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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 10-31-2020, 03:09 PM  
[New video Oct 27] New information about upcoming APS-C flagship model
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 1,603
Views: 119,250
Wow! I log in after a long, long break and see 39 pages of posts here. The K-3 III is definitely generating some excitement. That's good!

I have no doubt the camera will be well built, be very ergo-friendly, and possess excellent image quality. This is a Pentax so all that is a given.

I would pay more attention to the focusing system. How accurate, reactive, and predictive will it be? Even if the body is super fast, super powerful, and super cool then can the lenses keep up? There will be many tests done by sites like DPR and by independent reviewers through the internet. Some tests will be goofy and some tests will be legitimately difficult.

I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best. :)
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 10-30-2020, 05:01 PM  
The world's first PK-FE autofocus transfer ring
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 275
Views: 25,935
I have been hoping for something like this for a while. It’s very encouraging seeing it come to light now.

I would use this for my collection of screw drive focus lenses, starting with my FA Limited lenses on down to my D-FA macro and FA zooms. In my case, I would not expect superior focusing speeds or tracking performance. All I would want is focusing accuracy. I would use native FE lenses when I require superior focusing speed and tracking.
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 12-12-2019, 02:41 PM  
My printed calendar photos are often dark
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 26
Views: 2,041
Don't forget about your room's brightness. If your room is too bright or too dark then you will naturally, but unknowingly, adjust the image according to that ambient light level.

I think all monitor calibration tools include an ambient light measurement in them. If the system tells your room is too bright/dark and if you have a dimmer switch then you can easily adjust the room ambience level.

@othar's note on watching your histogram is good. Sometimes that all you have to work with, especially if processing while traveling.

Also, check if you can get the printing profile from your vendor. Ideally, they should all be calibrated to sRGB but calibrations drift or are mismanaged. A good deal on lower cost paper appears and they take it. All the calibration goes out the window.

Nothing beats a few test prints.



Even then, all printing process are a little different.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 11-18-2019, 01:14 PM  
Pentax ME-D!!!
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 66
Views: 18,318
It would certainly be a technical challenge to squeeze a FF system into a film sized body or something close to it. I think the system would have to be mirrorless without any in-body AF motor. Removing the mirrorbox and the AF motor would free up a lot of space. The LCD screen on the back is the next big space eater. I'm not sure what levers the designers can pull to make it thinner but maintain robustness.


The Sony A7 sets a baseline. Ricoh/Pentax seem have a long history of excellent mechanical packaging.The MX and Q bodies highlight this. Personally, I think Ricoh/Pentax could beat the A7 series if they decided to try.

From camerasize.com ...

https://camerasize.com/compare/#724,659
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 11-16-2019, 09:55 PM  
Pentax ME-D!!!
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 66
Views: 18,318
For as silly as those “retro” digital bodies may seem and look, releasing something like that would truly be revolutionary for Ricoh. I think those bodies would actually sell really well and expand the user base.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 10-21-2019, 08:54 PM  
Sigma stops K-Mount support
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 707
Views: 43,465
I was in Yosemite National Park this weekend. In addition to soaking all the natural beauty of the wilderness, I also tried to casually track the different cameras people carried. Yes, many people had Canon and Nikon bodies with huge lenses beyond the kit lens. A few people had kit lenses on those bodies, One person had an Oly M5 or M10 - couldn’t tell - and one person had a Leica. What surprised me is how many Sony bodies were at the park! The A6xxx with the kit lens has replaced the standard issue Canon and Nikon setups with kit lenses. A lot of people had A7 bodies with massive Sony branded lenses.

Of course, these aren’t “local folks”. These are tourists speaking French, German, Russian, and English with non-US accents. You don’t come to Yosemite with merely a phone. No, you bring something special. In this case that something special was a Sony E mount body.

