|
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
1 Day Ago
|
| |
If only Pentax could introduce new cameras at the rate this forum introduces new threads on this subject  |
|
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
1 Day Ago
|
| |
My impression is the can gets shaken at least once a week…
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
04-09-2024, 10:59 PM
|
| |
Somehow I don’t think any Ricoh marketing executive is remotely aware of your ceaseless quest to know their innermost thoughts. Disappointing, but there it is; you’ll just have to wait.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
04-09-2024, 03:30 PM
|
| |
For the past several months my vendor has been unable to supply a mains powered smoke/CO detector that we stock because of, well, supply chain issues. They couldn't get a particular chip that was required.
It's still happening, just not because of covid.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
04-04-2024, 03:50 PM
|
| |
A similar argument might be that a fixed lens half-frame film camera will only sell to a tiny niche of idiosyncratic photographers interested in revisiting a half-century ago, not nearly enough to turn a profit. But here we are...
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
04-04-2024, 09:01 AM
|
| |
Look, the majority of people in these threads ask the question, "Why would I need 'x' piece of gear?" They then come to the conclusion that they don't need it, whatever that thing is -- an f1.4 prime, f2.8 zoom, a short telephoto zoom, or a camera that does more than 5 fps frame rate.
I am sure they are right in that assessment, but that isn't a question that Pentax ever has to ask. The question Pentax is interested in is, "If we make 'x' piece of gear, will we sell enough of it to benefit our bottom line?" Depending the cost of R and D, number of sales, and the price of the piece of equipment, the answers delivered will be different, but if and when they make a DA *50-135 Mark II, it will be because they think they can sell enough of it at the right price to make it worthwhile to release.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
03-30-2024, 03:41 PM
|
| |
I feel like we have had this discussion before. The point for many people is to have:
1. Reasonable fast apertures.
2. Equivalent focal lengths on APS-C that you have on full frame (ie, 55mm = 85mm, 50-135 = 70-200).
3. Decent auto focus capability.
For people who shoot at f8, a consumer zoom is probably adequate, although truthfully, you can stop down an f2.8 zoom as well. Regardless, if Pentax had a 16-50/50-135 f2.8 PLM combo, that would cover a lot of APS-C users' needs pretty decently, although certainly, they wouldn't fit your needs very well, reh321. But Pentax needs more than one user in South Bend and so they need to make a variety of lenses that meet different needs.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
04-03-2024, 07:45 AM
|
| |
Ironically it is the working pros who are using gear that is several generations old. It's the amateurs that get onto forums and complain that their gear isn't fast enough to stop a speeding bullet. Look at any camera forum and you will find it filled with people who have devoted their lives to complaining about some perceived failing of their gear, with AF always being top of the list.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
04-03-2024, 07:38 AM
|
| |
Precisely. Glass is forever is recognizing that lens support should be maintained seamlessly as new camera technology becomes available.
About the only manufacturer that has done this is Pentax.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
04-02-2024, 09:12 PM
|
| |
This tends to be more in the mind of the photographer and his peers than the editors. Also I have friends who are pros that are not into gear - one was a portrait photographer still using Nikon D300S bodies. She was all in a huff worried that she had to upgrade to mirrorless - until I reminded her that her clients were still buying the images. Technology is far too often just for bragging rights.
---------- Post added 04-03-24 at 12:15 AM ----------
I think in today's market - the expectation of performance is different. What we considered sharp and amazing in the film era wouldn't always hold up today. Composition and lighting and photographic skill hasn't changed but some expectations have. I shot high school football from the sidelines using manual focus film gear. The expected quality of the ASA 3200 push processed film was - can I read the numbers on the jerseys? If so success.
|
|
Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
03-19-2024, 10:31 AM
|
| |
Well it's about twenty years old, electronics do wear out.
|
|
Forum: General Photography
03-18-2024, 02:41 PM
|
| |
Not only do we have only a one year warranty in the US, we only have one repair choice and if the warranty is done, the cost will be prohibitive.
|
|
Forum: Pentax Full Frame
03-10-2024, 01:33 PM
|
| |
That idea has been floating around in one form or another for a couple of decades. It always turns out to be unviable vapourware.
The revolving door seems to be someone 3D prints something that looks like it might be something, launches a Kickstarter to raise funds which disappear never to be seen again and the whole thing fades into nothingness.
