[jeffkrol]

JJJPhoto started an interesting post on the other forum under “News” in regards to DSLR pricing in the next 12 to 24 months. It seems the “Experts” are predicting a K10D type body will sell for about $300. That is $50 less than todays K110D pricing from a reputable dealer. Today the K10D is somewhere around $500 more than the K110D. What will the new models offer at the new price points?

Entry level- $300
1.10Mp
2.Sr
3.Anti dust
4.scene modes
5.Buffer size same as K10D
6.Consumer grade jpegs


Regards,

What the heck is consumer grade jpgs?????

[regken]

What the heck is consumer grade jpgs?????

yea, bad choice of words. I don't pay attention to Jpegs because I shoot in Raw and process to my liking. There seems to be a standard that is set by Phil over at DPreview that is considered an acceptable level of... whatever. I was trying to allude to that standard. Couldn't figure out how to properly word it. Would it be better to say "A good looking digicam look"?

Regards,

[Adam]

What do you mean?

To say the least, it's too cheap to be an SLR

[trog100]

yea, bad choice of words. I don't pay attention to Jpegs because I shoot in Raw and process to my liking. There seems to be a standard that is set by Phil over at DPreview that is considered an acceptable level of... whatever. I was trying to allude to that standard. Couldn't figure out how to properly word it. Would it be better to say "A good looking digicam look"?

Regards,

its only hard to find the words because u dont want to openly admit there is anything wrong with the existing jpegs..

what look do the current ones have ones "a good looking DSLR look".. he he

phil askey dosnt set standards he attempts to work within existing standards.. he simply compared the k10 jpegs with the competition and found them lacking..

he used the same standards with the k100 and he didnt find them lacking..

he also found the raw conversion done with the pentax software lacking..

its reasonable to assume the next iteration of the k10 wont give him the opportunity to say the same things again..

trog

[regken]

its only hard to find the words because u dont want to openly admit there is anything wrong with the existing jpegs..

what look do the current ones have ones "a good looking DSLR look".. he he

phil askey dosnt set standards he attempts to work within existing standards.. he simply compared the k10 jpegs with the competition and found them lacking..

he used the same standards with the k100 and he didnt find them lacking..

he also found the raw conversion done with the pentax software lacking..

its reasonable to assume the next iteration of the k10 wont give him the opportunity to say the same things again..

trog

You know Trog, you are probably right. But the truth of the matter is both my shooting a PP skills are at such a low level that it wouldn't matter one iota if I shot with a Canon Full frame or a high end digicam that allowed me to play with a RAW file. The only advantage the Canon would give me would be the ability to crop the heck out of it which you of course claim is not real photography.

The K10D gives me all of the manual controls needed to better learn how to improve my limited skills. It allows me to use old manual lenses which is a real kick and it feels good in my hands. If it does have one or two stops less of DR I'll probably never be able to see it. I am however, a big enough equipment geek to want a bigger sensor with more pixels so I can play in Photoshop more, like cropping when I want to. I'm certainly not a Pentax fan boy and would switch in a New York minute if I thought something else would make this hobby more enjoyable. At this time I see nothing out there that would give me all I have for anywhere close to the same money.

It's 6 AM, the snow is falling, and if I hustle my butt down to the coast I might get lucky and take ONE nice photo of the beautiful Maine coast at sunrise.

Regards,

[regken]

lol - I think we've well & truly ripped this to shreds. To finish off...
Pocketable... with an SLR lens mount? Somebody's smoking something...

LOL!!! If it was 30 years ago I'd have to plead the 5th!

regards,

[Mike Cash]

lol - I think we've well & truly ripped this to shreds. To finish off...
Pocketable... with an SLR lens mount? Somebody's smoking something...

One can redefine "pocketable" by redefining "pocket", such as Sony did when it released the first "pocket-sized" transistor radio.

It was only when they went to shoot the advertisements for the radio, showing it in a man's shirt pocket, that they realized the thing wouldn't actually fit in a shirt pocket. What did they do? They special ordered from a tailor shirts with pockets that would hold the radio and then used those shirts for the ads.

