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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
03-25-2024, 03:53 PM
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A quick roll call on the kitchen table while the missus is out! The over 350s!
Except for a Canon mount Tokina mirror, all are M42 , Kmount or T mount so are compatible with the K-1.
A Tamron has lamination problems otherwise all are in working order.
All are capable of quite respectable images except for the modern mirrors which are hard to love! (Samyang , Optica and the Soligor CD) .
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
03-30-2024, 05:06 AM
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Specifically, the black K-3 Mark III will soon be discontinued, while the silver K-3 Mark III and K-3 Mark III Monochrome will remain (for now).
Yaotomi Camera, the retailer who reported the discontinuation mail from Ricoh Imaging, has a possible explanation for this situation that differs from those already discussed in this thread. They speculate that Ricoh Imaging may have decided to assign the black body to the B&W (monochrome) variant and the silver body to the standard camera with Bayer filter.
Source: https://twitter.com/yaotomicamera/status/1772575732482576407 |
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
03-28-2024, 04:32 PM
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Another question that arises, given that Ricoh Imaging's announcements since the first of January 2022 have been (in reverse order):
- Ricoh GR III HDF & GR IIIx HDF
- Ricoh WG-90 (an ODM product)
- HD Pentax-FA 50mm f/1.4 and smc Pentax-FA 50mm f/1.4 Classic
- Pentax K-3 Mark III Monochrome & K-3 Mark III Monochrome Matte Black Edition
- Ricoh GR III Diary Edition
- Pentax KF Olive & Stone
- Ricoh GR III Diary Edition Special Limited Kit
- Pentax KF (a rehashed K-70)
- HD Pentax-D FA Macro 100mm f/2.8 ED AW (an smc Pentax-D FA Macro 100mm f/2.8 with a slightly twisted optical formula)
- Ricoh GR IIIx Urban Edition
- Pentax O-GPS2
- Ricoh WG-80 (an ODM product)
- Pentax K-3 Mark III Jet Black Edition
- GR IIIx Urban Edition Special Limited Kit
is the following:
What the hell has happened to Ricoh Imaging's R&D? |
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
02-11-2024, 01:52 AM
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Some mostly technical based thoughts ...
• Today computer software and monitors work based on the RGB Color Model.
• I don't know any computer / photo application that will work based only on a grayscale channel. At the end of the 1980s I worked on an Atari ST. The standard monitor was black or white for the pixels, the image was dithered. Because of the high densitiy of pixels the eye/brain combo created an image of 640x400 Pixels (if I remember right).
• The better monitors work at 10 bit per color channel, standard ones at 8 bit.
• For black & white in the RGB model the grayscale is build by R=B=G. So every channel (color component) is the same.
• If we want to be able to use colored grays, i.e. be free in choosing a monochrome tint, we need a color monitor.
• The camera delivers 14 bit max. for the one grayscale component, i.e. values from 0 - 16383 (max. value 214-1).
• The monitors theoretical ability is 0 - 1023 (max. 210-1).
• JPG format is only 8 bit, i.e. 0 - 255 (28-1).
• According to a medical article I read, our eyes/brain combo can distinguish only 60-80 graytones. And from the scale we are not able to distinguish at least the lower and upper 16 values of the 8-bit scale. So in reality we talk about a max. domain of around 220 values, where we are not able to distinguish direct neigbours. As medex reported in a post correct info is 700 - 900 gray values, a link to the medical data base shows how this info is obtained.
• Apart from that, our individual physical eyes/brain combo will determin what we are able to really distinguish. Main contributers for recognition grays are the rods. The cones that support color recognition are much less sensitive.
This means, if we do some work on our grayscale images like using gradation curve and burning and dodging we should use the 14 bit raw. This will prevent from banding in very smooth gradation areas. Your monitor will offer max. 1024 (grayscale) different values per pixel and from these values your eye will be able only to distinguish a small variety.
For print 8 bit should be sufficient. Do they ... after Medex's info about 700-900 graytones? - I don't know. When we talk about printing we mostly also talk about ppi and viewing distance. With growing viewing distance a pattern of points might merge to a clear image that shows us something meaningfull. So 8 bit still might hold as a rule for printing monochrome ... on the other hand I think it can't be wrong to go with 16 bit for monochrome prints, even if there's some waste of megabytes.