Rinse and repeat.
|
|
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
03-02-2024, 01:16 AM
|
| |
I’d suggest leaving one of the two cameras behind! Take just the K-3iii with a 16-50 and 55-300 PLM lenses if possible. Or just a 16-85 - you didn’t mention what you already have - to cover the wider end and still have a good range. Usefully compact too.
|
|
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-09-2024, 10:09 PM
|
| |
What I believe we established in the thread you're referring to is that despite a weather-resistant design and construction, it's still possible for moisture to damage a camera's internals. In that thread's specific case, it may have been caused by water ingress but was more likely due to humidity.
Clearly, with all the design work and gasket components, weather-resistance isn't just marketing BS... but it's probably overstated as a protective measure, and manufacturers aren't up-front about its limitations, burying caveats in the small print or at the back of user manuals. Users must understand that weather-resistance does not equal weather-proofing, and no amount of weather-resistance will prevent condensation from air already inside the camera.
Yes, OM tests its equipment (not every unit, mind you, but samples) to IP standards, while Pentax and all the other brands don't divulge what WR testing they perform. Regardless, all cameras and lenses from all brands - OM included - can still suffer from internal condensation due to humidity. As I mentioned in that thread, unless you have a perfectly-sealed, nitrogen-purged unit (as with better waterproof binoculars, for example), condensation is always a potential threat - hence it's wise to let equipment gradually acclimatise to changes in temperature and humidity by leaving it in an equipment bag or case. Furthermore, WR gear from all brands can still suffer water ingress; it's by no means infallible. For all OM's weather-resistance design, testing, official IP ratings and marketing claims, they still don't guarantee prevention of water ingress, and their warranty doesn't cover damage caused by it...
|
|
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-10-2024, 05:59 PM
|
| |
Pentax like almost EVERYBODY in ANY business, camera or otherwise, does not make all of the parts that go into their final product. Even if they want to keep making the same item, they sometimes have to change it because they can't get the parts to make the original item. I suspect that is the case with the KF. Pentax could not make more of the K-70 cameras even if they wanted to. They had to do a minor redesign, with more expensive parts, and issue the KF as a replacement.
|
|
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-10-2024, 05:52 PM
|
| |
My guess: the KF was released under a new name to distance it from the association with aperture block failure due to the inappropriate solenoids in the K-70. Although that was apparently fixed in later runs of the K-70, it always left some uncertainty.
The higher price probably reflects the realities of making cameras in the post-COVID industrial landscape.
|
|
Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
02-03-2024, 06:18 AM
|
| |
Without seeing exactly how the camera was being used, or the precise conditions, I honestly wouldn't know what to expect. As I said previously, you can be unlucky and breach a camera's weather resistance on your first trip out in heavy rain, or you can be lucky and it never happens. What I can say for certain is, if you keep it completely dry in the first place, it won't suffer water damage. The moment you start testing weather-resistance, you introduce an element of risk, because it's only resistance - not water-proofing.
So we have two users posting here about water damage from how many K-3III owners? That's a tiny sample size unworthy of anyone's suspicions. Ten times that amount wouldn't reveal a pattern. A hundred times, maybe. Plus, we don't know the precise weather and usage conditions under which the water ingress occurred ("similar conditions" are not "exactly the same conditions, with the same quantity of water collecting around the exact same components, and the same buttons and controls operated at exactly the same time"). We can't know because we weren't there (neither were the manufacturers, which is presumably why they specifically exclude water damage from their warranties). Each person's "I was careful with my camera" means something different. You only have to look at ads for used equipment to see how people do and don't care for their gear :o
Maybe the K-3III is less weather-resistant than its predecessors (I doubt it, but it's possible)... but I'd need a lot more information and evidence before I could begin to suspect a pattern. Still, I can tell you now, there'll be others who've suffered (and will suffer) water damage with the K-3III - and just about every model Pentax and every other manufacturer has ever made...
|
|
Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
02-03-2024, 01:17 AM
|
| |
With respect, the moisture came from somewhere - so if he really never used it in wet conditions, humidity is the likely culprit.
There are plenty of components in any camera that would be subject to corrosion or other damage if exposed to moisture. Pentax - and the K-3III in particular - is no different in that regard...
|
|
Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
02-03-2024, 12:43 AM
|
| |
I'm sorry this has happened to you, and I can understand how disappointing it is.