It’s no wonder to me Sigma is focusing on E mount.
Forum: Pentax Forums Giveaways 10-17-2019, 09:57 PM  
PentaxForums 100 Year Giveaway - October - General Raffle Entry Thread
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 458
Views: 19,388
Entering, if that’s ok with you. ��
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 10-11-2019, 05:25 PM  
Pentax 150-450/KP compare Fuji 100-400/X-T30
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 50
Views: 5,502
It's all in relation to the AF point and what is inside it.

If two subjects are in the selected AF area then my X-T3 will pick the closer of the two. So, as an extreme case, if I have the bleachers and a player in the AF area then my X-T3 will pick the player because I configured it that. It also means my AF area is huge and I ought to make it tighter. Still, I will never get the bleachers. Ever. Likewise, if I have two kids standing in the AF area and one is further back then my X-T3 will focus on the kid standing closer. I honestly haven't used the Auto setting enough to understand its general behavior. In my photography I nearly always, always, always want the closer subject to be in focus. Forget the subject in the back. It's their fault for being in the wrong spot, right? :lol:

Now lets bring this back to the XF 100-400 vs D-FA 150-450 comparison. Despite the substantially lower build quality, less effective/intelligent OIS, and poorer optical performance I would say the lens with the X-T3 is can be more effective than a Pentax equivalent system in the same situation. The situation is "on the fly" AF-C performance at close distances with the lens at wide open or near wide open so DoF isn't providing a helping hand. Again, I'm not saying it's impossible to deliver great images with the Pentax. There are lots of examples here in the forum of awesome action. But, you aren't going to get a continuous burst of sharp images from it.

I'm almost afraid to reference this :confused: but DPReview :eek: has a pretty good assessment of the AF-C performance.

Fujifilm X-T3 Review: Digital Photography Review

Using full Auto settings resulted in lots of borked up images but tweaking them into a customized AF-C produced excellent results. You can scan through the 16 frames showing the performance of the customized AF-C settings and see every one of them is generally sharp. I don't know which lens they were using for that test - probably a longer zoom like the XF 50 - 140. The test was performed in a dark alley so the results could look better in bright sunlight. Remember, the sensor in the X-T3 has 425 on-chip PDAF points that span the entire imaging area. The processor in the camera is not starved for data.

Ok, ok ... I mentioned DPReview and I feel it's like using a curse word because of how they smeared the K-1. :mad: How many times did they have to rewrite it to get the facts straight and how many times did they had to reshoot the studio comparison scene? Whatever could have gone wrong with review did go wrong. :fedup: I think the original author of the K-1 review didn't know left from right. The currently published K-1 AF-C test shows quite a number of lost shots and I've experienced those situations. I've also been fortunate to experience better hit rates than what is shown there. :)
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 10-11-2019, 12:40 PM  
Pentax 150-450/KP compare Fuji 100-400/X-T30
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 50
Views: 5,502
Let me see what I can pull together between my K-1 and the X-T3 over the next week or so. Maybe I can pull it off. :)



Yes, it will never focus accidentally on the background instead of the foreground. The camera has some configuration settings available to you so you can customize how it interprets 3D space. It can be set to focus on the closest object it finds. I found that Pentax's AF system seems to default to focusing on the furthest point or to infinity. The football player shot I referenced in the thead you linked us to is a perfect example. As long as I can pan and generally keep my subject and AF points align the camera will never focus on the background. I've even lost alignment a few times but recovered fast enough to keep focus. Of course, the AF-C sensitivity can be configured to your taste.
I believe Nikon and Canon have had this too for a long time under their own moniker.



Well, I do have to aim the camera. While it may be somewhat self-away like a Terminator, it's not a self propelled flying drone. :p I don't use the AF-A or Auto Zone settings. Supposedly they are pretty good.



There's a first time for everything. :p
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 10-10-2019, 09:05 PM  
Pentax 150-450/KP compare Fuji 100-400/X-T30
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 50
Views: 5,502
I agree 100% here. Fuji's image stabilization in its lenses is extremely lacking when it comes to action. The SR inside a Pentax is awesome! Sony's comes close and sometimes I wonder if there's some sort of tech licensing agreement between Ricoh and Sony. Sony accommodates for panning without any need to turn off image stabilization.

