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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
3 Days Ago
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Forum: Lens Clubs
2 Days Ago
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Forum: Lens Clubs
3 Days Ago
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
17 Hours Ago
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Not much news, but if this thread follows the course of most that have recently appeared on the subject, it is doomed to be closed between pages 8 and 10.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
2 Days Ago
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
2 Days Ago
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I imagine some of both, not?
That is, some people really do want to slow down and eschew technology. Some of them are picking up SLRs or even film cameras as a result. On the other hand, modern cameras as gadgets have a high number of features, most of which are only accessible through menu diving. This is overwhelming to many newbies and so they end up sticking with their phones as easier.
I think camera brands don't know what to do in a scenario where there is no clear direction to take. I always thought that Steve Jobs was somewhat of a genius in that he pushed the engineers working under him, not only to have capable product, but also one which had an interface that was easy to use. I think the quote of his was, "Some people say give the customers what they want, but that's not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do."
In a situation where camera brands don't really know what the next great feature is, they give you more of the last feature -- faster frame rates, more megapixels, more auto focus points, and higher numbers of images for super resolution/pixel shift photos. These are all fine. If Sony comes up with a 90 megapixel camera that can do 300 fps and has 2000 auto focus points on the sensor and can track a black panther running through a West Virginia coal mine, that is awesome. All of those coal mine, panther tracking photographers will be right on it. But the photographers who already picked up an A9 II to do normal every day photography may blanch at the 6500 dollar price tag and choose to stick with their camera that they purchased for 2000 used on ebay.
What all of this comes down to is that cameras are a mature technology. There isn't that much difference between a brand new camera released today and one that was released five years ago. Canon and Nikon generated some sales through the switching of their lens mounts, but in the long run, people will replace their cameras when they get old and break and not because there is some brand new feature that they just have to have. And many will pick up cell phones and find them adequate for the majority of their needs.
Suffice to say I wouldn't want to be a camera executive right now as I don't think there is a clear way forward -- at least not to grow the market.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
3 Days Ago
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
09-17-2016, 06:45 AM
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
4 Days Ago
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I shared some of this in a since closed thread, but in general, I think camera brands need to be looking at something different. I thought that Pentax did a little better in the past at focusing on the experience of photography rather than just the gadgets we use to take those photos.
Most of us aren't professional photographers. We don't need 20 frames per second or "Moose Eye Recognition" on our cameras. We do want nicely exposed, sharp images. At the same time, if we lose the joy of making photographs -- if the tools we use no longer provide some degree of satisfaction, we will burn out. I am convinced that this is why so many people stop the hobby after a while. You come to realize that every image you take has been taken by someone else -- only better, your camera does all of the work for you, and other than posting occasional images to social media for people to express their "likes" of your work it seems to have little purpose (and you get just as many likes with your cell phone pics). Eventually, even the dopamine hit you used to get from social media likes goes away.
This is the banality of photography.
The solution is to slow down and appreciate the journey and the tools you use along the way.
Someone mentioned film photography in this thread and I imagine film will continue to be a niche market, but I don't see it going away because film gets people to slow down, to experience photography in a tactile way that digital photography doesn't, and makes people delay gratification until the roll is done.
There is a reason why some people choose to go to monasteries to meditate and experience a simpler life. In a world where everything is super charged and moving at break neck speeds, maybe it is helpful to have a hobby that moves just a little slower. Maybe living life at 120 frames per second isn't just unnecessary, it is damaging to people who see the world at a maximum of 60 hertz.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
4 Days Ago
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If you read what I say in context, you will understand that I wasn't saying that these specifications aren't useful, but that their usefulness has a much more focused audience. Other than occasionally taking photos of my cat and dog (well and I did take some photos of our chickens too), it isn't something that I care about much. Many people are like me, although for a few these are killer features that they couldn't do without.
Maybe I could say that I think about what I said -- slowing down and appreciating the journey -- when I am shooting with my K-01. It is a slow camera that can basically do 1 fps in RAW, but it is still capable of taking decent photos if you turn it the right way...
 Sunrise by Vincent1825, on Flickr
 Barn at Dawn by Vincent1825, on Flickr
 Winter Road by Vincent1825, on Flickr
Of course none of these are wildlife images, but I do remember the circumstances of each one and the light on that particular day. Maybe that's why I still using my K-01, even if my cell phone camera has better specs.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
09-13-2016, 05:29 AM
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
5 Days Ago
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I think the problem with many of these features is that they have limited application to the majority of photographers. If you can hit 300 frames per second at 1/12,000 second shutter speed without a loss of image quality, that would be a "major step" in terms of camera specifications -- the only thing is that for anyone who doesn't do a lot of video or sports photography, I'm not sure that it would move the needle much, would it?
I think the issue is that cameras have turned into gadgets and as such, there is little reason to run out after the next one, even if it is slightly better specs than the previous iteration.
What most still photographers would like is improvement in terms of dynamic range, expansion of low iso options, and better high iso performance. Unfortunately, we have pretty much plateaued and the only way to bump dynamic range is through gimmicks like pixel shift. On the photons to photos dynamic range chart, the maximum for a full frame sensor (645z is ahead of it) is the D850 at 11.7 EV dynamic range. The interesting thing is that the D810 is 11.67 EVs and the K-1 11.3. To me, this says that sensor performance is not going to be a driver of major camera sales going forward, even if there is a global shutter at some point and 12K video.
(Interestingly the best low light ISO on Photons to Photos is the Nikon D5 -- once again not exactly a new camera.)
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
04-12-2024, 03:22 AM
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
09-09-2016, 05:49 AM
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
09-05-2016, 05:15 AM
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
04-14-2024, 02:38 AM
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Forum: Lens Clubs
04-12-2024, 03:25 AM
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Forum: Lens Clubs
03-22-2024, 03:41 AM
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Forum: Lens Clubs
04-14-2024, 02:39 AM
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
09-01-2016, 04:17 AM
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
04-13-2024, 03:04 AM
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
04-12-2024, 03:24 AM
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
06-05-2023, 10:49 AM
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I think for the K-1 III they have chosen a sensor already and are probably pretty far in development. I have no idea what they are doing on the 645 side of things.
Mistral75 says there is no money in a full frame medium format camera and so maybe that's it. It would be amusing if the reasoning behind not doing a mirrorless 645 is that it would be unfair to people who had existing lenses, as though discontinuing the camera line wouldn't be similar.
That said, it seems like Pentaxians have figure out how to adapt their lenses to Fuji's GFX cameras, so it isn't the end of the world, even it is the end of Pentax's 645 line up.
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Forum: Lens Sample Photo Archive
04-13-2024, 02:00 PM
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