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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-30-2011, 11:54 AM
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sometimes i wonder why i bother to post in these threads... i'm happy with my pentax but i'm not blind to its many faults.. but it seems there are always folks who find validation in believing that their choices are unassailable.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-30-2011, 08:53 AM
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All 1-series Canon bodies and all L lenses are weather resistant, as well the the top-end APS-C bodies (50D, 60D, 7D). I believe Canon pioneered weather-resistant bodies and lenses (in the 1980s).
The usual combination of lenses are the 24-70/2.8L and the 70-200/2.8L IS. Both of which cost a mind-bending amount of money (and weigh a ton). A better all-in-one is the 24-105/4L IS. Canon has a very good 17-55/2.8 IS that is sharper than their 50mm prime at equal apertures.. but it's not an L so is not weatherproof.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-30-2011, 08:35 AM
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well my point was that cameras, DSLR's in particular, make up only a small part of Canon's market. Like HP, they do a lot of business in printers and office equipment.
In fact, prior to Mark Hurd joining HP and beefing up their services revenue, HP's main source of revenue was printer ink..
but I digress.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-28-2011, 07:47 PM
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or... polishing compound and a dremel polishing tip? might take off that haze.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-27-2011, 10:12 PM
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err hm. i've never had this problem. i think all modern DSLR's except the really high-end ones use molded plastic VF lenses.
my solution... use an eyepiece magnifier (i've got one permanently on my K20D). this improves the VF, makes it easier to manual focus, costs $20, and if you scratch it, you can replace it.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-26-2011, 09:23 PM
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Meh. The focus issue under tungsten light has been there forever. I'm not holding my breath...
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-26-2011, 09:15 AM
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The K20D has a half-assed Live View which is more useless than anything else (because the view becomes gritty when you zoom in, rendering it useless for fine-focusing).
And when you take the shot, the mirror goes down, then goes up (to take the shot), then goes down (complete the shot), then goes up again (go back to Live View). A clumsy and annoying endeavor.
My Canon 40D is old too (same age as the K20D), but the Live View implementation is much, much better. It doesn't have contrast-detect AF, you need to press the AF button and the screen blanks out while it AF's (although the much-faster-than-the-K20D AF is a big help here, the screen blank is very short). Also, when you take the shot in LV, it produces a very muffled shutter sound (there is actually a special custom function for this) and the mirror doesn't move.
I suspect the K-x is still doing the old Pentax mirror tango of mirror down, mirror up, mirror down, mirror up when you take the shot in LV mode.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-26-2011, 09:06 AM
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Canon introduced ring USM in 1987.. and then protected it with a whole passel of patents.
Canon is the #2 most prolific filer of patents in the US, second only to IBM and way ahead of such giants as HP, Google, Microsoft, Oracle...
The reason it took Nikon so long to match USM performance (with AF-S Silent Wave lenses) is because they had to work around all the Canon patents (or cross-license with Canon). Everybody else has either had to do that, or make do with crap technology.
People tend to forget that Canon is a huge, technological powerhouse that only dabbles in cameras -- for example, the pioneering HP LaserJet, the first laser printer under $5000, back in the early 1980's, was actually a rebadged Canon. This is why Canon has produced the best sensors, the best ring-drive USM (they did a lot of the original research into piezo rotational transducers, which is what ring-drive is).
This is also why Canon cameras have interfaces designed for people with four thumbs..! it's an engineer-driven company, not a photography-driven company.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-25-2011, 06:22 AM
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The guy already has a 40D and some IS lenses.
Although TBH, one of the must-have IS lenses in the Canon lineup is the EF-S 17-55/2.8, it's better than many L lenses. Had a chance to use one and it blows away the 16-45 I have. Of course it was also 3X the price..
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-22-2011, 01:39 AM
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thing is.. why even bother with the belt sander and what-not when you can get a perfectly good one from Jinfinance on ebay for $25 shipped? is your time really that value-less?
(I do understand the fun of DIY.. I do it myself. BUT a DIY screen is bound to end up with lots of scratches etc. that'll piss you off no end when you look through the viewfinder)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-20-2011, 11:16 AM
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No, i think the biggest factor is focal length. Since the P&S has such a short FL, the sensor needs to jiggle by a proportionally smaller amount. And since the sensor is also smaller, you need far less beefy actuators.
Electronic image stabilization has been around for years in camcorders. Basically the CCD "overscans" (has some extra pixels outside the recorded area). The video jiggles around and the image falls onto those extra pixels, and some electronics un-jiggles the image and shifts the off-recorded-area pixels onto the recorded area. (hope that makes sense!)
Not so sure it will work for stills. For video it works because you're taking 30 frames/second and the jiggling-correction isn't obvious to the eye.
It is telling that Sony (which does that electronic de-jiggle) doesn't do it for their still cameras (they boost the ISO). If Sony can't do it... then nobody can. (Sony was the 2nd company to commercialize CCD's in the 1970's after Fairchild.. so they have been doing digital imaging longer than almost everybody else).
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-20-2011, 08:56 AM
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well if you want really cheap, KEH or Adorama have a few ist-DS for under $200.
certainly the K10/K20 are better cameras (e.g. weather-sealed and they have shake reduction) but if you really just want to spend $200 and you will be using your old Pentax-M lenses, then an ist-DS is plenty.
