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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 10-30-2019, 04:42 PM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
I think I've had that happen twice... maybe three times... since buying it back in late 2013 / early 2014 (I forget exactly when), and one or two complete lock-ups. Are you on the latest firmware, Rob? It deals with the mirror / shutter flap admirably... Doesn't stop it from happening, but halts it on the very rare occasions it might happen :)
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 10-30-2019, 04:21 PM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
I'm fully expecting my K-3 to last several more years (unless I do something silly), and my K-3II even longer.

And yes... A sizeable number of us are using the K10D / GX-10 and the even older 6MP bodies. Looked after properly, they go on... and on... and on... :)
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 10-03-2019, 05:41 AM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
Aside from reliability, that's the next biggest issue with SDM. I have the DA*60-250 and it's a fantastic lens, but initial focus acquisition can be... I'm trying to think of the kindest word to use here... "leisurely" :o It's not ideal for tracking either...
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 09-07-2019, 08:24 AM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
Interestingly, in one set of tests between one of the later Sony A7-series cameras with Eye AF, and the Nikon D850 without, they were more or less comparable in accuracy - i.e. the Sony's eye AF didn't produce appreciably more accurately-focused shots than the Nikon.

Things may have progressed since then, but so far as I can tell, eye AF is no guarantee of accuracy...
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 09-07-2019, 05:06 AM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
I doubt that's the case, and I'm not skilled enough to judge either way :lol:

I suspect it's just down to individual requirements, preferences, techniques and expectations...

I love to play around with fast lenses wide open, and I have shot a few fun people and pet portraits with razor thin depth of field, but most of the time I stop down at least a little, both for lens performance and to get more of the features in acceptable focus (also for more context from the background). Given that, I can live with the focus being a tiny bit in front of or behind the leading eye, since I have enough depth of field to absorb that unless I'm pixel-peeping in the extreme.

As for Live View... I've just never been a fan of shooting with it hand-held. It doesn't feel good to me, and I'm not as steady in my hold on the camera :o I'll happily use it with a tripod... but then, I don't often shoot with a tripod :p
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 09-07-2019, 12:08 AM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
For me, I don't particularly care whether Pentax offers the eye detect feature. I think it could be very useful for some folks, but let's be frank, we've all been doing just fine without it (and not just us Pentax users - but Nikon and Canon too). I do, however, think face detect and tracking through the optical viewfinder would be a nice capability... and more AF points would certainly be beneficial for that.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 09-07-2019, 12:03 AM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
Because Live View. I'm certainly not self-conscious about it (I don't see what there would be to be self-conscious about :hmm:), and I'd happily use eye AF if it was available when focusing through the OVF, or with mirrorless, through the EVF. But I don't find portraiture photography all that enjoyable or practical holding up a DSLR in Live View mode. Imagine hand-held Live View portraiture photography at f/1.2... better be extremely steady in maintaining camera to subject distance for that, eye AF or not.

YMMV, of course...
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 09-06-2019, 11:25 PM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
No.

Sony's mirrorless offering is best suited and best developed for both face and eye detect, the latter of which is rather well implemented by now.

Canon's eye detect on the 90D is limited to Live View, which is understandable given that the metering sensor doesn't have sufficient resolution to allow reliable identification of an eye... But, unlike older camera models (including the KP and K-1) it does have enough resolution to support face detection when using the OVF, which I think is pretty neat - and, arguably, far more useful than eye AF in Live View (who, honestly, is going to use a DSLR in Live View for portraiture that needs eye detect?)...

When DSLR metering sensors reach sufficient resolution, we'll probably see eye detect for OVF focusing. Now that could be very useful...
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 09-06-2019, 11:45 AM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
Yes, it looks very good... and yet, the 4K video isn't true 4K, but digitally upscaled, from what I've read. Meanwhile, "Eye AF" is allegedly only useful at close range and dual pixel AF (in Live View) is pretty slow. Only one SD card slot, too. As always, nothing's perfect...
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 09-06-2019, 04:38 AM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
It's the lack of such features, as well as the single SD card, smaller buffer, lack of IR control that convince me the KP was never meant to be the K-3II replacement, but a distinct model in its own right. Maybe Ricoh thought a good number of folks would consider it as the K-3II's successor, but I just don't believe they were so out of touch that they planned for it to occupy a "flagship" spot in the line up, no matter how good a camera it undoubtedly is...
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 09-05-2019, 12:16 PM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
These forums would suggest there's a lot of us flagship APS-C body shooters who chose to stay with the format for a variety of reasons, Ron. I have other-brand full frame gear, but I choose to shoot with APS-C equipment most often due to the more compact and light-weight bodies and lenses. I don't think I'm rare in settling with APS-C as a good compromise between image quality and practicality.