So, what are my conclusions about a monitor?
• a 10 bit monitor should be better than a 8 bit monitor since it gives some room for monitor adjustment / calibration - this seems even more critical to me than with color image development
• an optimal monitor for black & white needs brightness uniformity across the monitor area (remember, gray tones is about brightness values)
• the critical aspect IMO are the blacks. If a monitor cannot show differentiated blacks, which depends on physical properties, work on shadows in the images will be problematic
• monitors that are good at showing differenciated shadows need to be calibrated for optimal grayscale balance since you need to be able to seperate low graytone values as much as your individual eye/brain is able to
• the brightness of the monitor / environment in which we develop our monochrome images might play a bigger role than with color images
For the critical medicine area there should exist most advanced grayscale monitors for diagnostics. But they will be expensive I guess.
So, I think at the end the best solution seems to be a very good usual 10 bit color monitor for monochrome image development. :)
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Forum: Pentax Full Frame
01-03-2024, 07:22 AM
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Good for you! I can't speak for anyone else here, but I for one genuinely appreciate you sending that... and I maintain, if everyone who wanted the product contacted Ricoh as you've done, they would see the demand and may well react sooner or prioritise development plans accordingly. At the very least, they'd know there's significant support for the Pentax brand outside of the domestic Japanese market.
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Forum: Pentax Full Frame
01-03-2024, 07:16 AM
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Based on the information you provided, on November 27th, 2023, I sent a good old-fashioned letter by U.S. mail to Mr Yasutomo Mori, the PresidentRicoh Imaging Company LTD. It took about 10 days to get there, but tracked it and someone signed for as received. I've attached a copy (probably not wise to do). It's not very well composed, but I feel like I accomplished my purpose in attempting to document how I feel as a customer/user. By the way, the letter had to be sent as a package, which cost a lot more than a stamp.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-06-2024, 11:36 PM
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Thanks for posting this. It's a positive message and outlook :)
Whilst we, as customers, might want faster and more prolific development and release of products, it seems Ricoh Imaging's cautious approach is vindicated (for the time being, at least). If that's what it takes for Pentax to survive in the current market - and for Ricoh to remain committed to the brand - then so be it. I'd rather see a gradual drip feed of products over the next decade than a boom-and-bust scenario...
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-06-2024, 05:54 PM
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On 6 February Ricoh published its financial results for the third quarter (1 October - 31 December) and the first nine months (1 April - 31 December) of FY2023. As before, references to the camera business are few but positive.
Flash Report - Q3 Report
"Other segment sales (...) increased due to steady growth of the camera business."
Consolidated Results for Nine Months Ended December 31, 2023 (PowerPoint-type presentation; see in particular page #13)
"Cameras - Again performed well"
Here below a short summary of past statements.
FY2022 Q3 (April - December 2022): "Ongoing profitability of camera business" - "Camera business profitable for third straight quarter"
FY2022 (April 2022 - March 2023): "Ongoing profitability of camera business"
FY2023 Q1 (April - June 2023): "Camera business remained robust; Benefited from new products based on workshop approach to manufacturing; Launched PENTAX K-3 Mark III Monochrome" - "Steady performance of the camera business"
FY2023 Q2 (April - September 2023): "Cameras - Again performed well" - "Steady performance of the camera business"
FY2023 Q3 (April - December 2023): "Cameras - Again performed well" - "Steady growth of the camera business"
9-month sales of the entire 'Other' segment (digital cameras, 360°cameras, environment, healthcare): ¥31.1 billion = $217 million = €200 million.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-06-2024, 07:12 PM
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-02-2024, 04:36 PM
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I prefer DSLR's because they are the best of both worlds: you've got the OVF, AND you've got live view. I use it all the time for critical focus checking before and after the shot. Nearly all of my important work is off a tripod. My dream is to get better tethering so I can have a much larger screen to wok from. Like 8x10. No issues with a tripod. but right now it's way too clunky in the field---only practical in the studio.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
01-31-2024, 05:58 AM
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I think that Pentax has had their fiasco with the SDM debacle. Ricoh is quite conservative, and will delay a product rather than releasing something that doesn’t work.
So my thought is that even if Ricoh has been working on a very ambitious K-1 III, it will not be released until it’s ready. Whether this is in progress and at what stage of progress it is is something we can’t know. But when it comes, I’m confident it’ll be a mature product.
