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Forum: General Talk
09-22-2012, 04:43 AM
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Another thread just reminded me of a little story.
We were on holiday as a family a couple of months ago in Australia. As we were taking in the sights of the Blue Mountains I walked past a 20-something European with a K-10 and congratulated her on her choice of camera.
I then remarked to my wife that it's nice to bump into a Pentaxian enjoying their camera in such a beautiful place.
My 5 year old then said "Daddy, what is a Pentaxian?"
His older brother didn't miss a beat and replied "A strange alien that loves cameras".
:lol:
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
03-19-2010, 11:22 AM
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I live in Hong Kong and manufacture products in China (some good stuff, but not optics levels)
I can tell you that people in HK are unusually aware of quality (you won't find any rare bargains on dcfever.com or review33.com). Lots of rare.
The whitewash perception in HK is that Japanese goods manufactured OUTSIDE of Japan are inferior. This is accurate. No doubt.
Pricing reflects that.
Hoya recently announced that their new-found profitability was not from increased margins, but decreased costs.
GO Pentax! I love you. But QC needs to be insane when you move to less experienced places.
People who have not had the opportunity to experience quality products in their own lives cannot possibly be expected to make them.
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Forum: General Talk
03-06-2013, 08:31 PM
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My favourite watch is my Ebel 1911 Chronograph. I've had it over 20 years and it is the original version with the Zenith El Primero movement (36,000 bph) rather than the cheaper in-house movement that Ebel moved to subsequently.
I like the rounded back and I've never felt a metal band as soft:
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
04-24-2013, 09:16 PM
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Or you could just buy a ticket to the Philippines, pay the worthwhile premium to stay at abaca, and ask them politely if they can arrange a visit for you.
Don't try and turn this around on me.
You misquoted me and openly questioned my integrity in two posts.
If you were about to apologise, you are then aware that you have been rude to me for no rhyme or reason.
If you want to send me a pm with your email address, I will send you photographs of my visit.
You can then apologise.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
04-24-2013, 12:27 AM
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Indeed they did. They were very kind and accommodating.
After they found out that I was more of a fan of their company and products than an average passing tourist, two of the senior Japanese managers were informed and they had the generosity to come out and introduce themselves personally.
My wife and I were given a company presentation in the conference room, followed by a brief tour around the plant. Of course we were asked not to photograph anything on the production side.
They have a wall-mounted history of all the cameras manufactured there since the plant opened in the early 90's, including blown-up models of the 645D and K-5 showing every last part. Complex machines!
I only saw yellow K-30s being manufactured, all in a first-rate cleanroom environment. Even if I had seen something else, it would be a betrayal of their kind hospitality in showing us around to post it here.
It was a fascinating and very enjoyable visit.
*I should add I didn't just turn up at their doorstep and expect to be welcomed. I was staying at the sort of boutique resort where nothing is too much trouble (abaca Cebu), and they made all the arrangements the day before.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
04-18-2013, 03:30 AM
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Oh well...
For $1.5K I'd rather have a DA15 and FA31.
Or buy a 2nd hand D5MkII with a Tamron 28-75 and gain a new body in the process.
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Forum: Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands
03-25-2013, 03:19 AM
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Wow.
Love the quote where he says Darwin would have loved Sigma!
From Luminous Landscapes:
Sigma DP3 Review
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
03-21-2013, 06:39 AM
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3 sad things from this thread...
1. Photographers (or perhaps I should say camera owners) can be such narrow-minded snobs. Canon and Nikon are stops 1 and 2 down the line... perhaps they should travel and few more stops and get some perspective.
2. It is a shame to think to hide the Pentax logo because of other people's narrow mindedness.
3. It is a shame to think to hide ANY manufacturer's name because of thieves. Thank goodness in HK stealing isn't prevalent. I also travel a great deal and take my positive attitude with me. Perhaps it helps I look like someone thieves would prefer not to steal from.
At the same time, my bags are subtle, and I don's use neckstraps (branded or otherwise). Hood logos can be obnoxious (no-name hoods can be bought here for single-digit dollars) but camera logos are what they are. There's no arms race there that I can see.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
03-06-2013, 10:48 PM
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On a beach last week in Phuket. West-facing, sun setting, set up the tripod to take some shots of the missus and myself, and then two blokes go swimming right behind us. The beach was half a mile long and empty, yet they chose that very spot.
I politely waved at them and they kindly moved on, but I agree with Lauren that there is definitely some unusual psychology going on!
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Forum: General Talk
01-10-2013, 05:55 PM
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... or expose themselves.
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Forum: General Talk
01-03-2013, 05:37 AM
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I had an absolutely wonderful 2012.
Our two boys, 8 and 6 now, are the happiest little munchkins I could have hoped for.