We, and you, can speculate all we like as to the reasons for the high-end APS-C body taking so long... It may well have something to do with Ricoh wanting to wring maximum sales out of the KP before the new model (designed, if my memory serves me correctly - and we're to believe the interviews - to appeal to K-3 / K-3II owners) is released. Or it may have something to do with an overall decline in camera sales. But we're all just guessing...
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 09-05-2019, 10:47 AM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
Touché :o :lol:
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 09-05-2019, 06:40 AM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
Your definition of "fun" and mine are wildly divergent :p :lol:
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 09-05-2019, 06:32 AM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
I don't think it's anything to do with confidence or lack thereof, Karen. Ricoh will only announce new gear when development and testing is complete and production is more or less ready to roll...

Folks read all sorts of things into lack of announcements, but the simple fact is there's no point announcing something until it's nearing availability to ship.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 08-28-2019, 01:48 PM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
It's rare that I hear that, so I'll gratefully accept the acknowledgement :p :lol:



Our Post Your Photos section is the best place, for maximum exposure to members :)



Ha :D Cool... but remember, it's still a KP... Far be it from me to discourage anyone from buying a new Pentax product, but why not wait until your December 31st deadline we discussed? Between now and then, the new APS-C flagship might be announced and you may want to buy that... or maybe you'll want to go ahead with your switch to something off-brand that better meets your requirements? If money's no option, sure, why not - get the KP-J anyway. Otherwise... do you really want to invest more money into a model you're not completely satisfied with from a technical perspective? :o
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 08-28-2019, 01:29 PM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
Is Adobe supporting yet through AdobeDNG converter, do you know?
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 08-28-2019, 01:25 PM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
I think the point is, until we can see the raw files in comparison to other cameras, calling it "sweet" is a little premature, and sounds more like a forgone conclusion...

Is anyone able to look at the 90D's .CR3 files? Neither my Darktable nor RawTherapee installations will recognise them (probably time for an update :p)... as a result, all I can review are the JPEGs. Those, certainly, don't look great, but I'm wary of judging the camera on SOOC JPEGs...
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 08-28-2019, 07:58 AM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
We've sort of discussed this before in other threads, Karen. Don't be afraid. Go with the flow, live in the now. Ricoh will take Pentax in whatever direction and at whatever pace it decides is best, as has been the case for some years now. And common wisdom suggests this won't be to compete with the likes of Canon, Sony etc., but rather to the beat of its own drum. When the next new camera is released, we - the potential buyers - will vote with our wallets. That's the only meaningful thing we customers can do to influence Ricoh. There's zero benefit to worrying about it ;)
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 08-26-2019, 02:31 PM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
Whilst I like borders and corners to be decently sharp in some situations, there's a lot of character imbued by less-than-perfect lenses that can be lost by a lens with a really flat field and amazing sharpness right across the frame. There are use cases for such lenses, for sure, but they're not required - nor are they necessarily advantageous - for a lot of photography, IMHO, even when reproducing at large dimensions. I've yet to view a large, exhibited print from the 50s or 60s (for example) where I've been looking at the borders and corners to see how sharp and detailed they are. Instead, I'm enjoying the overall aesthetic and message of the image. Just because we have the ability to see optical imperfections by editing at 100%+ reproduction, and the ability to achieve near-perfection by using expensive, massively corrected lenses, doesn't mean the final image will be "better". Often-times, that correction is improving technical optical performance at the expense of what we subconsciously perceive as character...
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 08-23-2019, 01:46 PM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
My understanding (as someone not well versed in optical physics) is limited to articles such as the Cambridge in Colour one, here:

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/diffraction-photography.htm


As that article mentions, I don't find absolutely consistent results from lens to lens, so there's definitely more to it than theory based on a "perfect" lens.

