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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-10-2007, 02:10 PM
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I think one possibility is a tweaked K110D and a more-changed K100D at a price point more between that and the new K10D update, which will probably at least initially be a few hundred dollars more expensive.
But, y'know, rampant speculation. :)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-10-2007, 05:57 AM
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It'll be interesting to see how the Sigma DP1 does in the market.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-09-2007, 08:10 PM
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I probably shouldn't have mentioned dpreview because I know it's touchy around here (and for good reason). However, the above paragraph simply isn't true. In fact, they explore these settings more than most reviews. (They remark positively on the options for contrast and saturation adjustment, by the way.)
Those cameras are cheaper. The final "recommendations" are relative to both price point and time -- but yes, clearly highly subjective. Notice that the K100D gets even lower numeric scores but is still "highly recommended".
Anyway, this clearly isn't the biggest of deals, as the K10D is clearly capable of producing great images even in jpeg capture. However, since it also clearly could be improved, and since a large number of reviews give negative comments about this specific point, I think it is likely a change we will see in the next model. Which, if you remember, was supposed to be the point of the rampant speculation thread. :)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-09-2007, 07:27 PM
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Well, it's kindly of you to be concerned. :) Perhaps this will make you feel better:
I've bought a new digital camera approximately every four years since 1996. In each case, I've looked at what I already have, considered where I feel I'm missing something that would make me happier taking pictures, and waited for that to come along. Or in the case of the first one (a Casio QV-10A, which Casio describes as producing images with " 320x200 dots"), until it fell apart. Anyway, if I can't find something that makes me happy, I wait.
Right now, I have a perfectly good Olympus C-5060 -- not an SLR, but a great "bridge" camera. It's showing some age in terms of what one could buy now, but is still very capable. (Especially with a tilt/swivel flash.) So it's not like I can't take pictures right now.
If I could afford to buy a new gadget every year or two, I'd totally throw out what I have and get something new right away. But I've got other priorities right now, so instead, I'm going to be patient. Well, patient give-or-take some forum posting. :)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-09-2007, 06:48 PM
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No one's making you read it, let alone reply. :)
While this is generally true, this is a major investment for me, and although I don't own either a K10D or a K100D, I've used them for a bit and I know what I want. I'd be perfectly happy with either right now if someone gave them to me, but since a) I'm going to spend my own money, b) there's some things I really find to be sore spots, and c) Pentax has said there will be new models this year, it makes sense to wait for that.
I suspect you're not actually confused, but rather just throwing this in here in order to get in a personal attack because, hey, it's the internet and you're using a false name so who cares. Or maybe you really do confuse easily.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-09-2007, 02:58 PM
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I think this line in the review at dpreview sums it up: "Pentax may well have been aiming for a smooth film-like appearance but I at least feel that the inability to tweak this out by increasing sharpness is a mistake." (As many reviewers have noted, increasing the sharpness setting doesn't actually help here.)
 Quote: What you want is a change in Pentax design philosophy and direction. And I am not sure if it is a good thing or bad. K10D is designed for people who wants to do their own PP, and not having the camera doing it for them. I think this argument starts with a false premise. The camera contains a computer which runs, essentially, RAW-to-JPEG conversion software. The distinction between whether you do this conversion in the camera or sitting at a desktop is essentially a small one.
You have more processing power at the desktop, of course, but the camera has plenty for basic operations. And obviously you have more ability to see what operations work best on a per-step, per-image basis at a computer workstation with a bigger-than-two-inch monitor, but there's no reason the camera itself shouldn't be able to do batch-mode operations to whatever defaults I choose -- not what Pentax (or Canon or Nikon or whoever) chose at the factory.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-09-2007, 02:41 PM
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There's a rational reason for that too ("it sells cameras"), but that's a marketing one.
With batteries, it's an engineering reason. I'm not making this up based on my own wishes -- read it from Pentax engineers.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-09-2007, 10:09 AM
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It's hard to guess where they'll go with the batteries. On the one hand, it's so much easier to engineer for specialized lithium rechargeables, and I find them a lot less hassle than keeping track of sets of rechargeable AAs. But on the other, so many people really prefer double-As that I wouldn't at all be surprised to find that this helps sell K100Ds over the competition.
For the proposed super-small model, I'm mostly concerned about the space taken up by 4 AAs or 2 CRV3s. I wonder if the power draw could be reasonably reduced to the point where 2 AAs / 1 CRV3 would work and give acceptable life.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-09-2007, 06:06 AM
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I've convinced myself that waiting till this fall to make my dSLR purchase makes the most sense, with updated models from Pentax and very certainly a Canon 40D as another option. (I have a friend with a 10D and several "L" lenses which he very generously lets me borrow quite often.) But of course, the waiting is so hard. :) So, in lieu of any actual news, I figured, hey, how about some pointless armchair prognosticating?
First, here's what I'd like to see within the realm of realistic. (There's some "dream" wishlist items like switching to the Fuji sensor or the Java API I was talking about in the other thread, but I want to constrain this to what's actually reasonable to hope for.)
For the "K111D":- Switch to a custom lithium battery to make even smaller. That should be the focus here.
- Maybe ditch the on-camera flash? Or make smaller and lamer so it's there as a feature-checklist item.
- Drop the price to $300 body-only.
- Slightly in the realm of fantasy: kit lens is new cheap 30mm prime. (Fits with point #1.)
- Work on getting the auto white balance spot-on for incandescent and other indoor lighting.
For the "K101D":- Again, switch to custom lithium batteries. Better performance, less need to worry about out-of-spec power, and smaller. Sure there's downsides, but overall, there's a reason everyone else does this.
- Add a second control wheel -- another easy way to be uniquely powerful at this price niche.
- Make work with the new ultrasonic ring motors.
- Again with the auto-WB.
For the "K11D", really, if the K101D would actually match the above, I'd probably get that. Failing that, I'd like to see improvements in the jpeg processing engine (including, yes, the white balance). I like to take pictures rather than fuss around with RAW, and except for exceptional cases, in-camera processing ought to be as good as off-camera. And of course improvements in high ISO image quality are always welcome.
So, while I think the above things are possible, my expectations are a bit lower. I think in reality, we'll see:
K110D completely dropped. There's just not enough to differentiate this from the K100D, and although the ultra-small idea above would make me happy, make a great second body, and blow the Nikon D40 out of the water, I have doubts it'd really happen.
K100D "upgraded" to more megapixels, because doing that seems to be mandatory. Not sure what else is realistic to expect. Better dust removal? Thoughts?
K10D: I'm actually optimistic about the image processing improvements. I expect more megapixels, for better or worse. Anything else?
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