I don't know how well or not the in-body stabilization inside the X-H1 works. Living in Nevada and being surrounded by casinos, I wouldn't bet on the X-H1 coming close to what you find in the K-1. I've lost a few shots on the X-T3 because I forgot to turn off the OIS in the XF 100-400. :eek: It feels like the lens element in the barrel oscillates left to right super fast and the resulting image is blurry/smeared horizontally. Kind of a weird effect. Once OIS is turned off the images are perfectly frozen when using high shutter speeds.



Norm!

I haven't used my K-1 to take action shots of kids running since I got the Fuji X-T3 so I will need to dig through my archive. Unfortunately, I trashed almost all the duds from the K-1 so my chances of finding fuzzy photos is slim. It's been even longer since I gave away my K-3 and those images could be just as hard to find. Let me see what I can dig up and show. Now, if you want to send me a K-3 via overnight mail for tomorrow's Walk-a-Thon then I'm all game for another side-by-side.



Hmmm ... "assertion" may not be the right words. It's been my "experience" that a K-3 or a K-1 cannot do the same like a Fuji X-T3 or A7R III. Going further, I should preface this applies to my type of photography in my particular settings.

You mentioned the K-1 is a field camera. As field camera, I found the AF-S and initial AF-C focusing performance in the K-1 to be superior to that in the K-3. There was less hesitation to lock and confirm focus in the K-1. I still felt there was too much latency in lifting the mirror and cycling the shutter but that is probably just me being me and a DSLR being a DSLR. Unfortunately, the latency and cycle time gave enough time for my subjects to move out of focus. I mean, you can't focus while the mirror is going up, right? It was enough time such that even if focus was locked on the face at 10 feet that the face proceeded to move out of focus to 8 feet and now the feet/knees are at 10 feet. So, I had quite a number of shots where the face is fuzzy and the knees and footwear are perfectly focused. Shots of people further way, like 20 - 30 feet turned out better because DoF is increased.

I would use the D-FA 24-70mm f/2.8 which didn't help. The DA 18-135mm focuses noticeably faster and I heard the PLM power 55-300mm zoom is even faster.

I also noticed that the AF-C algorithm in the Pentax bodies need a significant amount of "out of focus" detection before triggering a new focusing movement. I could work around this by goosing the AF button constantly and forcing a manual triggering of the focusing. That helped quite a bit.

The focal length would average between 40-50mm and I would typically shoot at f/5.6 or so.

That was not a front/back focus issue. Group shots of kids standing still together are perfect, perfect, perfect. A K-1 with the FA 43mm makes for magical shots that printed beautifully!



Nope, no blind spot here ... just a fuzzy images somewhere in my C1 archives.



Perhaps ... and, to those who shoot fast moving, unpredictable action up close.



Actually, that's what the Fuji can do by itself. It's almost self-aware.



Lots of good pictures in there! So, in that thread, post # 511, shows a football player in white reaching out to a player in blue. Looks like he grabbed the other player's helmet. I would consider that shot to be a technical failure where the AF goofed. Why are the bleacher in perfect focus? When performing a burst I would get a lot of images looking like that.

I could do a burst of 15 to 20 shots at close distance with the XF 16-55mm or farther distance with the XF 100-400mm and every single one of them are pin point sharp, like the samples I showed above. I don't have to worry about missing an awesome shot like the football player I mentioned above. Yes, that would be a missed shot in my book. The only thing I have to worry about is facial expressions and picking the perfect moment within the burst. In some ways, I wonder if the bursts of shots are now blurring the line between photography and "still videography". I can almost play those shots back and see a quasi-movie. It's actually kind of weird to see.



I never said it was impossible. Your referenced thread proves it. I'm just saying it's harder to do with a Pentax than with a competitor's body.