That aside, in practical terms I don't worry too much about diffraction. I use whatever aperture I need to get the necessary depth of field with the format and lens I'm using (even then it's just a rough estimation - I don't store depth of field tables in my head :p), and that's typically anything between wide open and f/22. If there's a bit of diffraction at the smaller apertures, so be it. I'm just as happy to shoot wide open when the situation or creative intent dictates, and I know for sure I'm not getting the best optical performance there. So long as I can capture the image I want, I'll accept a bit of softness and do what I can to improve the photo in post-processing. I never stop down to crazy small apertures - f/32, for example... If I was looking for that kind of depth of field, it would - I'd guess - be for very specific circumstances, like a moving insect macro shot. Otherwise, I'd use a faster aperture plus multiple shots, and stack...
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 08-23-2019, 01:07 PM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
According to Cambridge in Colour's explanation:

"Technical Note: Independence of Focal Length - Since the physical size of an aperture is larger for telephoto lenses (f/4 has a 50 mm diameter at 200 mm, but only a 25 mm diameter at 100 mm), why doesn't the airy disk become smaller? This is because longer focal lengths also cause light to travel farther before hitting the camera sensor -- thus increasing the distance over which the airy disk can continue to diverge. The competing effects of larger aperture and longer focal length therefore cancel, leaving only the f-number as being important (which describes focal length relative to aperture size)."
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 08-20-2019, 12:38 PM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
Extra like for today's winner in the "best word in a forum post" category :D
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 08-19-2019, 02:14 PM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
I think a 26MP sensor is absolutely a viable option. Let's wait and see what it's capable of before we judge. 24MP has become something of a "sweet spot" for the combination of resolution, SNR and dynamic range. The jump from 16MP to 24MP in K-5 vs K-3 resulted in a reduction of dynamic range. It's still very good on the K-3 / K-3II, but I don't think we'd want to see it drop further. How much has sensor technology advanced? We can hope that the new 26MP sensor at least matches, and preferably bests the previous 24MP sensor in dynamic range... but for any additional improvement in resolution with future sensors, what would be the cost in dynamic range and SNR?

We'll have to wait and see ;)
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 08-19-2019, 09:36 AM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
Folks - I think we've all probably had enough of the discussion as to whether Ricoh is arrogant, treating its users badly etc. We're all pretty clear as to each other's opinions, and we're going round in circles now, so let's move on, please.

I'll be deleting any further messages on the matter.

Thank you! :)
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 08-18-2019, 12:23 AM  
New Sony APS-C Sensor - 26MP
Posted By BigMackCam
Replies: 1,219
Views: 109,449
Good, this is progress. So, put thoughts of any new camera out of your mind until 23:59:59 on 31st December and until then, enjoy your photography :)



More progress. Good glass that you're happy with is, IMHO, far more important than the camera body and its features, so long as the camera's image quality is good enough for your purposes and you can find a way to work with it (and there is always a way - that's part of what we photographers bring to the table... our skills and ingenuity ;)). If you're happy with your glass, it's worth making sacrifices on camera functionality. Imagine how long it will take for you to acquire, test and settle on an equivalent set of glass for Nikon Z-mount... Several months, at the very least, and at significant cost to you in both finances and time :o



Yet more progress :) It sounds to me like you're better off staying with APS-C, regardless of whether you keep your Pentax gear or switch to something else.



So... here's a situation where a very simple change to your technique will make all of those focus points irrelevant. Landscape work generally allows for a fairly relaxed, methodical approach. For your stacking example, you don't need lots of AF points. Frankly, you don't need any.

Method 1: Switch to MF, engage Live View, then manually focus on the first element of your scene (using magnified Live View to ensure absolute accuracy) and take a shot. Repeat this for each element in your scene.

Method 2: Switch to MF, manually focus at infinity and take the first shot. Then, adjust the focus distance slightly closer (use the lens distance markings for reference) and take another shot. Repeat until all required distances have been covered. This works even with older cameras that have no Live View capability (such as my 14-year-old Pentax *ist DL). It's also quite a quick approach (more so than method 1) since you don't have to achieve perfect focus on each individual element... you simply set focus distance, shoot, adjust focus distance, shoot, adjust focus distance, shoot... You'll be done in a few seconds.

Then, review the images and stack as necessary.

This technique, of course, works for every DSLR or mirrorless camera and lens you've ever owned, own now, or might own in the future. Sure, it takes a little longer than working with multiple AF points, but it won't take long at all with a bit of practice (especially method 2). It's easy, and it allows you to shoot with the glass you already own and love, with no additional expense in switching bodies or even systems.

Problem solved :)
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