good grief)

Well, my version of this, would be for face recognition to be NOT in the taking of a photo, but in the REVIEWING of a photo.

If you are shooting pro, you should know how to use the camera without idiot features. But being able to do a quick check of faces, zoomed in, to see if anyone blinked etc. and doing it fast, would in my opinion be a useful feature that wedding and other pro photographers could use.

Pentax want to appeal to a niche market, so maybe this sort of idea would be good.
I haven't heard of any cameras that do this - do they?

It's an idea. Maybe if a good one it might turn up down the line. What do you think?

christinelandon · 02-17-2008, 05:56 AM

For the event pro, a quick, zoomed auto-review of faces would probably be a nice feature, Mr. Voigtlander! Me, I'd rather have built-in Zone System readouts and setting options linked to the spot meter for my landscape work. But, why not have both, and more?

jms698 · 02-17-2008, 07:57 AM

The Fuji S5 Pro SLR (basically a Nikon D200 with a fuji sensor) already has this feature. It zooms into people's faces automatically in image review mode. I do wonder why other manufacturers haven't copied this feature. Maybe Fuji has a patent on it or something ...

falconeye · 02-17-2008, 12:36 PM

Originally posted by jms698

Maybe Fuji has a patent on it or something ...

Sony PlayStation 3 's slideshow feature zooms into faces as well. So I doubt that there are patent issues.

Duncan J Murray · 02-20-2008, 06:50 PM

Originally posted by christinelandon

For the event pro, a quick, zoomed auto-review of faces would probably be a nice feature, Mr. Voigtlander! Me, I'd rather have built-in Zone System readouts and setting options linked to the spot meter for my landscape work. But, why not have both, and more?

Yes - I've also thought that would be a great idea. If someone could integrate a quasi-live-view display over the optical display, then you could have a live indication of zones in your photograph at a glance. The other thing I'd like to see is a colour spot meter - surely much more useful than a simple monochrome one? It could display a colour swatch inside the viewfinder with a prediction of the output colour depending on the metering value and your exposure...

Even better for landscapes, how about a new pentax spotmeter which can radio the exposure settings to the camera (while it's on a tripod) and even trigger the shutter...

Finally I'd like a vertical ISO dial on the rear so that you have full control over full manual mode.

But maybe I'm obsessed with exposure...

Duncan.

MJB DIGITAL · 09-09-2008, 12:05 AM

Wassup guys you have some KILLER ideas in this thread!

BUMP 8)

02-17-2008, 04:31 AM	#1
mr.voigtlander Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 34	Lateral thinking on a new Pro K body Hi, It seems there are lots of wish lists going on about the features of a future pro-K body for Pentax. A lot of features of the point & shoot brigade also seem to turn up in the DSLR that are coming out. Live view, for example. I notice that a lot of compacts have "face recognition" technology, and even a "smile recognition" button. (good grief) Well, my version of this, would be for face recognition to be NOT in the taking of a photo, but in the REVIEWING of a photo. If you are shooting pro, you should know how to use the camera without idiot features. But being able to do a quick check of faces, zoomed in, to see if anyone blinked etc. and doing it fast, would in my opinion be a useful feature that wedding and other pro photographers could use. Pentax want to appeal to a niche market, so maybe this sort of idea would be good. I haven't heard of any cameras that do this - do they? It's an idea. Maybe if a good one it might turn up down the line. What do you think?

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02-17-2008, 05:56 AM	#2
christinelandon Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Seattle, Washington, USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 812	For the event pro, a quick, zoomed auto-review of faces would probably be a nice feature, Mr. Voigtlander! Me, I'd rather have built-in Zone System readouts and setting options linked to the spot meter for my landscape work. But, why not have both, and more?

02-17-2008, 07:57 AM	#3
jms698 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Wellington, New Zealand Posts: 133	The Fuji S5 Pro SLR (basically a Nikon D200 with a fuji sensor) already has this feature. It zooms into people's faces automatically in image review mode. I do wonder why other manufacturers haven't copied this feature. Maybe Fuji has a patent on it or something ...

02-17-2008, 12:36 PM	#4
falconeye Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Munich, Alps, Germany Photos: Gallery Posts: 6,871	Originally posted by jms698 Maybe Fuji has a patent on it or something ... Sony PlayStation 3 's slideshow feature zooms into faces as well. So I doubt that there are patent issues.

02-20-2008, 06:50 PM	#5
Duncan J Murray Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Birmingham, UK Photos: Gallery Posts: 97	Originally posted by christinelandon For the event pro, a quick, zoomed auto-review of faces would probably be a nice feature, Mr. Voigtlander! Me, I'd rather have built-in Zone System readouts and setting options linked to the spot meter for my landscape work. But, why not have both, and more? Yes - I've also thought that would be a great idea. If someone could integrate a quasi-live-view display over the optical display, then you could have a live indication of zones in your photograph at a glance. The other thing I'd like to see is a colour spot meter - surely much more useful than a simple monochrome one? It could display a colour swatch inside the viewfinder with a prediction of the output colour depending on the metering value and your exposure... Even better for landscapes, how about a new pentax spotmeter which can radio the exposure settings to the camera (while it's on a tripod) and even trigger the shutter... Finally I'd like a vertical ISO dial on the rear so that you have full control over full manual mode. But maybe I'm obsessed with exposure... Duncan.

09-09-2008, 12:05 AM	#6
MJB DIGITAL Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: st. louis Posts: 1,170	Wassup guys you have some KILLER ideas in this thread! BUMP 8)