They also used to plug a video camera in Japan as being "passport sized". That back in the days when Japan had larger passports. The television commercial showed one of the cameras placed behind a passport, thus obscured from view. But they cleverly had the model hold the camera so that the viewfinder "stem", which stuck out considerably beyond the bounds of the camera, was hidden from view by the model's wrist.

[SupremeMoFo]

Are you pleased to see me, or are you a voyeur?

[LeoTaylor]

This discussion of price drops for Pentax DSLRs got me thinking I may be able to solve my dilemma. My wife talked me into buying a K100D, she has an istD plus a half dozen SLRs and thought I should move up from my K1000, SBIG, and a few P&Ss. It is a wonderful camera and I’m having fun with it both daytime and my real love: astrophotography. My problem is it has poor response to deep red due to the slow cutoff built-in IR filter. This eliminates my use of it for Emission Nebulas, which is a big loss for me. Astrophotographers with the “big 2" just send them off to have the stock filter replaced with a sharp cutoff IR (for $200-300). I have not seen anyone offering that service for Pentax. Now I’m thinking there will be a glut of istD and K110D cameras as people upgrade. If I could eventually buy a used non-Shake Reduction Pentax for a few hundred I could remove the filter myself, ending up with an astro only camera! White balance, auto focus, warm bodies, and metering will be awful but I would use my new K100D for daytime photography. The modified K110D camera with an external IR filter would go on my telescopes and I also could have some fun with IR photography as well.

Does this make any sense?

[chedoy]

If I could eventually buy a used non-Shake Reduction Pentax for a few hundred I could remove the filter myself, ending up with an astro only camera! ...

Does this make any sense?

Sure, if you're good with small tools, and depending on how the filter is attached over the sensor. If it's glued on, yikes.

[chedoy]

Well, my first VCR cost $800 back in the late 70's and if one of the drive belts hadn't snapped, it would still work. My last VCR cost, I recall, $40. My first CD player for a PC was $600 . Same thing is like $20 now.

On the other hand, APS sensors can't be shrunk, although they can pack more circuitry on them to do things so that's a fixed cost that will hold. But if you move the focus motor to the lens, drop the top level LCD, take off the flash, (sell an tiny external flash powered off the camera), cut down on the buttons and controls, and get rid of the USB interface and circuitry to show pictures on a TV, then a pretty low cost dSLR could result, priced around $300. Would people buy it?

[LeoTaylor]

Sure, if you're good with small tools, and depending on how the filter is attached over the sensor. If it's glued on, yikes.

Does anyone know if Pentax IR filters are removable? This is a common feature of the Canons and Nikons.

I just found bestpricecamera.com has a new K110D for $249 with free shipping. I may not need to wait for the prices to drop further.

[trog100]

interestingly $249 is less than it would cost me to buy a pentax 18 x 55 kits lens in the UK.. £129.99 is the cheapest online price.. £199 is what Jessops.. a major UK high-street chain have them on sale at..

something is wrong with the "world" of prices.. he he

a certain inexplicable and possibly unsustainable imbalance exists.. ???

trog

[LeoTaylor]

interestingly $249 is less than it would cost me to buy a pentax 18 x 55 kits lens in the UK.. £129.99 is the cheapest online price.. £199 is what Jessops.. a major UK high-street chain have them on sale at..

something is wrong with the "world" of prices.. he he

a certain inexplicable and possibly unsustainable imbalance exists.. ???
trog

The world of prices does stange things. Only a few months ago I paid $499 for my K100D at B&H plus $50 for the kit lens plus shipping. Now I can get a K110D for $249 (no lens) with free shipping. I guess I'll have to change my signature to show two Pentax cameras models.

I feel a pain of guilt for owning two similar DSLRs.
Ah, its over, I feel great now!

[regken]

Leo,

I'm very interested in how your purchase from best price camera goes. They do have unbelievable pricing. Please let us know how it goes.

Thanks,