[pundit]

Please don't respond to this thread if you have no interest in shooting video.

First I am neither a Pentax fanboy or a troll

I own a K7 and K5 along with all three FA Limiteds, several DA Limiteds and several old K mount and M42 lenses and a Rokinon 85mm F1.4 which is a stunning lens wide open for a a measley $280.00 (albiet manual focus).

Over the past year I have been gradually shooting more and more video, especially on the K5.

While DSLR video has taken off there are always pros and cons when it comes to shooting video on a DSLR versus a 'proper' video camera. There's the ergonomics, manual control of shutter, aperture, ISO, zebra patterns, focus peaking and then there's the audio, AGC, recording levels, monitoring etc.

The HD 1080P of the K5 was a step up from the K7's 720 and while it is an excellent still camera it still lacked manual video controls and had the typical poor dynamic range along with the rolling shutter, moire, aliasing and poor issues that plague most CMOS sensor line skipping DSLR/mirrorless cameras when shooting video.

I had high hopes when K-01 was announced with manual video control AND focus peaking but alas it turned out the HDMI doesn't output whilst recording and the focus peaking cannot be used to adjust focus during recording either. Of course at $800 this is not supposed a flagship camera.

To me this indicates that Pentax/Ricoh maybe saving a bunch of video features/upgrades for the next model (K3?) which one would assume is the K5's replacement.

So at a minimum one would expect new camera would have full manual video control.

However for the next Pentax to gain some serious ground in the video stakes the following features should be included.

• Full manual control over shutter, aperture and ISO for video recording
• The HDMI monitor output during recording should be true 1080P (not downscaled to 480)
• A choice of codecs/bitrates should be available
• Better dynamic range performance (higher bitrates can help recover more shadow detail in post)
• The HDMI output should offer a clean (no overlays) hi-bitrate output for recording to an external recorder
• Focus peaking should be available whilst recording
• Zebra patterning should be included to show over/under exposure
• Sensor pixel binning should be used instead of line skipping to reduce moire and aliasing issues
• A headphone output jack should be included
• An option should be included to bypass the audio AGC (automatic gain control)
• Manual audio record levels with metering should be included
• The audio should be 24bit/48khz

I'm sure there are other features I'll think of.

Currently the best video quality of any DSLR/EVF hybrid still/video camera on the market is not being produced by a Canon, Nikon, Pentax etc. Not even the new full frame Canon 5D Mk3.

A while back Russian by the name of Vitaliy Kiselev managed to hack the firmware of the Panasonic GH2. That has enabled new custom written firmware that can increase the factory bitrate from around 24mbit/s to over 150mbit/s and beyond. Google Nick Driftwood, Senda etc.

The upshot is a hacked GH2 produces better video quality (more like 35mm film) than most dedicated video cameras under $10,000 and in some cases more. Yes, it's a micro 4/3rds sensor, yes, it's not a totally noise free low light demon but a hacked GH2 has more recoverable data in the shadows than any Canon 5D.

The 5D MK2 used high H.264 compression which results is much smaller file sizes that Pentax's MJPEG and other less efficient codecs but it achieves this by throwing data away which is why it is so poor for grading in post.

There a couple of downsides to a hacked GH2.

• Micro 4/3rds has a 2:1 crop factor which means a 50mm lens becomes a 100mm lens so the wide end needs something around 10-15mm in focal length to really be useful.
• Such high bitrates mean massive amounts of data to process and store and the need for fast Class 10 SD cards

However the GH2 can also output incredible quality video via its HDMI port to an external, recorder.

I must admit I wasn't convinced until I saw the quality coming out of this $900 USD camera.

I challenge anyone interested in shooting high quality video on a hybrid camera not be in awe of what can come out of a hacked GH2. After looking back at what I have shot I my K5 it looks like total mush compared to a hacked GH2.

Make sure you view/download the 1080 versions.

Episode 1: Hacked GH2 (Part 1 of 8)...

You Tube

You Tube

Panasonic Gh2 hack 244 mb/s test

You Tube

You Tube

An APS-C sensor is of course larger than a micro 4/3rd's and close to the industry standard 'Super 35mm' sensor that is used on Pro Cameras to make feature films.

An APS-C Pentax with the above video features would be an awesome film doco/making tool.

The bottom line is Pentax needs to step up to the plate.
Please Pentax no more half baked incremental video feature upgrades.

I have a bunch of Pentax glass I really want to use to shoot video with.
What camera that glass will be attached to depends on whether or not Pentax's next video capable camera can at least match the IQ of a two year old Micro 4/3's camera.

I just hope it can.

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Last edited by pundit; 04-29-2012 at 10:20 PM.

[fuent104]

I hope so, too.

[jogiba]

The K-01 and GH2 are great with K-mount lenses.

[fuent104]

I can't wait to see more K-01 videos.