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Forum: Photographic Technique 12 Hours Ago  
Is there any trick for doing longer exposure with shake reduction?
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 46
Views: 1,381
Yes it's a bit tricky. First decide the composition in LV, then adjust the length of the plumb line, check LV again. As long as the tip of the plumb line doesn't move, the camera stays at the same position. Only works without wind. Before experimenting with the plumb line, I thought that my body was fairly static. When I first used the plumb line (relative to a point on the floor), I realized how much my body moved, just by breathing in and out, as much as 5 cm around the spot, enough to get a subject slightly out of focus with a fast lens (such as handheld macro shots).
Forum: General Photography 13 Hours Ago  
huge discount on the other side of the pond... why?
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 22
Views: 920
You don't have to pay import tax on Leica cameras, but that's not why they are so cheap.

---------- Post added 18-03-24 at 19:53 ----------


I have an idea, I'm going to suggest a price increase in the US :lol:
Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help 20 Hours Ago  
Chimping the pixel map button
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 3
Views: 428
The background is irrelevant. Pixel mapping is an electrical test that uses a test mode implemented in the design of the sensor itself, and most likely also used to check the sensor chip at some stage in the manufacturing process.
Forum: General Photography 20 Hours Ago  
huge discount on the other side of the pond... why?
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 22
Views: 920
What were you sinking?
Forum: General Photography 1 Day Ago  
huge discount on the other side of the pond... why?
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 22
Views: 920
I think it's the extra cost to translate the camera menu and user manual from Japanese to Italian, French, Spanish, German, Romanian, Polish, Greek, Swedish, Norwegian, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Estonian, Portuguese, Croatian, Bulgarian, Finish, Dutch, Celtic Irish, Scottish, and for the Vikings.
Forum: Photographic Technique 2 Days Ago  
Is there any trick for doing longer exposure with shake reduction?
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 46
Views: 1,381
I wouldn't have time for a proper article, plus I'm not native English speaker, my English is "empirical". So I prefer to write it here.


So how I came up with the plumb line idea?

The problem with using our body to keep our camera steady is that we aren't always aware that our body constantly moves, albeit slowly.
I first used a monopod and a plumb line: the monopod sets the Z (height) position of the camera, while keeping the plumb line parallel alongside the monopod maintains the camera at its X,Y position. The monopod prevents camera rotation (unless the camera moves in X, Y plane), which is a good thing, but not always required, and not required if the goal is to avoid parallax (for stitching). The plumb line only idea I came up with to [ try to ] keep the camera at a fixed X,Y,Z point in space. Plumb line alone is far from perfect, but DIY plumb line is free (or very cheap), and leaving the monopod and tripod at home saves space & effort. Also, in museums where tripods aren't allowed, the plumb line in the front pocket of camera bag will do.
Forum: Photographic Technique 2 Days Ago  
Is there any trick for doing longer exposure with shake reduction?
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 46
Views: 1,381
Why should I do that? I thought about writing about making 300Mpixels prints workflow, but then I realized people are happy with a half-frame film camera, I stopped right there.
Forum: Photographic Technique 2 Days Ago  
Is there any trick for doing longer exposure with shake reduction?
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 46
Views: 1,381
SR always ON.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 3 Days Ago  
The smc Pentax-DA★ 50-135mm f/2.8 ED [IF] SDM has been discontinued
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 72
Views: 5,786
Won't happen.
Forum: Photographic Technique 3 Days Ago  
Is there any trick for doing longer exposure with shake reduction?
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 46
Views: 1,381
Yes, I have developed a trick for panoramic image capture without tripod, which also stabilizes the camera. I use a plumb line with a string about the length of my height. The plumb line takes no space in the front pocket of my camera bag. On one end I pinch the string of the plumb line between my finger and the camera grip, the string goes over the lens near the lens mount. On the other end of the plumb line, I lineup the tip of the plumb line just over a feature on the ground (can be a tree leaf, a pebble..). If the plumb line tip stays over the ground feature, that means the camera hasn't moved forward, or backward, or left, or right, or up or down. While keeping the plumb line steady, only rotation is possible, so , that greatly improve stability, the performance is limited by the servo performance between my eyes as sensors and my muscles actuators. Works great. I've had sharp images of rocks and moving water taken with 5 seconds exposures without tripod (K1 + DFA15-30 @ 20mm).
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 3 Days Ago  
Ricoh want your feedback
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 182
Views: 9,207
Absolutely not if the design is derived from an existing design platform. The big effort is on the platform (e.g K3 III), and creating variants from the platform (e.g K3 III mono) requires much less effort, especially less if the design variant consists of removing things.

---------- Post added 15-03-24 at 11:55 ----------


Hard vs software mono are different. Mono from color require interpolation. Hardware mono skips the interpolation step and deliver less noise and more details, at the expense of versatility I agree, that's a choice for someone shooting mostly b&w .
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 3 Days Ago  
I Need A New Printer
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 16
Views: 726
Average inkjet ink consumption is roughly 1 ml (milliliter) per A2. Ink cost per ml depends... brand, pricing scheme , volume purchase etc.. Canon ink prices drop 4 x when purchasing 700ml cartridges, compared to smallest ones. I don't know how are EPSON and HP prices.
Forum: Pentax Full Frame 3 Days Ago  
K1 II - not feeling the love anymore!
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 75
Views: 4,794
I wrote two things:
1) Anyone not needing performance, can find K1 used at very affordable prices, low price is the key selling feature of the product. This message matches message from LennyBloke.

