[photogem]

Today I spoke to a person from a very large company, he is responsible for aquiring DSLR cameras for taking photos in very dirty, difficult and rough industrial conditions. Part of it is analysing fuelinduced corrosion, material-change resulting from all sorts of use, also heat, gases, electrolytical corrosion etc. etc. etc.... all mainly in powerplants Europewide.


Cameras used have often to take about 2000 pictures a day in very rough conditions.

They tested Pentax and Canon and other midrange cameras:
Pentax: K30 and K50 (K-S1, K-S2 and K-70 not acceptable, not robust enough)


K-3 and prior K-5 too expensive for that use.

They chose Pentax


Comments:
- Pentax cameras lasted much longer than the competion and were more reliable, usually life was several months.
(main death was ABF, but they had no idea about it, thought it was a "normal death" and still, far better than Canon!

- Canons lasted a few weeks, sometimes just a few days.

So they chose to stay with Pentax!

The other problem that occured were jammed kitlenses (plastic lens-mount!)


I think a very valuable praise for Pentax.


So from now on they are going to use Pentax DSLRs with Japan-Solenoid!

[Markovo]

They are destroying the cameras but I feel proud to be a Pentaxian! Can you get some photos for us to see the conditions they are shooting in?

[Bertrand3000]

Same. Pentax cameras are tanks and I'm proud. Too bad for all the ABF stuff, without that particular failure, Pentax would have been even better. At least you educated them about it.

I'm surprised K-S2 and K-70 are considered not robust enough.

[Michail_P]

K-70 & K-S2 not robust enough?? Really?
It’s a nice praise and I’m sure there are others in the same position.

[Mooncatt]

Any chance of getting the results in writing, like you might see from a research study comparing cameras?

I'm also curious what they were doing taking 2,000 photos a day, every day. Don't get me wrong, I've done it in about 8 hrs before at a drag racing event, but I would think of doing it that much, they would get something designed specifically for long term use. I'm assuming we're talking about a static setup, where the cameras are not being moved about. Or are these being used out in the field, so to speak?

[UncleVanya]

Nice to see k50 recognized that way but sad to see the k70 didn’t live up to the same results.

[Medex]

Same. Pentax cameras are tanks and I'm proud. Too bad for all the ABF stuff, without that particular failure, Pentax would have been even better. At least you educated them about it.

I'm surprised K-S2 and K-70 are considered not robust enough.

maybe they are not robust enough due to flippy screens?

[ramseybuckeye]

Interesting, I last bought two DSLRs for industrial use about 3 or 4 years ago, a K-S2 and a Canon 70D (because they guy that it was being assigned to was a Canon user and primarily a video guy). We did not have those dire conditions to work with, but the K-S2 delivered vastly superior image quality every time. Shortly after getting the Canon the user left his job, should have bought another Pentax, I doubt the video has been touched since the new guy in the job hadn't done any multi camera video setups while I was still there and the Panasonic video camera delivered way better than any DSLR could deliver. I had just bought him four Go-Pros before I left for dirty work where you couldn't get a person and time lapse kind of stuff.

[DWS1]

K70 not robust enough. Surprising, I have a K50 & K70. They appear to be about the same to me.

[bertwert]

Interesting to hear - my K-50 certainly seems quite durable, and I've never babied it at all, subjected to small drops, wet conditions, heat, cold, etc etc, and it still clicks away with no complaints.

[i_trax]

Yes , the flippy screens, convenient / useful in some circumstances but I never liked tham , I am happy that K-3lll will come to me without one.
K-1 has very heavy duty setup but bulky and heavy
MX-1 and KP have semi flips
K-70 has a full flip - will see how long they will last and perform

[cmohr]

While I'm happy to hear such positive Pentax news, I am a little surprised they don't go for the Ricoh G900 or G900SE cameras, they are literally built for exactly those industrial purposes and extra features like adding notes to photos ect. Maybe when the secondhand supply of K-50's runs dry they may look into them.

As a note, friends and families Canons and Nikons have given up the ghost on them and they have bought the newest each time, My Dist* kept me happy all the way until the K-7 was released, and it still works perfectly today 17years later.

[cartesio]

My K10D looks still (almost) new after 12 years. I did not expose it to hard use, but I took it with me in snow and ice, or on beaches without any kind of trouble. Surprisingly, its original battery does not need to be replaced.

When I purchased it, my first DSLR, I had to choose between a Pentax and an Olympus. I usually do not go for the main brands. My first love at the film time was an Olympus, but the Pentax looked so much sturdier that I choose it.

[photogem]

I have not been with them inside their powerplants but from what I was told there can be extreme rough conditions.
Sometimes a K50 falls somewere inside.... whatever that could be. ... and that's just it... .... gone.... who knows, melted in lava?
So yes, one could see it as a pretty destructive use of those cameras... but that's "Mordor" for you.

We had long time ago another special task for Pentax, some might remember it:
Pentax k10d in space III - PentaxForums.com

I have no access to those powerplants, also no interest really!

The task is mainly for documenting faults and wear, often in low-light (w. flash)

I have no idea what modes they use, but they won't use DA-L kit-lenses anymore (L for Low-Cost)


If one considers that they used hitherto the K50 with DA-L kitlens this is a particular high praise compared to Canon!
Because most K50's were made before 12/2015 and thus prone for ABF (which occured in quite a few of those used in those conditions and yet, they still lasted much longer than Canon!)


@i-trax got the point: LCD's from the K-S2 and K-70 much to fragile/vulnerable for such use. Even the KP-LCD.


My guess is that K5's, K10D and K20D would work as well, K200D not for the AA's... too unconvinient
but only the K5 is good enough for low-light.

[keos]

I'd be interested to know what Canon models they were comparing it to. anything worse than upper midrange (70d,80d,90d, etc) models would have no sealing of any kind (including 77d) and are cheaper composite plastic. Basically if the models have different model names depending on the geography, you can be sure it has no protection from the elements. My guess is if they're comparing directly against the K30/50/70/s2 they are using the T6s/T7i/T8i/77D/M50/m62, all of which would fall into the toy camera category if out in adverse conditions (weather, dust, etc)