And, I want to say here that I'm not trying to be argumentative for the sake of arguing. The older CCD sensors in the *ist bodies and the CMOS sensors in the K-30 are super special. I do regret letting go of my K-3 because it was a fun camera to photograph static subjects with. Honestly, I hope the upcoming APS flagship catches up to the modern day offerings from competitors when it comes to SD card write performance, bugger depth, shutter cycle times, AF-C tuning, etc. Pentax bodies are built like none other. They, along with cockroaches and Kodachrome film, will be all that survives a nuclear war. Fuji and Sony bodies are nowhere as tough and well built and they will be part of the ash the surviving members of the human race walk on. :confused: :lol:
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 10-09-2019, 08:12 PM  
Pentax 150-450/KP compare Fuji 100-400/X-T30
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 50
Views: 5,502
Wows, lots of good stuff to reply to! This is why I love your posts. :)

You asked for pictures. Here is one from my Fuji. This is my son playing soccer. It was shot wide open if I remember correctly. This image comes from a 12 frame burst and the burst speed is set to medium. OIS is turned off. Shutter speed is 1/2000 to ensure the image is frozen.



Obviously, the forum albums have restrictions on image and file size but I think the overall sharpness and quality can be conveyed. Here is a 100% crop of the face. Mind you, I already cropped the image down from 26 MP to reframe the image. So, it's a crop of a crop.



The sensor noise is pretty high and the face is in the shadows. Running the shutter at 1/2000 is kind of tough on the sensor. Still, it's generally very sharp, especially if the lens really is wide open.

Here's another shot of my son playing soccer. Different game, different camera. This was shot with the A7R III in burst mode, medium speed as well.



Here is the 100% crop of the face.



Higher ISO hurts the A7R III too but not as much as it does the X-T3. Again, the hair is very sharp .

You asked why do I compare against a K-1? A couple reasons. First, it's the best Pentax body I have. :o I gave away my K-3 and I don't have a KP. Second, it's the flagship camera and I want to compare flagship to flagship. The X-T3 is about $1300 new, the K-1 Mk II is $1800 new, and the A7R III is about $2500 new. The KP is about $800 new. I got these prices from Adorama.

You asked if I wanted good pictures or if I wanted it easier to take worse pictures? I want it easier to take good pictures. :lol: The route I took leverages technology where it can be leveraged to get the best picture for the scenarios I find myself in most often. My job is to know how to frame the moment and when to press the shutter button ... not what twist of the wrist I need to press the button. The camera's job is to focus, cycle the shutter, and write the image to the SD as fast as possible so it's ready for the next moment.

Why are your on the fly AF-C shots garbage? Do you mean from a technical perspective like focus accuracy or from a composition perspective like framing?

I don't mean to say the K-1 is completely incapable of capture action. It simply has a much harder time doing so. When I had a K-3 I found that it did OK but it wasn't as capable as today's modern offerings. That's progress.

I'm really looking forward to the upcoming APS flagship RIcoh could be releasing soon. There's a thread in the Rumor section with more posts than I can shake a monopod at. Maybe that body will have a powerhouse AF system with an infinite buffer that clears infinitely fast by writing infinitely fast to the SD cards. :cool:
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 10-09-2019, 01:00 PM  
Pentax 150-450/KP compare Fuji 100-400/X-T30
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 50
Views: 5,502
Hey normhead,

My AF-C experience with the Fuji X-T3 + XF 100-400mm is the complete opposite of what is shown in the video. The focus tracking of the X-T3 is phenomenal, especially at closer distances where the focus would need to change much quicker than minor tweaks at or near infinity. I define my AF point and as long as I keep my subject and AF point aligned as the subject moves then the image will be in focus. This works for me on the tele XF 100-400mm lens for soccer games where I am far away and the wider XF 16-55mm when I'm in the middle of the action or scene. Just be sure to turn off OIS in the lens. It plays havoc with panning. I have lost countless shots and countless bursts on my K-1 because the AF-C hesitated, got confused, or simply couldn't lock on.