2) I also looked at prices of used camera models on MPB, as well as camera specifications:
- Pentax K1 used sells for ~ $1000, main specifications: 36Mpixels FSI, 4 FPS, USB-2, UHS-I, 33 AF points , HD 60p video, 720 HDMI
- Sony A7R used sells for ~ $500, main specifications similar to Pentax K1, but with more AF points
- Sony A7RII used sells for ~ $1000, main specifications are 42Mpixels BSI, 10 FPS, USB2, UHS-I, 399 AF points , 4K 30p video, 4K HDMI
- D850 used sells for ~ $1000, specifications: 45Mpixels dual gain BSI, 7 to 9 FPS, USB-3, UHS-II+XQD, 145 AF points, 4K video, 4K HDMI
Forum: Pentax Full Frame 4 Days Ago  
K1 II - not feeling the love anymore!
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 75
Views: 4,794
Pentax K-1 design concept, except one or two quirks, still one of the best. Sensor / electronics tech, is one major technology step back. All cameras these days use dual gain BSI sensors with at least UHS-II card slots and USB3 interface. K1 has FSI CMOS sensor, UHS-I, and USB2, 10 years old tech. in new bodies, that's why Ricoh can't justify selling K1 at average prices other brands sell. Anyone not needing performance, can find K1 used at very affordable prices, low price is the key selling feature of the product. It's even hardly competitive with the price only, as we're now seeing first generation mirrorless models featuring better features (4K video , UHS-II) selling for the same price as Pentax K1.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 4 Days Ago  
Poll: Does (lens) size matter? Best of Pentax Forums Newsletter March 13 Poll
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 52
Views: 2,166
The larger the lens , the more difficult it is to focus all ray of light on the same plane, hence use of more expensive non spherical molded elements. Smaller lenses are easier to make sharp corner to corner. Mobile phone lenses are tiny, and uniformly sharp corner to corner and cheap to make.


A photograph isn't a painting. If it was, photographs would have replaced paintings because it is much fast to take a picture of a landscape that is it to paint the same landscape.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 5 Days Ago  
Poll: Does (lens) size matter? Best of Pentax Forums Newsletter March 13 Poll
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 52
Views: 2,166
Optical perfection is a character. I don't find chromatic aberrations, purple fringing and screw-drive AF particularly attractive in any way. Large lenses are large because of being both fast (f1.4, f1.2) and highly corrected, while the limited concept is about making lenses slower by a stop or two, smaller, lighter weight and still optically excellent. The D-FA 21 limited is an example of what could be done in 2021, with start of the art lens tech and limited design concept. The Zeiss Batis, all f/1.8 or f/2 and are also small, optically excellent, and overall better than the old Pentax FA limited .
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 6 Days Ago  
Film camera news
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 274
Views: 11,528
The Pentax and the Mint aren't aimed at the same customers. The Rollei is for grownup adults, while the Pentax is for teenagers, we'll need the permission to from mum and dad :lol:
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 03-10-2024, 02:59 AM  
Poll: Do you see a Pentax Half-Frame in your future? Best of PF Newsletter March 6 Poll
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 126
Views: 5,444
Depending on point of view. Existing customers, market segment versus acquiring entirely new customers. We are the old existing customers mostly equipped, hard to sell new things to, without costly innovation.


There's a known cognitive bias where people tend to attribute positive outcomes to their own actions, while attributing negative outcomes to external events (such as blaming) [ Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman ]. Business decisions are inevitably done with incomplete information due to future business hypothesis that can't be verified at the time decisions are being made. In addition to environmental and operational uncertainty, personal interests and power games in corporate settings further add to decision errors, plus business leaders tend to stick with their decisions even when new data such as market feedback show that the decisions were wrong (sunk costs fallacy). So if 80% of customers say they don't intend to go back to film, you must have a really really good advertising plan to overcome that statistic, but with good marketing PR, advertising and promotional effort can possibly overcome customer statistics. Pentaxians are known for saying they don't need a feature when it's not yet available, and say how great that feature is once it become available with the newly released product.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 03-09-2024, 02:59 PM  
Ricoh want your feedback
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 182
Views: 9,207
Then you belong to the category of customers that Ricoh don't want to have. A satisfied customer is a customer having no need, no problem to solve, and hence very hard to sell to. When I started in marketing, I told my boss "customers keep complaining, it's not good", my boss immediately replied "when customers stop complaining it means we lost them and they are now complaining to our competitors".
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 03-09-2024, 09:39 AM  
Ricoh want your feedback
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 182
Views: 9,207
In 2016 , "the future was bright" (quote from Kenspo at the time), Ricoh were investing quite a bit in the then new full frame system, they had the D-FA 150-450 released a year earlier , plus a roadmap with new modern lenses to be released, and they did released important and amazing lenses: the D-FA*70-200 2/8, the D-FA*50 1.4, the D-FA*85 1.4, and D-FA 21 2.4. So , coming from Pentax apsc , it was natural for me to chose Pentax K1 instead of an alternative. But after a very good start , a few years later, Ricoh started to choke on the full frame line development, with some re-coating on old lens designs, editing the roadmap, and finally withdrawing the roadmap. Two lenses were expected, the fast 30-35mm prime and a 70-300 zoom. To me the Pentax FF looks like unfinished works.

