[clackers]

rather than a totally new high-end sports camera with blazing-fast AF-C, which would be a much more expensive camera that almost no one would buy.

Yeah, an equivalent to the Nikon D500 would by definition cost more than a Nikon D500 - Pentaxians won't wear that cost.

I don't mean individuals, I mean the majority of Pentaxians, who are mindful of their money. Many buy mostly legacy lenses for a bargain, and are proud of that.

[stevebrot]

Many buy mostly legacy lenses for a bargain, and are proud of that.

Many buy legacy lenses because they are easier to fine manual focus with! I am quite fond of my Sigma 17-70/2.8-4.0 (C), but it is a pain if I want to quickly and easily place focus manually. The focus throw is way too tight for non-mechanized action.


Steve

[luftfluss]

Yeah, an equivalent to the Nikon D500 would by definition cost more than a Nikon D500 - Pentaxians won't wear that cost.

I don't mean individuals, I mean the majority of Pentaxians, who are mindful of their money. Many buy mostly legacy lenses for a bargain, and are proud of that.

I think that attitude has changed a bit, Clackers. Many K-1 and KP owners seem to feel their cameras are special in a way that the K-3, K-5, etc. aren't and want to buy lenses that "match" those bodies. Will the upcoming APS-C flagship evoke a similar sentiment?

[luftfluss]

Many buy legacy lenses because they are easier to fine manual focus with... but it is a pain if I want to quickly and easily place focus manually.

I was thinking about this just the other day while shooting a praying mantis with my 300/2.8, wide open. DOF too shallow for center-focus and recompose, and who wants to fiddle with menus and placing an AF point while the light is fading and you're engulfed in tall brush and bugs abound...

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Last edited by luftfluss; 09-01-2019 at 10:47 PM.

[clackers]

I think that attitude has changed a bit, Clackers. Many K-1 and KP owners seem to feel their cameras are special in a way that the K-3, K-5, etc. aren't and want to buy lenses that "match" those bodies. Will the upcoming APS-C flagship evoke a similar sentiment?

The K-1 and KP are *much* cheaper than the Sony A9 or Nikon D500 - that's what we're talking about!

I just don't think Pentaxians will warm to a modern tech FF camera priced at more than $4000 or at more than $1700 for an APS-C one.

There are still very very few of the amazing DFA*50 and DA*11-18 owned by forum members here, no matter how good they are the prices are a barrier to a group of people who don't rhapsodize all things new, they like value. This is a real problem for the company that Kenspo identified a long time ago.

You get great pics from your Tamron Adaptalls and your vintage 300 f2.8, Luftfluss, I really enjoy them.

[luftfluss]

The K-1 and KP are *much* cheaper than the Sony A9 or Nikon D500 - that's what we're talking about!

I just don't think Pentaxians will warm to a modern tech FF camera priced at more than $4000 or at more than $1700 for an APS-C one.

There are still very very few of the amazing DFA*50 and DA*11-18 owned by forum members here, no matter how good they are the prices are a barrier to a group of people who don't rhapsodize all things new, they like value. This is a real problem for the company that Kenspo identified a long time ago.

I agree with you that Pentaxians won't pay top-tier prices for new cameras; I was thinking specifically about premium lenses vs "cheaping out" on the vintage stuff.

There is certainly a challenge for Pentax vav new premium lenses and the value proposition compared with older glass. Objectively - and "vintage lenses" aside - much of the older DA/DFA glass is very good. Pentax is going to have to be creative in instigating the "I want it" itch with new gear... and fighting their own legacy.

You get great pics from your Tamron Adaptalls and your vintage 300 f2.8, Luftfluss, I really enjoy them.

Thanks!

[Mundj]

I have found the issue for me to be the lens and not the camera. I started with a K7 and now have a K3. My first non-kit lens for the K7 was the 16-50mm, f/2.8 lens. Great quality but really slow focus. It has been serviced after it failed and I continue to use with the K3 when the photos are really important, for me I have learned that using using the center focus point gives me the best performance for this lens. But my favorite all the time lens is my 18-135mm, f/4.5-5.6. With its dc focus motor it is similar to holding a snake, lightning fast.

I have found for me that if I want to use manual focus I need to use the back LCD display which will not work for me in bright situations.

I own 10 Pentax lenses and most utilize the camera screw drive system. I personally feel let down by Pentax for using an obviously flawed drive system their *DA 16-50mm top of the line lens and will be very leery of purchasing other lenses that do not use a dc drive system.

[clackers]

I have found for me that if I want to use manual focus I need to use the back LCD display which will not work for me in bright situations.