A simple example. Stand in one spot. Have a kid ride their bike across you, from left to right, 15 to 20 feet in front of you. Your task is to capture the burst of the rider as they go past you. The rider must fill up the whole frame. So, during your pan you will need to zoom out as they come toward you and zoom in as they leave you. My K-1 cannot keep up with the AF-C demands or frame rate required for something as simple as that whereas the Fuji can eat that for lunch and still be hungry for more. My Sony A7R III can come close to the Fuji. I honestly don't know how Fuji managed to create that kind of tech but they did.

When it comes to static subjects the K-1 has no problem with AF-S other than the usual front/back focus if you're not calibrated.

I honestly wish the AF-C in the K-1 was as snappy and responsive as the X-T3. The few perfectly tack sharp images that do come out from a K-1's burst are amazing! Yes, the D-FA 150-450mm is a superb lens. Period, end of statement. It beats out the Fuji XF 100-400mm at equivalent field of view in terms of optical performance. The K-1 having 36 MP only adds insult to injury for the Fuji. Oddly enough, it's only the XF 100-400 that is so weak. The XF 16-55mm and XF 50-140mm are much, much better. Makes me think a bean counter at Fuji ran the project for the XF 100-400mm whereas photographers ran the other two lens developments.

I'm going to add this disclaimer now. The X-T3's AF-C performance works perfectly for me. Maybe it won't work perfectly for others depending on the subject matter, camera settings, and the scene itself. If whatever you have doesn't work for you then change what you use. ;) If it works then keep using it and enjoy it. :) I use the Fuji and Sony for action and the Pentax for static or sort of static shots. The A7R III is slowly creeping into what I consider K-1 territory but K-mount lenses still beat out a lot of the FE offering when it comes to rendering.
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 10-04-2019, 01:49 PM  
Pentax 150-450/KP compare Fuji 100-400/X-T30
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 50
Views: 5,502
Correct ... and this is where the argument can quickly fall apart. I think the best we can do is compare field of view and one easy number we can use is equivalent focal length.
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 10-04-2019, 12:52 PM  
Pentax 150-450/KP compare Fuji 100-400/X-T30
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 50
Views: 5,502
Alright, alright ... so I opened up an Excel spreadsheet and had to try calculating some numbers. ;) It's all in good fun. :p

Please tell me if my thought process is right or wrong.

I listed the native resolutions of the sensors and a cropped resolution (factor of x1.5). I kept all focal lengths in FF equivalent just to keep it simple. A KP with its APS sensor and the 150-450mm lens gives a FF equivalent of 450mm * 1.5 = 675mm. A K-1 with its FF sensor and the same lens gives 450mm.

I understand APS is already considered cropped and I am cropping a cropped sensor ... sort of. If we're going to crop FF sensors down to APS by a factor of 1.5 in order to zoom in a bit then we'll crop APS sensors down to whatever they crop to so we can zoom by the same factor. That means where a K-1 goes from 36 MP FF to 16 MP APS the 24 MP APS sensor goes to 11 MP.

If we crop down to 11 MP on all sensors then something like the KP gives more reach than anyone because of the extra 50mm on the lens. The A7R III gets an edge where the 42MP sensor surges ahead.

I can't attach the Excel file so I'm attaching a screen shot of it.
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 10-04-2019, 12:04 PM  
Pentax 150-450/KP compare Fuji 100-400/X-T30
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 50
Views: 5,502
The Fuji with the 100-400mm lens on APS gives an effective FF equivalent reach of 600mm. Pentax's 150-450mm on FF doesn't reach as far.

But ... your skepticism shook me awake. :) I am always thinking of the K-1. On a APS body like the KP the 150-450mm lens gives more reach. So, I stand clarified and slightly corrected. :D

The Fuji X-T3 has a 26 MP sensor whereas Pentax APS bodies are at 24 MP. I don't know how much "zoom by cropping" from 26 MP to 24 MP will give you. Will it partially make up for the extra 50mm on the Pentax lens?
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 10-04-2019, 08:15 AM  
Pentax 150-450/KP compare Fuji 100-400/X-T30
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 50
Views: 5,502
I think it depends on your criteria for victory here. :)

For portability, telephoto reach, and AF-C tracking/performance the Fuji system wins.