Still , referring back to Pentax survey, there is room for improvement, and especially on high-margin & low-tech accessories.

How hard is it to design:
- a bunch of K-AF3 / K-AF4 extension tubes ?
- a full frame TC ?
- a machined aluminum L bracket dedicated to each new camera (K3III?) ?

IMO, these accessories are relatively easy to design and make compared to lenses and cameras.

Interestingly, Ricoh have enough time & money to allocate to J limited cameras (cosmetic changes rather that useful things) and playing with half-frame film camera design, but they can't complete the work started with the K1 system?
Forum: Ricoh GR 03-09-2024, 05:18 AM  
Ricoh GR series stop taking new order temporary
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 3
Views: 747
It's not surprising at all. Credit interest rates have increased (inflation) and with the lower quantities sold in a smaller overall camera market , channel inventory is now a significant cost driver. So , nearly all camera companies intentionally starve production to keep finished goods in transient state of inventory, and keep cash requirements to a minimum. Fuji and Nikon have been doing it constantly, and they say that the demand has been higher than planned, which is true because they planned to have quasi build to order supply chain, e.g build to order with one or two weeks of buffer, as soon as the demand slightly exceed average they can't deliver on time anymore.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 03-09-2024, 04:57 AM  
Ricoh want your feedback
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 182
Views: 9,207
Many replies. I'll sum up here what professional photography needs are, with regards to equipment:
- availability of commonly used accessories (OEM or third party) compliant with standards (for flash guns, strobes, remote triggers, L brackets and cages)
- availability of lenses covering key focal lengths (for architecture, weddings, people, sports, wildlife), or even more basic like auto-extension tubes for macros , and a TC covering FF image circle etc...
- availability of replacement parts (lots of parts have been out of stock for a long time on Pentax web store)
- after sale support (quick repairs, or long repairs with replacement service)
- camera / lens technology above what the average hobbyist or mobile phone can do
I see no point spending many thousand on a camera system that deliver images quality almost superseded by mobiles phones that fit in trouser back pocket.

Typically, a professional who needs to shoot for paid work with a fast 35 prime can't afford to wait for Pentax to make or not make one depending on Pentax own priorities (especially after the lens on a roadmap for a few years and taking down the roadmap...). Hobbyist can wait, if the lens never come, the old M lens will satisfy , with undefined time line for the release of a new up to date lens. Professionals need the right set of key lenses, accessories and support now, not like maybe someday or maybe never.

For instance, absence of DA* 50-135 is a deal breaker for a pro. Absence of fast modern 35 is another deal breaker. Absence of cage accessories for video recording, and video specs, another deal breaker for professionals. I would need another bracket for my K1, but I can't find one, they aren't produced anymore. I went to smallrig, they support all brands even Panasonic and Olympus but not Pentax, they have nothing for Pentax.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 03-08-2024, 12:40 PM  
Ricoh want your feedback
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 182
Views: 9,207
I do part time professional event photography and I'd gradually building a collection of carefully selected and large format prints. So, I expect professional quality from my photo equipment. I'm not interested in collecting old / used cameras and lenses. I can see some Pentaxians / users, who like to play with various cameras , various old and new lenses , film cameras and so on. That's not me, I'm only interested in limited series of prints, building image collections as valuable asset, and to limit my equipment to a minimum number of pieces (less is more, especially more manageable in the field), and I want top imaging capability.
Forum: Pentax K-3 III Monochrome 03-08-2024, 12:35 PM  
What lens would you suggest to get pictures like those with the K3III monochrome?
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 15
Views: 755
From experience shooting horse like this, changing medium distance, I wouldn't tend to believe that a prime lens isn't the right choice. Instead, I'd suggest the would be DA* 50-135 PLM, but since it doesn't exist I'd suggest the D-FA 70-210 or D-FA* 70-200 2.8. The D-FA 70-210 is quick to focus, and not large/heavy, affordable, would pair well with the K3 III.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 03-08-2024, 08:07 AM  
Ricoh want your feedback
Posted By biz-engineer
Replies: 182
Views: 9,207
YMMW, of course. And some of the sales are just from novelty factor, beside actual usefulness of the thing. Ricoh even sell some "fan" items, like 100 year of history hotshoe cap and other things. So they may well sell a half frame camera for the cool factor, especially to the hobbyists in Japan. It's not for the professionals, that's where we are now with Pentax. I have to forget about Pentax as a camera system supplier for professional use. Pentax is for fun.
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