A Hoodman loupe (or similar) is your friend, Mundj. You basically get an EVF.

[zapp]

Its always the same. A review will give high praise to a particular Pentax DSLR for innovative features, handling, IQ, etc, but never, never, not once have I seen a Pentax DSLR's autofocus speed rate as high or higher than just about every DSLR made over the past 10 years. Surely Pentax engineers are aware of this, they have to know; they can't possibly be proud of their autofocus design work. Can they?

Stellar focus speed = stellar review
Everything else is speculation

[lesmore49]

Reviews.

Over the years I've occasionally heard reviewers mention/write that they realize if they are too harsh in their criticism of Pentax equipment , they can unleash...or at least..expect to hear from Pentaxians complaining about their reviews.

They have labelled Pentaxians as the most intensely loyal group or sub group of photographers...one I recall said that we were 'rabid' , but did say rabid in the nicest sense of that word.

Now all that may be true about Pentaxians...true in the sense that we are more than willing to react and respond to views that we don't regard as accurate to our choice in photographic equipment.

Perhaps we do so, as we realize there aren't a lot of us Pentaxians, compared to the legions of Nikonians and Canonites . Or we might be a group that easily sees a lack of knowledge , both of ...and how to correctly operate Pentax equipment among many reviewers.

I have had, on occasion, owners/users of other camera equipment marvel at the quality / cost/ ability of my Pentax equipment when they try it out.

In the end those of us that favour Pentax are niche players, I suppose. It didn't start out that way for me, when I walked into a large general department store, back in '68 , selected a Pentax S1a and plopped my down payment down on the glass display case, and committed myself to paying off the camera at $ 9 CAD @ month for the next year.

The display case...then... was overfilled with mostly Pentax SLR equipment, then Minolta, Nikon, the odd Miranda, the occasional Petri and some Canonet rangefinders of some sort. Also a a couple of Yashicamat TLR's and some Yashica 35mm rangefinders. And a Polaroid ...some Kodak models and a quite a few of those little 110 cameras of forgotten makes.

The photographic world has sure changed in 50 years. Most companies aren't alive anymore, but Pentax is still kicking away.

[RookieGuy]

I've heard horrible things about the Pentax brand's autofocus. Slow, noisy, what have you. But the more I looked into the brand, the more I realized the niche they're supporting isn't about blazing fast speed. We have the quality of bodies and lenses, value of the brand for the price, heritage glass (say it with me, folks, All Pentax lenses fit on all Pentax bodies! Ever!), and they're really tiny compared to Canikon's offerings. I'm ok with trading all that for blinding fast autofocus.

[normhead]

A different perspective: For my purposes, Pentax autofocus is generally great. I do have a few really amazing shots, in that perfect moment, with amazing light, that missed focus, so end up unusable. From what I gather, Sony's autofocus system set on AFC would have nailed most of those shots and I'd have had a few real winners. This alone has not tempted me to change systems (there are negatives to each system, after all), but it has come very close.

There is that video made the Camera store of a cyclist, that suggests you might be wrong. What did they do different? They had a real photographer use three different cameras, one being a K-1 with a DFA 24-70. They actually used the three cameras to be compared doing the same test, with the same cyclist on the same hill. None of the other reviewers who make such claims have objective side by side tests to prove it. In fact the drunk cyclist test, no other camera had been put through that test so it was completely ridiculous that the reviewers claimed it showed Pentax AF was inferior. It's a sign of incompetent reviewers rather than a cirticism of Pentax.

It gets tiring seeing people constantly claiming Sony AF would have nailed something based on web opinions. As far as I can tell, eye AF may get you something special, but unless you're shooting a wedding and you want the bride in focus all the time, or something like that, it's not useful. Sony AF doesn't know where you want the focus point any more than Pentax AF does, and the only time I've seen it successful was with controlled lighting in rehearsed or staged situations. Once you get into the wild, AF.s and DA 55-300 PLM may do better.

As far as I can tell an A9 is a great camera for things I don't do, and far from up to scratch for most of the things I do. Using my A9, you may get AF.c images I don't, but if I nail the image, the 36 MP of my K-1 will leave it in the dust. The K-1 is better at what the A9 does than the A9 is at what the Pentax does.

It's been suggested that in the right circumstances the A9 will get you twice as many keepers percentage wise. But the K-1 gets keepers, if you take enough images you get what you want. But the A9 never gives you a 36 MP file that will blow up as large as a K-1 on any image.

The only camera I would take instead of a K-1 would be a Nikon D850 for faster FPS and AF and also high res. But it's a lot more money