For static subject photography, ultimate sharpness, and subject isolation the Pentax system wins.

I wish someone would combine the best of both into one lens and system. The Sony 200-600 is spectacularly sharp, like the Pentax, with the reach of the Fuji ... but it doesn’t always track as well as the Fuji in AF-C. I think here the deficiency is in the body, an A7R III. It comes close to being the perfect hybrid solution though. Maybe the A9 series would come closer to a Fuji X-T3.

Maybe Ricoh finally woke up with their upcoming APS flagship and will offer a worthy AF system. Maybe that new system will run the AF on the 150-450mm as if the lens was possessed by a demon!
Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service 10-02-2019, 12:07 PM  
My third K-50 aperture fix.
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 47
Views: 4,261
My K-30's aperture control mechanism is basically dead. I "permanently" mounted a Helios 44M lens with a M42 adapter on it. It still makes for a fantastic camera ... but with manual lenses only.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 09-30-2019, 07:49 AM  
K1000 for the 21st century
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 34
Views: 2,065
A Fuji X-T[x] is kind of the close to a K1000. It has the on the top plate dial for shutter speed selection. The overall size and heft remind me of my older Yashica Electro TL-X. So, it’s all possible with enough time, energy, and money.
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 09-24-2019, 12:46 PM  
Pentax 150-450/KP compare Fuji 100-400/X-T30
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 50
Views: 5,502
I think the comparison between Fuji's and Pentax's big zooms came up before in another thread. The same video was referenced if I'm not mistaken.

I have both lenses. The Fuji lens is a bit chintzy compared to the Pentax lens. You could probably beat an ogre to death with the Pentax lens and not lose alignment of the optical elements inside. Yes, Fuji's teeny foot is a miss compared to the rock solid unit on the Pentax lens. I feel like the Pentax lens is sharper for the same field of view and depth of field, especially with the K-1's 36 MP sensor.

However, I don't think the Fuji lens is as bad as some would want you to think. Optically, it's a good lens but not a great lens.

One thing the Fuji lens has going for it is the AF-C capabilities when coupled with a body like the X-T3. I photograph my kid's soccer games in low speed continuous mode and my low speed setting is configured to 5 FPS. I stand behind the goal, off to one side. When my boys have the ball and approach the goals I hold down the shutter button. The shutter starts cycling and damn near every shot from midfield to the goal is in focus. Imagine a burst of 20 to 50 frames and 90+% of them are in focus! And, I'm zooming out as my boys are running toward the goal. 5% of the frames are missed because I didn't track my boys well enough, 2.5% of the frames are lost because someone was in front of my boys, and 2.5% of the frames are just the camera missing what would/should have been a good shot. So, as a system, the lens works pretty good! There is no way the K-1 with 150-450mm can come close to that ... and maybe Ricoh never really wanted it to.

I understand the AF-C performance was criticized in the video and I'm not sure what the reviewer did or did not do. My Fuji doesn't work like that.

The AF-C performance could be big compromise of the Fuji that drove the overall design. Maybe Fuji had to make smaller, lighter, thinner elements so they can focus quicker. Yeah, I'd give up a few lp/mm for that kind of performance. If your subject is pretty much at infinity and panning across then of course the Pentax system wins hands down if the frame rate suits you.

A more interesting comparison I'm working on is with recent Sony's 200 - 600mm G lens. That lens is huge and heavy. It even has it's own strap hooks! The copy I have feels very similar to the Pentax design. It has a huge foot and well damped controls. Someone at Sony must of looked at the Pentax lens and said, "Oooo! We need some of those in E-mount!" ;)

Perhaps a more relevant comparison would be the Sony 100-400mm lens. It's closer to the 150-450 in zoom range.
Forum: General Photography 09-13-2019, 12:15 PM  
What is the actual benefit of mirrorless?
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 207
Views: 12,540
Wow, lots of replies here! Must be a hot topic.

