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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 11-02-2020, 01:54 PM  
Birds
Posted By Rick_B
Replies: 19
Views: 2,505
Some interesting shots!
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 10-22-2015, 03:37 PM  
Lens release button replacement
Posted By Rick_B
Replies: 70
Views: 26,771
I can report that a year later my "trick" of using the foam is still holding fast...in fact, I never have given it a second thought until today when I saw that this thread had postings to it..

All FWIW, of course.
Forum: Pentax Q 10-16-2014, 03:28 PM  
I want the next Q
Posted By Rick_B
Replies: 69
Views: 7,006
fs999, don't let the naysayers get to you, I really like your concept illustration.

I, too, would use my Q10 a helluva lot more if it were more amenable to photography outside on sunny days, there is just so much info and detail that you can't see when all you have is an LCD screen...so, I have to drag my bigger K5 along for use then.

LCD displays aren't a "new way" of photographing, quite far from it, it is actually a throwback to view and plate cameras of the 19th century, but even my Crown Graphic has a pop-up shield over the ground glass to help compose and focus in brighter light conditions, but the Kalart and optical viewfinders do just as well, for the most part...maybe something along the lines of the viewfinder hood/magnifier like on the Rolleiflex I have could be implemented somehow? But, the Q out in the sun is just useless, without, that is, a loupe/hood...then it's OK..but, talk about big...there goes the size advantage....

People who's eyesight need correction also benefit from eye-level viewfinders with adjustable dioptric correction, or as I did with my OM series of cameras, an eyepiece that fits the viewfinder with a correction lens for my eyesight, looking into the K5's viewfinder is a joy even when using preset aperture, manual focusing lenses...

I do like the idea of the removable evf that would slide into something like a flash shoe and make contact with the camera to supplant the back panel display...that way if you didn't want to have the slightly larger size of the EVF on top, you could take it off...

It would have also been handy at a recent Ian Anderson concert when the ushers were looking around for people with cell phones and compact cameras with their displays pointing out where each and every "photographer" was so they could be told to quit taking pictures....the Q10 and I got popped, too...so, I only ended up with one half way decent shot of him...bummer...

Indoors, though, the Q is fine. Night time, the Q is fine. Bright, sunny days? Meh.

It almost makes me wish I wouldn't have spent the money on it and bought some other kind of small "bridge" camera with an optical viewfinder, I sure would have used it more during the day...

So, why do I carry around the Q10?

For the same reason that I carried the Pentax 110 SLR, or the Minolta 16 or 110 SLR, or a Minox, or an Autoron, an Olympus XA, or an Olympus Pen Half Frame...to have a small camera that isn't perceived as a "professional" camera, a camera that is less intimidating to subjects, or one that is small enough to put in a pocket of my cargo shorts, one that I can take with me just about anywhere without having to take a physically larger device for the shots....I loved the XA out on motorcycle road trips, it would easily fit into one of the locking storage cubbyholes on my Yamaha Seca Turbo, my KX (35mm) was just too much, and even my OM-1 was a few times the volume of the little XA...but with the XA I could at least see through it's tiny viewfinder on a sunny day to compose my shots....not always something easy on a sunny, summer day in south Texas with the Q10....

And your larger grip?

Well, with my XXL size hands anything that keeps me from fumbling something is definitely appreciated!

As always, YMMV

.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 04-04-2012, 12:01 PM  
Pentax Unilateral Pricing Policy
Posted By Rick_B
Replies: 1,013
Views: 97,754
Perhaps what Ricoh is doing is paralleled in the business I am most familiar with: High End Audio.

I work part time for an internet/mail order dealer of such things and may have a bit of insight into this situation....

Many manufacturers are interested in nothing more than brick-and-mortar stores where customers can go to hear, see, touch, and learn about the equipment...B&M stores do serve a valuable function. Yet, there are hobbyist magazines that describe in detail the sound qualities of different pieces of equipment (much like we discuss things like bokeh and color rendition) and generate interest for more exotic gear in wide ranging areas...

BUT, there aren't the number of stereo shops around (like there were back in the 60's, 70's, and 80's, their demise parallels that of the stereo shops) to serve all those who may want something besides the normal consumer grade, disposable dreck sold in most stores today. My own city used to have five "specialist" type stores and dozens more of a more pedestrian type that all did quite well...back then....today, one of the original high-end shops has gone way more mass market, but still has a bit of better gear, and the fellow I work for went from being a B&M to home-office/listening room based business,...that's it for traditional high-quality stereo shops, that is, unless you want to buy some of the cheap stuff at Best Buy or somewhere similar....

So, where do these people go for their upper tier gear?

To the Internet and the retailers there.

The manufacturers realize this and so have instituted programs, like Ricoh's, to protect their B&M dealers...

Things such as:

Protected areas, i.e., you have to ask a customer if there is a dealer in their area selling the gear that they are inquiring about. Big no-no to sell into a protected area without a manufacturer's OK on each individual sale....

Minimum advertised and minimum selling prices. This especially helps protect the B&M's from being undersold by retailers with vastly reduced overhead expenses.

Introducing just these two policy changes can cause a drastic effect on perceptions and sales, and not always for the positive, that can take buyers by surprise....

But, you can throw in free shipping and no tax and maybe get a sale, maybe not...

I, too, had to buy my K-5 from B&H as the local dealer listed by Pentax as a dealer, wasn't....I was unable to put my hands on any Pentax (well, since my film KX) locally, I had to rely on written reports and what I found here on this forum. I also know that their price (at the time) would have been likely less than what I could have made a deal for locally, especially considering that there would have been an extra $123.75 in tax added to any local sale...

It just may be that the manufacturing world is just trying to come to grips with the wild and wooly world of the Internet in an attempt to "equalize" things and give traditional shops a chance to survive and provide their services to the buying public....

Will this help or hurt?

I personally miss the camera shops I used to hang out in back in the 70's and 80's....I learned a lot, went to camera club meetings, went to swap meets, bought, sold and traded gear, learned about working on cameras...and had a lot more local interaction with the folks on the other side of the counter...I got decent prices, too, and understood that the shop keepers had to make their ends meet, so it was one helping the other....

Today, there is only one of those camera shops that has survived as it serves a large number of professional photographers, but very little of the hobbyist scene remains....

I find it out here on the Internet....

Take this for what it is worth, just some thoughts from a cheap old fart that's been snappin' a shutter for over fifty years...
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