My wife and I celebrated our 11th Anniversary in Phuket, where we got married.
Health is #1, everything else can be managed. Wishing you all the best health and joy for 2013 and beyond. There are many very nice people on this forum.
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Forum: Pentax K-01
12-18-2012, 10:34 AM
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Amusing.
My wife seems to like and dislike at the same time that I can always pop her bra off with an effortless pinch.
Practice makes perfect. She likes the perfect, but dislikes how I might have practiced it before her.
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Forum: Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands
12-02-2012, 06:33 AM
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Err... I have a hunch. Maybe it is all the other Samsung product lines... TVs, tablets, computers, phones, microwaves, refrigerators, etc that give them a better footing to negotiate from.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
10-11-2012, 10:52 AM
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From Thom Hogan's Nikon Camera, DSLR, Lens, Flash, and Book site :
"I've already outlined that Nikon has a very limited list of DX lenses, and some clear gaps. So maybe the other crop-sensor DSLR makers do better?
Canon. No, they don't. Canon's EF-S lineup in some ways is more limiting than Nikon's DX lineup. They have fewer of the "kit zoom" and "convenience zoom" type options, and the same kind of missing primes problem. Since Nikon watches Canon as their main competitor (and vice versa), it's almost like each is watching to see if the other will make a real move in crop lenses. So far, neither has.
Sony. No, they don't. Sony's APS offerings for Alpha aren't really any more robust than Nikon's or Canon's. Sony's looking at Nikon and Canon and trying to figure out how to leverage themselves upward in market share. So far, Sony's innovations all lie in the camera body. In terms of crop lenses, they're pretty me-to. Given that the innovations in body haven't made a dent in the Canikon domination of DSLRs, maybe that's not where the way to crack the market lies?
Pentax. Yes, they do. The smallest player has the most options. True, a lot of the primes they're produced are capable of full frame sensor coverage, but most of those are small and many are pancake, which suits the crop sensor shooters perfectly. Pentax is also the only DSLR company that produced a fast crop sensor telephoto zoom (50-135mm). In short, if you were buying a crop sensor DSLR to fulfill small/light/inexpensive (as compared to FX), the most complete answer to that right now is Pentax. Indeed, it's probably one reason why they're still in the game at all. But their body choices are limited, and some of their technology (autofocus comes to mind) feels a bit dated. That plus their migrant status as they've been bought and sold by bigger companies twice has slowed their execution and completely muddled their sales and marketing. Still, they seem to be trying, where the other players seem to be just looking at each other.
My cynical view is that nothing will change until something forces it to change. Right now the thing that is changing is that some high end DX shooters are simply moving to low end FX, which, of course, isn't going to motivate the camera makers to fix their crop sensor deficiencies. Likewise, as long as Canon and Nikon can push sales of their gear upwards and not lose share to other companies, they're not motivated to change direction or policies toward user support, either.
As I've noted before and on my sansmirror.com site, m4/3 is the first thing that has really started to challenge the status quo (with Sony NEX adding a bit to that). Olympus, for example, has restored their previous high in interchangeable lens camera market share. It's probable that this will go even higher if they can continue to fill out their system and improve performance. Both Nikon and Canon now have mirrorless answers of their own, but these are again incomplete systems. As I've written before, if a company gives you an incomplete system after 13 years of producing it, what makes you think that their new system will ever be complete?
In short, I applaud Olympus and Pentax. I hope they continue to push the boundaries and produce better and fuller systems. I also respect what Sony has done with NEX, though it isn't yet clear Sony understands what they need to do with it to fill it out and make it a formidable competitor.
In DSLRs, Nikon and Canon are basically on the same course they were with film SLRs: just keep iterating the same products while grabbing market share through marketing, distribution, and price. Note that there used to be a third company doing that in film SLRs (and more successfully than Nikon): Minolta. It only took a lawsuit to disrupt them enough that the iteration tactic failed (that was true of Kodak in instant photography, too)." |
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
10-09-2012, 11:03 PM
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:lol::lol::lol:
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Forum: General Talk
08-01-2012, 08:29 PM
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Pretty depressing to see our freedoms being constantly eroded.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
07-19-2012, 03:56 AM
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I really like the Black Widow Spider Holster... I just put it on a regular belt and presto. If my kit weighed more, I'd get the dedicated belt.
The advantage to me is that the weight is transferred through my hips (have worn the camera for hours at a time, and you almost forget it's there), and the camera can't flap around away from my body like it can on a shoulder on neck strap.
Black Widow Holster : The Black Widow : Spider Holster |
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
07-14-2012, 03:23 AM
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Between the K-x mirror noise and the screw drive, you could be forgiven for thinking there was someone using an old electric IBM typewriter nearby!
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