Mirrorless cameras offer a live view of the image before it is actually taken. Characteristics like white balance, in-camera saturation and styles for JPG shooters, etc are all presented to you live. You can add overlay additional information like focus peaking and histograms in the view. It is also possible to select an area of the image to zoom into to really nail that focus. This can be especially useful when shooting with faster manual lenses that do not send any information to the camera body.

Continuing with focusing capabilities, since you are focusing according to information from the sensor (vs. a split off light signal going under the mirror) you will no longer have front/back focusing issues. You can also have an extremely large number of focus points which can work together in a selected area to increase focus speed/triggering.

Without a mirror needing to go up and down you can have very fast burst rates. This can be useful in sports were you may be presented with unpredictable and fast action.

I understand there can be some advantages to lens design as well, especially wider angle lenses.

My first mirrorless experience was with a first gen Olympus M10. I still have that little camera. It focuses by contrast detection which is pretty slow and practically useless for action bursts. Still subjects are perfect for it. I never, ever, ever missed focus on it. Seriously. If I choose to focus on the closest eye then that eye will be razor sharp. Don't trust the focus? Zoom in on it. Seeing the information in the viewfinder was a huge revelation to me.

My second serious experience with mirrorless is with my Fuji X-T3. It's like my Olympus but on serious performance enhancing drugs. The camera has almost no problem on fast approaching subjects coming at me between 10 and 30 feet. I set the focus point where I want it and track the person keeping their face in that square. If I can't pan accurately then of course I miss focus and get a soft image. I can kind of see when that happens as I'm doing it. A soft image flashes in the EVF and I can make a quick correction. The X-T3 quickly locks on and continues capturing.

Can a mirror'ed camera do the same? Not everything but it can come pretty close. A big, bright, beautiful optical viewfinder with a simple B&W histogram overlay in the bottom right hand side would be awesome! More focus points can probably be. How many does the K-1 have? 27, 29 or something like that? I thought some of the advanced Canon and Nikon bodies offered something in the 50's?

EVFs can of falter in low light. The same grain and noise we see in high ISO images is often times in the EVF when you crank up to 6400 and beyond. An optical viewfinder may be dimmer but it will certainly be cleaner. EVFs also seem smaller to me ... but then again, a lot of viewfinders of any kind will feel small compared to the K-1. :lol: The K-1 viewfinder is huge! Ok ... maybe the OVF in my ME Super or MX is bigger. :p

I don't think one VF is better than the other. Use the one you like and understand what you are getting vs. what you are letting go. I use both happily and appreciate them for what they are.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 09-09-2019, 12:43 PM  
Sigma stops K-Mount support
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 707
Views: 43,465
On the one hand, I feel bad for Ricoh and the Pentax K-mount ecosystem. Less advanced lenses will mean the system as a whole will begin to stagnate. Sigma recently recently a 40mm f/1.4 which is probably one of the sharpest consumer lenses on the planet. It's a huge barrel of glass. The lens is seemingly so awesome that Sigma welded an extension tube on the mount end so it would work natively with Sony's FE mount ... which makes the lenses even bigger. We will probably never see a lens like that in K-mount. If anyone is going to make some super-duper lenses for K-mount it will probably be Ricoh and we know how quickly they churn them out. Not very fast.

On the other hand, I don't feel bad for Ricoh. They made a conscious decision not to enter the mirrorless market at a time when the market was seriously taking off. In fact, they withdrew from it. They started with the Q and let it die. Ok, fine ... it was a tiny format doomed from the start. But, they did have the K-01. It was chunky, clunky, and weird but it was the right camera. They could have gone further in a K-02 of sorts to advance focusing, add a EVF, better ergonomics, etc. Instead of advancing it they let it go. They noted mirrorless was taking off and simply said they will watch market trends. Well, here's your market trend. It's frustrating for me to see that opportunity squandered. Instead of a super powerful, super slick K-1 that would rival a Sony A7R in resolution/noise/dynamic range and rival the Fuji X-T3 in AF and buffer performance we have a studio camera.