Sadly, weather-resistance in camera and lens combos is not the same thing as "waterproof" - it's merely a significantly-increased level of resistance (I tend to think of it as "delaying the inevitable" :o). The fact that it happened to your K-3III rather than K-3II doesn't prove the former is less weather-resistant... it just means it was subject to a very precise set of circumstances leading to water ingress (indeed, it's quite possible your K-3II has also suffered some water ingress - just not enough to cause problems at this stage). No brand, so far as I'm aware, offers warranty cover for damage due to water ingress, regardless of their weather-resistance claims (this includes Nikon and Canon, for example) - and it's no surprise, really, as there are so many potential points of entry and weakness. Gasket seals aren't 100% water-tight on any weather-resistant camera from any brand - they merely provide varying levels of weather-resistance. They're just bits of rubber between gaps in components, held in place by pressure alone (no sealing compound or anything like that) - and there will be tiny variances in the components, gaskets and tolerances in assembly that can mean one camera's resistance is more (or less) effective than another copy of the exact same model.
In line with comments from other members above, I choose not to rely on weather-resistance as a guarantee against water ingress. I don't generally shoot in inclement conditions, but when I do - or if I'm caught out in heavy rain unexpectedly - I'll cover my equipment as best I can and/or wipe it down frequently so there's never any standing water for more than a few seconds - and I don't operate the zoom with lenses that are wet. Thus far, that approach has served me well.
Whether you choose to switch or stay with Pentax, just be aware that if you test the claimed weather-resistance on any camera, sooner or later you run the risk of water damage. You might be lucky and it could take years, or you might not and it could happen on the very first outing. The best policy, IMHO, is to treat all equipment as if it has no weather-resistance whatsoever. Consider it nothing more than an extra level of insurance... that's really all it is (and - as you've found - there are no guarantees :o). If you must shoot in wet conditions, use a rain cover or shoot under a poncho - or else accept the risk of not doing so.
Again, I'm sorry this has happened to you, and wish you good luck with whatever you choose going forward...
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-3 III Monochrome
01-21-2024, 03:15 PM
|
| |
Thanks for posting this. Unquestionably the best review I've read of our camera, and the only one I – as an enthusiastic owner of the camera – actually learned something about the camera from.
Something that immediately set this review above the rest for me is that the author was using old lenses. This is someone with experience and a history with the system. The tone and depth is so very different from the "I'm using the camera with this one lens because that's what Pentax sent me" set. It's so refreshing to not have someone spend a thousand words being baffled that it isn't a mirrorless camera.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
01-13-2024, 12:10 PM
|
| |
The dramatic fall-off of stand-alone camera purchases in the last decade indicates that for the large majority of people it's just the phone. The phone is a very capable snapshot camera that doesn't require any post-processing to get good results, and in many cases is a (much) better video camera than your DSLR.
Even when I'm shooting sports and there are dozens of other parents around me, I am often the only one with an ILC. And sports are an obvious use case where ILCs produce far better results than a phone.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
01-11-2024, 03:47 AM
|
| |
About two years ago (November 27, 2021) Pentax did an event where they asked users what kind of full frame camera they wanted. There were four options.
- An all-manual camera
- A version of the existing K-1 body with a lower resolution sensor (it would be faster as a result of the lower resolution)
- A mild update, that just transferred the new tech of the K-3 III to a full frame camera
- A full update of the K-1, with a new prism and high resolution sensor, which would take longer to make
I think it seems clear now that they decided on the last option with hindsight. A while ago, asahiman posted on the other forum that the new camera was taking time to develop because it requires greater “precision”. One logical understanding of this is that Pentax doesn’t think the K-3 III AF tech is good enough for a high resolution sensor (e.g. 61 MP).
So this leads me to believe that a K-1 that just adopts K-3 III technology is not on the cards. It will be significantly improved.
I think it’s worth remembering that the K-3 III itself took a long time to arrive. But when it did, it was essentially all new. Pentax claimed only the mount, hotshoe and battery were shared with its predecessor. I expect a similar effort to be put into the K-1 III.
|
|
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
01-09-2024, 09:12 AM
|
| |
Consider Sigma 17-50 f/2.8. It is excellent lens, creates great images, is reliable, has great AF drive. If not for lack of weather sealing it would be mine primary lens but as I personally need WR so I exchanged it with 20-40 Limited. So if you do not need weather sealing, I would rather opt for Sigma then SDM Pentax.
|
|
Forum: Pentax KP
01-11-2024, 05:35 AM
|
| |
Very nice shots and I think that you just came up with the new Pentax slogan.
It's okay! It's a Pentax!:lol:
|