One interpretation of the gap since the K-3 III is that the developers have been sitting around doing nothing for a few years, but do you really think that is characteristic of Japanese employees? Another interpretation is that they have been working on an ambitious update that will really raise the bar from past DSLR models.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
01-27-2024, 07:16 AM
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
01-28-2024, 04:59 PM
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I have an old computer stached away here that booted to 5 1/4 floppys. It has been a plan for a while but the roundtoit hasn't kicked in. Sounds like you might have some experience in this era?
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
01-29-2024, 04:29 PM
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Unfortunately, yes :o
We used to use the 5.25's to store our job data on, great day when we moved to the smaller ones with soooo much more storage on them!
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
01-28-2024, 07:19 PM
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You boys with your new fangled devices!
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
01-28-2024, 04:06 PM
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Depends what type of floppy disc you're talking about, to me, that's about 25 discs! :D
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
01-27-2024, 02:11 PM
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In other news I found a spare memory card. Anyone want it? ;)
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
01-27-2024, 03:48 AM
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In a sane world there would be a commercial argument for this, even - keep the 'field camera' ethic and sell it on IQ - make people aware that there is a price to pay for all the fancy AF gymnastics and they are providing an alternative. Of course they would have to make that demonstrably true, but why not. The real question, perhaps, is whether the sensors would even be available.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-24-2023, 05:28 AM
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Quantizing tonal data into 8 bits introduces inaccuracy. When exposure, global and local contrast, gradient filters and other tone-curve adjustments are applied (and they don't necessarily have to be extreme), the effects of that inaccuracy are amplified. It's most noticeable in single colour tonal transitions such as (but not limited to) twilight skies, where it can result in banding (years back when I used Photoshop Elements, I noticed this in several of my not-heavily-processed photos - not many, but a few). Some folks won't notice or care, and the resulting photo can still be a contest-winning image... but the reduction in quality is indisputable, whether or not you can see it personally - and if the image is finally exported to an 8-bit JPEG and subjected to compression, the quality is reduced further still.
The safest approach when using an 8 bit raster editor is to do as much of the tonal adjustment upstream in the raw converter (in the case of Photoshop Elements, that would be Adobe Camera Raw), which typically has a 16 or 32 bit workspace. Alternatively, the completely free GIMP (and I'm sure a few other raster editors) supports both 16 and 32 bit workspaces in integer and even floating point precision (as well as 8 bit if that's really all the user wants).
If 8-bit raster editing is causing you no problems and you're happy with the results, that's great... no need for you to change. For anyone wondering what they should ideally use (assuming they have a choice), I'd say a 16 bit integer workspace is probably the best compromise between tonal distribution, system performance and file size (right up to the point of JPEG export). Some source images - particularly those that require significant stretching of tonal range (as required when converting digitised film negatives, for example), can even benefit from being processed in a 32 bit workspace... but for most other purposes, 16 bits is ample.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
01-17-2024, 09:38 PM
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The first step is to decompress the firmware.
I'm using version 2.11. (I know NewerVersion 2.12 abalable)
The firmware header and trailer are as attached.
Firmware compressed from the 0x80 byte from the beginning is included.
[IMG] [/IMG]
Firmware is compressed block by block.
The first block is 0x8000 bytes. The rest is 0x6000 bytes.
If the block length is 0x6000, the block is not compressed.
The block decompression logic is the same as for K-30, K-50, K-S1, K-S2, K-70, K-1(II).
RELC（LZRW-1A？) It is a patent-free logic developed by Fujitsu.
I took that logic from ptxfwtool.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
12-11-2023, 03:24 PM
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really unfortunate Cactus went under and stopped supporting too
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
01-21-2024, 02:13 AM
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I use an LPL darkroom enlarger chassis. Camera mounted where the projecting assembly attached to the frame. The old handle for winding the enlarger up and down works great for precise enlargement. The device table stands up to something like 800mm and the vertical post can be reversed so it sticks out over a table edge for greater size copying.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
01-03-2024, 04:32 PM
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Nice tern shots.
Happy Christmas and New Year, though a bit late.
Does anyone want this old Pentax lens case?
Outside dia about 75mm
Outside height about 71mm
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
12-18-2023, 02:54 AM
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