I must admit that there's something almost visceral about taking out my P3N... very simple. In a way that's what you'd get with one of the older cameras.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-18-2011, 08:56 AM
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a digital camera with no back LCD screen (no chimping! concentrate on the zen of photography!), an analog meter, no AF, and a film-rewind lever to cock the shutter.
now that would be retro!!
(the Epson RD-1 rangefinder does all the above, but its 6MP, antique, and expensive)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-18-2011, 08:54 AM
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that's a surprise...
so the screen is correlated with the sensor size, and the bigger VF coverage and magnification of the K10D / K20D / istDS is solely due to the prism.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-17-2011, 10:59 AM
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Well I had $500. So I got a Canon 40D. Older technology, no video, no AF micro-adjustment, but it sure is zippy compared to my K20D. Is the K-5 faster? maybe, I'm not sure. But it's almost 3X the cost, so for me it's irrelevant.
I did try the K-x, and the 40D blows it away (with a ring-ultrasonic lens.. of which I have exactly one).
If I had more $ to throw out, I'd get a bunch of Limiteds, which is the area where I am convinced Pentax cannot be dislodged.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-17-2011, 04:24 AM
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My personal take was.. I couldn't afford to blow $1400 on a K5 to see how good the AF is. Even if the K5 is "perfect" I guess too many people aren't willing to put their money down (those of us who "grew up" on the older Pentax DSLR's where the AF is slow).
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-17-2011, 04:21 AM
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I had a similar quandary.. the thing is the K-5 is quite expensive ($1400). You can get a used Canon 40D + new 200mm f/2.8L for the same price. The 40D may not be as advanced as 50D/60D/7D but it still has pretty decent AF. Don't go down to a 30D though..
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-16-2011, 04:21 PM
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The istDS has a bigger focusing screen, you want the one for the K10D / K20D.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-16-2011, 04:19 PM
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The camera cycling from stop-to-stop is a known "characteristic" of the Pentax AF algorithm that aggravates focusing speed with long-throw lenses.
I know this from experience with my D-FA Macro..
I've also noticed that the Canon will cycle from stop-to-stop, if there isn't enough contrast in the subject. But the Pentax is far more likely to do so, e.g. the AF sensor in the Pentax is lower-sensitivity than that in the 40D (note that the 40D has better AF than the 5D Mk II).
So, in summary... (1) more sensitive AF sensor in the 40D vs K20D; (2) more optimistic about "in-focus" makes the 40D more responsive. Accuracy wise seems to be a bit less (or maybe its the 10MP vs 15MP, the Pentax seems sharper at 1:1).
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-15-2011, 11:04 PM
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one important thing about Sony is that it will only stabilize lenses that talk to the body electronically, hence you need a chipped lens adapter, whereas Pentax will stabilize a pinhole lens made from a pringles can..
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-15-2011, 12:46 PM
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The 45-degree is better because it splits both vertical and horizontal lines.
I have a 45-split in my K20D and a vertical-split in my Canon 40D. The 45-split is far easier to use, but both are much better than the stock screen.
I got both of mine from jinfinance, his comes with two tweezers, one metal one plastic. I also got one before from virtualvillage, I say the jinfinance ones are better albeit $25 each.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-15-2011, 12:43 PM
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SR is great. I miss it every time I pick up my Canon 40D.
Gone are the days when I could take sharp shots with my 100mm lens at 1/30 or even 1/15. With the Canon, even 1/60 - 1/125 often produces blurry shots.
Although I think the Nikon D7000 would argue about "greatest APS-C DSLR ever made." For some people, videographers I guess, the tilting screen is a killer feature.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-14-2011, 10:19 PM
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I don't see the point of these blanket statemetns "Nikon AF *is* superior to Pentax. Canon not really."
Do you really think a K-5 will beat the AF of a Canon 1-series?
I think that at the *entry* level (D3100, 550D, K-r) Pentax isn't significantly behind or is at par.
But at the high end (D3, D700, 1D) I don't think Pentax can even approach that level of performance. Note I "think" -- having not tried any of those cameras. What I can say is (having both cameras) the Canon 40D is significantly better (at least 30%) than the K20D. note my concerns about AF accuracy though, the 40D seems to be faster because it has a looser definition of what "in focus" is.
That said, I've just installed my jinfinance split screen in my 40D and it's dead on, no shimming required. And even though (I think) the "in focus" definition is looser for the Canon, the split screen still indicates in-focus every time. So the accuracy seems to be enough. It's not 100% though (I can get better focus by manual-focusing using Live View.. but only marginally better)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-13-2011, 06:50 AM
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JHD,
I have tried the S95. The interface is still more sluggish than any DSLR I've tried. Ditto for the Panasonic LX3 which some consider the P&S for the serious amateur.
And call me backward but I still like an optical VF. And not an EVF, I did not particularly like the Samsung NX100.
Granted, once they get that noise down some more and get the AF speed up, P&S will become ever more compelling. But -- it seems that P&S design is really going down the no-optical-VF (or EVF) path.
I'm particularly fascinated by the Fuji X100 -- fixed 35mm f/2.0 equivalent lens, APS-C sensor.. but its price is really high.
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