Maybe in the end it really doesn't matter. Lenses don't decay or rot like food. A 20 year old FA 31mm today ought to work just as well in 20 years when it turns 40. That lens is pretty darn good. Just know that lens, and whatever Ricoh trickles out, is it.
Forum: Video Recording and Processing 08-31-2019, 10:33 AM  
K-1 II/K-3 II or Sony a6000 for basic "studio" work
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 26
Views: 4,036
Video is definitely a weakness of Pentax when compared to other ecosystems. If you are looking to get more into video then look into a Lumix body or something like the Fuji X-T3. Their capabilities are very impressive. I see a standard looking 1/8” mic and headphone jack on my X-T3.

I recently shot some high frame rate video with the Sony RX10 IV and I agree with your displeasure of Sony’s proprietary jacks. :(
Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals 08-27-2019, 12:14 PM  
DxOmark lens "scoring" versus facts - the good, the bad and the really ugly
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 30
Views: 5,730
The only measurement from DxO that I like are the field maps. Their numbers give an indication of what you might possibly see. You would need to follow a couple different reviews and correlate the individual results. Assuming minimal variation between individual lenses of the same design, make, and model, I find the individual results generally track each other to some degree. Better indications can be found in sample images, from DPReview's Studio Comparison tool to real world images on sites like ePhotoZine. Some images can be used to determine corner sharpness while others can help determine contrast. If you can download the raw files and process them yourself then you will get more insight. Renting a lens is an even better test. Buying and using a specific copy under your own conditions is the ultimate best test.
Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II 08-13-2019, 11:56 AM  
Pentax K-3 vs K-1
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 22
Views: 5,246
The K-1's low light performance is a big leap forward compared to the K-3.
Forum: Pentax Lens Articles 08-08-2019, 12:54 PM  
Give this man some love! (Cameraville)
Posted By 6BQ5
Replies: 19
Views: 3,351
I watched the full first half the video and then skipped around in the second half.

I have both telephoto lenses, the Fuji 100-400 and the Pentax 150-450. The video is a fairly accurate representation of the two lenses.

The Pentax build quality is very superior to Fuji's. My Fuji lens doesn't wobble like his and it's solid enough to be "solid" but it's not Pentax-solid. You could probably hammer nails into solid concrete with the Pentax lens. In a pinch you could probably use the Pentax lens as a rolling pin to knead dough too.

IQ from the Pentax lens at the long end is (very) noticeably better than Fuji's when you pixel peep. Pentax's colors, contrast, and general rendering is much better.

When panning across left to right at near infinity distances the K-1's focusing performance is great or definitely good enough. It's the closer distances, like 100 meters and below, when subjects are quickly running straight toward you, where a Fuji X-T3 way, way, way outshines a Pentax K-1. Select your focus point in the Fuji, keep your subject in point, and press the shutter button. The Fuji can give a you a ridiculous amount of sharp images from a burst. My K-1 lags in triggering focus, tracking, and writing data to SD cards. Suppose you have a runner coming at you full speed. I ask the K-1 to focus and fire the shutter when focus is confirmed. 9 times out of 10 the face is blurry/soft but the feet which are further back will be sharp. Why? The face has moved forward is out of the focus plane and the feet moved to the distance where the face was. Remember, runners lean forward. This is not a front/back focus calibration problem. Stationary objects or those at near infinity are ridiculously super razor sharp on my K-1. 36 MP is an amazing amount of pixels.

The 150-400mm can focus very fast if the camera commands it to and that's where the problemis . The K-1's focusing system is not very commanding (demanding?). I'm hoping Ricoh can one day make an auto-focus, SD card writing beast of a machine.

I sold all my K-mount zoom lenses except for the 150-400mm. That lens, plus my primes, is what keeps me in K-mount. Fuji doesn't have anything like the trio of FA Limited lenses.

Smaller sized zoom lenses, superior auto-focus performance, and write performance pulled me to Fuji.
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